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Fox and the holding midfield role

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anybody else think fox isnt made for the role infront of the defenders? although it was obvious that nelson and ward didnt have there best games by a mile, i think the fact that they didnt have any cover infront of them may have an impact in what happened.

i feel that we need a similar player to russell, korey smith for example. i was keen to keep an eye on fox''s performance as speaking to colchester fans they seem to say that he is made as a playmaker more than a defensive minded player. Several times in the first half he just lets the opposition walk past him and didnt seem very keen on putting a foot in.

however when on the ball he seemed to be very calm. imo i think he would be more suited to the hoolahan or left/right midfield role ?

in other news, well played to crofts and the quiet surman, decent performances.

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[quote user="LinkNR9"]As stated in other posts, put Crofts in the holding role and Korey Smith or Fox on the right.[/quote]This!

Or, just swap the two and put Smith RB?

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[quote user="Oli Oli Oli Oli"]

anybody else think fox isnt made for the role infront of the defenders? although it was obvious that nelson and ward didnt have there best games by a mile, i think the fact that they didnt have any cover infront of them may have an impact in what happened.

i feel that we need a similar player to russell, korey smith for example. i was keen to keep an eye on fox''s performance as speaking to colchester fans they seem to say that he is made as a playmaker more than a defensive minded player. Several times in the first half he just lets the opposition walk past him and didnt seem very keen on putting a foot in.

however when on the ball he seemed to be very calm. imo i think he would be more suited to the hoolahan or left/right midfield role ?

in other news, well played to crofts and the quiet surman, decent performances.

[/quote]Spot on Oli... [Y]If Lambert continues to play Fox at the base of the diamond then we are in for one hell of a long season!

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If Fox is more of a ball player than a ball winner, then why is he at the base of the diamond?

If PL is going to persist with the diamond, drop Fox, put Crofts in there, who looks like he could run all night and likes to get stuck in and bring Korey Smith back into the right hand side of the formation.

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Fox looked out of his depth in that role last night.

 

He doesn''t look like a player who will put his foot in and win the ball which is what i would have thought you needed there.

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What? I can''t believe what I''m reading!

Fox isn''t a ball winner, or indeed trying to be a ball winner. He is comfortable on the ball and instead of having an enforcer in that role, we have Fox who can collect and progress our play from the back. I think it''s a genius idea and was not the slightest bit to do with our loss last night. That was defensive frailties. The first should never have been allowed to have been chested down, the second was naiivety and the 3rd again nutmegged Ward when we were stretched trying to win the game.

Croft was excellent last night and it seems a real shame to curtail him to being a bit part player to act at the base of the diamond as an enforcer.

Yes we''re playing the diamond, no we''re not playing the same type of diamond as last season. We have players with more dimensions to their play. It will come good, I am certain. The real question is away from home, what formation will we play then???

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[quote user="Muddy funster"]What? I can''t believe what I''m reading! Fox isn''t a ball winner, or indeed trying to be a ball winner. He is comfortable on the ball and instead of having an enforcer in that role, we have Fox who can collect and progress our play from the back. I think it''s a genius idea and was not the slightest bit to do with our loss last night. That was defensive frailties. The first should never have been allowed to have been chested down, the second was naiivety and the 3rd again nutmegged Ward when we were stretched trying to win the game. Croft was excellent last night and it seems a real shame to curtail him to being a bit part player to act at the base of the diamond as an enforcer. Yes we''re playing the diamond, no we''re not playing the same type of diamond as last season. We have players with more dimensions to their play. It will come good, I am certain. The real question is away from home, what formation will we play then???[/quote]

It''s not just about the goals, though. If you were watching, Graham or Sordell were dropping deep off Nelson and Ward to collect the ball and the defensive midfielder (Fox) got brushed away by these two time and time again, so Watford were able to set up chances in the final third - it wasn''t his fault, he''s just too lightweight.

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Fox was fine for me. We need to CBs to use him rather than playing it long as soon as there is any pressure. We were never overrun in midfield and pretty much all of their attacks came on the counter where it was our lack of CB pace rather than cover that caused our undoing. The main thing I took from the game, apart from Ward/Nelson being a bad partnership, was that they players seemed to think they knew what eachother was thinking but not actually doing so. What I mean by this is the number of times players left balls for others, only for the other player to have pulled up or blind passes being made to non-existent runs. In a way its encouraging that they are trying to play like this and hopefully after a few games they will learn each others game better. I think we saw what happens when they get it right with both our goals, Jackson''s backheel and Martin leaving it for Nelson.

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[quote user="LinkNR9"]As stated in other posts, put Crofts in the holding role and Korey Smith or Fox on the right.[/quote]For me, this is an awful idea, Crofts is excellent at winning the ball high up the pitch, putting himself about all over the pitch and contributing to attacking moves, obviously has a good finish on him too. I think play Korey at the base. We need more oomph about our midfield and a straight swap of Fox for Smith would give us it, but I wouldn''t want us to sacrifice the attacking talents of Crofts.

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For me you need two creators and two destroyers. Last season we had that but especially going up the league you need the protective unit. I believe last night we had too much creativity in the midfield which left us exposed easily at times. So i would bring K.Smith into the holding roll as I think its tailor made for him. and then Crofts right, Surman left, and Hoolahan at the base pulling the strings.

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