⦠in the middle yesterday.? I would not necessarily say we missed him but we certainly were no better. Tunni was given a run in there but for me did not grab it with both hands, too often he was to deep & left Skuse to much to do on his own, also at 1-0 he missed a relatively easy chance to probably have put the game out of the foxes reach, perhaps he needs to be given a couple more opportunities in there to show what he is capable off. A couple of other points, Tabb & Anderson were pretty ineffective & both too lightweight, Anderson for me needs to make way for Taylor & I would also leave Tabb out & move Hunt out wide. Finally I was a bit annoyed with Didsy yesterday, gave the ball away badly on the edge their box when he had options to pass, tried a trick, got robbed less than 10 seconds later we were behind.! We did have chances to get a point but were a bit wasteful with a couple of relatively free headers. So team for next week; Gerkin Chambers Berra Smith Cresswell Taylor Skuse Tunni Hunt Murphy McGoldrick Thoughts.!
You want two players in each position in a squad and IMO Hyam and Skuse have defensive midfield covered. He has been one of our best players for a few seasons but he's suffered this season from having to fit into the side with another defensive midfielder. For me there's not a lot in it between Hyam and Skuse. Hyam for me is slightly better at opening up the play and Skuse is slightly better defensively. Midfield is a real problem for us but that is one of the four slots well and truly taken care of between the two of them. Agree it's time for Hunt to come in and actually I think McGoldrick could do a job for us a bit deeper. Gerken Chambers Smith Berra Cresswell Skuse CDM AndersonorTabborTunnicliffe RM Hunt LM McGoldrick CAM / CF Taylor ST Murphy ST
I thought Tabb was our best midfielder at the start of the season but he appears to have suffered being out of the team. I wouldn't mind seeing him played centrally but again for most of the other teams he's played for he's been the more defensive minded player in the midfield, so whoever we play centrally I think it's going to be a bit of huff and puff. We need a CM who's gonna take the game by the scruff of the neck and dictate play but we haven't had someone like that since Bullard (on loan), I think Skuse could but he doesn't show enough intent. I think we should go 433 play 3 from Skuse, Hyam, Tabb or Tunnicliffe and then have attacking full backs and obviously 3 attack minded players. I have a strange feeling that next match, Mick might bring Cresswell in at LM.
If that’s the case then Hyam and Scuse should operate in front of the back four with with an attacking three supporting a striker, or, if you want to be enormously progressive, a false number nine. So: Scuse – Hyam Taylor – McGoldrick – Hunt Murphy Or: Scuse – Hyam – Tunnicliffe Taylor – McGoldrick – Hunt/Murphy By the way, I was at Cambridge vs Woking yesterday. On the occasions when I was compus (a polar bear would have struggled to maintain concentration yesterday it was that effing cold) Marriott was excellent when he actually had the opportunity to do something with the ball. He was tightly marked and Woking’s attempts to play him in were mainly aerial hoofs which isn’t what he needs. He’s not a player (at the moment anyway) that can win hoofed up balls against yer average clod-hoping great central defender, but when he got the ball at his feet he was miles ahead of the opposition. He actually could have got Woking back from two goals down to 2-2: a 25 yard half volley when he reached a ball which at least two Cambridge players should have covered before he got there, then an excellent dribble and low shot to the near post from just outside the area that the Cambridge keeper did very well to keep out.
Personally I'd play Cresswell LB but i get the feeling Mick will keep Mings at LB and have Cresswell LM.
Has Mings let us down these last couple of games? I'd be all for Cressy moving up. He delivers telling balls into the box that would test most defenders. Gives murph some ammunition and with dids just behind picking up the pieces.
Mings did ok, no better than that, got caught out of position a couple of times on Saturday & was partly to blame for at least one if not both of the goals v Bpool. MM took him off for the last 15mins on Saturday, that tells its own story, how many times do we see MM take off a full back.?
I think Cresswell could do a job at LM but for me he's a LB and would only be playing there due to our inadequacies on the wing. I think people are generally pretty harsh on his defensive qualities, he's by no means a brilliant defender but it's certainly not a weakness, for his height he wins a surprising amount in the air and he's pretty tenacious. IMO he's been our best player by a long way in the past few seasons and maybe use him on the LW from time to time but don't convert him to a winger.
Who would you say looks more capable at fullback Hewitt or Mings? (I know they play on opposite sides of the pitch)
NO to Cresswell on the wing - Wing back at most. The problem with him is similar to most attacking fullbacks - they put in good crosses for defenders. If that was the 'qaulity' you got from a winger - you would be moaning about how poor their ability was. Cresswell can put in a decent cross but its probably 1 in 4 that are the required standards for a winger so not for me. Just play Hunt who should be able to do what is required or get a proper wideman in. It actually seems MM doesnt want us to play wide football anyway. Andersons never out wide and Tabb/ Tunni are not wide players fullstop. Maybe he wants us to play compact and narrow. Who knows?
No don't think we missed Hyam one iota, sorry but this guy is just a very honest trier, and think that if we are to make serious inroads in this division, he's not the man, just don't think he's a Championship player, no speed, passing ability, creativity or goal threat, not good enough, although he is not alone, hard to judge him on one game, but for Mings has made a poor start, leaving far too much space for the opposition to work in, he just didn't look comfortable did he. I would restore Chambers to half back, team him up with Berra, either bring Hewitt back from his loan period, I see some promise in him, or play Skuse there, not ideal granted, but heard he had a good game there when he filled in for us there. Tommy Smith would not be in my team, too slow, too ponderous, no movement. Not going to beat on about it again, but am questioning his attitude as regards international games. We very badly need pace all over the pitch, especially down the flanks, look at Leicesters wide man, and the merry dance he gave us, don't care how good a defender is, they will secretely tell you that they hate someone with pace running at them. Murphy is just not consistent enough, and I have no idea what Anderson does for the team
Think you're being a bit harsh on Cresswells crossing Tractorbhoy, i can only think of 1 player who crossed as consistently well as Cresswell at Ipswich in the past 15 years and that's Darren Currie (who was far more consistent) or perhaps that's just a reflection of how poor our players have been at delivering crosses the past few seasons. I agree though Mick doesn't seem to want to play wide this season, I get the feeling that until he has got what he feels is real quality players on the pitch he wants to keep it narrow and compact in midfield to make us harder to beat. IMO we don't have a winger at the club bar Hunt and he's not a stereotypical winger. Which is why I think we should play a midfield 3 and use the fullbacks Hewitt/Edwards and Cresswell to attack down the wing. Think I'd go for something like this: Gerkin Hewitt, Chambers, Smith, Cresswell Tunnicliffe, Skuse, Tabb McGoldrick Taylor, Murphy Truth seeker I don't mind hyam but no question he's been poor this season but I think that's down to the role he's been asked to play and the player he's playing alongside. I do find it strange though how Mick refuses to criticise players like Hyam, Mings and Nouble, infact he praises them quite alot when to me they've all not shown a great deal, they may go onto be good players bt they all seem pretty limited yet he seems to drop and say players like JET, Hewitt and Taylor aren't doing enough, again i think it's down to him preferring a certain type of player. I'd say Murphy is actually pretty consistent, consistently average
A lot of his crosses are from deeper positions and I think if he was playing in midfield you would be constantly thinking 'get 10 yards further up the pitch! Also when we gave him the advanced role last season he was often the furthest man forward and the general consensus was he played very poorly in that game. This does seem to counter my previous comment but during his 'winger' game he was constantly ahead of the ball rather than pushing forward with it. He probably could adapt to that role but why change a decent FB with most of the attributes you want as a modern FB into an average winger when we have player who can play aswell as him at LB. If we had two very good LB's then I would be more happy to give it a try. I do however concede your point on the strange thoughts of MM. When Loach made a mistake he said Gerken would come in but Gerken has made a few himself and MM has said he is standing by him. I also dont understand our treatment of Hewitt yet he seems very happy with the possibly more inexperienced Mings. Part of me thought we would see Smith moved out to LB and Edwards come in at RB with Cresswell out but that obviously didnt happen. I really cant understand the case for the defence of JET - sorry I have to say I agree 100% with your Murphy point. He is constantly average but he does put in the running. Often he is nowhere near his strike partner though. I wonder if we really do rate him or if its just the fact that he is the only player of that mould in the first team picture
In my opinion, Murphy is a decent player. But one who is playing in a side where a lot is expected from him, he recieves the ball from a 50 yard pass smashed at chest/head height and even Drogba would struggle to look good in our side with the service we provide the front man. Also, and possibly as crucial, is that Murph has been playing wide left for the past couple of seasons and seems to have lost the 'striker instinct' so to speak
Agree about Cresswell, I'm certainly not advocating him playing on the LW, he could probably do okay there but why would you put him there as you say when he has all the attributes you want from a modern day fullback. When Mick played a 532 formation with wing backs last season Cresswell actually disappointed me as I thought he could do well there but I think it was more to do with those around him than him himself aka the CBs not pushing up enough on the ball and the CM's not showing for the ball enough. But I'd certainly rather see us resolve the LW problem by playing someone else there as IMO he's the best LB I've seen at the club. I love JET (is that good enough), he was the only player who made the ticket price worth paying every once in a while for the past few years, yes he was frustrating but it's also frustrating that we couldn't find a way to get the best out of him. I'd prefer him coming off the bench everytime over Nouble. I get the same feeling with regard to Murphy, he's our only target man and considering we don't play through teams or tippy tappy football we probably need a target man in the team. Perhaps Mick brought him in to mentor and finally concede his position to Nouble (he could be here some time)
Mings did ok? This is a joke surely, he was badly out of position many times and was literally strolling around the pitch when we were under pressure, to be honest he looked completely out of his depth against quality opposition. Although not playing to his best of a couple of seasons ago I will be pleased to see Cresswell back. Why the hell we keep starting Anderson is a complete mystery to me, hes completely inneffective and contributes absolutely nothing to the side, its like playing with 10 men from the very outset, for christs sake MM start Taylor and if he tires bring on Hyam, thats got to improve things. I know its been said many times already but McGoldrick is our classiest player amongst a very able but workmanlike team, if we can get a couple of quality players in January we could really start to make progress in the upper reaches of the division providing we can get a quality specialised right back.
