Left

LenGlover

side looked shaky to me at times on saturday.

I'm not wholly convinced be Ben Thatcher so far. He is looking very one paced to me.

As others have said on othet threads he was in fairness exposed by Reid going walkabout / playing his free role but even so.....

Hopefully things will improve when Thomas (if we keep him) comes into the side but otherwise Sir Chris will have to play since Gibbs seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

Paddy7

Agreed. We were very lop-sided. Happy for Reid to come inside, but BT not quick enough to overlap. Might it have worked to swap Reid & Sam for a while? Reid did well on right at Gills with Moo2 overlapping. Sam switching to cross on his left foot would only be like Thomas does. Still, right side was excellent in first half.

Oggy Red

A Moo2 at left back? Moo3, do you mean?

;-)

Alex Wright

How about 4-3-3?

Moo2 paddy bougy thatch
Reid Samedo and either Thomas / Ambrose / Sam
Benty Toddy and either Mac / Iwelumo / Dicko up front


It'd almost work a a diamond midfield Samedo behind Reid and one other with Toddy filling the hole just in front of them

AFKABartram

wasn't there on Sat, but i had big reservations about Thatcher after the Braga game. Seems to have lost a yard.

time2fast

Sorry, but I think that Thatcher isn't the problem on our left. The problem we have is that Reid doesn't play in a set position. He totally disrupts any formation that we are trying to play and leaves Thatcher with one hell of a hard job. As good as Reidy is, I think he's got to stop searching for the ball and let the others do the playmaking and find him. He's a left winger and needs to play out there. I actually thought that his injury at the end of last season was a mini-blessing as the team looked better with him not in it. We look a more balanced side with two wingers and two cenre mids.

I'm going to stick my neck on the line and say that if everyone were fit then Reid probably wouldn't get in my first XI. He'd make the bench, but unless he'd stay out wide then that's all he'd ever make.

PeanutsMolloy

[quote][cite]Posted By: time2fast[/cite]
I'm going to stick my neck on the line and say that if everyone were fit then Reid probably wouldn't get in my first XI. He'd make the bench, but unless he'd stay out wide then that's all he'd ever make.[/quote]

Completely agree. Reid flatters to deceive. He is a decent player (no more than that) but he thinks he is world class and tries to do too much. Also grotesquely one-footed. Has he ever hit the target with his right foot?
I'll stick my neck out and say that we will not be promoted if he stays in the team.

time2fast

Very glad to see I'm not the only one who sees past his work rate. It is a shame because Reid is a good player, but he just doesn't have the discipline to play as a winger and isn't good enough to play as a playmaker. If he wants to pick the ball up off of our centre backs the entire game then he has to play centre mid. Would you really pick him above ZZ, Ambrose, Semedo and Racon? I wouldn't.

PeanutsMolloy

[cite]Posted By: time2fast[/cite]Very glad to see I'm not the only one who sees past his work rate. It is a shame because Reid is a good player, but he just doesn't have the discipline to play as a winger and isn't good enough to play as a playmaker. If he wants to pick the ball up off of our centre backs the entire game then he has to play centre mid. Would you really pick him above ZZ, Ambrose, Semedo and Racon? I wouldn't.

No doubting his work rate but, if everyone were available, he wouldn't make my starting 11. To be honest I really hope he proves us wrong because it seems that he's going to be one of the first names on the teamsheet for a while.

time2fast

Completely agree with you.

ShootersHillGuru

Are you both completely mad !

time2fast

Thats more like the response I expected. No, not mad. Just not as blind as everyone else ;-)

Heath Hero

[cite]Posted By: time2fast[/cite]Would you really pick him above ZZ, Ambrose, Semedo and Racon? I wouldn't.

Actually, yes - he has more influence on the game than Ambrose and ZZ, and as for Racon and Semedo - they've played one game between them so how can you tell?

tricky

When Reid was fit, he was running games in the Premiership - see the games against blackburn and everton at home. I can't see how anyone could leave him out of the starting 11. I'd put him in the centre and put Ambrose on the right with Thomas on the left when he's fit. Ambrose can play narrower on the left as Motorkill can overlap and provide the width, whereas Thatcher hasn't got the pace to do that on the left which is where you can have Thomas playing as more of an out and out winger. I'm not really sure where I'd put ZZ as I don't think he's at his best on the right, but I'd rather Reid play in the middle. Maybe Reid could play the narrower role on the right and ZZ in the middle.

Pardew certainly has got options!!

razil

the clueless one is Ambrose IMHO...

Barn Door Varney

[cite]Posted By: trickyrickycafc[/cite]When Reid was fit, he was running games in the Premiership - see the games against blackburn and everton at home. I can't see how anyone could leave him out of the starting 11. I'd put him in the centre and put Ambrose on the right with Thomas on the left when he's fit. Ambrose can play narrower on the left as Motorkill can overlap and provide the width, whereas Thatcher hasn't got the pace to do that on the left which is where you can have Thomas playing as more of an out and out winger. I'm not really sure where I'd put ZZ as I don't think he's at his best on the right, but I'd rather Reid play in the middle. Maybe Reid could play the narrower role on the right and ZZ in the middle.

Pardew certainly has got options!!

I pretty much agree with that however I can see what time2fast is saying. On saturday we looked really lop sided because Reid wouldn't stay where is was supposed to, which I assume was on the left.

I would go the way you suggest assuming that Thomas is fit however if he's not then I think we will have a bit of a problem.

Rothko

Andy Reid is the best footballer in the squad, he's an automatic pick for me.

Barn Door Varney

[cite]Posted By: Rothko[/cite]Andy Reid is the best footballer in the squad, he's an automatic pick for me.

That may well be true but only if you are able to play him in a position where he will be at his most effective and won't unbalance the rest of the side.

For me, that means playing him in the middle unless he is going to display a bit more discipline than he did on Saturday and not go wondering off leaving Thacher to cover the whole left flank on his own.

Rothko

I would suspect if Thomas is fit, he'll play on the left, with Reid on the right, and I'll be comfy with Moo2 covering the flank.

I want Reid in the middle to be honest, he's comfy their and has a decent engine on him despite what people might think, also he needs a striker up front who wants to play facing goal, instead of what happened on Saturday with Toddy and Bent

Oggy Red

[cite]Posted By: Rothko[/cite]Andy Reid is the best footballer in the squad, he's an automatic pick for me.

And me.

But we expect him to play as a conventional left winger.

He has no pace or acceleration on the wing and doesn't keep the team shape.

Play him in the centre mid and he can be devastating as opponents find him unpredictable.
Most of our flair and creativity in centre mid would come through Reid, and he's well capable of dribbling into the box, as we saw Saturday.

He's also probably our deadliest free kick expert.

time2fast

You'd have to say that the way he played on Saturday he's classing himself as a centre mid. If he does then he's competing with a number of actual centre mids for 2 places.

ZZ, Ambrose, Holland, Semedo, Faye, Racon and I'm sure there's more. I wouldn't say that Reid would be in my top two I'm afraid. He drops too deep and picks the ball up off of the defence who are capable of carrying it out themselves (well Bougherra is). But he shouldn't be dropping deeper than the other centre mid anyway as he's more effective playing further forward. He's an attacking midfielder so he shouldn't be collecting the ball on the halfway line all the time. This is why I would prefer a pairing of ZZ and Holland/Semedo. It offers a much better balance in my opinion.

12th Man

Come on ease off a bit, first full game of the season. Pre season is only a warm up. I agree that Thatcher was a bit slow but I actually thought he was reading the game more than he was last season, something that comes with age, check out Chris Powell. Agree that on occasions he should have hoofed the ball out and shouted a bit more but communication may well be a problem untill the universal language of football prevails.

As for Reed, yes he should have been further out on the wing, Pards was there next to the line but I never saw him screaming at him to hug that line so I can only suggest that he was following the managers instructions.

tricky

I agree Reid drops deep in midfield to pick the ball up from the defence, but he is a playmaker, and thats what playmakers do. He is our most comfortable player on the ball and also has the best eye for a pass. Thats why he comes inside all the time, because he wants the ball, and I think he's wasted in a wide position. I think if Ambrose were to be on the right, then with moo2 overlapping, he could afford to play narrower and get in the same kind of attacking positions as when he plays in the middle.

Ambrose didn't do enough against Scunthorpe in my opinion, especially as he was given a real chance to impose himself in the central position.

time2fast

I agree that Ambrose didn't do enough. But that's the issue with him, he's inconsistent. One week he's brilliant and the next he barely touches the ball.