Midfield- repeat of last season's position problems

[MPR 0]

Are we in danger of going down the same route we went last year? Kenton was outstanding at centre half and our downturn in form coincided with him going to right back. OK we''re still getting points but on Tuesday night and again today by the sound of things, we''ve got problems with taking someone playing out of his skin (Francis) in the centre and we''ve put him on the right and he looks totally lost. The report on this site says that''s the reason why he was taken off but I can''t fathom it out- Mullers isn''t a tackling/surging player in the mould of Francis and wouldn''t be too bad out wide. Time for Worthy to admit that either Mulryne, Francis and Holt can''t all play at the same time or put Mulryne out wide.

[Steve White 24]

Couldnt agree more - Francis is the most effective central midfield player we have, but him playing on the right didnt work at Stoke and didnt work at Wigan - it isnt fair to him to play him there. Worthy must decide which of the two is to play in the centre (Mulryne or Holt). Also, Easton was not the player to bring on in a battling game at Wigan, if Rivers wasn´t fully fit he shouldnt have been on the bench - perhaps Briggs (who has been treated fairly badly I think) could have been a better option.

[a1canary 0]

more agreement here - i''ve been keen to see mulryne out wide for ages now. there have always been opportunities to try him there as Rivers/Notman are incapable of staying fit!! But he always insisted on putting Nedergaard there last season.
Mulryne is a mini Beckam after all, who plays the same way, and he''s always been able to do a job on the right. With Mullers spraying accurate balls from the right, McVeigh working things on the left and the holt francis combo in the middle our midfield could be superb!

[ZLF 271]

Mullers a mini Beckham - I had never thought of him like that! He hits a mean dead ball and can pass the ball well when he has time but he is unfortunately missing the energy levels of DB.

However he is best when he has most options and he gets that in the centre of the park and not wide right. Playing wide his passing options are restricted and he can be marked out of the game very easily. His mobilitity is not fantastic and so he would not be an obvious outlet for the defence or central midifelders. Also his mobility will mean that the defence cover Worthys system needs cannot be supplied & an attacking menace maintained.

Harper is by far the best option out wide and has impressed for his defensive efforts as well as his attacking pace - he shows Rivers what he should be doing. He too should be on our shopping list. We have just been unlucky that the 3 players in one position have been injured at the same time and unfortunately the next replacement - Henderson - has not been at his best.

Francis & Mullers are not the wide right answers so time to try something else.

In the short term we should look to play to a teams strengths and keep players in positions they are acustomed too rather than fit a round peg in a square hole.. McVeigh is right footed and could play on the right wing. Easton has done a reasonable job on the left, only to be outshone by McVeigh - no shame in that. I would then pick 2 of the central midfielders that suits our opponents - Holt and Francis when muscle is required or Mullers & Francis when the centre of the park is not such a battlefield.


OTBC

[a1canary 0]

You misunderstand zipper - what i and i think the whole post is about is what to try when our no 1 or 2 options out right are injured, as they are now.
Definitely put Harper there if we can, or Rivers, but without them i think worthy could at least try mulryne out right. I''m not for a minute suggesting he''s as good as Beckham but his game is similar - he was his understudy at man u after all!
I''d rather see Mulryne out right than Francis since he was apparently even more lost out there against wigan than i think Mulryne would be. I agree McVeigh is another option on the right but without Brennan we are seriously short of players who can play left so he usually ends up there. If Brennan ever does sort himself out and start perfroming then Clint will become 3 choice almost straight away. Unless he gets back to pre Cardiff form very soon his days are numbered.

[ZLF 271]

I agree that Francis is a fish out of water on the right and he simply should not be played there. By all accounts Holt played well on Sat for the whole game - unlike therest of the midfield who all disappeared in the first half. On the back of Francis'' disappointing game at Stoke I can see why NW prefers Holt.

However Mullers is no better an option than Francis when it comes to the wide right position - for the reasons listed above - it is a position he is not accustomed too and the way city play demands a player who can defend and attack at pace. Hence my suggestion of sticking McVeigh on the right and Easton on the left.

Those who read the board regularly will know that I am no fan of Easton - I suggested we should have sold him last summer with the other players who were not up to scratch (Izzy, Emblen etc). However he did start this season in as good form as he has EVER displayed for city before NW finally saw sense and replaced him with the far superior McVeigh. True Easton has no more pace than Mullers (probably less) and is far inferior in the passing department - however he is a natural wide player and Mullers is not.

What we ae in agreement is that the midfield we are currently starting with, due to injuries, is not balanced and NW needs to use the blank weekend to find a solution in case Rivers or Harper are unable to regain their fitness in time. Playing at West Ham with an invisible midfield who dont want the ball is not a combination I would relish.

OTBC