Jack Colback (now a free agent)

[Altamullan]

He'd be great in a genuine midfield 3 with reasonably fluid positioning, but we seem to like the 4-2-3-1 where it's a two man defensive midfield and a no 10 who does the attacking. The former shouldn't mean exposing defense with 1 defending mid and 2 attacking, it should mean there's always 2 players to pass to to get out of pressure and gives us more attacking threat. I wonder if Wijnaldum will drop back a bit and take Colback's place if De Jong comes to be fully fit and lives up to his reputation.

 

Great shout.

[Altamullan]

See that Yaya Toure fellow scored twice tonight playing CM and all the "restrictions" that supposedly come with it, silly City should have shored the defense up with Fernandinho and Fernando.

 

He's a completely different type of player to Yaya Toure.

 

 

To risk further crossed wires, there were a lot of early comparisons between Sissoko and Toure. Perhaps we're not playing to our strengths if we rigidly stick to a 2 and 3 in MFD. If there is a formation to enable Wijnaldum and Sissoko to safely roam (ie without leaving us too exposed) I'm sure SMc will know it. Can't see many teams living with the two of them in full flow.

[Anon]

It's the insistence of the two-man defensive unit which is frustrating seeing as he doesn't actually offer much protection. There are other systems which would be a better use of personnel.

 

        GK

DF  DF  DF  DF

    Anita

Sissoko Gini Perez

    Cisse Mitro

 

        GK

DF  DF  DF  DF

Sissoko Anita Arrons

      Gini De Jong

        Striker

 

[Zero]

I have absolutely zero confidence in playing Anita in that role, the only one protecting the back four.  Suicidal. 

[mrmojorisin75]

i suppose his insistence on the 2 *dm's* is from an acknowledgement that the CB pairing is new and that one of them might well be completely finished at this level so he's looking to protect them

 

what i think he's failing to see, if that is the case, is that especially with the signing of mbemba they're not too bad on the ground and at reading the game coming through the middle, so having 2 dwarves in there isn't helping, what they arguably need is a 6ft+ DM who can slot in alongside them to fend off every type of cross or high ball that's put into the box

 

if we had one of those we could simply go 4-1-4-1 of sorts, not sure how best to write that formation

[Lush Vlad]

To me, Wijnaldum is going to be at his best running ahead of a fixed 10 and/or arriving in the box late. He's going to be marked even tighter after the weekend, now, so we need to get plenty of bodies around him to give him space.

 

He's too good a footballer to leave too far up the pitch, imo, need him dominating games for us and linking play.

 

I haven't watched most of PSV's games from last year  but from the little I have seen of GW from bits and pieces for PSV, Holland, the game Sunday and pre-season.  I agree with this and what Mole is saying.  4-2-3-1/4-3-3/4-5-1?  If we were a bit more fluid and changeable in the way we play and nowhere near as rigid as we were under Pardew.  Then surely it's going to be any of those aforementioned formations and some point or other?  Does it really have to be 2 out and out DM, holding types in this ever so popular, new-fangled, FM fanboy favourite, 4-2-3-1?

 

Gini looks tailor made to play centre mid and get into the box late.  He has pace and drive and seems composed enough on the ball.  We could actually use him to get on the ball earlier and start attacks.  As oppose to Anita and Colback just passing it sideways to other people and then standing back all like "my work here is done".  I don't think his fitness is going to be an issue either.  He missed some of pre season by the sounds of things and half our team looked dead on their feet towards the end of the game on Sunday.  So it's not as if he is alone in looking a bit gassed.  New to the league as well.  Also, on top of that, McClaren has spoken at length about us being behind where we need to be in terms of fitness and how bad the pre season schedule was.  So hopefully all their fitness levels start to improve as the season goes on.

[taxfree]

He'd be great in a genuine midfield 3 with reasonably fluid positioning, but we seem to like the 4-2-3-1 where it's a two man defensive midfield and a no 10 who does the attacking. The former shouldn't mean exposing defense with 1 defending mid and 2 attacking, it should mean there's always 2 players to pass to to get out of pressure and gives us more attacking threat. I wonder if Wijnaldum will drop back a bit and take Colback's place if De Jong comes to be fully fit and lives up to his reputation.

 

i'm fairly confident at this stage that colback wouldn't be "great" in any system

 

Absolutely this.

[mrmojorisin75]

He'd be great in a genuine midfield 3 with reasonably fluid positioning, but we seem to like the 4-2-3-1 where it's a two man defensive midfield and a no 10 who does the attacking. The former shouldn't mean exposing defense with 1 defending mid and 2 attacking, it should mean there's always 2 players to pass to to get out of pressure and gives us more attacking threat. I wonder if Wijnaldum will drop back a bit and take Colback's place if De Jong comes to be fully fit and lives up to his reputation.

 

i'm fairly confident at this stage that colback wouldn't be "great" in any system

 

Absolutely this.

Turns out they weren't on about Colback mind

[taxfree]

He'd be great in a genuine midfield 3 with reasonably fluid positioning, but we seem to like the 4-2-3-1 where it's a two man defensive midfield and a no 10 who does the attacking. The former shouldn't mean exposing defense with 1 defending mid and 2 attacking, it should mean there's always 2 players to pass to to get out of pressure and gives us more attacking threat. I wonder if Wijnaldum will drop back a bit and take Colback's place if De Jong comes to be fully fit and lives up to his reputation.

 

i'm fairly confident at this stage that colback wouldn't be "great" in any system

 

Absolutely this.

Turns out they weren't on about Colback mind

 

Thought it looked weird! Ah well, any opportunity to bash.

[Disco]

The good thing is we'll be able to have this discussion after every game.

[The College Dropout]

4-2-3-1 aka 4-4-1-1 for 90% of teams.

 

Would love a genuine midfield 3.

[Guest Recoba]

Colback is a solid 6/10 player who chips in with tackles, blocks, assists and even goals.  He would get in an around most PL matchday squads from Everton downwards.  He was potentially our player of the season last year (a horrible honour).

 

McClaren is playing a different system to Pardew/Carver and after watching the Gladbach and Southampton games it is clear that Colback needs to adapt somewhat.  Anita, who has never done it for me in the past, clearly suits the new system down to the ground and is now one our most important players.

 

To Colback's credit, once Anita went off, he had to do the job of two as Tiote was so far off the pace it was unreal and our structure fell apart.  Tiote has been a liability for years and hopefully Anita and Colback continue to be selected ahead of him.

 

To McClaren's credit, he is picking players to fit a system rather than just throwing the 11 "best" players onto the field.  With the 4-2-3-1 system I see Anita and Colback as the first choice "2".

[The College Dropout]

Anita and Colback aka Brothers Sideways

[Dr Venkman]

Jack Colback doesn't deserve this amount of debate, he's only notable for how average he is.

[Altamullan]

Colback is a solid 6/10 player who chips in with tackles, blocks, assists and even goals.  He would get in an around most PL matchday squads from Everton downwards.  He was potentially our player of the season last year (a horrible honour).

 

McClaren is playing a different system to Pardew/Carver and after watching the Gladbach and Southampton games it is clear that Colback needs to adapt somewhat.  Anita, who has never done it for me in the past, clearly suits the new system down to the ground and is now one our most important players.

 

To Colback's credit, once Anita went off, he had to do the job of two as Tiote was so far off the pace it was unreal and our structure fell apart.  Tiote has been a liability for years and hopefully Anita and Colback continue to be selected ahead of him.

 

To McClaren's credit, he is picking players to fit a system rather than just throwing the 11 "best" players onto the field.  With the 4-2-3-1 system I see Anita and Colback as the first choice "2".

Well said mate; voice of reason. Only minor disagreement, pure opinion, is he has been (for us and the Mac-na-maras) a solid 6+ out of ten player. He is reliably above average and  consistently puts in 'discretionary effort'; gives his all. A rare rather than 'to be expected' quality in premiership/any footballers, or any other job role.

[buzza]

Colback is a solid 6/10 player who chips in with tackles, blocks, assists and even goals.  He would get in an around most PL matchday squads from Everton downwards.  He was potentially our player of the season last year (a horrible honour).

 

McClaren is playing a different system to Pardew/Carver and after watching the Gladbach and Southampton games it is clear that Colback needs to adapt somewhat.  Anita, who has never done it for me in the past, clearly suits the new system down to the ground and is now one our most important players.

 

To Colback's credit, once Anita went off, he had to do the job of two as Tiote was so far off the pace it was unreal and our structure fell apart.  Tiote has been a liability for years and hopefully Anita and Colback continue to be selected ahead of him.

 

To McClaren's credit, he is picking players to fit a system rather than just throwing the 11 "best" players onto the field.  With the 4-2-3-1 system I see Anita and Colback as the first choice "2".

Well said mate; voice of reason. Only minor disagreement, pure opinion, is he has been (for us and the Mac-na-maras) a solid 6+ out of ten player. He is reliably above average and  consistently puts in 'discretionary effort'; gives his all. A rare rather than 'to be expected' quality in premiership/any footballers, or any other job role.

The fact he puts in 100% effort every game and is consistently 6+ rated he is a valuable asset to us until we actually sign an authentic "pirlo"

[Tiotes Witch Doctor]

4 goals and 6 assists last season, didn't realise it was so high, I just hate to watch how limited he is as a player though, so much so that I still don't want him in the starting 11.

[Zero]

4 goals and 6 assists last season, didn't realise it was so high, I just hate to watch how limited he is as a player though, so much so that I still don't want him in the starting 11.

 

I think Tiote is more limited as a player. 

[ponsaelius]

shite

[Yorkie]

Nowt great, nowt terrible, nowt. Same as every week.

[hakka]

Nowt great, nowt terrible, nowt. Same as every week.

 

Shouldn't be a first team player. Happy for him to be a squad player.

[Yorkie]

See you next week.

[The College Dropout]

Need to get rid of him or Jack... and Jack sin't going anywhere

[KaKa]

Need to get rid of him or Jack... and Jack sin't going anywhere

 

[The College Dropout]

Thought i was in the Anita thread. One of them needs to go in any case.