Centre Midfield

[shaunieboy77 73]

With all the posts, regarding best 11 , next 11 etc , one thing seems evident.. Bradley Johnson isn''t there. He is far from a scapegoat but his performances are average at best. Even when we were winning games .

Three centre midfielders on the bench. All unused.

[vlad666 203]

With most of our defenders being poor passers it''s essential that we have centre midfielders who can collect the ball off them and keep possession. When we play Johnson and tettey I feel that''s 6 outfield players who''s passing isn''t up to standard. That''s too many when you''re trying to control a game and open up a team.

Our other major problem is the lack of pace at the back. Excluding olsson we''re very slow and always look vulnerable to counters. You can get away with two slow centre backs if you have quick fullbacks covering but anyone with pace will have a field day against a trio of Whittaker, Martin and turner.

[SplatCat 18]

Yep

But bigger problem is that Redmond and Hoolahan are not a goal threat. They should offer more of a goal threat for the quality they both have.

[Olly 0]

Tettey + Howson is our best pairing, but I can''t remember ever seeing it?

Hopefully will on Tuesday night

[havemyhowsonit 0]

[quote user="Olly"]Tettey + Howson is our best pairing, but I can''t remember ever seeing it?

Hopefully will on Tuesday night[/quote]

If you''ve never seen it. How can it be the best?

[HertsCanary93 222]

I personally think we need someone in a similar role to Fox in his first 2-3 years with us. Obviously he wasn''t the most complete player to ever play for us, but he was superb at dropping deep to pick the ball up from the CB before smartly/accurately distributing it further up the pitch.

I see Howson as a more attacking central midfielder who is more comfortable being further up the pitch with the ball at his feet. Tettey and Johnson, while both happy dropping deeper, don''t imo quite have the distribution to move the ball effectively up the pitch with consistency. However, both are undeniably great at using their physicality to break up play and press the opposition.

Long story short, I rate both Tettey and Johnson, but I don''t think we need them both playing together as our ''2'' in a 4-2-3-1 and could do with a Fox type player in there to collect the ball from the midfield partner and the 2 CB''s. Looking at the squad, I suppose Howson would best fit the role at the moment (haven''t seen enough of VOO) but as I said earlier, I don''t think that is his best position.

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 1,738]

Johnson is often at his best when we''re under the cosh and are in a midfield battle.

whats unique so far about this season is that pretty much every game we''ve played, without exception , we have dominated a midfield and are always on the front foot.

when trying to unlock a midfield/defence camped out on in edge of their box,as we have faced on numerous occasions, then Johnson isn''t actually required as we require a bit more guile.