Rowan Vine

[Tumbleweed 106]

Is it just me who was impressed by this bloke on Saturday? I thought he was terrific and held the ball up well, looked dangerous and energetic. Great goal in the first half. I was wishing he was in our squad as a potential partner for Earnie.

[Old Boy 0]

I wasn''t there on Saturday, but Mook told me about it, and it sounded like the Preston game - passing the ball, but too slow and careful, with no real attacking or probing intent. We do need a partner for Earnie if we can''t make the 4-5-1 work, and I don''t think (reluctantly) that it''s Leon. In my view, 4-5-1 could work well with Hux and Croft in there, but not unless we liven up in central midfield and get the ball to Earnie quicker. Sorry a bit OT.

[Huddy 0]

I was also impressed by Vine and he could be a much better cheaper option than Howard or Hulse would have been.

[Balham Yellow 0]

Agreed.  I thought he stood out.  Committed and direct.  Seemed comfortable on the ball and confident enough to run at defenders.

It''s difficult to judge on only one game but he looked the part to me.

[Mook 0]

If we give Earnie a partner, we lose stability in the rest of the park.

In my opinion, we need to do something with Robinson - he was completely out of position standing up front with Earnie! He''s a very good passer, but not a forward by any stretch.

If I was to tinker with the team, I would pull Robbo back into more of a def-mid role and let Dickson cause the problems up front.

I think having Hucks and Croft and Earnie AND a "target man" could leave us really exposed.

[JP 0]

Agreed. Vine and his striking partner, Feeney? really impressed me. They linked up very well together, especially in the 1st half, and he produced a great goal.

Vine isn''t the target man (e.g. Sutton, or, Horsfield) hes a far more complete and overall footballer. He reminds me of McKenzie, but just slightly better than him in all departments; better shot, better control, better passer .etc.

He did go missing rather in the 2nd half though, as we got on top. Once Huckerby had scored, i never truely believed, nor did they truely look like...scoring again, credit to defence/midfield. As I understand Vine is only just 21/22, which is younger than all of our first-team strikers, so maybe he''ll make a good signing for January as a boost to our promotion campaign!

[Tumbleweed 106]

Purely theoretical but someone like Vine sitting just behind Earnie (say in place of Robbo) would start to whet the appetite. At least Earnie would be guaranteed somone to lay the ball off to and it wouldn''t leave our midfield short (although Vine''s late tackle on Drury wasn''t the sign of a natural tackler).

Agree with JP that he was less impressive in the second half but that''s probably natural when they started to get pinned back a bit.

[Rossi 0]

[quote user="Mook"]

If we give Earnie a partner, we lose stability in the rest of the park.

In my opinion, we need to do something with Robinson - he was completely out of position standing up front with Earnie! He''s a very good passer, but not a forward by any stretch.

If I was to tinker with the team, I would pull Robbo back into more of a def-mid role and let Dickson cause the problems up front.

I think having Hucks and Croft and Earnie AND a "target man" could leave us really exposed.

[/quote]

For me the answer has to be to drop robinson. safri and etuhu do remind me of holt / francis with the added bonus that safri can pass! we did okay in that season!

if we are to play 2 in midfield the strongest combination is saf and etuhu, with robinson you need three. robinson is essentially back up for saf. if saf and robbo could do the job on their own etuhu would be able to link up with earnie better, but they cant and etuhu is covering for them leading to earnie getting no midfield support.