I have never been happy with Greening in central midfield. He doesn't pass forward enough. He's certainly not close to the playmaker Murphy is. I actually think Greening is better on the wing. There are some decent young midfielders in the prem we might be able to lure as understudy to Murphy. Mark Davies at Bolton, Ben Watson at Wigan, Guthrie at Newcastle. Plus there is bound to be some cheap foreigner we could buy. Mark Hughes seems to be good at buying from abroad.
He's a decent player. Don't put him out WIDE though(too ineffective and lacks the pace to trouble full-backs), although in the middle he's been reasonably solid and yesterday against Man United he put in a near MOTM(if not MOTM) performance. He's nearly always available for a pass, he puts himself about, he works hard, decent mobility, box-to-box and usually a good passer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Guthrie He's only made 14 apps in total this season because of injury, being on the bench and better players ahead of him(Nolan/Tiote/Barton). I wouldn't say no to selling him though, he's got a decent degree of potential and isn't a bad player to have around. I don't think he should be your replacement though for Murphy.. you need someone of better quality if you want to be a consistent top 10 team. Guthrie's at a standerd currently were he's competition/cover for our best XI although he's been in good form currently. You can have him at the right price 3m would probably do. NUFC FAN IN PEACE
FFC4L, I stand corrected. That might explain why people always forget that Greening played against Juve - he didn't! I guess this speaks to DRs point about not trusting Baird and Etuhu in a big game; we're not likely to have many games bigger than Juventus. Khadrim, welcome to the board. Unless any of those players get relegated, I doubt that their clubs would be keen to sell them to us (so there's a decent chance with Watson then!). As I said above, I'd like to see us bring someone up from the Championship, like Hoolahan. I agree with you that picking up bargains who most of us have never heard of is one of Hughes' strengths in the transfer market, so I'm quite excited to see what happens in the next few months. I agree that Hughes has always had a good eye for little-known bargains in the transfer market, so I'm quite excited to see what happens between now and the end of September.
And I think he is more likely to be backed in the transfer market by Al Fayed than he was at Blackburn.
hey guys, new user off the greening topic, could any of you see us employing a 4-3-3 formation? with sidwell and murphy as roaming mids and ethuhu covering for them,this would leave us in my opinion with duff and dempsey out wide up top with zamora inbetween. the only flaw i can see is that this would put unnecessary pressure upon baird and salcido, allthough i heaard that we have a handy full back in the youth system?
Welsh Connection- Firstly welcome to not606. We seem to be building quite a community here now compared with the old 606. As for the point you made it is interesting though I'm not sure our full backs are necessarily strong enough at getting up and down the wings to play a formation like this. We would be asking a lot of etuhu as presumably the holding midfielder of the three to cover as often as possible. Furthermore, as we play duff and dempsey on the opposite wings to their preferred feet, we could be quite narrow, especially considering how much they drift inside, possibly leaving the full-backs susceptible on the counter attack. Certainly something worth considering though I think, possibly with to view using it away from home a bit to improve counter attacking game. 4-3-3 is in a way similar to 4-5-1 as well so could revert to that with duff dempsey dropping back in midfield against stronger sides. By the way the full back you're thinking is probably matthew briggs. Saw him in the port vale game and looked quality, can supposedly play centre-half as well. A real prospect for sure!
Briggs got ripped apart against Chelsea and Arsenal. I good ploy by Hughes but backfired on him and the lad as he then got injured. Everyone is rating him at the club and we are desperate for a decent LB so there is hope however taxi for Salcido - not the best Hughes bargain buy if you ask me. We have missed something since Konch flew the nest to sit on the bench at Liverpool. I could see him at WBA next season. I just can’t see us playing 4-3-3. We play with 2 holding MF, always. I think in the prem you have to have some real quality. The top half of the table teams would pick us off.
Morning, WelshConnection, nice to have you here. Briggs is hotly rated, and his appearances in the firsts have all been at left back, but he is first and foremost a centre back - that, I think, is where most of his appearances outside the first have been. If he makes a long-term contribution for us, it is more likely to be there, although I can't see him displacing Hangeland and Hughes anytime soon. I was at the Port Vale game too, and agree with Robespierre's assessment of that. I wasn't at the Man Utd game, but apparently we did play more of a 4-3-3 in that one, with Kakuta starting as one of the attacking three. I gather that things fell apart a bit after we went behind, but that we looked competitive for the game's early stages. It's an interesting idea, but possibly one that we might want to find room for Dembele in. Having said that, I think next season Dembele may have more of a fight for his starting spot. Despite a brilliant start for us, there have been too many games where he has flattered to deceive - lots of twisty turny runs with no end product. I'm not sure his decision making on when and where to play the final ball is as good as it should be. He's a flashy player who possibly doesn't always deliver as much as he promises. On his day, he can be a matchwinner though - sort of a higher standard of Kamara. I've just re-read that last sentence. Now I think I will step away from the computer and get ready for the indignant responses from the rest of you. I've got a list of words that I predict to see appearing in your replies. Bonus points for anyone who includes all of them.
Dembele reminds me of a Glass House. Kick him and its game over. I think other teams know this too. Kamara was the same. Went in to head the ball eyes closed and more often then not completely missed the ball. Apart from Dembele's solo goal against Spurs (they had 10 team remember) and the 2 shinned goals against Wolves I am struggling to see what he contributes. He does have quality skill with ball at feet but often his pass is final off. Perhaps a bit harsh but he should have scored against Bolton in the cup when clean through and that sums him up for me. I'd play Kakuta personally.
Another new user- was away from 606 for a long time, when computerless, and having returned found it deserted! Glad to see a good number of fans here. I remember watching Dembele on his debut, and felt thouroughly optimistic. However, he is indeed very little substance, and much more glam. He does produce some moments of absolute majic- watch this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx9bHnsWA24 (wont link so copy and paste!) I think if he can do thi a bit more often but also expand his game- more precise passing, he will be something ery special Where do we feel he is best played? He has mainly been up front, due to injuries, but is infact an attacking CM. Thoughts?
Really, CC, not liking Dembele? I'll grant you he's had a couple of injury spells that took some of steam out of his season. He hasn't had a huge impact yet, but nobody since McBride and Hangeland has walked into the team and made a huge impact. Every game he seems to have these moments of Berbatov-like genius, leaving defenders scratching their heads as he streaks by. I'd rate his ability to hold up the ball is second only to BZ. His passing and shooting are at least as good as Dempsey - I rate his dribbling better than everyone except Pantsil. What's not to like? I read a magazine story recently where the writer asked Clint Dempsey who were the best three players he's ever played with. His reply was "Dembele, Murphy and Hangeland" in that order.
Dembele is really talented and not that greedy. He needed a bit of time to adjust and will form a good relationship with Bobby. They haven't really had a chance to gel.
Dembele's goal against spurs is a fine example of what's good and bad about him. On the plus side, it was a good run and a great finish. On the minus side, he was only in a shooting position because he had chosen not to take a couple of opportunities to pass to a better-placed team-mate. You can't criticise him for it because he scored, and we were winning comfortably at the time anyway. Nevertheless, on another day it could have been critical and might cost us a chance to win a match. But it does illustrate what I meant when I talked about his poor decision-making.
I rate Dembele, he is exciting to watch on the ball and I like that in a player. However, he does not always use his head as the Captain his illustrated but I am sure that Hughes will be coaching this side of his game. It will be interesting to see how he progresses next season which, with luck, will see him having a prolonged run in the team.
I think it's tough to compare Dembele to Kamara, he's nowhere near as self-centred, he does try to pass and he is not caught offside every 5 minutes. However, there is a worrying lack of end product, as the Commodore and CC write. He will improve and there can be no doubt MH will be looking for it if he's to retain his place.
Evening all, I admit that I am genuinely surprised at the talk of Dembele not being so good. I for one think that he is a quality player. It has been along time since we had anyone at Fulham that is so confident at retaining possession and bringing others into play. I feel it is a bit harsh on the lad. This is his first season in the premiership and his first season at the Cottage. I understand that he is not the finished article but all he needs is an outlet in oder to really make him stand out. AJ ran the wide channels but Zamora will be more direct enabling Dembele to find the killer through balls. Do not forget Zamora has been out for alot of the season and Dembele has had his fair share of knocks. Give the guy time and he will produce for us, fear not.
Please let's not speak of Dembele in terms of Kamara. I'll always thanks Dio for a couple of special goals in the Escape season, but he was in the right place at the right time, whereas most of the time in the last 2 years he has been on an entirely different wavelength from the rest of them, or otherwise offside. Dembele is still learning and can become a real asset - albeit exciting and frustrating at the same time. Really good to see a lot of names who have come onto Not606 over the past few weeks (Old 606 looks a bit of a morgue), some old and some new - Welcome to our "pub"! COYW
I wouldn't dare class Dembele and Kamara in the same league as eachother but they do have similarities. Both are incredibly good with the ball at their feet but dwindle on the ball far too much and end up running in circles. Dembele is much more technically gifted though.
