Kenny, a riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, one of if not the best striker in the championship, or an expensive waste of money? On target on Saturday 4th goal of the season, with very little game time really...........he makes a nuisance of himself fairplay, to me he is quality.......we knew he wasn't "match fit" when he came to us, and he has been unfortunate with injuries, yet he has still hit the target...........Mason, Gestede and even young Ralls have looked impressive, and we all know what Earnie can do (or used to do anyway) so should it be Miller plus one other, or would you go for other combinations? I'd start with a fit Kenny Miller and Gestede..............then bring on Earnshaw to run at tiring defences early in the second half.................then hit them with Joe Mason for the last 15 minutes..........which is probably why MM has the job instead of me
I'd start with the same 2 but swap Mason & Earnie in your scenario. I'm not feeling the bromance with Earnie at the moment.
We've said it before Proph, this is a squad game. The scenario of 4-5-1 for 60 minutes and 4-3-3 for the last 30 is a way we could win games. Take the steam out of the oposition in the first half, congesting the midfield and use our fitness and bench to push for the last third of the game. Earnie / Mason runnning at a tiring back 4 will see lots of second half goals. Both like to live on the last shoulder and with Whitts and McPhail we have players who can pick the passes. Add to that Cowie, Conway and Gunnarson making runs from midfield and the potential is there. On the midfield scoring, last season saw a lot of good build up play, passes whipped in and no one on the end of it. This season we seem better at arriving in the box at the right time (fnar fnar) with a lot of goals from inside 10 yards. While we have't got a player on 6-8 league goals we've lots on 2 or 3. I think it's why we are on the tail of the playoffs despite all the injuries. With the exception of Whitts, we didn't have scoring midfielders in DJs reign (was Bellamy really a midfielder?) but that seems to have changed.
Mason does not deserve to be dropped on the past 2 performances, no matter who is fit in our squad. He's been given the chance to be the main man up front and grasped it. He looked a decent prospect playing on the wing or in the hole behind the front man. Leading the line he's been a revelation imo. Only complaint is the same as I said in another thread that he runs too much after lost causes - Wish I could have said that about Jay!
We are in a weird situation, none of our front players (apart perhaps from Earnie?) deserve to be dropped..........if Rudy hadn't been injured did he deserve to be dropped..............every player we have brought in to replace an injured front player, has held their hand up and given good reasons why they should start..........who would have thought that we could be considering a starting line up with Gestede and Mason up front.............ok it might never happen, but you can't say they haven't earned their shot.......a nice problem to have
Quite a few teams would like Earnie in their squad. No many would have him as fourth choice. Repeating Proph, a nice problem to have.
Dont think Malky sees it as a problem Remote. Mason put in a lot of running last night and im sure Malky would have subbed him if he could have. The lad is young and needs protection. I dont believe he thought Earnie could play that role...... and he would be right. Earnie looks to have lost his pace and his all round game isnt up to it. He will still take chances though. But I dont think a player whose only possible contribution is to stick a chance away will get a regular starting place. As I see it when fit its a combination of 1 or 2 of the other 3. I can also see a loan move for another striker putting Earnie further down the pecking order.
Don't disagree Hilts. Going back to my earlier comments, having Earnie as an impact player coming on when defenders legs start to tire wouldn't be a bad role. As you allude to, he can stick a chance away.
