The Large One
Who's Next?
Yesterday threw a nice problem into the mix for Dean Wilkins.
For me, Tommy Fraser was Man of the Match. He was tenacious, strong, intercepted plenty of balls, and just kept going. I saw Fraser in the reserves recently, and thought he was superb, and surely a first-team opportunity was not that far away.
But this creates an issue for Wilkins.
Dean Hammond had his best game of the season for us yesterday. And my observations on that were that it was possibly because he wasn't playing alongside George O'Callaghan. George O is undoubtedly a good player, but for me, he seems to stifle Hammond's play. For whatever reason, O'Callaghan and Hammond seem to get under each other's feet, much in the same way that Hammond had a stinker of a time playing alongside Richard Carpenter.
I don't know why this happens to be the case, and I don't know what the answer is - I suppose it's possible Hammond feels a bit daunted playing alongside a senior player, but I don't think so.
But my point is, Fraser and Hammond seemed to work yesterday, and I don't see why it shouldn't work again. And I would rather have two reasonably OK players playing well together than one pretty decent player playing really well while the reasonably OK player alongside him is playing shite.
This then begs the point 'what would Fraser and O'Callaghan be like playing together?' I would say this scenario is unlikely because Hammond is the captain, and is less likely to be dropped. But it's one to throw into the mix.
So, assuming all players are fit, who would you prefer in centre midfield?
For me, Tommy Fraser was Man of the Match. He was tenacious, strong, intercepted plenty of balls, and just kept going. I saw Fraser in the reserves recently, and thought he was superb, and surely a first-team opportunity was not that far away.
But this creates an issue for Wilkins.
Dean Hammond had his best game of the season for us yesterday. And my observations on that were that it was possibly because he wasn't playing alongside George O'Callaghan. George O is undoubtedly a good player, but for me, he seems to stifle Hammond's play. For whatever reason, O'Callaghan and Hammond seem to get under each other's feet, much in the same way that Hammond had a stinker of a time playing alongside Richard Carpenter.
I don't know why this happens to be the case, and I don't know what the answer is - I suppose it's possible Hammond feels a bit daunted playing alongside a senior player, but I don't think so.
But my point is, Fraser and Hammond seemed to work yesterday, and I don't see why it shouldn't work again. And I would rather have two reasonably OK players playing well together than one pretty decent player playing really well while the reasonably OK player alongside him is playing shite.
This then begs the point 'what would Fraser and O'Callaghan be like playing together?' I would say this scenario is unlikely because Hammond is the captain, and is less likely to be dropped. But it's one to throw into the mix.
So, assuming all players are fit, who would you prefer in centre midfield?
