Pilkington/Bennett

[unique 466]

Ask the majority of NCFC supporters and I think these two would be the wingers of choice in Hughton''s starting line-up.

It was good to see them both starting together yesterday, and although both have offered much more offensively in many other games, their defensive work was absolutely outstanding, with Bennett, particularly, putting in a number of superb tackles.

Good to have them both back!

[The acolyte 0]

Agree 100% pilks and benno are SUPERB. Better than surman for sure, heres to hoping hooton clears him out. He has had only one good game for us and that was wolves away. Pilks and benno really put it in yesterday and I look forward to seeing MORE of them.

[GJP 79]

They are the two best wingers at the club. You always get a good shift out of Benno but it was nice to see Pilks matching that yesterday and looking like he was recapturing his best form.

 

Lovely to think we''re in a position to have someone like Snodgrass on the bench (and surely Benno''s performance would have given him a kick up the backside too).

[I am a Banana 0]

They make snodgrass look average!! Pace and great defensivly. Superb wingers!

[Redders Right Foot 22]

never had a problem with benno, but I''m starting to see with snodgrass, I''ve probably had yellow and green tinted glasses on. A case of "I really want this long awaited signing to work out"

perhaps with benno now replacing him, he will get a case of holtimania and work hard to come back into the first team, either way, happy that benno is playing very well!

[Phillip J Fry 0]

Snodgrass seems to be more of a threat offensively than Bennett.

[Smudger 0]

Agreed, we have really missed these two on the wings.Nice to see Tettey adding that bit of steel to our midfield too.  Wes or Butterfield the attacking midfielder will give us a good balance and plenty of service to the striker/strikers.No surprise that the best starting line up Hughton has selected this season has provided us with our best result.Barring injuries I assume we will now see the same starting line up at Villa Park on Saturday.

[Yobocop 1,442]

Agreed smudger why change a winning side

[Lambo 0]

Snodgrass never has or ever will have the pace to be an outright winger, he''s better playing centrally in the hole between midfield and strikers, His best form at Leeds came from that position, however with Hoolahan & Butterfield to come back you have to wonder how much game time he''ll get in that role.

Reminds me of when England persisted with trying to play Joe Cole as a left winger, it doesn''t work because their natural instinct is to cut inside and get involved in play. They''re not disciplined enough to play as a winger.

[Phillip J Fry 0]

[quote user="Lambo"]Snodgrass never has or ever will have the pace to be an outright winger, he''s better playing centrally in the hole between midfield and strikers, His best form at Leeds came from that position, however with Hoolahan & Butterfield to come back you have to wonder how much game time he''ll get in that role.

Reminds me of when England persisted with trying to play Joe Cole as a left winger, it doesn''t work because their natural instinct is to cut inside and get involved in play. They''re not disciplined enough to play as a winger.

[/quote]

Firstly being a Winger or wide midfielder is not all bout pace and Snodgrass is not as slow as some make him out to be. In a straight race I think he''d more than hold his own against Pilkington and what he lacks in pace he makes up with skill on the ball, technique and footballing intelligence.

Secondly, Snodgrass''s best form at Leeds came playing as a right-midfielder who was encouraged to cut inside. Snodgrass''s main problem is how heavily he favours his left foot, because he always looks to cut inside and never try a run outside and a cross with his right. Even if it''s not successful, at least it keeps the defence honest and wary of letting him go outside or cit inside.

Snodgrass can play as a winger, he just needs to mix his game up a little more.

[Norwich or die tryin! 0]

When are people going to realize a 38 game Prem season is a squad game. All this talk of this player is better than that is pretty irrelevant. Personally I prefer Benno & Pilks to Snoddy and Surman, but do some of you really think its just a case of play those 2 every week from now on and it''s job done?

[Mungo Bumpkin 0]

Yes.

Mungo

[anonamoose 4]

Excellent result and spot on tactics from Hughton.

I do think its important that people remember that different tactics and formations will be needed for different games. Playing against arsenal with 2 holding midfielders makes a lot of sense, however if we did that against say QPR at home I would think it was too defensive.

I personally like to see us play with 2 strikers against weaker teams as Holt can get isolated, then the 4-2-3-1 away from home or against anyone really good. I don''t remember which game it was but i remember seeing Holt and Jackson especially cause a team a lot of problems linking up, Jackson got taken off for some reason in that game.

Saying all this. 4-2-3-1 against Villa, same line up. Hopefully pile some pressure on Mr. Lambert!

[ROBFLECK 134]

Those two are the best wingers we have, I think Snoddgrass can do a good job in midfield , but the real wingers are Benno and Pilks!. I think they''ve made a statement and Hughton has taken note of it. Next to that, I think Bradley Johnson has done that too. He''s been one of the most reliable performers this season, next to Ruddy and Bassong.

[kellybrook 0]

Both great players and gave us some pace and width.  Good they are back and fit - a luxury Hughton didn''t have initially and something many of our moaning "fans" overlooked.Benno gave Martin good defensive cover, something he has missed with his limited pace.It''s not rocket science.

[4th floor 4]

I do wonder if we''ll ever see Snodgrass over on the left wing. As he''s a good tackler he''d be a more defensive option than Pilkington and Surman, and could be paired with Bennett over the other side when the need arises.

[Rolf Harris 33]

We need Bennett''s pace, so we need to play him.

[Gingerpele 0]

It would be nice of Bennett used that pace going forward.

Instead of looking at a player slower than him, and then stopping to pass the ball. When ever he actually attempts to go past a player, he normally manages it, But these attempts are few and far between.

[Jim Smith 2,608]

I like Bennett as a player and he has a huge future for us but i actually didn;t think he was particularly good on Saturday when he had the ball. I can understand his selection against the bigger teams in that his defensive work rate is fantastic and he gives us a lot more solidity but in games where we are looking to attack more I think i might be tempted to give Snoddy the nod.

For some reason some people now seem to have convinced themselves that Snoddy has not done well for us when he''s played but for me he was clearly one of our best players in most games he''s started and (subject to one or two frustrating final balls and couple of chances he should have done better with) has looked a really good player.