Creative midfield player

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,020]

Who is our creative midfield player going to be? Whilst I am more than happy with the signings made thus far, there is talk about Safri leaving, and for me Brellier is not a straight swap, sure he breaks up the play but as the Hearts fan who posted on here stated (and confirmed by my Hearts season ticket holder friend) his distribution is poor. Dickson is in a similar mould as Brellier but more attacking but again creativity does not seem to be his thing. Is Fotheringham going to be that man, protectected by Dickson and Brellier, if so what formation are we going to play?, will Cureton have to play a lone role up front? to enable us to have all three in midfield?, which is not his game at all, as he has said himself he has played well and scored goals playing alongside a big guy. In my opinion if Safri goes it will leave a creative hole in a key part of the pitch. To me things still look a little unbalanced but I am sure it will all come out in the wash. 

[nycanary 1]

marshallotsebomorshackelldoherty (or new)drurychadwick/croftfotheringhambrellierhuckerbycuretonmartin/dublin/newalternatively, hux up front with cureton and put chadwick/croft on the other wing too.  but reality is everyone says jamie needs bigman up front to do well so that''s that.

[Rasputin was a C... 0]

I think you might be onto something with Fotheringham offering the creativity. However I don''t think we necessarily need to play 3 in the middle. Brellier sounds like he''s a tough cookie who could offer enough protection to the defence to allow us to have only 1 other in the centre of midfield. Now the jury is definitely still out on Fothers as he didn''t really get the opportunity to have a run in the side last season so hopefully with a full preseason under his belt he can come into the team at the start of the season and offer us the creativity we lacked last season. You never know we might sign another midfielder though with the way things have gone in the this couple of weeks I wouldn''t rule it out.

[blahblahblah 2]

I think if Safri goes he will be replaced.  I guess it''ll be a case of who plays together most effectively in practice and friendlies.  Brellier creates an interesting problem, we either play him with Etuhu and attack mainly down the wings through Huckerby and Chadwick, or we play 5 in midfield.  Last season our defenders didn''t seem to like 3 at the back.  They might have to get used to it for some of this seasons games.

[O.T.B.C 0]

I see what you mean mate, the balance would not be correct, I like my team to be, 2 full backs who bomb forward, 2 quick, skillful and good crossing wingers who cross in for a big man with a little man to poke ot away, a tough centre back who hoofs it away, the other centre back to be a passer, 1 centre midfield to be a tough tackling hard man and the other to be a runner but creative, how it would be to be in a perfect world,  now we know that Ethuhouhuouh that he is a darter and runner and a good one at that when he wants to but we will need a player to crack open the defence and provide a defence splitting pass, maybe just maybe he might step up to the task.

I would like it to be Ben Watson, although I''m not too sure how creative he is but still with the likely loss of Saffers then we should look at him, also I have seen on here that another possible target is Dean Marney, now although he did not set the world on light when he was here, I do think that his prefered and best position is center mid unlike the right wing as he is too light weight for that...

[ZLF 271]

Agreed SOB;  we cannot leave the flair to the wide men as it becomes easy to defend against such predictability.   Etuhu is about power and brellier/safri both prefer to hold,  although it seems safri is probably the best passer of the three. 

Fozzy may do it but he has to come to terms with teh pace of the champs and quickly otherwise he will continue to struggle.  A creative midfielder is a must for me. 

[nutty nigel 7,509]

I don''t see Safri as a particularly creative player SOB. I see him as player who gets close to others in the midfield and breaks up play a lot. He doesn''t get forward that much, only to take a corner! Don''t get me wrong, I rate Safri but he''s certainly no Ian Crook.

I like to see football played direct, I like ball winners and strong runners in the midfield. I like defenders to push up and hold a high line and the midfield get the ball forward quickly to the final third where the creative players like Huckerby can work their magic and do the damage. That''s the place to be creative!

 

 

[Old Boy 0]

I remember City-v-Reading a few years back, when Chadwick played in the centre of midfield and absolutely ran the game for them - quick, great awareness, direct, clever. That position should be his IMO.

[Salopian 1]

I don''t think that Brellier is any less creative than Safri. Their games are fairly similar - sit deep, break up attacks and bring or pass the ball out. They both do this, and if Brellier has a slight advantage it is that he is quicker and phsyically stronger. But we may see, if Safri stays.

[Icecream Snow 761]

From Grant''s comments when he tried to sign Matthew Spring, I think he''s still looking for a creative midfielder since we never replaced Mulryne

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,020]

NNN - I disagree, Safri is a good passer of the ball. I am not sure Brellier is, we need somebody who can distribute the ball, another outlet apart from the wingers as it will make us harder to defend against. I agree what you say about Hucks but we have to get the ball to him and Croft/Chadwick/the forward(s)......

[nutty nigel 7,509]

SOB - I disagree with me too if I said Safri wasn''t a good passer of the ball! [:D] I just don''t think he''s particularly creative. He plays very deep and he is the sort of player the oppo hate especially if they are creative players who want a little time on the ball because Saf gets amongst them upsets their rhythm and kicks (not always the ball either). I think Etuhu is a good passer of the ball too but I don''t know about Brellier because I have never seen him play.

I think a lot of our problems in the last few seasons have been caused by the whole team playing too deep. I guess apart from Hucks the most creative player we have had in that time is probably McVeigh. But so often these guys got the ball in their own half or just past the halfway line. Creativity or a little trick in that area may get a bit of space to start a move but if the whole team was further up the pitch that creativity or trick could be on the edge of the box and could result in a goal.

Like I said on the other thread - one of my favourite goals last season was the second at Hull where Etuhu won the ball in the midfield set Hucks away and then sprinted into the box to get on the end of  the resulting cross. Simple but effective, moving the ball forward quickly so Huckerby could be creative in the final third. My favourite goal was Huckerbys 45 yard run and shot to beat Birmingham. It was a case of the creative player recieving the ball deep and still managing to score. However the first example where the creative player got the ball early and in space higher up the pitch is much more likely to produce a goal in my opinion.

 

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,020]

NNN - Good point, well made, maybe Brellier is the "insurance" to allow Dickson to get foward more....

[Saint Canary 0]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

SOB - I disagree with me too if I said Safri wasn''t a good passer of the ball! [:D] I just don''t think he''s particularly creative. He plays very deep and he is the sort of player the oppo hate especially if they are creative players who want a little time on the ball because Saf gets amongst them upsets their rhythm and kicks (not always the ball either). I think Etuhu is a good passer of the ball too but I don''t know about Brellier because I have never seen him play.

I think a lot of our problems in the last few seasons have been caused by the whole team playing too deep. I guess apart from Hucks the most creative player we have had in that time is probably McVeigh. But so often these guys got the ball in their own half or just past the halfway line. Creativity or a little trick in that area may get a bit of space to start a move but if the whole team was further up the pitch that creativity or trick could be on the edge of the box and could result in a goal.

Like I said on the other thread - one of my favourite goals last season was the second at Hull where Etuhu won the ball in the midfield set Hucks away and then sprinted into the box to get on the end of  the resulting cross. Simple but effective, moving the ball forward quickly so Huckerby could be creative in the final third. My favourite goal was Huckerbys 45 yard run and shot to beat Birmingham. It was a case of the creative player recieving the ball deep and still managing to score. However the first example where the creative player got the ball early and in space higher up the pitch is much more likely to produce a goal in my opinion.

 

[/quote]

I think that''s spot on NN.  Safri may be a good passer of the ball but he very rarely gets in a position to put it to good use in an attacking sense.  Our midfield has, for several seasons has backed off and sat deep far too often and the needs to change this year.  They push the defence back further and further and we end up being camped in our own half.

Back to the original thread.  I don''t know if we will see this type of player come in, Grant may feel that Fozzy can step up this season or that Dickson is the type of attacking CM we need.  However, if I was looking I would say that Claus Jensen would be worth a punt on a free transfer.

[Cobain18 0]

[quote user="Saint Canary"][quote user="nutty nigel"]

SOB - I disagree with me too if I said Safri wasn''t a good passer of the ball! [:D] I just don''t think he''s particularly creative. He plays very deep and he is the sort of player the oppo hate especially if they are creative players who want a little time on the ball because Saf gets amongst them upsets their rhythm and kicks (not always the ball either). I think Etuhu is a good passer of the ball too but I don''t know about Brellier because I have never seen him play.

I think a lot of our problems in the last few seasons have been caused by the whole team playing too deep. I guess apart from Hucks the most creative player we have had in that time is probably McVeigh. But so often these guys got the ball in their own half or just past the halfway line. Creativity or a little trick in that area may get a bit of space to start a move but if the whole team was further up the pitch that creativity or trick could be on the edge of the box and could result in a goal.

Like I said on the other thread - one of my favourite goals last season was the second at Hull where Etuhu won the ball in the midfield set Hucks away and then sprinted into the box to get on the end of  the resulting cross. Simple but effective, moving the ball forward quickly so Huckerby could be creative in the final third. My favourite goal was Huckerbys 45 yard run and shot to beat Birmingham. It was a case of the creative player recieving the ball deep and still managing to score. However the first example where the creative player got the ball early and in space higher up the pitch is much more likely to produce a goal in my opinion.

 

[/quote]

I think that''s spot on NN.  Safri may be a good passer of the ball but he very rarely gets in a position to put it to good use in an attacking sense.  Our midfield has, for several seasons has backed off and sat deep far too often and the needs to change this year.  They push the defence back further and further and we end up being camped in our own half.

Back to the original thread.  I don''t know if we will see this type of player come in, Grant may feel that Fozzy can step up this season or that Dickson is the type of attacking CM we need.  However, if I was looking I would say that Claus Jensen would be worth a punt on a free transfer.

[/quote]

Good call about Claus Jensen, I agree although i did not realise he was on a free transfer. I''d like to see Fozzy step up and believe that he can but I think the fact that Grant has only given him a yrs contract maybe hints that there are still doubts there and he may not be a regular in the first team 

[Tetteys Jig 830]

Do we even need one? can''t we just have 2 from etuhu, brellier and safri with the rest fozzy etc challenging?