Dr The Singh Posted 26 September 2011 Share Posted 26 September 2011 I dont criticise Vassell, just think he isnt the long term answer. As for playing him on the left I'd have to disagree. His best games have been as a striker and he cant play LM in a diamond which has three other central midfielders in it, the balance would be all wrong. I wouldnt worry anyway, he will always be in the team. Vassell works hard etc, but it's all about end product. Vassell isn't clinical enough as a striker, he maybe a better option on the wing! Vassel will be lucky enought to give you 10 goals as a striker!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox92 Posted 26 September 2011 Share Posted 26 September 2011 I dont criticise Vassell, just think he isnt the long term answer. As for playing him on the left I'd have to disagree. His best games have been as a striker and he cant play LM in a diamond which has three other central midfielders in it, the balance would be all wrong. I wouldnt worry anyway, he will always be in the team. I wasn't saying you critisize him personally, I was generally talking because he always seems to get targeted when he does nothing wrong. I agree Vassell looks better upfront, but he isn't going to score 20+ goals a season, and never has in his career. I think he is just as good out wide, and I was indicating when Nugent comes back, Vassell plays on the left in a 4-4-2 with Dyer on the right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Posted 26 September 2011 Share Posted 26 September 2011 I'd pick him ahead of Fernandes. Why drop Vassell? I don't understand all this drop Vassell business, the man is a good player and we need him in our team. If we're going to bring Nugent back, I'd like to see a 4-4-2, with the midfield being Vassell -- Wellens -- Johnson -- Dyer (there is no other option until we sign Kebe ) because Vassell is ****ing useless as a winger for a start Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrummieFOX Posted 26 September 2011 Share Posted 26 September 2011 Vassell works hard etc, but it's all about end product. Vassell isn't clinical enough as a striker, he maybe a better option on the wing! Vassel will be lucky enought to give you 10 goals as a striker!! Yea, this. He works very hard, will run at full backs however 9 times out of 10 it doesn't come to much. E.g. yesterday the one chance he created for someone else was when he should have squared the ball before hand, ended up running into their fullback and keeper and managed to lob the ball into the box (King then missed with his half volley). I'd definitely have him in the squad but feel Nugent will offer more and will create and score more goals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox92 Posted 26 September 2011 Share Posted 26 September 2011 because Vassell is ****ing useless as a winger for a start Ok, but in my opinion I think he is decent as a winger and is the best winger we have. He will most certainly run at defenders, look at the goal he set up against Nottingham Forest at home last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smudgerfox Posted 26 September 2011 Share Posted 26 September 2011 Why drop Vassell? 4 goals in 32 appearances last season 1 in six this season 3 assists in 38 appearances You couldn't call him any type of matchwinner on that basis. Yes he looks good but there is virtually no end product at all. Nothing whatever to justify Sven's loyalty to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Posted 26 September 2011 Share Posted 26 September 2011 Ok, but in my opinion I think he is decent as a winger and is the best winger we have. He will most certainly run at defenders, look at the goal he set up against Nottingham Forest at home last season. BIB: that's because we don't have any real wingers except Dyer who can't cross bit in Italics there's more to wing play then running at people, he doesn't produce enough and we've found a system, the diamond midfield, that is working for us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent Posted 26 September 2011 Share Posted 26 September 2011 I've no idea whether Johnson's got 45 minutes in him let alone 90 and am quite sure all our players could look lively for 15 minutes. As for replacing King - one of only two players who ever looked like scoring today - that will have one instant effect. It will reduce the number of potential scorers in our side even further. We had very few out there today as it was and you want to leave us with what precisely as far as serious goal threats are concerned?. Beckford for an hour or so, Schlupp for the remainder and a vague threat from Vassell and Mills. Brilliant!. Abe rarely scores or makes goals. Wellens rarely scores and doesn't defend well. Fernandes rarely scores, rarely makes goals and doesn't defend especially well. Yet you want to leave King out. Our club's most prolific scorer by a distance and a guy who virtually guarantees double figures in goals every season. Whatever next. Leave Kasper out and replace him with blow-up doll? Why do you rate midfielders on how many goals they score? As a rule a midfielders job is to create chances, you can play a Lampard/King type player which is fine and I don't particularly have a problem with King starting but you can't just have attacking midfielders, you need a mixture of playmakers and defensive midfielders too. In my eyes, in a three-man midfield you want attacking (King/Danns), creative (Johnson/Wellens) and defensive (Fernandes/Abe) midfielders to have a good balance. Obviously in a 4-4-2 system you can play two of the three. Like I said, I reckon King should probably start but I don't think you should base your argument against the others on goalscoring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davieG Posted 27 September 2011 Share Posted 27 September 2011 Merc Michael Johnson is ready to make his first league start for over three years, Leicester City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has said. The 23-year-old has not started a league game since August 2008 when he appeared for Manchester City in their 3-0 win at Sunderland. Eriksson, however, believes he can play a bigger role for City after his excellent cameo appearance at Cardiff City on Sunday. Johnson's career has been blighted by injuries since that appearance at the Stadium of Light and he joined City on loan last month in a bid to get his career back on track. After making a couple of appearances in the Carling Cup, the former England under-21 international came off the substitute's bench at the Cardiff City Stadium and impressed. Eriksson said he put Johnson on to help City regain control of the clash, and was delighted with his influence. "I think he is ready to start a Championship game now," he said. "You could see at once with his touch and his passes that he is a great football player. "The reason we put him on was to try to keep the ball on the floor a little bit and not knock it up into the air against the two strong centre halves. I think we became better after that. "He is an all-round midfield player. He can defend, he can attack, he has a good shot and can score a goal. "He can pass the ball very well and if he can become the player he was before his injury he will show he is a great player. "Some years ago everyone thought he would be the next England central midfielder. "He has everything and I hope he can be that player again." Johnson could feature again against Middlesbrough tomorrow, as could striker David Nugent, who has returned to full training after a month out with a hamstring injury. But midfielder Paul Gallagher remains sidelined with ankle ligament damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr The Singh Posted 27 September 2011 Share Posted 27 September 2011 Merc Michael Johnson is ready to make his first league start for over three years, Leicester City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has said. The 23-year-old has not started a league game since August 2008 when he appeared for Manchester City in their 3-0 win at Sunderland. Eriksson, however, believes he can play a bigger role for City after his excellent cameo appearance at Cardiff City on Sunday. Johnson's career has been blighted by injuries since that appearance at the Stadium of Light and he joined City on loan last month in a bid to get his career back on track. After making a couple of appearances in the Carling Cup, the former England under-21 international came off the substitute's bench at the Cardiff City Stadium and impressed. Eriksson said he put Johnson on to help City regain control of the clash, and was delighted with his influence. "I think he is ready to start a Championship game now," he said. "You could see at once with his touch and his passes that he is a great football player. "The reason we put him on was to try to keep the ball on the floor a little bit and not knock it up into the air against the two strong centre halves. I think we became better after that. "He is an all-round midfield player. He can defend, he can attack, he has a good shot and can score a goal. "He can pass the ball very well and if he can become the player he was before his injury he will show he is a great player. "Some years ago everyone thought he would be the next England central midfielder. "He has everything and I hope he can be that player again." Johnson could feature again against Middlesbrough tomorrow, as could striker David Nugent, who has returned to full training after a month out with a hamstring injury. But midfielder Paul Gallagher remains sidelined with ankle ligament damage. Hopefully, this is a challenge to Wellens, either way, it will only add competition and bring the best of what we've got! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thracian Posted 27 September 2011 Share Posted 27 September 2011 I'd pick him ahead of Fernandes. Why drop Vassell? I don't understand all this drop Vassell business, the man is a good player and we need him in our team. If we're going to bring Nugent back, I'd like to see a 4-4-2, with the midfield being Vassell -- Wellens -- Johnson -- Dyer (there is no other option until we sign Kebe ) Why anyone would pick Wellens above the goalscorer King is beyond me. Our team is way too short of goals potential as it is. And Johnson's not fit enough yet to be a starter. It's unfortunate. The bloke is clearly a good player. But that's the truth and people might as well accept that he needs more time otherwise we'll have him injured again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col city fan Posted 27 September 2011 Share Posted 27 September 2011 Why anyone would pick Wellens above the goalscorer King is beyond me. Our team is way too short of goals potential as it is. And Johnson's not fit enough yet to be a starter. It's unfortunate. The bloke is clearly a good player. But that's the truth and people might as well accept that he needs more time otherwise we'll have him injured again. With what we've got Thrac both King and Wellens should play for me. Johnson looks like he's got 45 mins in him at best..therefore I'd have him on the bench Some on here are again jumping on the bandwagon of Johnson being the key to improving an under-performing midfield. I disagree and believe that a midfield three of Fernandes sitting just behind Wellens and King is the way to go, with the correct formation... ie. some width Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thracian Posted 27 September 2011 Share Posted 27 September 2011 Why do you rate midfielders on how many goals they score? As a rule a midfielders job is to create chances, you can play a Lampard/King type player which is fine and I don't particularly have a problem with King starting but you can't just have attacking midfielders, you need a mixture of playmakers and defensive midfielders too. In my eyes, in a three-man midfield you want attacking (King/Danns), creative (Johnson/Wellens) and defensive (Fernandes/Abe) midfielders to have a good balance. Obviously in a 4-4-2 system you can play two of the three. Like I said, I reckon King should probably start but I don't think you should base your argument against the others on goalscoring. I don't entirely. Neil Lennon didn't score many goals but was clearly an important anchor in MON's team. Roy Keane was another later in his career when he didn't score so often. But I also look at every team as needing a certain scoring potential. In my head I give people marks for being natural/regular scorers and degrees of marks if they score less often. The same goes for making goals. Bottom line is our team needs a certtain level of scoring potential. It's the same with defenders to some extent. How many goals do we concede when particular people are playing. If it's a lot there's something wrong if it's a few then they must be doing something right. The theory provides a sound basis. Going back to the midfielders I wouldn't ignore a brilliant defensive midfield player. Or a brilliant creative one. But if I can have brilliance in those departments plus the benefit of goals so much the better. And King, for example, is not only a better defender and quicker passer than Wellens he scores lots more goals. If Wellens were a good defender then his ability to make goals would be a big bonus. But he's not a good defender and he doesn't score. Two parts of the four parts (goals, assists, passing, defending) necessary to make up the perfect midfielder are missing. With Fernandes it's worse. In fact, apart from his energy on occasions, I can't see he's outstanding at any of the four things. Danns remains an unknown quantity because he has no natural position in the team. But so far in his City career he's been disappointing. Abe is all energy and probably not getting forward as often as I'd like. But in the role he's playing right now he's another who just doesn't have enough effect. He doesn't score, doesn't make many goals, doesn't have many shots, doesn't pass the ball with any great acuracy or imagination and does an average job defensively. During my coaching days I had every player's performance measured during every game on variations of this basis. Strengths and weaknesses became much more a matter of fact than opinion. If you can show a player figures that show he made 100 passes in a game and only 30 were successful and of them only 20 went forward the point stays made. It's the same with shooting. Demonstrate to a player that he only had one shot in a game and he'll soon focus on having more. Show that he had 20 shots and only two hit the target and he'll focus on being more accurate. That's with individuals but you can apply it to the team by comparing them to a more successful team. And even without having the statistics to hand it is clear to me that we don't have enough players shooting or making chances and that we don't have enough players getting forward or delivering accurate crosses. As I've said, succcess is about attention to detail. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thracian Posted 27 September 2011 Share Posted 27 September 2011 With what we've got Thrac both King and Wellens should play for me. Johnson looks like he's got 45 mins in him at best..therefore I'd have him on the bench Some on here are again jumping on the bandwagon of Johnson being the key to improving an under-performing midfield. I disagree and believe that a midfield three of Fernandes sitting just behind Wellens and King is the way to go, with the correct formation... ie. some width The width is vital but, like so many managers, Sven prefers to insure the defence by sacrificing width. He leaves it to individuals to make some width and that's just expecting too much at Championship level. On top of that it's not a case of width being provided by just anyone. You need specialists out wide. People who make things happen. I agree with you about Johnson, have yet to see what Fernandes does well enough to win a place although the position you've outlined is arguably his best. Wellens his own worst enemy. He's at his most effective when he takes two touches and resists the temptation to over elaborate. Occasionally he does play like that and is our best player. More often though he prefers to by a Gareth Williams and it's all too ponderous. Penetrating organised defences is about speed and precision. It's about disturbing the defensive organisation and having the indivduals to make the most of that with their speed, skill and ruthlessness. Ironically, Makail-Smith is the best example of such a player that I've seen at Championship level and, for some silly reason, we didn't seem to want him enough. But that's moving off subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ithuriel Posted 27 September 2011 Share Posted 27 September 2011 Keep the same team, Johnson or who ever can come on as a sub if there are injuries or peeps are under performing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitlock Posted 30 June 2012 Share Posted 30 June 2012 His loan cost us around 1 million! Sven really did throw the cash about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
21st Century Fox Posted 30 June 2012 Share Posted 30 June 2012 His loan cost us around 1 million! Sven Top/Andrew Neville really did throw the cash about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox92 Posted 30 June 2012 Share Posted 30 June 2012 Ridiculous amount for a loan player, especially considering we was not exactly light on central midfielders at that time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewarmanator Posted 5 July 2012 Share Posted 5 July 2012 He's on channel 4, "Michael Johnson, Survival of the fattest" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueasafox Posted 7 July 2012 Share Posted 7 July 2012 Just read this artical makes interesting reading http://www.guardian....n?newsfeed=true Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardifflee Posted 7 July 2012 Share Posted 7 July 2012 Sad really, but what a cock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted 7 July 2012 Share Posted 7 July 2012 they must have been wetting themselves when we gave them a million, sounds like if we had given them £50 and a packet of doritos to keep him quiet on the drive they would have dropped him of themselves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardifflee Posted 7 July 2012 Share Posted 7 July 2012 Hey easy on the Doritos Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Posted 7 July 2012 Share Posted 7 July 2012 they must have been wetting themselves when we gave them a million, sounds like if we had given them £50 and a packet of doritos to keep him quiet on the drive they would have dropped him of themselves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mack Posted 7 July 2012 Share Posted 7 July 2012 Man city should send him on loan to an abattoir for a month to see what doing a proper job is like. The **** will come back like a dog with 10 dicks for football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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