Influential Centre midfielder / playmaker

[Wishbone 8]

Think we need one of these. I know Howson will be much stronger in the Championship but still think we need a player with much more ability on the ball. Wes was that player but who knows where his head is at this days plus he isn''t getting any younger!

[Guest]

Couldn''t agree more. Trouble is, where do you find one?

I''m not sure Wes was always in control of what he wanted to do. He often overdid it and we got caught.

Watching the WC, I haven''t really seen a midfield player who strolls around bossing the match. The Platinis, Zidanes, Ian Crooks aren''t being produced or allowed anymore.

Carrick had themakings but just didn''t have the ego to take it further.

Maybe Cameron McGeehan has the makings but I doubt will be quite able for next season.

[im spartacus canary 0]

yep agree kg only pirlo has done it at the world cup and only against england then again it was only england [:D]

[Guest]

[quote user="im spartacus"]yep agree kg only pirlo has done it at the world cup and only against england then again it was only england [:D][/quote]

Yes Pirlo is the nearest to the old school.

On reflection, our group was the easiest to win. Group of Death my arse. Four pretty ordinary teams.

[rock bus 1,059]

Just a thought but could we already have this player in shape of Surman?

Certainly skilful enough and maybe more suited to central role in championship??

[Guest]

[quote user="rock bus"]Just a thought but could we already have this player in shape of Surman?

Certainly skilful enough and maybe more suited to central role in championship??[/quote]

Surman with Holt''s ego and Lansbury''s swagger and you could have the right guy. But sadly, I don''t think he will acquire those extras

[GJP 79]

If we went into the season with Howson, Fer, Tettey, Surman and even Johnson to pick from in central midfield I think we''d be looking very strong. There''s a good mix of stuff there and I''m not sure there''ll be many clubs with better, if any.

 

Centre of defence looks more of a priority for me. Very hard to see Bassong playing for us next season (which is a shame because Bassong and Turner in the Champs would be hard to beat) and although I think Bennett would do alright we''d still be pretty thin on the ground.

[Carlos Valderrama 0]

I think Leroy Fer will do this job well in the championship. Good solid unit getting box to box, in the old Damian Francis mould.

[MancCanary 0]

Carlos - The thing is he had the talent to do that last year in the Prem - but seemingly didn''t have the attitude to make it count. So if he''s more successful in the Champ I don''t think it''ll be due to the opposition being weaker, but more to do with him sorting his head out and working harder, particularly without the ball.

[smooth 114]

Our whole midfield was underwhelming, tettey did his role very well when coming on but no one stood up all season and we didn''t create many chances all season. I do not think eb is that man out wide, Redmond needs to improve etc etc

So we need about two new midfielrs to join the group, but of course we have lost fox, we could lose hoops and pilky. So it is a key area and this is where we need to spend some money for quality, stature and leadership.we need to dominate midfields

[Salopian 1]

As things stand, we have have Fer, Howson and also Surman, who has been changed into a central midfielder with some success at Bournemouth.

I have my doubts about Surman''s physicality, but perhaps we should wait. He is certainly very mobile and under Lambert regularly covered more distance than other players.

The problem is that if we play two wingers, to supply the strikers, we can have only two central midfield players. I would not want to relegate Tettey to the bench, - at his best he is very good. Johno I am not so bothered about - he couldn''t pass in the Prem and I think that he will not be a lot better in the Championship.

Ideally I would like to have another Fer, good defensively, creatively and in scoring. If, as he has been quoted, he will see out his time at CR, do we need another? If he does go, then we shall certainly need someone.

It is the back four where I feel some improvement must be made. Bennett is seemingly slow to develop, and Turner will be OK except against pace, while we wait to see which Bassong may turn out next season. Martin is the best right back we have, although also troubled by pace. In fact the only position where improvement may not be needed is left back, where Olsson was tremendous, although if he were injured we have no real substitute defensively. Garrido is good going forward, but is possibly the slowest full back we have.

If you are going to play with two pacey wingers, and I hope that we shall, then we need a stronger back four or the two central midfielders will be run into the ground.

[Yellow Wal 315]

MancCanary wrote the following post at 28/06/2014 1:39 PM:

Carlos - The thing is he had the talent to do that last year in the Prem - but seemingly didn''t have the attitude to make it count. So if he''s more successful in the Champ I don''t think it''ll be due to the opposition being weaker, but more to do with him sorting his head out and working harder, particularly without the ball.

People must realise that it was not just the strikers who suffered with the restrictive system used last season.

Fer is a very good player who could easily tick all the boxes. He was used so poorly last season that we did not have the opportunity to really see what he could do.

With the very narrow attacking system used there was little opportunity for him to break into the box and little room for him to play creative through balls.

Added to that, so often there was no-one in an advanced wide position to pass to either.

A new system could show everyone a very good player.

[? 0]

To change tack slightly, what chance would we have of getting Joel Campbell, the Costa Rican player who is going back to the A*se this season?

Obviously not going to start many games for them and I think he will go out on loan again, why not us?

[Dex 0]

Lewis McGugan?

[Bill 1,788]

"I haven''t really seen a midfield player who strolls around bossing the match."nor have I in decades of watching footballwhat I did see over the past two seasons was a City team with players almost frightened to play their ''natural'' game ie by instinctmovement off the ball was all too frequently non existent - and closing down/marking the opposition was treated in a similar fashion (pressing. for the happy clappies)if players are not moving when we have possession it is extremely difficult for any ;''cteative mdfielder'' to find them with a pass, watch how many passes went astray, or in real terms were intercepted by the opposition as we remained staticchange the tactics and change the approach and things will come good ... as they did with Lambert who pretty much took over Gunn''s failing squad with very few changeswe don''t need buzzwors, just a different temprament

[Jim Smith 2,610]

People seem to be completely forgetting that we are in a lower league next season. All of our midfielders were fine at premier league level. Not outstanding admittedly but fine. They will all be more than fine in the championship. Even Bradley Johnson completely bossed the game with ease when we played Posh in the Cup. Johnson, Howson and Tettey will be very good at this level and Fer probably the best midfielder in the league by some distance if he stays (which I think is unlikely but you never know).

[A Gay Schoolboy 0]

imo we should be putting all our effort into getting Lansbury back

[whoareyou? 0]

Fer would be a stand out player in the Championship once Adams has coached out all Hughton''s negativity but i just cant see him still being here in August.

[Yelloow Since 72 56]

I think how many players leave will depend on how many PL teams are willing to pay inflated prices for our best players. Hull were with Snods (and Livermore), but I wonder how many others will be. I certainly can''t see many European sides doing so.

[lharman7 39]

I actually think we are fine in all departments as the squad stands. Even when Snodgrass leaves I think we have a more than adequate squad to challenge for promotion.

If no one leaves, IMO signing anyone else would be just luxury signings!

[Carlos Valderrama 0]

I think we looked a better team with Fer in it. I don''t think he looked as good as he can be last year because the whole team was under performing. Get Johnson battling in the middle and watch Fer shine next year.

Also expect the system to be much more aggressive next season.

[mighty yellow 0]

He scored against Man U last season in the Champions League last season and won the Greek league. He''s just been granted a work permit due to his performances for Costa Rica and will be at preseason with Arse. If he was to go out on loan, which is a possibility, there is a 0% chance that it will be to us.

[Donkey dangler 0]

[quote user="rock bus"]Just a thought but could we already have this player in shape of Surman? Certainly skilful enough and maybe more suited to central role in championship??[/quote]

We need midfield players who can play and perform their defensive duties.  Unfortunately Surman is limited when it comes to the defensive side of the game.

[Donkey dangler 0]

[quote user="Jim Smith"]All of our midfielders were fine at premier league level. [/quote]

Are you sure? 

[A Gay Schoolboy 0]

[quote user="Donkey dangler"]We need midfield players who can play and perform their defensive duties.  Unfortunately Surman is limited when it comes to the defensive side of the game.[/quote]Its weird to me that people are willing to accept limited players if their limitations are in the passing and attacking side of the game, but not if they are defensively limited.We saw in the last two seasons what a team made entirely out of defensive players with limited passing abilities looks like and its not something I ever want to see repeated.