YOUR starting 11

[Old Boy 0]

Ruddy

Naughton De Laet Barnett Tierney

Crofts Johnson

Bennett Hoolahan Pilkington

Morison

[Shack Attack 0]

[quote user="Robert N. LiM"]No place for Surman in either team, Shack? I''d argue that your defensive line up has at least two players (de Laet and Johnson) out of position. Keeping Tintin at the back and Johnson in front of the back four, with Surman on the left at least allows for square pegs in square holes. De Laet in midfield makes me think of Southgate there against Germany - and he was so bad they had to knock the stadium down afterwards.[/quote]

 

Fair points. I wouldn''t consider Johnson to be out of position in that formation as he is a left footer playing on the left of a midfield three. I''m not expecting him to get chalk on his boots! You could be right about De Laet (I remember the Gareth Southgate experiment only too well) but I can only go on what I have seen from him in the games so far. He looks very comfortable (you could argue he is too comfortable) on the ball and the holding modern midfielder role is basically that of the old libero but in front of the defence rather than behind.

 

Surman is an odd one and it seems a lot of posters are keen to write him off. I think he''s decent and a lot of the criticism he gets is unwarranted but I don''t know if I''d want him in a midfield three if we were looking to keep things tight and play reasonably defensively. He is one of those players who fits the system quite well though and his ball retention is probably superior to that of Johnson or Crofts.

[mikewalker 0]

Team for Bolton

 

                              Ruddy

R Martin      Barnett        De Late     TIERNEY

                     Crofts          Fox

Bennett               Hoolahan              Surman

                                 Holt

 

 

 

 

 

[Robert N. LiM 5,944]

All the best skip-hire salesmen love 4-2-3-1

Wouldn''t be too disappointed by that team, Mike, though Naughton''s better than Martin, isn''t he?

[Robert N. LiM 5,944]

Shack, Surman actually reminds me a bit of Beckham (a much worse, left-footed version, of course).

He has no pace, and often seems to be uninvolved, but he rarely gives the ball away and I think is a trifle underrated. I also think it''s interesting that Lambert seems to pick him almost all the time. He clearly really rates him, as he obviously does Martin.

[Old Shuck 280]

Ruddy

Naughton

Ward

Whitbread

Tierney

Crofts

Fox

Johnson

Bennett

Holt

Hoolahan

4-3-3.

Still giving GH the nod!

Bit of extra steel in the midfield.

[The Great Wall Of Tettey 0]

Ruddy

Naughton De Laet Ayala Tierney

Bennett Johnson Hoolahan Pilkington

Morison Vaughn

Subs: Rudd, Barnett, Drury, Crofts, Fox, Holt, Jackson

[San Miguel 0]

i''d be picking;

                        Ruddy

Naughton  Barnett  De Laet  Tierney

          Crofts    Fox     Surman

                    Hoolahan

            Morison         Holt

[Sing Up The River End 0]

Ruddy

Naughton Ward Whitbread Tierney

Fox Johnson

Bennett Pilkington

Hoolahan

Morrison

[Shack Attack 0]

[quote user="Robert N. LiM"]Shack, Surman actually reminds me a bit of Beckham (a much worse, left-footed version, of course).[/quote]

 

[8] Much worse left footed Beckham.

Your''re just a much worse left footed Beckham [8]

 

I''m not sure it will catch on [;)]

 

I totally agree with you about Surman being underrated (in fact he''s so underrated that I left him out of both of my teams [:$]). He''s not particularly eye catching in that he''s not that quick, he''s not an aggressive tackler or a goalscorer. Those are the things that fans tend to pick up on. As you say he very rarely gives the ball away which is why he he was so valuable to us last season. Our game appears a little more ''frantic'' this season (the absence of two very good passers of he ball in Fox and Ward are not helping this) so I would imagine Lambert picks him to counter this slightly.

[ca 1]

I think Chrissie played well last week but we''re not scoring goals so I would like to see Vaughan given a start.

[6088m canary 0]

                    RuddNaughton Barnett De Laet TierneyCrofts     Fox     Johnson              Wes   Holt              VaughanThink this has a lot going for it......it is the diamond so our players know how to work it.....however, crofts and Johnson will give Fox a lot more cover and tuck in.....leaving our full backs to overlap.....something they have done very well so far,especially Tierney who reminds me of Konchelsky when Charlton came up.Wingers on bench to easily change it up if need be....Could even play 4-3-2-1  wes and vaughan playing off holty.

[Lets be aving you! 0]

                                          Ruddy

              Naughton      De Laet   Barnett    Tierney

                                         Johnson

                        Crofts                        Pilkington

                                        Hoolahan

                                Holt              Vaughan   

 

Ex-schoolboy sprinter Vaughan to provide the pace we''ve been sorely missing up front, so Chris Martin to "get the elbow".

[Robert N. LiM 5,944]

If we play the diamond, 6088, I think you''re right that Crofts, Fox and Johnson all have to play to give us some solidity.

But someone made the point on Sunday that Tierney''s overlapping runs, impressive though they were, left huge gaps for WBA to play diagonal balls up front to Long and the other one, whose name I can''t spell.

No coincidence that it was Tierney who let him go for the goal.

I''m not blaming Marc, by the way - just saying that if our full backs bomb-on, we are leaving our centre-backs pretty short of cover, and they''ve looked shaky enough as it is. And the diamond means that the full-backs have to bomb on.

That''s why I''m a 4-2-3-1 guy. I think in this league, the full backs have to defend first and foremost. Otherwise we''ll get slaughtered.

[splutcho 196]

Ruddy

Naughton-De Laet-Barnett-Tierney

Crofts-------Fox-------Johnson

Hoolahan

Holt-----------Vaughan

[Paul 0]

Ruddy

Naughton

De Laet

Barnett

Tierney

Pilkington

Crofts

Johnson

Hoolahan

Holt

Vaughn/Jackson

Subs: Rudd, Russ Martin, Morison, Surman, Bennett Fox and Vaughn/Jackon

C Martin, at home eating a pie

[ZLF 333]

Ruddy

Naughton Barnett De Laet Tierney

Fox Johnson

Bennett Hoolahan (Martin) Surman

Vaughan

[Yellowfuture 71]

Rumour has it that no Holty tomorrow!

[Clever Farke 75]

Ruddy

naughts Barnett De Laet Tierney

Pilks Johnson Crofts Surman

Holt Vaughan

Subs: Rudd, R. Martin, Fox, Hoolahan, C. Martin,

Morison, Bennett.

[zak123 0]

Easy. Most of you people are complete idiots. You clearly don''t understand what Chris Martin is all about! I really don''t want to be offensive or confrontational, but seriously, can you not see how ridiculously good he is? Obviously in my best 11...

-----------------Ruddy-----------------

Naughton-De Leat-Ayala-Tierney

--------------------Fox--------------------

----Bennet------------Hoolahan------

---------------C Martin------------------

-----Holt-----------------Vaughan----

I presume that this is out best 11 overall. If you mean against Bolton replace Ayala with Barnett.

Z

[Robert N. LiM 5,944]

Zak, I think I''m with you on Chris Martin - the criticism he''s getting is way over the top.

But your team is ridiculous. Only one out-and-out midfielder and that''s David Fox. That team would be ripped to shreds. You''ve got to have more solidity than that in the PL.

There is no way that Lambert will pick that XI this season. I''d go further: I can''t see him ever willingly picking a team without Johnson or Crofts.

[Yellow Wal 315]

Yes I agree. The criticism of Chris Martin seems to be based on pre-conceived ideas about him and his play. Certainly this season he has been as good as anyone and an important member of the squad. Having said that I would not be surprised to see Vaughan start today.

Perhaps not today but I can also see a recall for Russell Martin soon. Yes Naughton has great pace, which he uses well for his defensive duties but the timing of his runs, the space that he creates going forward and the final ball, I feel, is not as good as Martin''s. He just does not seem as dangerous in that final third.

Unfortunately I can remember another recent fullback with great pace who flattered to deceive for too long. I am sure that Naughton is not in that category but I feel that if Russell Martin can recapture his form of last season then he can benefit the team greatly.

[ca 1]

Wes is playing today, just off Holt [:)]

[October 0]

PERSONALLY I WOULD DROP DE-LAIT AND PUT RUSSELL MARTIN AT CENTRE BACK.

[ricardo 7,928]

Leave it to PL, it''s what we pay him for.

[Michael Bates 12]

My team would be

1.Ruddy

2.Tierney

3.Barnett

4.De Laet

5.Naughton

6.Johnson

7.Crofts

8.Bennett

9.Hoolahan

10.Holt

11.Vaughan

This is my pick for the strongest 11. I would strictly instruct Crofts to keep himself in front of the back four and if he does have a chance to go forward then one of the other two to sit back.

Also this team allows plenty of width as either striker can drift off wide if needed and still have two in the middle due to Hoolahan in the attacking hole.

[Canary1902 0]

Ruddy

Naughton..........Barnett.........Ward.......Tierney

Bennett........Crofts.........Surman

Hoolahan

Holt........Morison

Subs: Rudd, Martin, Pilkington, Fox, Martin, Vaughan

[Canary1902 0]

[quote user="October"]PERSONALLY I WOULD DROP DE-LAIT AND PUT RUSSELL MARTIN AT CENTRE BACK.[/quote]

AGREED!

[ca 1]

[quote user="thefutureisyellow"]Rumour has it that no Holty tomorrow![/quote]

 

Thats not true, Holt is starting today with Wes playing just off him - good source trust me [:D]