Midfield ?

[Portland Bill]

Cotterill,Brown,and Skuse . Not one of these players would scare me if i was the oposing manager. All because there is no end product. They are all good players obviously but don't HURT THE OPPOSITION. Its ok to have the ball in midfield and knock it square but we need a cutting edge.

Cotterill for his age is outstanding running with the ball but i would HATE to be a striker waiting in the box because there is no decent final ball.

So far this season all the strikers are having to drop so deep just to get involved, then when the ball does get forward whoever is up there is totaly isolated and the move breaks down.

We need to play all the experienced players at the moment, because after yesterday its obvious the young ones arent up to it.

[mightyreds89]

Completly agree mate all of these players have a bright future but the midfield ij just too in experienced and lacking any end product.

Id stick with Brown but make sure he sits and holds in a 3-5-2 that would suit him and also us.

Id replace Murray with Cotterill murray has been dissapointing for a while but Id say his end product is better far from brilliant but better.

Id also replace Skuse with G Smith who I think looks a good player but not at home on the left, he scored 10 goals for Swindon in 30 gmes in the middle ast term.

Then we also have Russell we have a lot of stregth in depth in the midfield just think we need to get the right combination.

My 3-5-2 would be

Murray Goldbourne

Whilkshire Brown Smith

We then have Skuse Cotterill and Russell as cover form the bench.

[Gilli74]

i think we do need to go with experience across the middle for sure.. as it seems our strike force is too advanced for our midfield....

Personally id go for

Murray - Russel - Wilkshire - G.Smith

Brown, skuse, cotterill are still too in-experienced to lead a realistic chance of promotion....

they don't look like they have a goal between them ... they offer no support to the strikers and like you say all sit too deep.... they are excellent cover but thats it... they are no competition for other midfields in the league... however excellent prospects for the future...

[Guest Moose]

Personally id go for

Murray - Russel - Wilkshire - G.Smith

Brown, skuse, cotterill are still too in-experienced to lead a realistic chance of promotion....

←

Yep, agree with that - in my opinon Russell will be the key to something more creative from in front of the back four, while Skippy should be able to do the same behind the front pairing. "Frampton" should be on the bench though - late injection of fresh legs once Murray has run out of puff......

Moose.

[myol'man]

Watching that midfield on Saturday was like watching 10 year olds play, all

running around chasing the ball! Cotterill looks a bit of a showboater to me, lots

of tricks but no real damage. The Midfield is crying out for a play maker, try

Stewart behind Brooks and Bridges

[Spiderman]

I wrote this on another thread earlier, somehow managed to miss this one

Actually concerns the same three players as the lead post here.

--

Saturday, versus Bournemouth, our midfield four included:

Scott Brown 20 yrs old

Cole Skuse 19 yrs old

Dave Cotterill 17 yrs old

All fine players, don't get me wrong. I like them all.

But the three of them together?

All inexperienced, all - let's say - not bruisers.

How the hell can they, collectively, be given the responsibility to be 3/4 of the midfield?

To be honest, my only hope now is that Alex Russell is the real deal and he needs to be in as soon as he's fit.

I think Scott Brown can do the ball-winning stamina-on-legs role, he just has that little bit more about him than Skuse at the moment for me. I know Skuse has done well so far this season but I think it's too early in his career for him to do the role he's being asked to do.

I think Cotterill needs to be dropped until his final ball and crossing surpasses Downs League standard. He is massively exciting but at this stage of things (both for club and his own career) he needs to come on late in the game for forward duties only. Use his pace and trickery on tired defenders only. He shouldn't have ANY defensive worries on his mind at the moment, he cannot realistically be expected to do it and it's not his game. Giving him these duties week-in week-out can only have a detrimental effect on his career, I think.

I think Wilkshire should replace him and play as less of a wide man. With the players we've got up front we need to be hurting teams on the floor and through the middle and Wilkshire tucking in on the right can be a large part of that. As a passer and crosser of a ball he is of a standard Cotterill isn't familiar with just yet but I do think him alongside Skuse in the middle is just wrong. Him alongside Brown almost certainly wouldn't work either and I just don't know about a Wilkshire-Russell or Wilkshire-Smith partnership.

I'd like to reiterate I am not sl@gging off Cotterill or Skuse. I really like them both and desperately hope we can hold onto them but they cannot be part of our first-choice midfield at this stage in my opinion. And DEFINITELY not both at the same time.

Thanks for allowing me my rant!

[nofx]

Despite Tinnion stating he learnt from last year, there is little evidence of that so far. Last year he wanted to accomodate his three in form strikers culminating in the 4-3-3 which went wrong. He then tried to play too many youngsters at once, we got slaughtered at Port Vale and he reverted back to experience to dig him out of the hole. This year he is trying to play all three strikers again and have a youthful midfield. Get back to 4-4-2 with a blend of experience and youth, with the the balance of the side back to how it should be (smith left side) and we should be ok.