Marlon Pack

[SStandUp]

Absolute class 

[MelksRed]

I agree.......

Made a definate contribution to the game with a multitude of runs, mixture of excellent passes/deliveries and a decent first touch. Looked comfortable on the ball in all situations and has gone from strength to strength over the last couple of seasons. 

COYRs

[Lrrr]

Question is what is our best CM combo from Smith, Pack, Brownhill? I thought Brownhill's ability on the ball freed up Pack to play further forward more often which brought more out of Pack, but we lost Korey's ability to break up play.

[And Its Smith]

MOTM easily

[BobBobSuperBob]

1 minute ago, RedDave said:

MOTM easily

Eliasson by a mile

[Lrrr]

11 minutes ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

Eliasson by a mile

Don't know if I'd say by a mile Pack was solid in the middle whereas Eliasson's contribution is the more noticeable because of what it involves, Pack and Eliasson though a step above anyone else. 

[wendyredredrobin]

I have the feeling that Marlon is going to have an immense season this year and earn himself a big money transfer to the prem, 3 year contract or not. He's solid and puts in some defence splitting passes.  He and Korey are the backbone of our team.  We do have a problem if one of them is suspended or injured though.

[Lrrr]

2 minutes ago, wendyredredrobin said:

I have the feeling that Marlon is going to have an immense season this year and earn himself a big money transfer to the prem, 3 year contract or not. He's solid and puts in some defence splitting passes.  He and Korey are the backbone of our team.  We do have a problem if one of them is suspended or injured though.

I don't think so tbh, we saw today that Pack and Brownhill can operate together, if Pack's missing then Josh takes over his role instead. 

[wendyredredrobin]

2 minutes ago, hodge said:

I don't think so tbh, we saw today that Pack and Brownhill can operate together, if Pack's missing then Josh takes over his role instead. 

I like Josh, but not so much in the holding role.

[Lrrr]

Just now, wendyredredrobin said:

I like Josh, but not so much in the holding role.

More Pack's role on the ball, dropping deep to collect it etc, Korey is perfectly capable of the other responsibilities in the holding role. 

[cidered abroad]

I thought that Pack looked good tonight playing in front of the back four. It allowed Brownhill to go further forward and link with strikers and wide players. 

IMO, with Pack and Smith are too similar to play together and we look better with only one. I don't expect LJ to agree with me so they'll be alongside one another against Forest. 

[Olé]

I went into the game worrying about our midfield and our ability to create. On the basis of tonight I now think that Brownhill, Pack and Eliasson are going to ball, the number of slide rule passes out of central midfield today was worth the trip even if  miscued most of them. I now think our main issue is in defence. Pisano didn't look even close to the rest of them when he came on and we definitely pushed up and got caught with only 2-3 people back. In competitive games people who break at pace will kill us. Their goal was basically Baker  stuck on his own and clearing it with a header straight to the other striker. Defence is our risk now.

[ZiderEyed]

The way he disguises his passing is absolutely gorgeous to watch. Reminds me of Riquelme and Veron. Anyone who doesn't see how good he is should consider never watching football again.

[Lrrr]

15 minutes ago, Olé said:

I went into the game worrying about our midfield and our ability to create. On the basis of tonight I now think that Brownhill, Pack and Eliasson are going to ball, the number of slide rule passes out of central midfield today was worth the trip even if  miscued most of them. I now think our main issue is in defence. Pisano didn't look even close to the rest of them when he came on and we definitely pushed up and got caught with only 2-3 people back. In competitive games people who break at pace will kill us. Their goal was basically Baker  stuck on his own and clearing it with a header straight to the other striker. Defence is our risk now.

Baker was very unlucky with the bounce though, held up horribly on the bounce when it looked like it should bounce more infront of him, he got trapped under it with no chance to take a step or two to put some power into the header, so his two options were to head it into space, which he did but the striker got there first with no one else around or let it drop and risk King being right on him and nabbing the ball off him, took the safer option in theory but didn't work out.

[The Bard]

1 hour ago, hodge said:

Question is what is our best CM combo from Smith, Pack, Brownhill? I thought Brownhill's ability on the ball freed up Pack to play further forward more often which brought more out of Pack, but we lost Korey's ability to break up play.

Smith and Pack every time.  We had a much greater authority in the 2nd half.    We controlled it I thought.  I worry if we lost the pair of them for any amount of time.  Brownhill and Walsh is not a Championship midfield by any stretch.

[The Bard]

22 minutes ago, Olé said:

I went into the game worrying about our midfield and our ability to create. On the basis of tonight I now think that Brownhill, Pack and Eliasson are going to ball, the number of slide rule passes out of central midfield today was worth the trip even if  miscued most of them. I now think our main issue is in defence. Pisano didn't look even close to the rest of them when he came on and we definitely pushed up and got caught with only 2-3 people back. In competitive games people who break at pace will kill us. Their goal was basically Baker  stuck on his own and clearing it with a header straight to the other striker. Defence is our risk now.

Agree 100%. We need Hunt to become a mainstay, Kelly to get fit and step up and Bailey Wright to get involved.  

[wendyredredrobin]

22 minutes ago, The Bard said:

Agree 100%. We need Hunt to become a mainstay, Kelly to get fit and step up and Bailey Wright to get involved.  

If Webster & Baker are our first choice centre backs, Wright will have to earn his place, but he will get the opportunity because Webster and Baker are injury prone.  If Joe stays, Kelly will be his understudy, but he too will get opportunities as he can fill in at LB or CB.  Hunt and Pisano competing for RB can only be good and it will be interesting to see which comes out on top. Whilst I like Eros, we played him half fit for a lot of last season and that didn't help.  I have a feeling that Hunt may displace him though.

[Davefevs]

2 hours ago, hodge said:

Question is what is our best CM combo from Smith, Pack, Brownhill? I thought Brownhill's ability on the ball freed up Pack to play further forward more often which brought more out of Pack, but we lost Korey's ability to break up play.

I like seeing Pack further forward.  I think he has great vision, can weight a pass so perfectly that doing it in the final third can make us more threatening.  Plus he can also hit long-rangers.

[havanatopia]

6 hours ago, Olé said:

even if  miscued most of the ball.

Defence is our risk now.

Were you watching The Open when you squiggled that green thing?

As for our defence; its been our risk for at least 2 seasons so nothing new.

4 hours ago, Davefevs said:

I like seeing Pack further forward.  I think he has great vision, can weight a pass so perfectly that doing it in the final third can make us more threatening.  Plus he can also hit long-rangers.

In fairness though his long rangers tend to head high and wide; i hope he has been practicing because if on target they risk ripping through the net.

[Port Said Red]

watching the last 20 minutes I thought Walsh looked like a younger, smaller version of Marlon. I think he could develop into a competitive player during this season.

[Jcolebristol]

6 hours ago, ZiderEyed said:

The way he disguises his passing is absolutely gorgeous to watch. Reminds me of Riquelme and Veron. Anyone who doesn't see how good he is should consider never watching football again.

Couple seasons back I hpnestly thought he was our worst player - he was so frustrating to watch cos it was always back passes and losing the ball in dangerous places. Would never have bet on him being this good

[JoeAman08]

10 hours ago, hodge said:

Baker was very unlucky with the bounce though, held up horribly on the bounce when it looked like it should bounce more infront of him, he got trapped under it with no chance to take a step or two to put some power into the header, so his two options were to head it into space, which he did but the striker got there first with no one else around or let it drop and risk King being right on him and nabbing the ball off him, took the safer option in theory but didn't work out.

Yep and was punished by a very good premier league striker. Very harsh on Baker. Also seen some stick being given because he backed off. Diving in on King could have been suicide as well. He cut the angle down and forced him to shoot from 20 yards or so. King with his quality scored. It happens

[BobBobSuperBob]

1 hour ago, JoeAman08 said:

Yep and was punished by a very good premier league striker. Very harsh on Baker. Also seen some stick being given because he backed off. Diving in on King could have been suicide as well. He cut the angle down and forced him to shoot from 20 yards or so. King with his quality scored. It happens

He has a bit of a habit of backing off and allowing a free strike on goal though Joe

I don’t rate him as highly as some seem too

[Robbored]

1 hour ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

He has a bit of a habit of backing off and allowing a free strike on goal though Joe

I don’t rate him as highly as some seem too

It was a warm up game last night against decent opposition but even I could see that King was going to shoot early with no City defenders closing him down. That wouldn't have happened if it had been a Championship match. Baker would have either dived in or at least got close enough to prevent the shot. 

If anyone backed off an attacker running at him it was Flint. He's the one I never rated as a footballer, although he did improve considerably during his spell at City. 

[JoeAman08]

1 hour ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

He has a bit of a habit of backing off and allowing a free strike on goal though Joe

I don’t rate him as highly as some seem too

Think possibly a habit from premier league? He dives in there it could be a pen or free kick plus a yellow. Think sometimes a shot is inevitable and all you can do is try and close down the angle. I am not the most experienced but was a defender when I played and sometimes you have to just make the best of a bad scenario.

I can remember twice now he has done this. Once was King last night and once was Aguero. Surely that type of quality is defended differently than if it were Tom Bradshaw running at you? Genuine question becuase just my feel diving in against him would have given away a better chance at goal. 

[BobBobSuperBob]

1 hour ago, JoeAman08 said:

Think possibly a habit from premier league? He dives in there it could be a pen or free kick plus a yellow. Think sometimes a shot is inevitable and all you can do is try and close down the angle. I am not the most experienced but was a defender when I played and sometimes you have to just make the best of a bad scenario.

I can remember twice now he has done this. Once was King last night and once was Aguero. Surely that type of quality is defended differently than if it were Tom Bradshaw running at you? Genuine question becuase just my feel diving in against him would have given away a better chance at goal. 

It is a difficult dilemma Joe

ultimately for me it’s about knowing who you’re up against , their capabilities and their big danger , so you can take the best option 

(Other factors such as angle , location of teammates and or attackers all relevant of course !!)

Making it sound simple but

Is pace their danger , back off 

are they capable of pinging one in corner from 20 yards - close down before then

Its just not that with Baker - Thers something about his focus for me, at times

Hes no mug but would have liked Flint and Webster (On the little I’ve seen of him) !!

Ironically Bearing in mind the subject of the thread I still think Pack could become a fantastic ball playing centre half alongside a Flint or a Webster

Hes developed to a degree he’d probably be wasted there but I think he could be fantastic there 

[cidered abroad]

I'm less worried by the goal we conceded last night than if we'd been ripped apart by a side playing quick first time passing through our midfield and back four and ended up with a tap in from six inches. 

It was just a hoof up in the clouds. Where we were found wanting, can be put right. 

The two full backs were too far forward. Webster was too far away from Baker who, as the ball dropped out of the clouds, was faced by two attackers. So one against two and the rest of the defence unable to cover. 

His header was not good but it must have been very difficult for him to judge the flight of the ball. Even then Bakes tried to close King down but he hit it very early and hard. I thought it got a slight defection off Baker's foot but only 90% sure of that. 

The speed of shot beat O'Leary who I thought was a few inches to the right of where he should have been. Not a lot of criticism of him, just a comment. 

At least some work on the training ground can help to prevent future similar goals. 

I enjoyed the game and felt we did well with pressing, good quick passing. The eternal weakness of rarely hitting the target with shots that went high, wide and not very handsome. Let's work the opposing keeper more than we do. 

6/10 for performance. Now for the real thing against Florest. 

[Monkeh]

16 hours ago, hodge said:

Question is what is our best CM combo from Smith, Pack, Brownhill? I thought Brownhill's ability on the ball freed up Pack to play further forward more often which brought more out of Pack, but we lost Korey's ability to break up play.

none of the above, we need a new defensive midfielder