Midfield Dilemma

[MPH]

The dilemma is no more. The OS (yes, the OS) reports that he didn't sustain a break, and can train and play with a protective brace.

So the dilemma becomes an opportunity to try a midfield without Captain Matt against Plymouth. Cue speculation.

king and wellens in the middle.. its something a few people have wanted to see for a while, actuially...

[blueoveru]

we've had this dilemma since the sesaon started only once have I seen it play reasonably well (2nd half at Q.P.R) and that was'nt brilliant............... Oakley is out of touch and has'nt played well at all this Season loses concentration too often and drifts in and out of games with monotonous regularity, King well words fail me really his contribution has gone downhill rapidly from last season another one who is anonymous in games too often,and that only leaves Wellens who is industrious

without stamping any authority on games, this is probably why lumping up to Howard has been priority no1, but we've been found out on that one so whats left.

The question is What Style of midfielder do we want a ballwinner(lennon type) or a charismatic ball player who sees the openings and provides the killer passes........ or a combination of those two but also can chip in with a few goals (Muzzy)

We could do with more goals from midfield

[marbelladave]

we've had this dilemma since the sesaon started only once have I seen it play reasonably well (2nd half at Q.P.R) and that was'nt brilliant............... Oakley is out of touch and has'nt played well at all this Season loses concentration too often and drifts in and out of games with monotonous regularity, King well words fail me really his contribution has gone downhill rapidly from last season another one who is anonymous in games too often,and that only leaves Wellens who is industrious

without stamping any authority on games, this is probably why lumping up to Howard has been priority no1, but we've been found out on that one so whats left.

The question is What Style of midfielder do we want a ballwinner(lennon type) or a charismatic ball player who sees the openings and provides the killer passes........ or a combination of those two but also can chip in with a few goals (Muzzy)

We could do with more goals from midfield

The man is right but he doesn't know it........

Wellens, Oakley and King are all good (allowing for form) players, but they are all predominantly passing players who want to play in the center.

Pearson wants to play 4-4-2, which means either one of them drops out, (usually King) or Oakley gets pushed out to the right.

The first option leaves us with just two men in central midfield as none of our wide men tuck in and help out and our strikers stay well forward. It does not really matter who plays there for us as the opposition simply plays three men against them so they are outnumbered and stand little chance of getting control of midfield.

Playing Oakley on the right works well enough providing he stays quite narrow, there is an issue with width on that side but it is less of a problem than being wide open in the center. Instructing Oakley to play wide, as was the case on saturday, is the worst of both worlds, still light in midfield and no discernable attacking threat on the right.

Instead of wishing for new players (that we probably can not afford) to make the system work, why not change the system to suit the players we do have?

We almost got there against QPR, Oakley, King and Wellens played as a fairly narrow midfield three, with N'Guessan deployed wide on the left and well forward and Waghorn and occasionally Fryatt pulling out to give us some width on the right.

Just needs a bit of tweeking to give us a decent 4-3-3 setup with the midfield quite narrow and width coming from the front men.

[clazkel]

If Oakley and King both aren't fit (i think King will be though), i would like to see

Weale

Morrison Hobbs Brown McGivern

Adams Wellens Berner N'Guessan

Fryatt Waghorn

If it doesn't work with Berner in the middle then Nicky Adams should play in the middle

[Nod.E]

------- Wellens

Adams ------- N'Guessan

------- Gallagher