Fleming gets first bid in to stay as captain

[silver fox 0]

Craig Fleming has started the ball rolling by saying it will be a hard season ahead, despite the bookies making us one of the favourites to go up.  He says he is still suffering over the 6-0 defeat at Fulham, but he will be ready for the challenge once the season starts.  This is obviously the message Worthy wants to hear from his captain. 

I''m sorry to say this Craig but it will be even harder if you start the season in the centre of our defence.  It took Worthy a whole season in the Premiership, and he still didn''t drop his under performing captain.  Fleming was a great player in the promotion season and those before, but sadly he is now past his best.  If Worthy wants to be a genuine challenger for the top two places then his priority has to be finding a decent centre half to play alongside Shackell.

[Northern Canary 0]

Shackell should be captain. Hes a rock in the heart of our defence. Like a more agile malky

[3pmkickoff 0]

Flem is a good player at Championship level, we need experience alongside Shackell and that''s what he gives. The reason we shipped so many goals last season was not down to just one player. It was down to the fact that we had people in midfield who left the back four woefully exposed on numerous occasions. You don''t get away with it at the top level, plus Worthy had the fantastic idea of not putting a single six foot plus player at the back for the majority of the season.

Lessons have been learnt for next time but now there''s no point spending money when you have players proven to do the job

[Morph 19]

[quote]Flem is a good player at Championship level, we need experience alongside Shackell and that''s what he gives. The reason we shipped so many goals last season was not down to just one player. It was dow...[/quote]

Have to reserve judgement on that last comment ncfc4prem.

"Lessons have been learnt for next time but now there''s no point spending money when you have players proven to do the job"

We''ll have to see what happens first 10 or 15 games of the new season. I''m not convinced that he will change anything at the back. We''ll see the same back four start the season as finished it last season - Helveg (if here), Fleming, Shackell and Drury.

Even though now is the time to try a younger central combination.

...

[TheMarshmallowMan 0]

[quote]Flem is a good player at Championship level, we need experience alongside Shackell and that''s what he gives. The reason we shipped so many goals last season was not down to just one player. It was dow...[/quote]

While I see your point, ncfc4prem I think Charlton would offer all that plus solve all of Fleming''s issues (ie positional problems, ease of which he loses markers etc).

[LinkNR9 0]

I wouldn''t let Fleming be captain of my daughter''s U13 girls team, let alone NCFC! PLEASE, Worthy, leave him out of the team and get someone half-decent in there; how about Charlton, who''s got the class and ability to look after Shacks and develop him. He''d also make a good skipper too. Anything but Fleming, please. 

[Pudd 1]

[quote]Flem is a good player at Championship level, we need experience alongside Shackell and that''s what he gives. The reason we shipped so many goals last season was not down to just one player. It was dow...[/quote]

I agree completely! Fleming did look out of his depth last season, but I think that was more down to the midfield''s cavalier approach. Shackell looks like the future for our defence, but I think Fleming has a least another season as a good Champioship centre back in him.

 

Midfield has to be the priority to stengthen - we actually do have a bit of cover in defence. A couple of injuries in midfield though and we would really struggle.

 

 

[smooth 114]

the reason we shipped goals... was down to his awful positioning and ability to lose the attackers

unfortunately due to his game being reliant on sitting deep yes our defence was isolated... but when shackell was in charge of the back four we pushed up the field and defended properly

fleming can''t be relied upon due to his need to defend deep... our team will always be stretched hence when he is leading our back four

quite often last season i would see shackell take the lead and then after a few games flem returned to take charge... hence that saw us defend deeply again

flem is the problem for that reason... he should be in the reserves... no question

we can''t be a team moving forward if we sit deep... it is not how to defend in the modern game as it is tiring for your own team as big holes develop... unlike when you attack and defend as an 11 higher up the field

[AJ 1,218]

no way! Shackell or Helveg for captain!

Flem does no-where near deserve to be captain, in my opinion, captain canary or even the pigeons that fly around the ground have played better than Craig Flemming. If he gets the captains armband again, something is badly badly wrong!

[Putney Canary 0]

We love our scapegoats don''t we? Some of these comments about Fleming are very harsh!

Football is a TEAM game and it took a big team shakeup last season before we saw an improvement. We looked better when Helveg, Safri, Bentley and Shaks came in, and Leon partnered Deano up front.

Changing Edworthy for Helveg was key, Edworthy was often out of position leaving Fleming too much to cover. Also changing Holt for Safri gave us better cover in midfield, and stopped the defence being flooded all the time. Shackells pace was much needed too. Combined, these factors made a huge difference.

Malky and Flem were a great partnership; often a team and/or partnership deliver more than the sum of their parts, I think that was the case with Flem / Malky. Malky looked poor at West Ham, I think Worthy dropped the right player there. Certainly together they would have been too slow for the Premiership.

Shackell is the CB future, but he has a lot yet to learn and he will need a good partner. Some people say the Doc, but I don''t think he is any better than Fleming for a short term view (has he got much to teach Shaks?) and won''t be good enough long term. Charlton? Good (in my view better than Flem), but too short. Flem won''t be such a bad choice for next season IMO, him or Charlton to partner Shaks.

What we don''t see is how important Fleming is in the dressing room, it might be that Worthy values his leadership on and off the pitch hence him being ahead of Charlton. Iwan and Malky were both important for this, Drury lost his form and got dropped, could be why Flem retained his place over Charlton.

For the next time in the Premiership, Shacks will need a partner better than we currently have at the club. I would prefer that person to be bought this summer, but the midfield and right back (Helveg cover) are bigger priorities.

As for captain next season, Shaks is too young, a captain for the future. My contenders would be Helveg, Flem or Charlton, my preference probably Helveg.