Credit to Russell

[Sideshow Tim 110]

I haven''t seen it mentioned much on here but I thought Darryl Russell 2nd half performance in particular was superb yesterday.

He didn''t see much of the ball 1st half due to the amount of hoofball being played, however his tackling, work rate and distribution 2nd half was out standing.

Well done Darryl keep up the good work

[Brendo 0]

Completely agree [Y]

[Excited Canary 19]

Darel, but otherwise I agree.

[First Wizard 0]

I just wish Rusty would change his mind about staying here, maybe he will under Lambo''s management.

[Snoots 0]

He''s a good player and always has been contrary to the opinions of most of the lifers on here. He played the full 90+ minutes so his "injury" that prevented him from being picked for the squad for MK Dons can''t have been that bad !!!

[Mister Chops 7]

[quote user="Bob Franklin"]He''s a good player and always has been contrary to the opinions of most of the lifers on here. He played the full 90+ minutes so his "injury" that prevented him from being picked for the squad for MK Dons can''t have been that bad !!![/quote]No Bob, he''s a good player when he controls his temper.  Good players don''t go missing or get needlessly sent off which incur suspensions.   In relegation battles, it''s even more important.  Russell has the physicality but his temprament is suspect.

[Metatron 0]

I thought he did really well yesterday - and amazing that in a game as heated as it was, he didn''t get booked.

He does add that bit of experience in the middle alongside Korey (who also had a good game) or Adeyemi.

[nutty nigel 7,513]

Russell had the best game I''ve seen from him for a while so here''s an interesting conundrum - If Hughes is fit next week do we bring him back? If so in place of who? Or do we try and accomodate all three?

I would bring Hughes back in beside Korey and bench Russell even though he played well yesterday. But it is nice to have options in the midfield, we haven''t had that for a long time.

 

[grantroederdisaster 0]

Yes Russell was good!

[KingsLynnCanary 0]

[quote user="First Wizard"]

I just wish Rusty would change his mind about staying here, maybe he will under Lambo''s management.

[/quote]Interestingly according to Chris Lakey on Radio Norfolk yesterday he said that his sources tell him that Russell was withdrawn from the first team squad because the club had an offer to buy him and wanted to try and sell him - not that Russell was paticuarly fussed about leaving himself. Which would make sense as he was reintroduced just as the transfer window was closed.

[Barclay Bear 0]

I thought he had a great performance, Burnley don''t need him so I don''t see why we can''t keep him he''s worth hanging on to.

[ron obvious 1,501]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

Russell had the best game I''ve seen from him for a while so here''s an interesting conundrum - If Hughes is fit next week do we bring him back? If so in place of who? Or do we try and accomodate all three?

I would bring Hughes back in beside Korey and bench Russell even though he played well yesterday. But it is nice to have options in the midfield, we haven''t had that for a long time.

 

[/quote]It''s a tricky one NN! Hughes cannot be left out, I quite agree. Can Korey play wide right? Probably not ideal, but possibly no worse than Daley (at this stage) & it means you''ve got your best players starting the game; if one of them is below par you have the option to introduce Daley or Adeyemi instead.Good dilemma to have!

[O.T.B.C 0]

[quote user="Mister Chops"][quote user="Bob Franklin"]He''s a good player and always has been contrary to the opinions of most of the lifers on here. He played the full 90+ minutes so his "injury" that prevented him from being picked for the squad for MK Dons can''t have been that bad !!![/quote]

No Bob, he''s a good player when he controls his temper.  Good players don''t go missing or get needlessly sent off which incur suspensions.   In relegation battles, it''s even more important.  Russell has the physicality but his temprament is suspect.

[/quote]

Like Rooney, Cantona, and Bellamy?

[nutty nigel 7,513]

[quote user="ron obvious"][quote user="nutty nigel"]

Russell had the best game I''ve seen from him for a while so here''s an interesting conundrum - If Hughes is fit next week do we bring him back? If so in place of who? Or do we try and accomodate all three?

I would bring Hughes back in beside Korey and bench Russell even though he played well yesterday. But it is nice to have options in the midfield, we haven''t had that for a long time.

 

[/quote]

It''s a tricky one NN! Hughes cannot be left out, I quite agree. Can Korey play wide right? Probably not ideal, but possibly no worse than Daley (at this stage) & it means you''ve got your best players starting the game; if one of them is below par you have the option to introduce Daley or Adeyemi instead.

Good dilemma to have!


[/quote]

I see where you''re coming from with this but I think moving young Korey out to the right in order to field our best 11 available players would be wrong. The best 11 players at the club are rarely the best team unless you are lucky enough to have one for each position. So I''d keep Daley on the right and make the choice between Smith/Russell (because they did so well last game) and Smith/Hughes because they did so well previously).

 

[FilletTheFishWife . 0]

[quote user="nutty nigel"][quote user="ron obvious"][quote user="nutty nigel"]

Russell had the best game I''ve seen from him for a while so here''s an interesting conundrum - If Hughes is fit next week do we bring him back? If so in place of who? Or do we try and accomodate all three?

I would bring Hughes back in beside Korey and bench Russell even though he played well yesterday. But it is nice to have options in the midfield, we haven''t had that for a long time.

 

[/quote]

It''s a tricky one NN! Hughes cannot be left out, I quite agree. Can Korey play wide right? Probably not ideal, but possibly no worse than Daley (at this stage) & it means you''ve got your best players starting the game; if one of them is below par you have the option to introduce Daley or Adeyemi instead.

Good dilemma to have!


[/quote]

I see where you''re coming from with this but I think moving young Korey out to the right in order to field our best 11 available players would be wrong. The best 11 players at the club are rarely the best team unless you are lucky enough to have one for each position. So I''d keep Daley on the right and make the choice between Smith/Russell (because they did so well last game) and Smith/Hughes because they did so well previously).

 

[/quote]

 

smith played right mid vs charlton in may and was one of the only players who gave a decent performance. i think daley is the weak link.

 

my mid would be

lappin russell hughes smith

 

[B-ru 0]

[quote user="Canaries in Bed"]

[quote user="Mister Chops"][quote user="Bob Franklin"]He''s a good player and always has been contrary to the opinions of most of the lifers on here. He played the full 90+ minutes so his "injury" that prevented him from being picked for the squad for MK Dons can''t have been that bad !!![/quote]

No Bob, he''s a good player when he controls his temper.  Good players don''t go missing or get needlessly sent off which incur suspensions.   In relegation battles, it''s even more important.  Russell has the physicality but his temprament is suspect.

[/quote]

Like Rooney, Cantona, and Bellamy?

[/quote]

Like Lineker...? [:P]

[ZLF 271]

Its a no brainer for me,  russell to the bench and stick with the one midfield pairing of the last three seasons that looks like it could do us a decent job,  Smith and Hughes so why would we break that partnership up.    Russell was OK but does not have the same presence as hughes and Smith and we score more goals with hughes present. 

Right flank is a problem,  Daley has pace but no threat (a bit like croft really) while WLY has no pace,  but does keep possession,  create chances and gives us such good chances from set pieces.  Again an easy decision. 

Is Smith Hughes Russell better than WLY Smith Hughes?   Not for me

[Jim Smith 2,314]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

Russell had the best game I''ve seen from him for a while so here''s an interesting conundrum - If Hughes is fit next week do we bring him back? If so in place of who? Or do we try and accomodate all three?

I would bring Hughes back in beside Korey and bench Russell even though he played well yesterday. But it is nice to have options in the midfield, we haven''t had that for a long time.

 

[/quote]

 

I don''t see how we can go and drop Russell. he made a huge difference. I would possibly play Hughes alongside Rusty and put Smith out on the right. As we are away though maybe he''ll play all three in a 3 man central midfield?

[nutty nigel 7,513]

[quote user="Jim Smith"][quote user="nutty nigel"]

Russell had the best game I''ve seen from him for a while so here''s an interesting conundrum - If Hughes is fit next week do we bring him back? If so in place of who? Or do we try and accomodate all three?

I would bring Hughes back in beside Korey and bench Russell even though he played well yesterday. But it is nice to have options in the midfield, we haven''t had that for a long time.

 

[/quote]

 

I don''t see how we can go and drop Russell. he made a huge difference. I would possibly play Hughes alongside Rusty and put Smith out on the right. As we are away though maybe he''ll play all three in a 3 man central midfield?

[/quote]

I know you don''t. But I don''t see how we can go and move young Korey from a position he''s played so well in all season just to accomodate the other two. Smith would be no better on the right than Russell would. Hughes has been our best player all season for me so that''s why I said it was a conundrum. All three of them, whichever way we try and fit them in, probably unbalance the team. Just as it was unbalanced the opposite way on  Monday when McVeigh replaced Hughes.

It is a good problem to have but it was way back in 1966 that Alf Ramsey showed us that the best 11 players available don''t neccessarily make the best team a manager can field. He fielded players suited to the system he wanted to play and it worked.

 

 

[Jim Smith 2,314]

[quote user="nutty nigel"][quote user="Jim Smith"][quote user="nutty nigel"]

Russell had the best game I''ve seen from him for a while so here''s an interesting conundrum - If Hughes is fit next week do we bring him back? If so in place of who? Or do we try and accomodate all three?

I would bring Hughes back in beside Korey and bench Russell even though he played well yesterday. But it is nice to have options in the midfield, we haven''t had that for a long time.

 

[/quote]

 

I don''t see how we can go and drop Russell. he made a huge difference. I would possibly play Hughes alongside Rusty and put Smith out on the right. As we are away though maybe he''ll play all three in a 3 man central midfield?

[/quote]

I know you don''t. But I don''t see how we can go and move young Korey from a position he''s played so well in all season just to accomodate the other two. Smith would be no better on the right than Russell would. Hughes has been our best player all season for me so that''s why I said it was a conundrum. All three of them, whichever way we try and fit them in, probably unbalance the team. Just as it was unbalanced the opposite way on  Monday when McVeigh replaced Hughes.

It is a good problem to have but it was way back in 1966 that Alf Ramsey showed us that the best 11 players available don''t neccessarily make the best team a manager can field. He fielded players suited to the system he wanted to play and it worked.

 

 

[/quote]

 

Yes - is a conundrum alright. As well as Hughes has played though I don''t think we''ve had a 45 minute midfield performance as good as the second half on saturday all season. Smith on the right may work better as Smith has played as both a right mid and right back for the youth team so its not quite the same as Rusty playing there. He also did well there at Charlton at the end of last season and for 20 minutes at hartlepool a couple of weeks ago.

Having said that if Hughes can play right mid that could be another option. I don''t know if he can but he seems like the type of player who can play on the flank.

[ZLF 271]

[quote user="nutty nigel"][quote user="Jim Smith"][quote user="nutty nigel"]

Russell had the best game I''ve seen from him for a while so here''s an interesting conundrum - If Hughes is fit next week do we bring him back? If so in place of who? Or do we try and accomodate all three?

I would bring Hughes back in beside Korey and bench Russell even though he played well yesterday. But it is nice to have options in the midfield, we haven''t had that for a long time.

 

[/quote]

 

I don''t see how we can go and drop Russell. he made a huge difference. I would possibly play Hughes alongside Rusty and put Smith out on the right. As we are away though maybe he''ll play all three in a 3 man central midfield?

[/quote]

I know you don''t. But I don''t see how we can go and move young Korey from a position he''s played so well in all season just to accomodate the other two. Smith would be no better on the right than Russell would. Hughes has been our best player all season for me so that''s why I said it was a conundrum. All three of them, whichever way we try and fit them in, probably unbalance the team. Just as it was unbalanced the opposite way on  Monday when McVeigh replaced Hughes.

It is a good problem to have but it was way back in 1966 that Alf Ramsey showed us that the best 11 players available don''t neccessarily make the best team a manager can field. He fielded players suited to the system he wanted to play and it worked.

[/quote]

We win games with Hughes in the side and dont when he is not,  so he starts.  And Korey comfortably outperformed Russell on Sat so under no circumstances should be dropped.  I agree that Smith should not be shunted out wide just because its a problem slot and Russell was ok.  Smith has been the find of the season for me,  and one of the reasons (probably the only reason now I think about it) we have performed better under Lambert is that he has created that pairing and totally revamped our previously ineffective midfield.

Smith and Hughes always at the moment, 

Fitting any of hughes, russell or smith into right flank is simply repeating the effort of a striker out there (daley),  WLY is our best option there at the mo so one of hughes, russell or smith has to start on the bench.   Russell at the moment,  but it will be nice to at last have a decent central midfield option to have on the bench for when things dont go well 

[nutty nigel 7,513]

Even moving Hughes to the right is upsetting the balance because of not wanting to drop one of the three. If it works don''t b*gger about with it is a pretty good rule of thumb. For me Hughes plays in the centre in front of anyone. While he has been there this season we have scored 13 goals and conceded just 2. When he hasn''t played we have scored 6 and conceded 18. Even if you take away the Colchester result those stats are emphatically in his favour. Korey Smith, for me, looks twice the player in the centre midfield than he does wide right.

Sometimes we don''t notice why certain players make a difference. They''re in there doing their jobs and that allows others to play. I mentioned this the other day but nobody remembers Gary Holt from that 4-4 draw against Middlesboro but he came on for Mulryne with 20 mins to go. Although he did nothing really of note his presence allowed Hucks to tear Boro apart and make all thre goals. Hucks was more effective for us when Holty played because the team was better balanced.