chicken 0 Posted February 23, 2005 Ok time for some constructive critisism. I think we do have a team capable of top flight establishment and survival. In that there is no doubt what-so-ever.However, the problem still lies with work rate for me. I dont nessisarily mean how much they run around the pitch. If it was down to that then good old Carey would be one of the top names on the role of honour. You have to make something out of the effort.Firstly I have to admit that I havent seen City play much this season as it is my final year of university and being in the South-East of England at the moment it is not really a great possibility.However, from the matches I have seen Charlton is spot on.People have dissed Holt nearly all season yet he is still the only midfield player that is capable of really hasseling the opponents. People have been going on and on about how Francis is going to be sold in the summer for ridiculous amounts of money because he is a midfield player that scores goals and there arnt many that do that. Well unfortunately thats a pile of rubbish really.He can score goals and for that he is a great player, but for me he still has a way to go before he becomes close to being worth more than £1million. There are other players in that position that £5 million could buy you that are more complete.Last season he impressed me at Reading when he was winning the ball from other players and tackling and hasseling. This season he has needed to step up that part of his game and I havent seen it.In the Championship you can get away with having one out and out defencive midfielder and one out and out attacking midfielder but in the premiership you need to be good at both. Like I have said before, it is possible to play to players strengths, Holts has never been the long ball that splits open a defence. He is in the same mold of player as Makalele who helps the build up play by supporting movement in midfield with short constructive passes that at the very least maintain posession. Lampard works well with him because he gets back to defend but is also more capable with placing a good ball and having a crack at goal. He couldnt do this without Makalele building up play to get the right players into the right places. They are both cracking defencive players also.Thats what we need. We need the midfield partnership to work better together to complement each others strengths. Holt should be looking to offer the easy short option in midfield so that the players better at creating chances can move around into more deadly positions on the pitch.Like I said ages ago, we then need two quality wingers capable of decent crosses and setting up good chances. I certainly havent thought much of our wing play this season, especially when Jonson has been absent. I reckon that perhaps we should give Drury a run out on the left, he has shown he can cross well, and let Brennan or Charlton take his place at left back. Saying that I think Brennan has done a good job so far. At least his head is in the right place defencively! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
westoncanary. 0 Posted February 23, 2005 I think we have a CLUB capable of establishment in the prem but not a TEAM at the moment. That said, (all) we have to do is finish 4th from bottom at the end of the season, I don''t care how we do it or by what margin (Goal difference or points I don''t give a hoot, so long as we do). I think we have a team capable of that and as Simon Charlton has said, let''s get ugly and nasty, it may not be pretty but we need to do it to survive.Hopefully our finishing will be sharper for the upcoming match against Man City, I was at the Blackburn defeat and we should have been 3-1 up during the first 25 minutes, but wasted our chances. I couldn''t help but feel that Svensson would have converted at least 2 of the chances.It all rests on how we do in our remaining home games and away to Southampton and Palace. I don''t think last nights result could have gone any better for us, it''s now in our hands. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
3pmkickoff 0 Posted February 23, 2005 "Firstly I have to admit that I havent seen City play much this season as it is my final year of university and being in the South-East of England at the moment it is not really a great possibility."Why post detailed comment then, it''s been obvious that aside from Francis we''ve lacked consistent quality in midfield. Holt has done a job but hasn''t got the extra in his locker to unlock defences. As for wing play, it''s been non-existent this season and last. I could count on one hand the numner of times Jonson has taken his man on and whipped in a ball. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chicken 0 Posted February 23, 2005 But this is the problem. Too many people are seeking out one hero that can get us out of it. And that is just dreaming.Everyone keeps clacking on about Francis for being a good and proven quality player and a great. But I dont see it. Yes he is an acceptional player and is probably one of the players responsible for at least being able to compete to a good standard in this league.For me the team is weak defencively all over the pitch. Its not just the defence. Everyone goes on and on about our defence being shoddy but if we let quality teams camp in our half of the pitch what do you expect! It needs to quality defenders like Terry etc to be able to defend the lines.The fact of the matter is that Holt is the only player other than our defence that displays any defencive qualities. If we want to stay in this league then the goals need to stop going in. If 30 points is enough to stay up it should be preventing goals, not scoring them that should be a priority. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Northern Canary 0 Posted February 23, 2005 We need to pull together as a team to get these results rather than relying on the people like francis Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BedsCanary 0 Posted February 23, 2005 If you hadn''t already told us you haven''t seen many games this season, then we''d have probably guessed...Francis has been, consistantly, our player of the season. AND he scores goals. How can you argue with that? As for Gary Holt- before he became ill he was having a nightmare. Everytime he got the ball he''d give it away and he''d play far too deep leaving our midfield completely exposed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Francesco Volpe<P><BR><EM><FONT size=3><STRONG>A<STRONG><FONT>wesome<STRONG><FONT size=3>S<FONT><STRONG>ublime<STRONG><FONT size=3>H<FONT><STRONG>onest pro<EM><EM><FONT size=3><STRONG>T<STRONG><FONT>alented<STRONG><FONT size 0 Posted February 24, 2005 Bedscanary, i agree with you that Francis has been one of our best players this season, however he tends to go missing at times during games. The part of his game i liked most from last season was his tackling and putting his foot in aswell as going forwards in attack, something he hasn''t done as much this season. But as long as he keeps scoring important goals for us then i''m happy, like you said, you can''t argue with that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZLF 271 Posted February 24, 2005 I agree with you FV - Damo is still only showing glimpses of what he can do. He has been impressive in patches and has got the knack of being in the right place at the right time but he does need to add a piece of Holt/scholes like graft to his game.Holt does the hard work but doesnt have a tenth of Damos ability but with the exception of Stuart is better as Damos partner than any other central midfielder at the club. However Damo has earnt his place in midfield -its the other three midfield slots that are a longer term problem in this league.If we could graft Holt work ethic onto Damos positional sense and abilty we would have a £15m central midfielder...OTBC Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
