Is it still three weeks before Stephens comes back? I was hoping he he would be back for the Sheffield U game. I don't think Jackson, Hollands, Stephens and Green have played as a unit yet. That is a midfield of real quality in this league.
They did in the 1-1 draw v Tranmere and 1-0 defeat away to Stevenage.
Maybe they just need games together, should be a creative midfielder. Though both Green and Stephens play to the right side and neither are great defensively.
Pritchard deserves the shirt after today's performance. Needs to be more composed at times but great work rate. He was everywhere today.
In a way its "horses for courses", I think against Wednesday we will need a tight midfield and would have Hughes or Russell next to Hollands, for home games would look for Stephens or Pritchard. Prtichard is definitely a player I would have at least on the bench.
There was another thread last year which I kind of hijacked with a little analysis of our results with and without Hughes in centre midfield. The figures were a bit out because I didn't include a cup game in which he played center mid but overall we scored a lot more and conceded a lot less with him in there. He is not the only factor that would cause that (for example, Jackson was injured at the same time as Hughes was dropped) but I do think it's more than pure coincidence that the results are so much better with him in that position.
That being said, I'm a fan of Pritchard and it's really a matter of horses for courses choosing between the two. Not sure how (if?) Stephens will fit into that picture either and if we keep either of the loans (Russell and Ephraim) then it gets awfully congested in that area of the team.
I'm not sure why we bothered with back up players like Euell & Hughes full stop to be honest. We could have got 1 decent CM for the wages we're paying them.
Ah so how much do those two get paid then? How much would a decent CM cost? What decent CM would be happy to warm the bench?
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That being said, I'm a fan of Pritchard and it's really a matter of horses for courses choosing between the two. Not sure how (if?) Stephens will fit into that picture either and if we keep either of the loans (Russell and Ephraim) then it gets awfully congested in that area of the team.