Midfield

The most attacking midfielder we had on the pitch today was Bacuna and he wasn’t even playing in midfield!!

We were never going to create much with Pack and Ralls as our main midfield focus. Pack is almost playing like a second Morrison in front of our defence. I have seen Pack play a lot worse than tonight, but He invariably just controls the ball, takes his time and then hust plays it sideways. As a result, in the Second half we ended up pumping the ball from defence
(or the goalie) and hoping that after winning the first contested header that the ball would fall to a City player.
Admittedly, we were probably unlucky not to get a draw, but the football was dire. Also Players with more flair and pace (eg Wilson Ojo Murphy) get bypassed. It is then easy to criticise then, rather than a player who slows everything down and plays the easy not risky pass.

Even when chasing the game we dont take off a defensively minded player, but swap like for like.

Can Harris at least consider a more forward thinking midfield?
We need to fit in players with pace and some flair... and use them more effectively.

The most attacking midfielder we had on the pitch today was Bacuna and he wasn’t even playing in midfield!!

We were never going to create much with Pack and Ralls as our main midfield focus. Pack is almost playing like a second Morrison in front of our defence. I have seen Pack play a lot worse than tonight, but He invariably just controls the ball, takes his time and then hust plays it sideways. As a result, in the Second half we ended up pumping the ball from defence
(or the goalie) and hoping that after winning the first contested header that the ball would fall to a City player.
Admittedly, we were probably unlucky not to get a draw, but the football was dire. Also Players with more flair and pace (eg Wilson Ojo Murphy) get bypassed. It is then easy to criticise then, rather than a player who slows everything down and plays the easy not risky pass.

Even when chasing the game we dont take off a defensively minded player, but swap like for like.

Can Harris at least consider a more forward thinking midfield?
We need to fit in players with pace and some flair... and use them more effectively.

I thought Pack was ok tonight - the problem with our midfield (that wasn’t an issue on Tuesday funnily enough) is that Harris sets them up to sit so deep. When was the last time we saw a midfielder get ahead of a striker?

When Pack and Ralls played further up the other day we look much more fluid as an attacking unit and causes the opposition many more issues.

I agree that Pack was better than usual tonight.... but that isnt saying much. As I said in the the post the only midfield player that got ahead of the strikers was Bacuna- and he wasnt playing in midfield!
To me its clear that the insistance on a defensive midfield with no creativity means we are largely one dimensional and relying on long balls and flick ons. For Gods sake lets at least try a different approach in midfield!

What's the point of trying to play the ball to our wide men when they are incapable of delivering a decent cross. It's always been the problem with hoilett and Murphy and oil doesn't seem any better.

Need Tomlin .

It's been obvious for ages that our midfield choices are very limited in the range of skills they offer. Pack, Vaulks, Ralls and Bacuna are all decent players. I don't think that individually any of them are bad players but they don't offer enough variety in the same team. We definitely need someone who can pick the ball up in the centre of the park and run past opponents in midfield and run at defenders. Opponents don't like that. It causes panic and takes people out of position and opens up spaces in defences.
None of those four central midfielders can do that. We've had a few windows to bring in someone who can do that but failed to address it. Until we can get someone in who fits the description I think the nearest we have with that skillset is Hoilett. He has good close control, can twist and turn with the ball and has the little burst of pace to go past people. I think its worth a go. I think he has a future in centre midfield. The other thing we lack is someone with a killer pass.

What's the point of trying to play the ball to our wide men when they are incapable of delivering a decent cross. It's always been the problem with hoilett and Murphy and oil doesn't seem any better.

I generally agree mate although tbf JM crossed well against Bristol city

I personally think Pack has been one of our best players (judging him solely on this season) and does the basics better than anyone else in the team, many of which (such as organisational skills) possibly go unnoticed. When he has the ball, he injects an element of control and I’m confident in his ability to maintain possession. He plays a vast array of passes (including forward thinking), and seems to appreciate that a football is occasionally allowed to be passed backwards, despite the perceived willingness of many of our fans to just lump it forward. He’s in the team to break up play and distribute, thus providing the platform for our flair players to perform, which currently you could argue, they’re not.

All opinions of course, but I think Marlon Pack oozes quality and if he was quicker, would be playing at a higher level.

As for the Hoilett comment, I tend to agree. I’d love to see him playing central as an attacking midfielder as he has bags of ability, especially when shooting from distance, but his pace is diminishing which is a key attribute normally associated with a traditional winger.

I personally think Pack has been one of our best players (judging him solely on this season) and does the basics better than anyone else in the team, many of which (such as organisational skills) possibly go unnoticed. When he has the ball, he injects an element of control and I’m confident in his ability to maintain possession. He plays a vast array of passes (including forward thinking), and seems to appreciate that a football is occasionally allowed to be passed backwards, despite the perceived willingness of many of our fans to just lump it forward. He’s in the team to break up play and distribute, thus providing the platform for our flair players to perform, which currently you could argue, they’re not.

All opinions of course, but I think Marlon Pack oozes quality and if he was quicker, would be playing at a higher level.

As for the Hoilett comment, I tend to agree. I’d love to see him playing central as an attacking midfielder as he has bags of ability, especially when shooting from distance, but his pace is diminishing which is a key attribute normally associated with a traditional winger.

I absolutely agree with your assessment of Pack.

He gets a bad press on here because of his perceived sideways passing of the ball.
What a lot don’t realise is that if there’s nothing on in front of him - and we are hardly the most fluid of sides - is that he keeps possession instead of lumping it down the channels.