Harry Wilson can take the set pieces
These two together are just too slow.
Vaulks and Bacuna would be my preference
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Harry Wilson can take the set pieces
These two together are just too slow.
Vaulks and Bacuna would be my preference
Ralls and Bacuna. Wilson 10.
I disagree. Pack has been our best player, over the last few games.
Will it make a difference? Let's face it, all of our midfield (apart from wilson) are slow and ponderous in thought and in possession. When do we ever see one of them skip past an opposition player or do something positive with a second ball or make a pass and bust a gut to get into a position where they can receive the ball in an attacking area or take a pass in their stride? It just doesn't happen. It's so slow, even the first touch lacks urgency, which tells me that the central three, whoever they are, aren't programmed to get the game moving. They're all bang average.Quote:
Originally Posted by WJ99mobile
Ralls has that bit of urgency in him to be fair. He's not a world beater, but he does look to drive forward and is more positive than the others. I've warmed to Pack as well, he's been one of our better players this season. I don't think those two are necessarily the problem, rather the complete lack of a gameplan on how we actually get the ball forwardQuote:
Originally Posted by Tuerto
Yeah I agree with this. I would prefer Bacuna alongside Ralls but Id prefer Pack to Vaulks.Quote:
Originally Posted by City123
Can't see anyone better than these two doesn't mean they are brilliant its just we lack any other replacement who are better .
Vaulks and Bacuna :hehe:
Pack and Ralls are our best options, sadly neither are very good at moving the ball forward but they are 100x better than a Bacuna/Vaulks midfield. Can anyone tell me what Vaulks role and strengths actually are? I can't think of a single positive thing he's done since the restart. As for Bacuna, he's stuck at right back for the time being and can't be relied on as a regular starting midfielder when he's seen as our back up right back.
One of our massive problems is the very fact that Pack has been one of our better performers lately.
Ralls and Pack are our best option. They need Wilson or. Tomlin ahead of them for it to work though. That third goal against Barnsley is the combination.
Long throws.Quote:
Originally Posted by Llandaff Blue
Joe Ralls (young Rallsey, as some still like to call him) has been referred to as one of the best midfielders in the Championship by some on here. He's not, nowhere near it in fact.
He has no composure on the ball, his passing is wayward and he is one-paced.
He seems to get a free-pass by many of our fans, yet the shortfallings of Will Vaulks, for example, are openly discussed, as are those of Marlon Pack.
The midfield of any team is the engine-room, ours just continually splutters.
We can point at some deficiencies in defence, attack also, but our real Achilles heel is our midfield and it has been for a number of seasons now.
Joe Ralls is a more than adequate Championship midfielder. We just ask too much of him.
And yet in a separate thread, which you posted only minutes earlier, you stated you wouldn't offer a contract to almost any senior player and that they all have to go? That's not really any kind of endorsement of Joe Ralls, is it?Quote:
Originally Posted by NYCBlue
If we let Ralls go for nothing, I'd be amazed if some top end Championship or even lower end Premier League side didn't snap him up because he's a good all round midfield player with no real stand out strengths or really obvious weaknesses to his game. The fact that Ralls made basic error on Wednesday shows how bad things are lately, but it was completely out of character - Ralls may be steady rather than spectacular, but he's hardly a player that you characterise as always having a mistake in him.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rock_Flock_of_Five
Who would replace Ralls? Seems to me that it can only be one out of Vaulks and Bacuna - Vaulks offers more of the same, but a bit less refinement and has been in poor form so far this season and although Bacuna's limitations at right back are clear, our manager has created a situation where, short of moving someone like Nelson there (Bagan is only been considered as a left sided player and it would be asking an awful lot of a teenager with so little experience to play out of position), he is our only option at right back until Osei-Tutu recovers.
Our best midfield of recent times was Bacuna, Ralls and Vaulks acting as a three with Tomlin coming off bench on 70 minutes to win the game. Bacuna is needed at RB, Pack probably just about offers more than Vaulks and definitely has this year when Vaulks has not produced his best.
Do we have any young players ready to come through in this position? The risk being that they won't get much support from players clearly out of sorts around them but anyone with energy and can play the ball would likely improve things. Something tells me that one such player ended up in Palace's under 23's team this past summer.
One of many failings Harris has made this season as ive said in an earlier thread, what was the plan if Tutu didn't work out?
We had three left backs and one Right back?
The squad like all squads needs constant improvement, either at the transfer window, loans or and it's a novel idea, promoting through the ranks
We should employ initially a DOF who has a team of coaches developing and training a system that runs from Academy to first team.
Managers may come and go, but the coaching staff and structure would remain constant
That's the starting point to build from
Once Harris is replaced and the sooner the better that's the strategy that needs to be implemented immediately
We don't seem to have a young RB ready to come through youth ranks.Quote:
Originally Posted by olderblue
A DoF would likely see a smaller budget for transfers but increase chances that money that is spent is spent more wisely.
My point exactly about the RB, so why didn't we sign someone to cover like Gunter on 12 month contract?
Harris knew we were short there and so could every fan, but the risk in signing Tutu, which I don't have a problem with, should have been balanced out by having an experienced back up
With Tomlin's injury, someone like Sion Spence would be handy to have on the bench, but there's also a player on our books who is currently on loan at Weston Super Mare who I'd rate as among the top five at the club in terms of natural talent and technical ability - sadly, I don't believe James Waite will ever get the chance to play at the level his talent merits because he has been deemed not big enough for first team football at the higher levels of the game.Quote:
Originally Posted by surge
Whereas I would agree that filling the position of RB was key, I wonder whether NH signing someone like Gunter would be sending out the wrong message about how he wanted to take us forward, that is to say someone ageing.Quote:
Originally Posted by olderblue
No doubt he would be having dog's abuse, not just on here, if we had signed him and performed the same way as we have to date.
Plenty going on behind the scenes we don't know about, the Big Three aren't exactly transparent about anything and as has already been mentioned on here, the main problem lies up the top and the long term plan, or lack of.
Edit:
Re the OP, midfield is definitely a problem and two of any of the aforementioned four I'm afraid just aren't up to it.
Yes. Almost. Within 24 months. And that includes Morrison. It's time for an overhaul, but I don't think Ralls should be singled out for punishment. He's not Whitts. He's not Gunnars. But he's better than average at doing his job.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rock_Flock_of_Five