Darcy Blake is a big part of our future

He's young, Welsh, local boy, City through and through...but his future does not reside in midfield imo.

For me, and I know this won't sit well with many, but Gerrard and Blake needs to be our centre back partnership. They've shown they can play effectively together previously under DJ, and given a consistent run of games could be the best defensive partnership in the division imo.

As a pair Gerrard & Darcy have everything. Aerial ability, goals, positional awareness, an eye for a pass, and plenty of grit accompanied with an abundance of potential considering their age and thirst for improvement.

I have no doubt Hudson is a great club captain, and is a positive influence around the whole squad. This for me holds a large percentage of the motive for his selection, and to a large extent justifiably so. However Malky has an opportunity now to start something special with Darcy & Gerrard, and with Kev & Taylor providing a great foil/outlet for them either side it has the makings of a defensive line that every club in our tough league would be envious of.

Malky needs to be bold and drop our captain imo, and give it to Miller.

"an eye for a pass".................!!!

Feck me, you're alright, are you??

As much as Ilike Gerrard, did you not see him punt the ball off the park FIVE times on Saturday?

He's no Beckenbauer, that's for sure. But that's why he is a centre half.

"an eye for a pass".................!!!

Feck me, you're alright, are you??

As much as Ilike Gerrard, did you not see him punt the ball off the park FIVE times on Saturday?

He's no Beckenbauer, that's for sure. But that's why he is a centre half.

"an eye for a pass".................!!!

Feck me, you're alright, are you??

As much as Ilike Gerrard, did you not see him punt the ball off the park FIVE times on Saturday?

He's no Beckenbauer, that's for sure. But that's why he is a centre half.

Haha...I was referring to attributes the partnership as a whole has. The eye for a pass bit I intended to associate with Blake more than Gerrard. However, I dont think Gerrard is a mug with the ball though.

Malky has some big decisions to make in this area because he has Turner to make his defensive selections a little harder as well

"an eye for a pass".................!!!

Feck me, you're alright, are you??

As much as Ilike Gerrard, did you not see him punt the ball off the park FIVE times on Saturday?

He's no Beckenbauer, that's for sure. But that's why he is a centre half.

Agreed Hudson has, by far, the best distribution between the two and therefore if Darcy partners anyone it will, initially, be Hudson.

I say initially because I think Malky will experiment with the partnerships and it wouldn't surpise me in the slightest if the main partnership for the end of the season is Darcy and Turner depending on how the latter fits in (I haven't seen him play so can only judge on what we've heard).

Gerrad has got by with his fist pumping and passion but he also makes at least one serious mistake in every game. He's excellent back-up but I'd actually have Keinan in before him at the moment, it's all about opinions and the only one that matters is Malky's

I dont think theres any legs in the Darcy & Hudson partnership - they both favour the right hand side of the defence and previous trials have shown it hasn't and doesn't work

im not a massive fan of blake and i dont think he is as good as we make out. anybody can look better than some of the performances our CB's have put in recently.

malkay would not of signed turner unless he was going ot be first choice. so it will be who can partner him.

I dont see any place for him when everyone is fit. Bench at best

If any game calls for a man marker then Blake is your man. I remember him snuffing out Gabriel Agbonlahor over two-legs for the Under 21's and he did a great job on Wayne Rooney last Wednesday.

Basically he is a specialist in his field and I would be thinking of that as an option if I was the manager, for example last season I would have played Darcy against QPR with the specific job of marking Adel Taarabt.

I dont see any place for him when everyone is fit. Bench at best

agree

he is a hard worker, has great heart but just doesnt seem a natural footballer nor does he have a position i am comfortable with him in

If any game calls for a man marker then Blake is your man. I remember him snuffing out Gabriel Agbonlahor over two-legs for the Under 21's and he did a great job on Wayne Rooney last Wednesday.

Basically he is a specialist in his field and I would be thinking of that as an option if I was the manager, for example last season I would have played Darcy against QPR with the specific job of marking Adel Taarabt.

Very good point. This is why he's a great foil for the likes of a Gerrard when we play the better teams. Darcy is a big game player imo, he's always delivered when thrown in at the deep end