Youssef Safri to replace Holt?

[Pyro Pete 2,354]

After such a bad result I thought I would focus on one very clear positive.

I was very impressed with Youssef Safri''s second half performance today. He showed good touch, control and a wide range of passing. His positioning was good, he showed he can tackle and was more than willing to get stuck in when necessary. In short, he looks like the man to partner Francis in midfield. Sadly that will probably mean dropping Holt if Worthy sticks to a 4-4-2 formation. But I hate to say it, Holt has looked out of his depth at times so far this season.

[LinkNR9 0]

Apart from his attempted "Hollywood" pass at the end, which led to their 4th goal, I think that he had a very impressive debut. He certainly looked very positive going forward. I think that for the next match we should play Bentley on the right, Safri in the middle with Francis, Hucks left midfield, and The Doc and Leon up front.

[XXL16 0]

Francis and Safri together, would be good move but the best we have is a attacking midfielder plus a defensive midfilder, Holt surely the defensive one, but Safri and Francis are attacking player, you have to think about it...

[susie b 0]

Although Holty stepped it up a bit v Arsenal I too was impressed with Safri. He seemed to always have time on the ball and his vision was good. I think Worthy might just give the combination you suggest a go at Spurs, especially if Holty needs a rest after his tour of duty with Scotland.

[Canaries4ever 0]

I agree with you.

[DumbleDelia is Magic 0]

Agreed. Safri looked real class. He''s touch and skill were superb and I''d like to see him start at Spurs. I can see why he has a poor disciplinary record though :-/

Keep the faith

[silver fox 0]

I thought Holt had his best game yet against Arsenal and is adjusting slowly to the increased pace of the Premiership. Safri did look good but he will need a couple of games to get match fit. Francis also had a quiet game yesterday against the gunners. Sooner or later Worthy has got to decide which is his best starting line up so that those players can start gelling as a unit. We clearly have a talented squad now and all I can say is I''m glad I don''t have to pick the team, I''ll leave that to Worthy.

[yoda 0]

that would be ideal , but can you see worthy EVER dropping holt ?

[Gentleman Jim 0]

100% agree Safri''s appearance makes it clear what we have been lacking in midfield for ages.

[gazzathegreat 0]

no, yoda i can''t ever see holt being dropped, but if the next six games or so go against us, worthy might have to make some painful decisions

[jobian 0]

Ok. Safri looked ok. But to a certain extent Arsenal were letting him ping it round a bit. Seemed very much like Mulryne to me. Dropping back to the back four and knocking it out to the wings but no real penetrative through balls, because in that position there''s ten opposition players behind the ball. I don''t really think he got stuck in, pulled out of a few challenges. Now, I''m not slagging him off, I think he did well. But not so brilliantly he should start the next game. Whatever you say about Holty''s distribution, we need a traditional ball winner in midfield. IMO Francis and Safri would be too attack minded to play together in a 442. Maybe, Holt, Francis and Safri, in a 433 which would convert to a 451 when we lost the ball with the two wide forwards coming back to cover the wings.

[AJ 1,359]

i would like to start how we finished

Green
Edowrthy Flem Charlton Drury
---------Safri-------------
Francis------Bently
------Huckerby-------
Doc--------------Leon

Bently replaces holt.
Leon Starts


A diamond midfield with safri playing defensiv eand huckerby on a free role.
anyone elses thoughts?

[mr carra 0]

No way is Safri too attack-minded. He is a holding defensive midfield-player, and more importantly he is very comfortable on the ball and is always lookinf for it. That effectively means you get Holt & Mulryne in one player. Holt''s inability to control a ball and unwillingness to make himself available for passes actually make him a DEFENSIVE liability at this level. As we have seen so far this season, if you give Premiership quality players loads of the ball they will eventually carve you open. The only way to stop it is to kepp the ball yourself. We will never play good possession football for long periods with Holt in midfield. The ball spends most of its time going through the central areas so central midfielders HAVE to be comfortable on the ball and always looking for it. It is the secret to Prem success. Holty has a terrific attitude & workrate but players like him died out at the top level years ago, they simply don''t exist any more. He''s given 100% this year (as always!) but he looks a bit like a dinosaur. He''s been a great ficture for 3 years but if we are to survive we have to have the guts to phase him out.

[First Wizard 0]

Without doubt, on the ball, Safri looks class, but discipline and temprament, hmm, questionable.

[Creative Midfielder 2,203]

You guys were obviously watching a different game. In the Norwich v Arsenal I saw Holt was much better than in the previous two, where admittedly he was below par.

I dont want to knock Safri because it was his first 45mins but his tackling was clumsy to put it kindly, easy to see why he collects so many yellow cards, and his passing was Mulryne like.

Dont get me wrong, I''m sure he''ll get his chances but I didnt see anything yesterday which would convince me to start him ahead of Holt.

On a slightly different tack, what does amaze me is that Jonson started ahead of Brennan - anyone got the slightest idea why?

[mr carra 0]

Well, Jonson is better than Brennan. What confused me was that Jonson (a right winger) played on the left and McVeigh (whose better games for us have generally been on the left) was on the right.

[a1canary 0]

Not seen anything to convince me yet that Johnson is better than Brennan. Rather than the Safri or Holt arguement, what about both? I''m not going to shut up about this until i see it - HOLT SAFRI FRANCIS ACROSS THE MIDDLE of a five man midfield.
The options then are numerous for the two wingers but i''d like to see Brennan left and Bentley right with Leon or the Doc leading the line through the middle.

[Kolin Kob 0]

when you say his passing was mulryne-like is that really meant to be an insult? mulryne, despite his faults, is undoubtedly still our best passer.

[Kolin Kob 0]

i think worthy maybe wants to get mcveigh used to playing on the right flank as he might well be deployed there more often this season. a game against arsenal which we stood little chance in anyway was maybe a good opportunity to experiment. if it had failed, worthy would have received very little criticism

[Creative Midfielder 2,203]

Saying that his passing was Mulryne-like wasnt intended as an insult but it wasnt a compliment either! Mulryne probably is one of our best passers in that he gives the ball away less than any one other than Hucks but he also very, very rarely actually produces the kind of incisive pass we need someone to make. I know some people still think that Mulryne could do it in the Prem but for me he''s a very negative player and one we''re likely to see very little of this season.

As to Jonson vs Brennan, Jonson may be an international (as is Brennan) but I would suggest that the evidence so far is that Brennan is far more effective.

It seems to me that NW has quite a little conundrum on his hands - he clearly believes that people like Helveg and Jonson could be important players for us, and its not unreasonable that they need time to settle it and adjust. They also, of course, need to play but how much time can we afford to give them - Helveg did OK but not as well as Edworthy and Jonson has been a total passenger so far.

I tend to think we should take the long term view but we also need to start collecting points and it goes against the grain not to send out our strongest team, and at the moment that doesnt include any Scandanvians.

[rich 0]

I''m still maintaining we need someone else down that right side to help backup jonson until he gets into his form. mcveigh is much better suited to the left, and jonson still hasn''t adjusted yet. give the squad more options. safri looked promising,but need to see him in a full game to be sure.

[rich 0]

a1 im a bit confused if you play holt, francis, safri in the middle, brennan and bently out wide and leon or doc up front. where does huckbery play? or do we play 12:)

rich