Dismal

[Tufnell Park Canary 0]

The Damien Francis saga has oversahdowed what was another awful pre-season performance / result at Colchester. Yes, it is only a friendly, and yes we have injuries, but City''s poor form must be impacting on the confidence of the players - it is certainly affecting mine.

We can all say the result of friendlies don''t matter, but if we were hammering teams we''d all be on the site posting about how good norwich were and how it bodes well for the season.

Take off the rose tinted glasses - we''re not looking very good.

 

[nolegs 0]

Put the rose tinted glasses back on!Sure the games have been less than satisfactory,but it must be difficult to guage how much the Francis saga is unsettling the team,new players bedding in etc.I''m not asking for blind faith....well actually I am,cos after all we''re all city fans and over the years thats all we''ve had to rely on for a lot of the time!Trust me once this Francis saga is over things will quieten down and in a few weeks time everybody will wonder what all the fuss was about..........Damien.....Damien who...wasn''t he in the exorsist or something

[ZLF 271]

[quote]The Damien Francis saga has oversahdowed what was another awful pre-season performance / result at Colchester. Yes, it is only a friendly, and yes we have injuries, but City''s poor form must be impact...[/quote]

And with the furore around Damos future remaining (so far ayway) the players are hardly likely to up the ante and increase their focus against Inter are they?

I guess a lot depends on how experimental we have been (not enormously from reports) but at least the forwards have shown some appetitie at last but we are shipping far too many simple goals at the back again.

Should we continue with the Shacks Doc combination or let shacks and charlie have a go on Friday (assuming he is fit again).

And given the injuries who will appear in the midfield - currrently it looks like

Hendo  Hughes Brennan Hux

which to be honest would not scare old Mrs Scardey McScaredy, mayor of Scardeytown let alone coventry crewe or palarse...

 

OTBC     

[allways travelling 0]

[quote]The Damien Francis saga has oversahdowed what was another awful pre-season performance / result at Colchester. Yes, it is only a friendly, and yes we have injuries, but City''s poor form must be impact...[/quote]

would never go to another pre season friendly you just cant get any clues as to how well things are going to pan out when the real stuff starts. they are only fitness run outs. when we beat coventry at home thats were all the confidence will come from.it doesent mean a lot for confidence to beat the likes of southend or colchester.mind   you it would not do any harm to turn milan over as i think this will be ninety percent of the side he will start with against coventry.

[allways travelling 0]

[quote]And with the furore around Damos future remaining (so far ayway) the players are hardly likely to up the ante and increase their focus against Inter are they? I guess a lot depends on how experimenta...[/quote]

dont like doc from what ive seen or heard of so far.but i think shacks with charlie both left sided players would make it a bit lopsided ive heard the new lad colin can play there lets try him with shacks.

[ZLF 271]

[quote]dont like doc from what ive seen or heard of so far.but i think shacks with charlie both left sided players would make it a bit lopsided ive heard the new lad colin can play there lets try him with sh...[/quote]

I agree that Colin looks (from eports) like a good signing so we should find out whether he ca partner Shacks with LJ on the right.

Several teams play with 2 right footed central defenders with so why should it be any more lopped sided with 2 left footers, especially if they are our two best defenders?  Every thing else isnt working so why not give it a go...

 

OTBC   

[allways travelling 0]

[quote]I agree that Colin looks (from eports) like a good signing so we should find out whether he ca partner Shacks with LJ on the right. Several teams play with 2 right footed central defenders with so wh...[/quote]

which one would you play on the right side of defence i remember charlie playing at right back against someone last season he was awefull.was when he started to get dropped every week after that game.

[Anderz 0]

t''was Blackburn Rovers (away) when Charlie played on the right side of central defence and whilst woeful, it was pretty clear early on that Charlie wasn''t suited to that position. Whether some other left footed defender could play in the central position is up for debate but as regards Charlie, I''d have to say no.

[ZLF 271]

[quote]t''was Blackburn Rovers (away) when Charlie played on the right side of central defence and whilst woeful, it was pretty clear early on that Charlie wasn''t suited to that position. Whether some other l...[/quote]

My memory was that Charlie played right back with Doc and Flem in the middle and Drury on the left against Blackburn; it was indeed an awful display with Charlie horrendously out of position against them.

However there is a world of difference between playing centre back and full back and Charlie appears to have the ability to cope in most positions.    Given two right footed players can play in the middle, the current three centre backs are hopeless together why not pair charlie and Shacks, probably with Charlie on the right side given his extra experience - it cant be worse than shacks/flem, doc flem, doc shacks can it.   But I would prefer to see colin and shacks first.

 

OTBC

 

[Thirsty Lizard 3,154]

I just really worry about the height thing if Charlie is playing at centre back. It was less of a worry in the Premiership because teams keep the ball on the deck a lot more when they are attacking.

In the Championship most teams preferred method of attack is to lump it up in the air to the big men and I can just see us being put under a hell of a lot of unecessary pressure if Charlie is playing at centre back. In my recollection Charlie''s not even that good in the air for his height. I''m thinking of Dickov''s headed goal for Blackburn last season and Charlie''s comical missed header against Birmingham which somehow didn''t lead to us conceding a goal.

Anyway, it''s good to hear that Colin is looking good so maybe it should be him and Shacks, although personally I''d start with Shack and the Doc.