steve_69 Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 The more i watch us the more i realise we're still carrying a lot of deadwood and average players. It's more testament to Keegan's managerial ability that he actually gets such us looking like a decent team. As far as I can see we're still almost half a team short of the quality we need: .........................Given Beye......Collicini.........?......Enrique Jonas..........?.............?...........? ................Owen........Martins Harper Bassong Guthrie Xisco Viduka Gonzalez? The rest are just making up the numbers - Butt, Duff, N'Zogbia, Geremi, Cacapa, Taylor, Barton etc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnypd Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 agree entirely. we're half a team (on a good day). central midfield remains a big issue. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 agree entirely. we're half a team (on a good day). central midfield remains a big issue. Central midfield is the biggest issue. Barton and Guthrie eating popcorn watching telly at home doesn't help mind. Something I kept trying to point out to the twats celebrating Guthrie's stupid sending off against Hull. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 With everyone fit: Given Beye Bassong Coloccini Enrique Barton Guthrie Jonas Owen Viduka Martins Bench: Harper Taylor Cacapa N'Zogbia Nacho Xisco Carrol Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Given Beye Coloccini Bassong Enrique Jonas Guthrie Barton Owen Xisco Martins Bassong deserves a chance alongside Coloccini, and we should revert to the formation that turned it around for us last year; the 4-3-3. Jonas works hard and pisses all over Geremi, Owen still looks miles more dangerous coming from deep, Barton did a job on the centre-left, and Guthrie and Xisco can replace Butt and Viduka respectively. Edit - Towelie. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Close enough there, Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 We miss Viduka. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 We miss Viduka. Not that much, Viduka won't come in and revolutionise our team, I say we miss Barton, Guthrie and Jonas ten times more. Xisco should be able to fill his gap should we play in the same 4-3-1-2 as last season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnypd Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Given Beye Coloccini Bassong Enrique Jonas Guthrie Barton Owen Xisco Martins Bassong deserves a chance alongside Coloccini, and we should revert to the formation that turned it around for us last year; the 4-3-3. Jonas works hard and pisses all over Geremi, Owen still looks miles more dangerous coming from deep, Barton did a job on the centre-left, and Guthrie and Xisco can replace Butt and Viduka respectively. Edit - Towelie. i dont think Xisco's quite at the same level as Viduka from what ive seen. don't particularly rate Guthrie or Barton too highly, though they'll do a decent job. we really depend so much on Jonas as being the only quality player across our entire midfield, from right to left. and even he's new to the league and, while he's made a promising start, hasn't done anything special or on a consistent level yet. same goes for Colo too except he's not looked quite as good, and Bassong's not even played in central defence yet against a premiership team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnypd Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 We miss Viduka. definitely. even though he doesnt move around much the team pivots around him when he's there, players with better movement or more pace like Owen, Jonas and Martins would look better with someone like Viduka orchestrating our play. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Given Beye Coloccini Bassong Enrique Jonas Guthrie Barton Owen Xisco Martins Bassong deserves a chance alongside Coloccini, and we should revert to the formation that turned it around for us last year; the 4-3-3. Jonas works hard and pisses all over Geremi, Owen still looks miles more dangerous coming from deep, Barton did a job on the centre-left, and Guthrie and Xisco can replace Butt and Viduka respectively. Edit - Towelie. i dont think Xisco's quite at the same level as Viduka from what ive seen. don't particularly rate Guthrie or Barton too highly, though they'll do a decent job. we really depend so much on Jonas as being the only quality player across our entire midfield, from right to left. and even he's new to the league and, while he's made a promising start, hasn't done anything special or on a consistent level yet. same goes for Colo too except he's not looked quite as good, and Bassong's not even played in central defence yet against a premiership team. I'm not saying it's the answer man, just what I'd try. It's testament to Keegan that he got that system working well enough to keep us up whilst carrying arguably worse players in Butt, Geremi and without Coloccini. The sale of Faye still looks fucking stupid btw. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnypd Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Given Beye Coloccini Bassong Enrique Jonas Guthrie Barton Owen Xisco Martins Bassong deserves a chance alongside Coloccini, and we should revert to the formation that turned it around for us last year; the 4-3-3. Jonas works hard and pisses all over Geremi, Owen still looks miles more dangerous coming from deep, Barton did a job on the centre-left, and Guthrie and Xisco can replace Butt and Viduka respectively. Edit - Towelie. i dont think Xisco's quite at the same level as Viduka from what ive seen. don't particularly rate Guthrie or Barton too highly, though they'll do a decent job. we really depend so much on Jonas as being the only quality player across our entire midfield, from right to left. and even he's new to the league and, while he's made a promising start, hasn't done anything special or on a consistent level yet. same goes for Colo too except he's not looked quite as good, and Bassong's not even played in central defence yet against a premiership team. I'm not saying it's the answer man, just what I'd try. It's testament to Keegan that he got that system working well enough to keep us up whilst carrying arguably worse players in Butt, Geremi and without Coloccini. The sale of Faye still looks fucking stupid btw. i'd go along with it (other than viduka for xisco). it's enough to get us in and around mid-table, maybe higher, but it depends on keeping everyone fit which very rarely happens here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gggg Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 There's nothing to suggest Enrique is any better than the others. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 That was the reason for putting Xisco in, Johnny. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 There's nothing to suggest Enrique is any better than the others. What others? He's the only left-back we've got. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasy Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 There's nothing to suggest Enrique is any better than the others. Apart from every games he's played for us you mean? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gggg Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 There's nothing to suggest Enrique is any better than the others. What others? He's the only left-back we've got. The players who are making up the other numbers. He might be the only left back (Butt is our only defensive mid) but he's hardly proven quality. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 We miss Viduka. Well that's not likely to change for the next season or two. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_69 Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 Given Beye Coloccini Bassong Enrique Jonas Guthrie Barton Owen Xisco Martins Bassong deserves a chance alongside Coloccini, and we should revert to the formation that turned it around for us last year; the 4-3-3. Jonas works hard and pisses all over Geremi, Owen still looks miles more dangerous coming from deep, Barton did a job on the centre-left, and Guthrie and Xisco can replace Butt and Viduka respectively. Edit - Towelie. i dont think Xisco's quite at the same level as Viduka from what ive seen. don't particularly rate Guthrie or Barton too highly, though they'll do a decent job. we really depend so much on Jonas as being the only quality player across our entire midfield, from right to left. and even he's new to the league and, while he's made a promising start, hasn't done anything special or on a consistent level yet. same goes for Colo too except he's not looked quite as good, and Bassong's not even played in central defence yet against a premiership team. I'm not saying it's the answer man, just what I'd try. It's testament to Keegan that he got that system working well enough to keep us up whilst carrying arguably worse players in Butt, Geremi and without Coloccini. <b>The sale of Faye still looks f***ing stupid btw.</b> This. Keegan obviously had enough faith in Taylor to let Faye go, unless the player was sold behind his back. I reckon Coliccini and Faye wouldn't made a pretty solid CB pairing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 The squad's not the problem in my opinion. We fell behind in the transfer window by not replacing Faye and Milner, that's where we're most short. They were the failures of the transfer window, but i don't think we did too badly this summer. There's no way in hell we'd have lost four games on the trot if the whole Keegan saga hadn't happened/we had a manager. We've got a really good first team imo. That 4-3-3 that Keegan deployed, with a 'centre-mid' of Jonas/Guthrie/Barton, would have worked an absolute treat imo. And besides, take 8 or 9 players out of any team's squad and they'll be in trouble, that's without the trouble off-pitch we've got. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Parka Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 Given Beye Coloccini Bassong Enrique Jonas Guthrie Barton Owen Xisco Martins Bassong deserves a chance alongside Coloccini, and we should revert to the formation that turned it around for us last year; the 4-3-3. Jonas works hard and pisses all over Geremi, Owen still looks miles more dangerous coming from deep, Barton did a job on the centre-left, and Guthrie and Xisco can replace Butt and Viduka respectively. Edit - Towelie. i dont think Xisco's quite at the same level as Viduka from what ive seen. don't particularly rate Guthrie or Barton too highly, though they'll do a decent job. we really depend so much on Jonas as being the only quality player across our entire midfield, from right to left. and even he's new to the league and, while he's made a promising start, hasn't done anything special or on a consistent level yet. same goes for Colo too except he's not looked quite as good, and Bassong's not even played in central defence yet against a premiership team. I'm not saying it's the answer man, just what I'd try. It's testament to Keegan that he got that system working well enough to keep us up whilst carrying arguably worse players in Butt, Geremi and without Coloccini. <b>The sale of Faye still looks f***ing stupid btw.</b> This. Keegan obviously had enough faith in Taylor to let Faye go, unless the player was sold behind his back. I reckon Coliccini and Faye wouldn't made a pretty solid CB pairing. I'd assume keegan told faye his first XI was Tayls and COlo, and Faye wanted out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 ppl still forget keegan wanted duff, smith, viduka etc to stay Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_69 Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 ppl still forget keegan wanted duff, smith, viduka etc to stay If anyone could get the best out of those three it's Keegan. If he wanted to keep them that's fine by me because i believe in his managerial and motivational ability. Problem is we don't have Keegan any more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest toonlass Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 .........................Given Beye......Collicini.........Bassong......Enrique Jonas..........Barton............N'Zogbia .....................Owen................................... ................Viduka........Martins Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_69 Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 .........................Given Beye......Collicini.........Bassong......Enrique Jonas..........Barton............N'Zogbia .....................Owen................................... ................Viduka........Martins Right, that looks like an OK team but to highlight was i was trying to get at, fill in the above blanks with players you think we could've had a chance of signing in the summer: ..........................Given Beye........Coliccini.....Kompany.........Enrique Jonas....Schweinsteiger...Appiah.....Arshavin ....................Owen......Martins Instead, we have Butt, Guthrie, Duff and Taylor filling those positions. We're way off! I don't want this to turn into another fantasy football thread where everyone chips in with totally unrealistic teams they'd like to see. It's just an exercise to highlight how short of quality we are in a number of key positions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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