Racon Could Be Key To Us Winning Against Millwall

forzajuve_27

With the upcoming game on Saturday I fully believe that Millwall will be totally focused on stopping one man, and that man will be Nicky Bailey, I think Abdou and whoever else they have in midfield will be looking to go in strong on Bails and stop him being an influence. This will however free up space for Racon and if he is on his game, I think he could well dictate the midfield for us and with Millwall's game based mainly on being a physical and hardworking side I don't think they would quite have the skill in being able to stop Racon's passing ability and I think he could play the clever ballls that allow us to unlock their defense. My only worry is that Parky will anticipate this being a tough tackling game and will replace Racon with Semedo in which case, all the attention will still be on Bailey and if Semedo plays Bailey will be our attacking threat and we will have no creativity in the middle. By all means I don't mind Semedo playing but not at the expense of Racon, and if both are slotted into a 4-5-1 that could well work against the Wall but I really don't think Racon should be left out of this one. Although unfortunately I can see it happening now :(

nolly

you would hope that mate.

LenGlover

A big IF.

Racon being on his game that is.

Substitute the name Shelvey for Racon in your post and you have a point.

Hopefully he wouldn't be overawed by the occasion if selected.

nolly

bingo, i would play shelvey but am a little worried about him being got at more than overawed,anyway thats not happening sadly

forzajuve_27

Sorry but Jonjo has been a big disappointment this season and a high pressure game against Millwall wouldn't be a good idea to recall him for. I think Racon has been ok the last few games and he is a top quality midfielder, I think he will be back to his best soon and I don't think he should be dropped for this one.

LenGlover

[cite]Posted By: nolly[/cite]bingo, i would play shelvey but am a little worried about him being got at more than overawed,anyway thats not happening sadly

Yes that as well!

I think you're right and Parky won't play him.

nolly

the key is our wing play,im sorry to say i think sam will stink the place out,no bottle

forzajuve_27

Sam is an obvious player they will look to nullify as will Bailey be, I seriously think they won't know too much about Racon and I think that could work to our advantage.

nolly

you could be right,racon can play the ball about and can cover baileys tracks

Scoham

More worried Racon will go unnoticed and make no real impact. He's looked much better in a 451 than a 442, and thinking about it, it covered up his weaknesses. He had players with more energy around him when we had Zheng, Bailey, Shelvey in the midfield with him, plus Sam out wide. Then this season, Semedo did the defensive work for him, and Bailey could cover from the left, and Shelvey was always there to close down in front of him.

I think you're seriously overrating him by calling him a 'top quality midfielder'. He's good technically but not outstanding, he doesn't score or set up many either. He's not too good defensively at all. I did think he was a good player, but now after seeing him a 442, he's not quite as good as we thought he was. Bit too casual at times, I think the 451 covered that up because he had plenty of harder working players around him.

Still a decent player, but has shown he's not as good as we thought. I can see now why Pardew didn't rate him. He doesn't stand out in this league apart from being a good dribbler and quite skilful, especially for a central midfielder. I've never thought of him as someone that plays clever passes, Jonjo has a much better range of passing. Racon often keeps it simple, it's his running with the ball that gets us on the attack, rather than real vision and creative passing.

forzajuve_27

Sorry but I think Racon does stand out in this league and I wouldn't swap him for another team's centre midfielder, it could well be however that it is the 4-5-1 that makes him shine and as I said that could well work against Millwall. There were times earlier this season where his passing looked so slick and he would make a fool out of players that tried to close him down, anyone at Norwich away will remember him lobbing a pass over one of their players heads right when they tried to tackle him. I think hes definately a Championship midfielder at least.

Scoham

He really doesn't. He goes quiet and doesn't get involved far too often, much like Sam. Talented but too weak in other areas to really stand out, just good at what he does. Good enough for our team at the moment, but he's not really anything special. More a different type of player than most CMs in this league, but not levels above anyone.

As I said, he'll compete in the Championship, and he clearly has the technical ability, but it's the rest of his game that really isn't that great.

forzajuve_27

Fair point about him not getting involved but I think he needs to be given the ball more often, yesterday he got into a lot of good positions and was calling for the ball but just didn't get given it. I think he is better defensively than a lot of people give him credit for and I think he showed that against Brighton. He certainly has a lot more flair in centre midfield than a lot of other players in this division, are there any centre mids you would actually swap him for then Scoham?

Nadou

Forzajuve - do you really think Racon played well yesterday? Or in the last few games? When he first started with us, I thought he looked classy but that is a long time ago. The Racon I see now is the one who tends to hide so no one passes to him. And who, if the ball comes to him, he gets rid as quickly as possible either square or back. The Racon who faffs about and avoids every challenge that he should make. I think he is currently a total liability and I would rather anyone took his place - Jonjo (preferably), Spring or even the recently poor Semedo.

mid_life_crisis

[cite]Posted By: Nadou[/cite]Forzajuve - do you really think Racon played well yesterday? Or in the last few games? When he first started with us, I thought he looked classy but that is a long time ago. The Racon I see now is the one who tends to hide so no one passes to him. And who, if the ball comes to him, he gets rid as quickly as possible either square or back. The Racon who faffs about and avoids every challenge that he should make. I think he is currently a total liability and I would rather anyone took his place - Jonjo (preferably), Spring or even the recently poor Semedo.

Couldn't agree less. I thought he got involved and used the ball better than anyone in the midfield yesterday. Also made some excellent runs which were unrewarded. Best player on the pitch yesterday IMO.

forzajuve_27

No I don't think he played "well" I think he has been ok the last few games, as Scoham said it may be that we need to go back to 4-5-1 for him to be back to his best and tbh I don't think anyone should really have a problem with that as we haven't looked convincing in ages. Racon was calling for the ball a lot yesterday when he was in good positions but just didn't get it. Please don't insult him though by saying Matt Spring should play who is an awful footballer.

Nadou

I think that without a doubt if Millwall pressure him or play rough to any degree Racon will go missing for the whole game. He is lightweight, and mentally too slow. three times yesterday he had the ball taken off him as he dithered, unsure what to do. It's amazing, isn't it , how we watch the same thing and see things so differently. Mid-life sees "best player on the pitch", I see worst - and that includes Richardson who was very poor yesterday.

Se12Addick

Didnt go yesterday so cant comment on his performance, but its been a real shame that Racon hasnt been able to get back to the form we've seen from him in the past. Think we all thought that he would be bossing this division, and i know i thought that him and Semedo had the makings of a great midfield pairing. Dont know if its that our game no longer suits him (as ive said before, no point in him being on the pitch if were gonna play long ball football) or that hes unhappy or what. i would play Semedo against Millwall, he hasnt been his best lately (tho thats not really a valid criticism at the moment, cos who has?), but we need someone out there to kick their midfield about a bit and let Bailey attack.

forzajuve_27

Well I can tell you that I don't think Richardson was that great yesterday, not sure about the worst but I think the best player was Kyel Reid. Racon did make good runs which myself and mid-life have spotted and he was fairly need and tidying in his passing so he would maybe be the 2nd best yesterday as I can't think who else really stood out. As I said earlier I don't think Millwall will know too much about Racon and won't see him as a priority to stop and will be pressuring Bailey more which of course allows Racon to roam free, it could be that after a while if he does well then they will go for him as well but that would then take some of the pressure off Bailey and then he could be more effective in the match.

Nadou

Well, IF he plays, no one would be happier than me for you to be right and for me to be wrong. I certainly wouldn't put any money on the likelihood, though. I think he bottles out, and I can't see the point in making runs that no one spots. I mostly saw him in positions that no one would pass to even when he was indicating that he was there (rarely) because they could see he was not in a useful position to do anything except another of his square or back passes.

forzajuve_27

Fair enough, I do hope he plays well and whilst I could see him bottling out as you said I hope that he will rise to the occasion and realise the importance of the game. I just don't want Parky bottling it and sticking in Semedo because as he isn't a creative player, Bailey will still get marked out and then all we will be able to do is play it to the wings and then we're depending on Sam having a good game and that they don't double up on Reid, if that happens we will be screwed.

Callumcafc

How can they mark out Bailey whilst doubling up on Reid, surely they would leave Sam and Racon with masses of space?

We would 'more screwed' if we play Sam-Racon-Bailey-Reid and Racon goes missing with Bailey & Reid being marked out, and Sam underperforms, because then we have no defensive cover for our defence, meaing we'd be more likely to concede.

It's a tricky balance that Parkinson must get right over the next few days.

Athletico Charlton

I would put him in a midfield 5 with Bailey & Semedo in the centre with him and Sam & Reid on the wings. Only trouble being that you could only play Akpo or Burton upfront, personally I think Burton is better but you cant drop Akpo after 3 in 3!

Callumcafc

Valleyman, I would do the same, however play Akpo up front from the start instead of Burton. Like you say, he's starting find a bit of confidence in front of goal and you cant fault his effort. If it doesn't work however, Parkinson shouldn't hesitate to make the change and bring Burton on.

forzajuve_27

I would anyday, its not like the 3 were absolute stunners, I used to really like Akpo but he has the touch of a rapist and when Burton was on the bench against Swindon and Akpo started, after Deon came on he did more in 5 mins than Akpo did all game. Sometimes you just have to play your best players regardless of form which is why I also think Sam Sodje should come in for Llera as I can see another "Colchester Performance" coming in this game.

Scoham

[cite]Posted By: forzajuve_27[/cite]Fair point about him not getting involved but I think he needs to be given the ball more often, yesterday he got into a lot of good positions and was calling for the ball but just didn't get given it. I think he is better defensively than a lot of people give him credit for and I think he showed that against Brighton. He certainly has a lot more flair in centre midfield than a lot of other players in this division, are there any centre mids you would actually swap him for then Scoham?

Yes he does have far more flair than most, that doesn't make him a good all round player. That's what I'm getting at here, to be a Championship midfielder he lacks the all round game. There are technically good players in the Championship, but they're Championship players because they also have more in other areas of their game.

I don't know who I'd swap him with from this league, I don't know enough about them. If you want creativity and a threat going forward though, I'd rather see Shelvey in there. More chance he'll set up and score more goals, and he's a lot less likely to go missing.

He showed that against Brighton? They had 3 CMs against our two and it was a hard game for our midfield. Don't remember him playing in that never mind doing a good job on the defensive side?

I think what Callumcafc is suggesting is far more likely. Might have to go with 451, even more certain we should if Millwall set up like that.

cafcdan18

Mooney has to play at Milwall therefore it has to be 4-4-2, he was excellent against Milwall at The Valley unti, his injury and despite the fact he has numerous weaknesses, whenever he plays we do seem to create a lot of chances and score goals. If Mooney was a better finisher he could have a goal a game imho.

As for Racon, agree he could be vital next week but I think Semedo may come in to offer more protection to the back four.

nolly

mooney played bad enough yesterday to drop him,pointless player

cafc_se7

But Nolly it was YET ANOTHER classy bit of link up play with lloydy playing to mooney then mooney to richardson which set up our second goal!He doesnt score goals but hes not pointless, come on!How many goals has he played a part in this season!Il tell you..... alot!

northstandsteve

Forza are you a wind up merchant at the start of the season you were bigging up McCleod and now Racon who for me has been a big big disappointment this season.

forzajuve_27

Mate could you at least spell his name right its McLeod not McCleod or McCloud. I still stand by my comments that McLeod is a decent player at this level and we will never know but I think he could of made a good contribution and if we go up, get in the play-offs by 6 points then that could easily be down to his 2 winners against Exeter and Huddersfield. Now whether or not McLeod is a good player is debateable but Racon is definately a good player and in my opinion he has been ok this season, I don't think hes been a big disappointment, when we were playing 4-5-1 he ran a lot of games and its only since we switched to 4-4-2 that he hasn't been that great. He was also out of the side for along time which you could say should or shouldn't of happened depending on your opinion. There's still enough games left to go where Racon can make a good contribution so that when we look back on this season we can think "yeah Racon did have a good season".