Apologies for the negative tone of this email, but I'm struggling to define what role Dale plays in our midfield at the moment, and having waited a few weeks for him to get match fitness back, am still none the wiser.
He's not a defensive midfielder (e.g. Semedo, Kishishev), with crunching tackles, who can mark the oppostion's flair player out of the game or at least kick them a bit, as he's too lightweight for that role.
He's not a 'busy' midfielder (e.g. Matt Holland), who will run around constantly linking defence and attack, as he doesn't have enough energy
He's not a box to box midfielder (e.g. Scott Parker) who can be defending at one end then charge down the pitch to score at the other end. Danny Hollands does this to an extent.
He's not the goal scoring midfielder (e.g. Nicky Bailey, Pardew the player) who may not do much, but will get you 10 goals a season, as he rarely gets in the box.
He's not the dead ball specialist, as we have Jackson to do that role
Thus, he must be the flair midfielder. Except, he sits really deep most of the time, behind Hollands, and doesn't dribble either. Instead he seems to play a sort of Michael Carrick role, spraying the ball around occasionally from the centre of the park, and having the occasional long shot. Is this enough?
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A he doesn't mind a tackle, without giving away fouls like our Centre Midfield last season.
Good signing, good player.
We were at our best when Hughes sat infront of the back four and Hollands got forward.
High ball rentention, powerful long range efforts, ability to arrive late in the box and score, with a eye for a pass,
Unfortunately it's inconsistant
I would like to see him a bit higher up the pitch to try and influence play, and be an outlet around the box, or go behind the strikers giving another option and avoidng the need to knock it on Yann's head so often at points
Got a feeling, he would be better suited to the Championship, bit more time on the ball with bigger pitches to influence games
What i would say is that you will not get the best out of Danny Hollands should you play Stephens in the middle with him. Hollands had his best form when used as the attacking midfielder of the middle two.
Stephens is a player who is only recognised when he scores. I would rather have him in my team than be facing him on a Saturday afternoon or Tuesday evening, he can damage a team with his passing or range of shooting at any given time during a game.
We played very well earlier in the season when Dale was injured when Hughes came in for him. I wasn't at the game last night but was at Bournemouth, and I think Dale looked tired there.
I would like to see Hughes, in for dale on Saturday, or maybe 451 with Dale in the team with Hughes and Big Yann up front, and Hollands and Dale getting forward onto Yanns headers.
Dale is a decent footballer, who keeps possession and keeps things ticking over. He has decent vision and should be supplying more than he has.
What you have to appreciate is for the last few games, him and Hollands are having to play against three in the middle.
Hollands actually played well in my opinion for the majority of the game, but in the 2nd half, instead of battling to get the ball back from the colchester players, he was finding space, he always has 2 metres of space around him, which is great when attacking, but not when he's 2 metres away from the nearest player in terms of trying to get the ball back. He was mistiming tackles all over the place in a period of 15 minutes. it's not that he's too slow, its that he stands alone in space so can never get where he needs to be. He was definately shattered too which didn't help.
I would however, like to see Pritchard given more of a go against the division's less footballing sides. He did well enough in a tough game at Sheffield Wednesday but wasn't really given a run of games after that.
For all the balls BWP and Yann win in the air a lot of them are wasted effort becuase there is no one to pick up on these balls in midfield.
That gap irritated me last night. I sit level with the 18 yard box and its obvious they need to alternate a defensive midfield and an attacking midfield as next to each other it didn't work at that point last night.
He was better at the start of the season, but personally I thought Hollands was the more imposing midfielder at that stage of the season.
It's so strange how fans see things differently. Claus Jenson was one of my all time favourites at Charlton, just oozed class, but my son thought he was awful. Have the same situation with Green now, I really rate him (although, I agree he hasn't been great recently) but my son once again can't stand him. Different eyes, different perspections!
Dale has only just turned 22, played less than a hundred games, uprooted to the other end of the country, just had a baby, and on his way back from a serious injury. He has the tools to be a very good technical player, and hopefully playing consistently with see him flourish, exactly the same way Solly has flourished by playing every week.