Midfield

[Box of Frogs]

Oatway is all effort but is out of his depth in this league. Chippy still has a role but Hammond is his natural successor.

Jarrett had an excellent pre-season so deserve a spot on the bench, to come on for the last 20 minutes when the opposition defence is tiring.

Nicolas needs a run in the team - when he first came here he was superb, then he had a couple of bad games and was dropped. If the same criteria was applied to Oatway, he would have been dropped ages ago. I firmly believe that if he wasn't captain he wouldn't be in the side.

Hammond and Nicolas to start in the middle, Reid and Knight on the wings, Jarrett on the bench, CKR and El Turi up front, Butters captain.

 

[ryans father]

Perhaps age is simply catching up with chippy. It wasnt as thjough he didnt get himself in the right positions, it was simply that he was too slow both in action and in thought. As for Oatway,yes he did chase a lot of shadows last night, but it must be very difficult to get some control on the game when your partner is so ineffectual.

Why not play a diamond midfield with CKR as the attacking point and Nicolas/Charlie as the defensive, Hammond on the right and knight on the left.

Jake and Turi up front.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

I thought Oatway and Chippy both had good games. If anything Hammond was non existent by being played on the wing, he is better in the middle with someone like Chippy or Oatway to cover him while he bombs forward.

We really had no width either last nite.

Really McGhee has a Sven type problem. He wants to play Chippy, Hammond and Oatway in the same team and as you know three into two dont go.

Therefore one of them has to be dropped, thankfully McGhee gets paid to make those decisions as none of them deserve to be dropped but square pegs and round holes and all that.

 

[227 BHA]

Oatway OK

Chippy had an absolute mare. Lost posession countless times and his passing was awful!

 

[Pavilionaire]

I wouldn't write Carpenter off. He clearly isn't match fit and up to the pace, which is poor because he's had the same pre-season as everybody else.

I'm sure he will improve. And for my money he's the best long-range shooter and free-kick taker we've got. For a team that doesn't score many from open play that's significant.

I'd go Reid wide right, Hammond and Carpenter in the middle, Knight on the left, drop Oatway to the bench. Carpenter would be lucky to hang onto his place but brings more to the party than Oatway.

 

[London Irish]

This doesn't particularly concern me because Chippy had these kind of games last season too when he didn't look at the races. But often as not he would bounce back and become a dominant influence in the next.

As ever, I think people have unrealistic expectations sometimes about what we can achieve against the top teams playing well in this league. Sidwell and Harper would have outrun and outpassed most other midfields yesterday, they played really well.

It is true at some point we are going to need replacement for Chippy and Oatway in the centre, but as they were among our most consistent performers last season, this is not yet the priority. Getting someone of Sidwell's quality in is laughable, he must be worth at least £3m. Playmaking central midfielders are even more like gold dust in the transfer market than goal-scoring strikers and we will have to perservere (for the time being at least) with what we've got.

I repeat my challenge to anyone who thinks either Hammond or Nicolas would be better than our established pair - name the game where either players demonstrated a better ability to feed a front line with passes. Alexis never does it and Dean Hammond's role of breaking into the box often means he is the one who is being supplied, not the supplier. Drop Oatway and Chippy from the team and I fear our passing to our forwards would dry up almost completely.

 

[Marshy]

Time to go 3-5-2 in my books.
We can pack the midfield them, play either Chippy, Hammond, Charlie or Nicolas in there.
Reid and Mayo can play wing back fine.

 

[Rookie]

I repeat my challenge to anyone who thinks either Hammond or Nicolas would be better than our established pair - name the game where either players demonstrated a better ability to feed a front line with passes. Alexis never does it and Dean Hammond's role of breaking into the box often means he is the one who is being supplied, not the supplier. Drop Oatway and Chippy from the team and I fear our passing to our forwards would dry up almost completely.

What passing to the forwards all they did was pass it sideways, got to be time for a change they had last season to try but it was the same thing

 

[larus]

What passing to the forwards all they did was pass it sideways, got to be time for a change they had last season to try but it was the same thing

Couldn't agree more. Our front line never get any supply from Oatway. Chippy had a bad one last night.

I'd go with Reid, Hammond, Chippy & Knight.

Hammond is wasted out wide. He IS our most effective midfielder, and he's still improving. Oatway is a League 2 player, and Chippy can just about cut it at this level. He's never going to boss a game.

If Chippy still can't do it, then try Nicolas with Hammond for a couple of games.

All these comments about 'name a game when Nicolas and Hammnd have played and supplied the forward line', well name the games when these two have played together in center midfield from the start.

 

[caz]

midfeld

all i what to say about the midfeld is the following

chippy and oatway are good players but have seen there best days . its time for nicolas and hammound and mybe ether chippy or oatway with them .
when nicolas play for us he was allways one of our better play he is a class player.
also we lost less games with him in the side then without him.
when he last played we were 10 points of we bottom 3 and had just won 2 games {millwall and sunderland}
can some please explain why M.M drop him and we and never won a game since. dont forget he has plyed in the premiership .
for chelsea.

 

[London Irish]

What passing to the forwards all they did was pass it sideways, got to be time for a change they had last season to try but it was the same thing

Last season was a failure then

Yesterday Charlie at least hit two very difficult long ball to feet and was near faultless on his short or triangle passing and made good space with backheels to provide crossing opportunities for players.

People are really kidding themselves if they think Nicolas and Hammond would do much better than this - their strengths lie elsewhere. Nicolas, in particular will rarely take the leadership responsibility to play a progressive pass. Hammond is blossoming but as a goal threat, not a goal supplier.

 

[Lawro's Lip]

Leave as it was for another game surely. Chippy won't play badly every match and neither will each game be against Reading. The options will still be there if we don't play any better against Crewe.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Everyone seems to be overlooking the fact that Oatway is captain and as such won't be dropped. I honestly don't think he's been bad at all in the TWO games we've played. He was excellent at Derby and was our most consistent midfield player in the first half last night. London Irish is right - Reading's midfield is now worth millions - no way can we compete with that. So calm down everyone. Yes we played poorly and we lost - against a very good side. MM knows where we need to strengthen and I've no doubt he will.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

From what i have heard and read there as not been a great deal of creative play from the midfield - must get a winger in