Dean Hammond

[MrSpaM]

He's made some great tackles this season in the few times I've seen him play

[Fox92]

I've not seen much of him to form an opinion in general, however, looking at his career history, I think he maybe a good player to have around the club; several promotions with Brighton and Southampton I think. Wasn't he captain as well? He comes across as a good professional as well.

[Leicester_Numan]

DM is possibly the only outfield role where you don't even have to touch the ball to be effective. They can cut off potential passes and halt attacks just by being in the right place, allowing his team mates to get back and cover. A player who does this well will be totally anonymous as it will never be noticed unless you spent 90 minutes watching them. This is probably the type of game that Hammond had at Ipswich

[ealingfox]

Have loved seeing him barking orders when he's come on, telling the others where to stand when we are trying to see out games. Something we lacked last season, just like experience, and a sodding DM.

 

Likely to be a shrewd addition and proving so thus far imo.

[The Year Of The Fox]

I've not see him do much in games Ive been to bar get a foot in here and there though the balls then ended up back with the opposition only momentarily breaking up their attack.

I still don't doubt he will come into his own towards the end of the season.

[Guest Col city fan]

Not at all, Makelele was the best in the business at it, was I as impressed as an Henry hatrick? far from it. A Torres hatrick is far more impressive than a john obi mikel wonder game... You do talk some garbage.

And how do you think Henry got the ball to be able to score a hat-trick? Because it was won back by the team, usually starting with Viera and Petit who then gave it back to him to do his damage.

Many people on here hail Izzett...

Muzzy Izzett would be the first to tell you that the presence of Lennon enabled him to play the way he did. He could get forward at will, knowing that Lennon would stay back and do the 'dirty work'.

I'm not surprised at your love of Henry. It's much easier to praise someone popping in a few goals than it really is to watch a game and see where those goals are starting from.

'Sven's son' is about right for you.

[Haydos]

DM is possibly the only outfield role where you don't even have to touch the ball to be effective. They can cut off potential passes and halt attacks just by being in the right place, allowing his team mates to get back and cover. A player who does this well will be totally anonymous as it will never be noticed unless you spent 90 minutes watching them. This is probably the type of game that Hammond had at Ipswich

 

Exactly. Personally I think King is sub-consciously (or maybe consciously if I give him a bit of credit) very good at this. Even when he's running back he often fills channels that cut out the route for direct passes.

[Bert]

And how do you think Henry got the ball to be able to score a hat-trick? Because it was won back by the team, usually starting with Viera and Petit who then gave it back to him to do his damage.

Many people on here hail Izzett...

Muzzy Izzett would be the first to tell you that the presence of Lennon enabled him to play the way he did. He could get forward at will, knowing that Lennon would stay back and do the 'dirty work'.

I'm not surprised at your love of Henry. It's much easier to praise someone popping in a few goals than it really is to watch a game and see where those goals are starting from.

'Sven's son' is about right for you.

But I think you're missing the whole point Col.

The original point was that the dirty work goes un-noticed. Just take the arsenal game last night. Wilshere takes the headlines but I can bet hardly anyone will remember the job that Flamini did for the team. The players themselves appreciate it more than anything but all the fans will remember is the goals and exciting stuff.

These players, Flamini, Parker, Fernandinho just go around solely doing this type of stuff and unless they're in a team that's in a dogfight all season their work will go unnoticed.

[Ric Flair]

It shan't be long until he pops up with a bullet header, he's a histiry of doing so.

[Guest Col city fan]

But I think you're missing the whole point Col.

The original point was that the dirty work goes un-noticed. Just take the arsenal game last night. Wilshere takes the headlines but I can bet hardly anyone will remember the job that Flamini did for the team. The players themselves appreciate it more than anything but all the fans will remember is the goals and exciting stuff.

These players, Flamini, Parker, Fernandinho just go around solely doing this type of stuff and unless they're in a team that's in a dogfight all season their work will go unnoticed.

I'm not missing the point at all. The stuff these guys do IS noticeable, for those wanting to notice it. The City fans used to notice the work Lennon did and applaud him for it. Making that timely tackle to stop the opposition from scoring should be praised as much as the player who pops up with the winner. I know I do.

No point missed here. Andy King's work, for me, never goes unnoticed. I simply think he's a better player going forward, and always have.

[MGLCFC]

Andy King is too nice to be a truly effective defensive midfielder - he hardly ever gets booked and whilst I'm not advocating a thug as our defensive midfielder, genuinely good ones are prone to a suspension or two a season, by the very nature they get stuck in and can mix it.

[Jimmy]

Andy King is too nice to be a truly effective defensive midfielder - he hardly ever gets booked and whilst I'm not advocating a thug as our defensive midfielder, genuinely good ones are prone to a suspension or two a season, by the very nature they get stuck in and can mix it.

not in the modern game, you are thinking back to the Paul Ince's Makelele was hardly ever booked or suspended, its about positioning and intercepting more then tackling now, the best DM's don't need to tackle as they just stop the ball from reaching its target

[Corky]

It shan't be long until he pops up with a bullet header, he's a histiry of doing so.

 

Scored nearly 40 league goals in his career, not a bad tally for a DM.

[Stadt]

Scored nearly 40 league goals in his career, not a bad tally for a DM.

One better than the Pole

[Bert]

I'm not missing the point at all. The stuff these guys do IS noticeable, for those wanting to notice it. The City fans used to notice the work Lennon did and applaud him for it. Making that timely tackle to stop the opposition from scoring should be praised as much as the player who pops up with the winner. I know I do.

No point missed here. Andy King's work, for me, never goes unnoticed. I simply think he's a better player going forward, and always have.

Maybe not for YOU but OTHERS. How many people comment about the dirty work...

Hardly any.

[Bettsj2]

He's shit. We should be signing better players.

Wot Pearson doin?

[Stadt]

Andy King does donkey work = good/missing

Dean Hammond donkey work = useless/anonymous/missing/not good enough/steady

[MGLCFC]

not in the modern game, you are thinking back to the Paul Ince's Makelele was hardly ever booked or suspended, its about positioning and intercepting more then tackling now, the best DM's don't need to tackle as they just stop the ball from reaching its target

The best defensive midfielders in the Prem

Paulinho - Spurs

Yaya Toure - Man City

Michael Carrick - Man United

Lucas - Liverpool

Michael Essien / John Obe Mikkel / Frank Lampard - Chelsea

 

These are all top modern footballers who have accumulated numerous bookings this season.

 

It's not just about positioning in our league, it's sometimes being able to fight the physical battle against big strong teams. Unfortunately Kingy is not this type of player and we will come up against teams, i.e. Millwall on Saturday where a strong physical presence is needed otherwise we may become overrun in midfield.

[Lineker's Left Foot]

Tbf I would start Kingy on the bench with James and Drinky in the centre

[svensson]

The best defensive midfielders in the Prem

Paulinho - Spurs

Yaya Toure - Man City

Michael Carrick - Man United

Lucas - Liverpool

Michael Essien / John Obe Mikkel / Frank Lampard - Chelsea

These are all top modern footballers who have accumulated numerous bookings this season.

It's not just about positioning in our league, it's sometimes being able to fight the physical battle against big strong teams. Unfortunately Kingy is not this type of player and we will come up against teams, i.e. Millwall on Saturday where a strong physical presence is needed otherwise we may become overrun in midfield.

Toure and Lampard defensive midfielders?? You are confused. You get booked for sneezing in the prem.

[MGLCFC]

Lampard and Toure do play that role, particularly when Chelsea have Hazard, Oscar and Mata playing. Toure is also a defensive midfielder, unless Fernandinho plays, who also picks up numerous yellow cards.

 

Good, tough tackling hard men do pick up yellow card - whether the modern game suggests they are not required I'd argue against, particularly in our league where last season around this time we were steamrolled in midfield too many times.

[Jimmy]

Lampard may well play deeper now but he is in no way defensive, he doesn't know how for a start, he is more of a deep lying playmaker, same for Toure and Paulinho, Sandro does the defensive job for Spurs

[Dan]

And how do you think Henry got the ball to be able to score a hat-trick? Because it was won back by the team, usually starting with Viera and Petit who then gave it back to him to do his damage.

Many people on here hail Izzett...

Muzzy Izzett would be the first to tell you that the presence of Lennon enabled him to play the way he did. He could get forward at will, knowing that Lennon would stay back and do the 'dirty work'.

I'm not surprised at your love of Henry. It's much easier to praise someone popping in a few goals than it really is to watch a game and see where those goals are starting from.

'Sven's son' is about right for you.

 

But you're effectively saying Hammond doesn't do this because he isn't crunching people with tackles?

 

I think it's a very English way of thinking that to be defensive, you have to do it with clarity - strong tackles, physique and strength. It's not always like that. The best holding midfielder on the planet at the minute (in my opinion) doesn't go round crunching people. It's down to intelligence, movement, organisation - as well as winning the ball. The latter doesn't necessarily make a good holding midfielder.

 

It's a bit silly to compare Hammond to the likes of Makelele, Petit & Vieira. They were all absolutely superb players.

[Guest Col city fan]

But you're effectively saying Hammond doesn't do this because he isn't crunching people with tackles?

I think it's a very English way of thinking that to be defensive, you have to do it with clarity - strong tackles, physique and strength. It's not always like that. The best holding midfielder on the planet at the minute (in my opinion) doesn't go round crunching people. It's down to intelligence, movement, organisation - as well as winning the ball. The latter doesn't necessarily make a good holding midfielder.

It's a bit silly to compare Hammond to the likes of Makelele, Petit & Vieira. They were all absolutely superb players.

I wasn't comparing Hammond to them?