Would YOU play Fleming?

[mighty yellow 0]

A simple yes or no will do, though feel free to add comments. I personally wouldn''t even have him on the bench anymore, he is not a Championship player, let alone a player punching towards the premiership. No.

[Alex Harvey-Jones 0]

All very well in principle but who else is there? Fleming isn''t the defender he was but I think he''s still worth a place on the bench and can do a job at right back too in case of injury. As Shacks, Flem and Doc are our only three centre backs who else would you put on the bench to cover this position? Halliday is a centre back but has never played - seems the only other option to me so yes I would play Fleming!

[Huddy 0]

NO

 

[0ridgemanddMMyyyy0Falseen-USTrue 0]

No.

[Tom NCFC 0]

Nope, Sorry Fleming, you''ve been a great player for us but like Iwan, you''ve ran out of stream!

Youth is the key now, Doherty should be partnered by Shackell

[Northern Canary 0]

What is the sudden obsession with Fleming?

[Branston Pickle 4,149]

[quote user="Northern Canary"]What is the sudden obsession with Fleming?[/quote]

With Worthy gone people have to harp back to last season''s/the season before''s scapegoats, I guess.

I have no particular problem with Flem, he has done a good job and covered r/b pretty well for us at times last season.  Whether I''d have him start ahead of Shacks is doubtful, but Shacks was a bit off form recently and we don''t exactly have that much cover there - hence Worthy''s failed attempts to get O''Brien from Pompey.

[Yellow Rages 0]

I''d play him as first resrve, given our lack of other options but as it stands it has to be the doc and shackell

[mighty yellow 0]

[quote user="Branston Pickle"]

[quote user="Northern Canary"]What is the sudden obsession with Fleming?[/quote]

With Worthy gone people have to harp back to last season''s/the season before''s scapegoats, I guess.

I have no particular problem with Flem, he has done a good job and covered r/b pretty well for us at times last season.  Whether I''d have him start ahead of Shacks is doubtful, but Shacks was a bit off form recently and we don''t exactly have that much cover there - hence Worthy''s failed attempts to get O''Brien from Pompey.

[/quote]

I''m not harping back as you so eloquently put it, just starting a harmless topic on whether a member of our squad is good enough. In response to AH-J, I would rather see youth given a chance on the bench yes, there is no way Flem''s contract will be renewed at the end of this season, so give someone else a chance. Also, can''t Spillane play center back? Cave-Brown is a promising right-back, who I would much rather see as cover. I''d probably rather have Hughes on the bench as cover, at least he can run.

[ZLF 335]

It depends on the circumstances - would I ever pick Flem again - undoubtedly yes, but..

 

Would I start with Flem if shax and doc are fit?   No

Would I play flem if one is suspended?  No - I would give spillane his chance as we need to look to the future

Would I play fleming if Doc is suspended and spillane injured - Yes; without hesitation,  we know he is committed and we also know his age related limitations, but I would pick him without concerns

[Salopian 1]

No, unless it is with a quicker player than Doherty!  Flem has been a great servant to the club but is now too slow. I worry about the decline in Shackell, and I think that part of the reason is that he has to cover for a wandering, out of position Doherty, and I think the same would be true with Flem. I don''t think Dublin could sover for the slower ones either.The youngsters, Halliday and Spillane, are very inexperienced, but must surely come into the reckoning at some point. Once Shackell has reocevered his form and Drury is back, one of the youngsters could be tried with Shackle.

[Marty 0]

Play each player on his merits, at the moment there are not many other options. I do think the defence gets the blame for bad team performances, in other words if your midfields is playing badly, not tracking back etc. then the defenence will look at sixes and sevens, but they will take the blame. When our 5 man midfields was working well the team looked defensively more assured. I think that Doc and Shackel can do the buisiness but not with a shambolic midfield. I also think Fleming has more to offer, OK he doesn''t have lighting pace but that never stopped Steve "arse face" Bruce did it?

[nolegs 0]

YES!

[Cluck 0]

Let''s see what the post-Worthington attitude at Carrow Road is.

Flem like so many other players may find a new lease of life...............

[Hughesy 0]

yes

[jetstream 0]

You all seem to be forgetting that we have another potential centre half pairing: Shacks and....Dublin

Might not be as daft as it sounds.

(Then again..it might be!)

[Yellow fever 0]

no

[USAcanary 0]

No.

As I already mentioned in another thread we are a top 15 club in England so our whole goal should be promotion, end of story.

Thats why I dont think its a good idea to play Dublin either. (its not because I hate him)

Even if he is a success, are you building for life in the PREM, obviously not.

You want a defence that plays together regually so when we hit the PREM they know each other well.

We want young players so we can build for the future.

I would rather play a youth player who is currently 90% the player Fleming is.

He has more upside and can only gain from experience.

 

 

[Canary of Manchester (barlodona) 0]

how old is rossi  he cud be a bench rplacment for fleming

[sheded 0]

Almost the entire team   play crap ,  and Flemmo gets singled out !    desperate  thrashing around for scapegoats ?   

I would say yes to the question  ,  if only because he  gives his all  , how many other players  can we say does that ? ........ fingers of one hand !

[Dicky 0]

Yes, of course - why the hell not?

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

I can never understand the crap Craig Fleming gets on here.  He has been a faithful servant and important player to the club for what 10 years.  Yes he is 34 now but IMO can still do a job.  Last year when he played Right Back he was solid and did a better job than anyone else last season there.  To single him out for a couple of poor prerformances where to be fair The Doc has been even worse than him and the team as a whole has been appalling is a total disgrace.

No I wouldnt start him, but Yes, I am happy he is in the squad and I am sure will prove useful yet again this season.

[Mook 0]

[quote user="USAcanary"]

As I already mentioned in another thread we are a top 15 club in England

[/quote]

Last time I checked, we were 17th in the second division of England. That makes us 37th in all doesn''t it?

Don''t think you''re bigger than you are...

I''m sure fans of Sheff Wed, Sunderland, Forest, Wolves, Leeds, The Binners, Southampton, Birmingham, WBA, Palace, Leicester and Derby and possibly even Coventry all think they "are" top 15 too. Along with Man Utd, Arsenal, Everton, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs, Citeh, West Ham, Villa, Bolton, Newcastle, Sheff Utd and Middlesborough that''s a pretty big top 15!!

It''s not "small-time" thinking, it''s just the truth. There''s a lot of competition to reach that elusive top 15 and you make it sound easy.

[blahblahblah 2]

[quote user="USA Canary"]As I already mentioned in another thread we are a top 15 club in England[/quote]

...And then I found another 11 clubs in the championship who will match our support if they start to do well.  The fact is that there are at least 10 "Big" clubs in this division, and only 3 promotion spots.  More important than size though, is attitude.  The players have to drastically improve theirs, or this club is going nowhere until January, which will be the first chance to clear out non-performers and replace them.

[USAcanary 0]

[quote user="blahblahblah"]

[quote user="USA Canary"]As I already mentioned in another thread we are a top 15 club in England[/quote]

...And then I found another 11 clubs in the championship who will match our support if they start to do well.  The fact is that there are at least 10 "Big" clubs in this division, and only 3 promotion spots.  More important than size though, is attitude.  The players have to drastically improve theirs, or this club is going nowhere until January, which will be the first chance to clear out non-performers and replace them.

[/quote]

Well those big clubs in this division ARE currently doing better than us yet are drawing much less.

If we are selling out 25,000 against Barnsley and Burnley, do you honestly think we could not sell 30-35,000 tickets against Man United?

If we added another tier and were in the prem I believe we would draw 30,000 a game.

Why is your assumption that others clubs attendance would go up but ours would stand still if we were all in the prem.

I do agree we need a clear out of players in Jan, thats why I favor a manager such as Penney or Tilson who can wheel and deal in the lower divisions.