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Lee Johnson


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But we still have to employ three midfielders to accommodate him. Not a dig at LJ really, but he can't play in a 2 man midfield as Saturday showed. Therefore to accommodate him in the side we loose some of our width.

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But we still have to employ three midfielders to accommodate him. Not a dig at LJ really, but he can't play in a 2 man midfield as Saturday showed. Therefore to accommodate him in the side we loose some of our width.

I don't think it's necessarily a case of LJ not being able to play in a 2 man midfield, it's more that our entire team seems weaker when playing like this. For example, in the Cardiff hammering, it was Hartley and Skuse in a 2 man central midfield and obviously that had the same problems so it's not a specific problem with Lee Johnson for this. One thing I don't understand though is why we can't just play every game with just one winger. This season Gary seems to constantly change his mind between width and no width and when we try to play an open and expansive game we lack the organisation to do it in an effective way.

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For me, LJ doesn't do anything that our other midfielders can't do and they bring more to the table. He can pass. He doesn't really do anything else that well and defensively is just absent.

We can't play him in a 442 unless the opposition is weak enough that Marvin or Skuse can do all the defensive work in the middle and that is nearly never the case at this level.

The problem with 442 as we played it against Donny was wide players not offering the full back any protection (more like 424) partly because of the habits they've picked up from 433 and because LJ doesn't defend Skuse therefore being the only player offering the back four any protection. Against Cardiff we only had the first of those two problems, but they were good enough to murder us just from the wings.

When we play 433 we usually have a lack of width, un-protected full backs and Maynard doesn't fit well. It tends towards us playing longer balls and being easy to shut out. We also rely full backs to provide service and they aren't any good at it.

It's as much how LJ affects the shape of the team around him as it is about his own ability.

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But we still have to employ three midfielders to accommodate him. Not a dig at LJ really, but he can't play in a 2 man midfield as Saturday showed. Therefore to accommodate him in the side we loose some of our width.

This is not an argumnetative response, I actually want to know why you think the above, as I was not there on saturday. I just want to see why you think it showed LJ in particualr, can not play in a 2 man midfield? How, for example, was he to blame for the hidious defending that was seen at times? Surely he wasnt? I just want to know what happened on that day that showed LJ can not play in a 2 man midfield? what did he do to 'prove' this?

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I agree but im sure you'll be shot down in flames, the knives were out as soon as the line up was announced on here last night.

Brilliant AC/DC track. yahoo.gif

As for LJ, well I don't rate him much but if he is going to be in the team more often than not, then I hope he plays well 'cause otherwise there's not much point in playing him is there.

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I was not a regular visitor to AG during the promotion and subsequent play off season,

therefore It has got me wondering if LJ came in for the same type of criticism during these seasons.

Was there a feeling then that he only ever got a game because of his father back then.

Not a loaded question, just interested.

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I was not a regular visitor to AG during the promotion and subsequent play off season,

therefore It has got me wondering if LJ came in for the same type of criticism during these seasons.

Was there a feeling then that he only ever got a game because of his father back then.

Not a loaded question, just interested.

I personally thought Noble was a much better player, and therefore it frustrated me that he wasn't played as much. Imo the year before the promotion season when we had Russel and Noble in midfield we played some really good stuff.

However, generally I don't believe he got as much stick, but some people still didn't think he was good enough then. The abuse has definitely increased and become more hostile since.

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I was not a regular visitor to AG during the promotion and subsequent play off season,

therefore It has got me wondering if LJ came in for the same type of criticism during these seasons.

Was there a feeling then that he only ever got a game because of his father back then.

Not a loaded question, just interested.

There was vastly less criticism of him.

In league one he was a good player, didn't get any real stick.

In our first season at this level we largely played 4411 which didn't expose his weaknesses, and his set pieces were very effective. The occasional bit of moaning when he jumped a tackle but nothing out of the ordinary.

The season after we signed Maynard and tried to play prodominantly two up front he was more exposed. Noble was being frozen out at the same time which was fuel to the fire for some. His set piece effectiveness dropped off a lot too. Plus Elliot had injuries and poor form which exacerbated weakness in the middle.

This season we signed two central midfielders of real class and Skuse has improved massively too.

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Nibor is right, the other factor in the play off final season was that Marvin Elliott was in unbelievable form for virtually the entire season, regularly covering huge distances, breaking up play and scoring a fair few goals.

His displays that season were the best I've seen by a central midfielder for us for probably 25 years.

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This is not an argumnetative response, I actually want to know why you think the above, as I was not there on saturday. I just want to see why you think it showed LJ in particualr, can not play in a 2 man midfield? How, for example, was he to blame for the hidious defending that was seen at times? Surely he wasnt? I just want to know what happened on that day that showed LJ can not play in a 2 man midfield? what did he do to 'prove' this?

The result is self explanatory I would have thought. But nevertheless, I'm sure we all agree the back four were all over the place, no question. But our defence this season has been suspect on several occassions, so why do we start defending on our 18 yard box? Donny had the freedom of the centre of the pitch, it was not just Johnson fault Skuse also had a poor game, but i agree with Tom F, that was conclusive proof that Johnson as part of a midfield two physicaly cannot cut it in my view. The team has to defend from the front, something that happened last night and certainly was not the case against Doncaster.

Really chuffed with last nights result but it would be fickle in the extream to suggest that problems experienced for large parts of the season have gone away and the midfield area of the pitch will continue to cause debate. As Johnson has shown that he can only play as part of a middle 3.

Interstingly from my point of view is that Hartley had a very good game last night, why is his non-inclusion last Saturday not equally contested from the pro LJ brigade????

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The result is self explanatory I would have thought. But nevertheless, I'm sure we all agree the back four were all over the place, no question. But our defence this season has been suspect on several occassions, so why do we start defending on our 18 yard box? Donny had the freedom of the centre of the pitch, it was not just Johnson fault Skuse also had a poor game, but i agree with Tom F, that was conclusive proof that Johnson as part of a midfield two physicaly cannot cut it in my view. The team has to defend from the front, something that happened last night and certainly was not the case against Doncaster.

Really chuffed with last nights result but it would be fickle in the extream to suggest that problems experienced for large parts of the season have gone away and the midfield area of the pitch will continue to cause debate. As Johnson has shown that he can only play as part of a middle 3.

Interstingly from my point of view is that Hartley had a very good game last night, why is his non-inclusion last Saturday not equally contested from the pro LJ brigade????

Good post!! For me he is way down the pecking order as far as midfielders go....but hey he still manages to be first pick??????????? And we seem to drop Hartley or Haynes to accomadate his selection.....should never be aloud??

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Good post!! For me he is way down the pecking order as far as midfielders go....but hey he still manages to be first pick??????????? And we seem to drop Hartley or Haynes to accomadate his selection.....should never be aloud??

If he's "first pick" why has he started 17 league games this season then when Skuse has started 28, Hartley 26 and Elliott 23?

That's not my definition of first pick.............

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Good post!! For me he is way down the pecking order as far as midfielders go....but hey he still manages to be first pick??????????? And we seem to drop Hartley or Haynes to accomadate his selection.....should never be

In my opinion i feel that LG isnt good enough for our starting 11, he has 1 decent game and everyone seems to praise him for it, he offers a few decent passes and thats about it. yet hes not srong enough, fast enough or aggressive enough. i just think that we have other central midfeilders sat on the bench each game who offer us more.

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If he's "first pick" why has he started 17 league games this season then when Skuse has started 28, Hartley 26 and Elliott 23?

That's not my definition of first pick.............

Sorry i meant to say has gone back to being first pick! Run the same stats for last season and the season before when he was equaly useless??

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Surely GJ picked a team to win the match (at Palace) and win we did ! His team selection clearly worked.

End of

So he picked a team to lose against Doncaster then?? Is that what you saying?? IMO LJ is not good enough at this level end of.....

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