To be fair to Maloney, he's pretty tenacious. I think if asked to play a cm role he could take on defensive responsibilities, however whether this would take away some of his attacking threat is another argument.
He probably is tenacious, he's Scottish after all, however he'll never have the presence that Hayden has due to his physical stature. There is such an outstandingly obvious solution to this problem but, after he left Huddlestone in a position that didn't suit him for two years, maybe hoping that one day it would fall into place (ffs!), I really don't have any faith in Bruce identifying the obvious and logical solution any time soon. I really, really, really, really hope that I'm proved wrong by him but I'm not holding my breath.
It should and will be Huddlestone coming in. One of the best players in the league. Forget this rubbish that he just stands still holding onto the ball before passing sideways and backwards. Give him options and he'll pass. We'll step up another gear now.
I'd drop Diame further back and play Maloney in behind the striker. Though if I was to keep Diame further forward, bring Hayden in.
There's always exceptions, unfortunately Maloney isn't Makelele. It's absolutely obvious that Hayden's the natural replacement. What worries me is if posters on here are considering Maloney, Diame or Huddlestone you can bet your ****ing arse that Bruce is as well.
As has been suggested already, Hayden for Meyler and keep everyone else unchanged. Doubt Brucey will see it that way though.
Brucey will rapidly revert to Bruce if he ****s up the balance of our side when he has the obvious solution in his squad.
The reason we have been having such a good run of results is because we are moving the ball forward much quicker, and this coincides with Huddlestone not playing alongside Livermore in central midfield. As other posters have mentioned the simplest choice has to be Hayden coming in for Meyler, why make two or three changes when one will do. Bruce has ten days of training to get Livermore and Hayden working in tandem and building up an understanding together.
David Meyler @DavidMeyler7 Thanks for your messages. Gutted to be missing the playoff games against Bosnia & the league matches for Hull.
I don't know who'll be more gutted Chazz or his lad. Big loss but this is when our strength in depth will show.
Can you imagine what would happen to Wales if Bale got injured while with them? I suppose most countries have insurance in place.
Getting a major injury in training against a teammate just seems worse than in a real game. "The 26-year-old has suffered a tear to his medial ligament after colliding with Stoke defender Marc Wilson during a training session ahead of Ireland's Euro 2016 play-off."
