Game Time for The Youngsters
Interesting stat:
"The Buckinghamshire outfit average one Championship goal every 130 minutes this season but, when Mehmeti is on the field, that average is one every 56."
Raises an interesting point - should we forego giving minutes to the likes of Blooms, Charles Bayo and give more time to the likes of Mehmeti and other B Team/fringe players?
0
Comments
For the second time today, I'm left wondering whether there were any other variables in play.
His average will be high, he's made an impact in a couple of short sub appearances. Doesn't prove we'd be better with him but he's promising and doesn't seem to have got more than a tiny cameo since he made a mistake a while back.
Pretty small base for the Mehmeti stats I would think. Decent player though and will probably get some more matches this month.
The stat is a jumping off point. But the more interesting question to me, with the very slim chance we have of staying up, is should we look at giving more time to our young promising talent, like Mehmeti.
He's scored a goal...that's enough for me!
No need to rush his development. He'll get his opportunities.
He had a game we gave a couple of balls away in dangerous areas and at least one cost us a goal soon after.
He needs nurturing.
*we gave = where he gave.
Whoops.
Spot on.
He is the only player we have left in the most needed role. I agree he is callow, but with no-one else left in midfield but six DMs, I would give him a shot.
I suppose at all depends on whether the manager agrees about us having a slim chance of staying up. I'm pretty sure he'll get more chances either way bit it does sound like you've given up the season.> @Shev said:
I had to download Football Manager recently to try to understand these positional terms. Having been introduced to football when midfielders were just midfielders I struggle with DM as a term. I'd argue given a chance Ofoborh and Thompson are just midfielders and could play further up the pitch. Bloomfield is definately not a DM and neither is Wheeler.
Question for those who understand this stuff. If you play a bog standard 442 do you have DM's?
I called them all DMs (a little sarcastically, to be fair) because they do not score or assist. That basically leaves defensive duties with some ball carrying/forward passing. None of them do anything noteworthy in attack at all. CM would be fine too, but I was trying to make a point about lack of creativity - none of these players could do what Mehmeti potentially does, though I could see Nnamdi perhaps working a little more advanced.
We need a point of attack to hold the ball so our midfielders can forward and be more creative. Quite simply everything works much better with an on song Bayo holding the ball up front.
This will hopefully get the ball to players like Fred, Horgan and McCleary who really should be the creative hub if our team.
It also allows Wheeler to make later runs rather than being a target man.
We are badly missing Gape as a DM
I think in the ‘old fashioned’ 4-4-2 you might have one ball winning Centre midfielder and a more creative one. Didn’t Paul Lambert say he won the Champions League as a player acting as a ‘water carrier’ in Centre Mid for another more creative midfielder.
Mind you, a young Roy Keane would be great for us. Hard as nails and could pick a pass as well.
Gareth has already started talking about next season and beyond, rather than “my focus is all on us staying up.”
I’ve not given up. I won’t until it’s mathematically impossible. But the chance we do manage a great escape is still very slim.
Midfielders have never been "just midfielders", unless you think Nobby Stiles and Bobby Charlton were interchangeable and played exactly the same role
And Adeniran is, I would say, more Bobby Charlton by instinct and design, than he is Nobby Stiles. This was shown in that lovely move where Uche hit the post v Brentford. I said earlier in the season that I'd like to see Adeniran play that more forward role and having two of Gape, Ofoborh and Thompson behind him would allow him to do that.
My view on the "it's all over, so play the younger players"? It's not all over and even when it is mathematically impossible, our aim should always be to win the next game, putting out the best team we can in order to do that. Mehmeti should play his part, but he shouldn't get hastily advanced into the team if there are players better placed to win us the match.
Be interesting to see how we would go with Stewart back in defence and Adeniran in midfield with Ofoborth and Thompson. As well as that midfield set up, I think our back four is better with Stewart and Knight as the centre back pairing.
Assuming all fit :- My 11 would be; Allsop, Grimmer, Stewart, Knight, Jacobson - Adeniran, Ofoborth, Thompson - McCleary, Ikpeazu and Horgan.
I think Knight needs a rest.
Agree @mooneyman I would be surprised if Knight starts. I would expect Stewart to come in for him. JJ if fit I'm sure will come in for Obita. Not that Obita has done anything wrong, but we need those JJ set pieces.
I wonder if McCarthy may come in for Grimmer, just to give Grimmer a rest after all the games he's played recently. McCarthy was excellent against Preston in his preferred RB role and does give us a bit extra going forwards.
Got a feeling Mehmeti may get a start tonight, don't think we have a choice but to go for it now!
Ever since Brownie and Simmo stopped playing for us we've always struggled with the centre of the park to take control with just two midfielders.
I'd like us to pick two energetic midfielders who can take it in turns to be box to box or cover defensively. Generally, one would be the anchor (Simmo) and the other box to box (Brownie).
You could then opt to play an offensive person in the 10 role or two out and out strikers.
In the Championship, the 10 needs to be really mobile and very good defensively. Bloomfield has done that role well in L1, particularly with two midfielders behind him. Mehmeti could be played in that role but not as part of a midfield two - particularly if we go down.
However, to start matches I think Muskwe should be given a run of games in the 10 role. He offers more than Mehmeti & Bloomfield from what I've seen so far, as does Wheeler. If it's a back to the wall job then I think Wheeler needs to play.
Until Gape and Stewart are fit then Thompson should play the holding role and Knight/Adeniran/Ofoborh the the box to box.
Tonight I'd go with - 4-4-1-1
Grimmer Stewart Tafazolli Obita
McCleary Thompson Knight Fred
Muskwe IckpeazuIs this true? I didn't really watch us in the Gorman era but didn't we boss possession during those days?
The Holt/Doherty midfield pairing seemed to tick lots of boxes but neither could be considered box to box.
We could do with Keith Ryan
Rhino could be relied on in a variety of positions and always put a shift in. Although some players are suited to some roles better than others it's maybe a bit easy today to be a "DM" or a "10" and not get involved elsewhere when needed.
Good luck with picking 11s on the basis of if everyone is fit btw. Games coming so fast, tinkering not producing results, players out of form and the vice like grip over any information being shared makes it very difficult to know what we will see.
We'll need better marking, tackling, passing, control, all the basics and more athleticism so we aren't caught out regardless of which 11 starts.
Time for some players to prove they are up to it too , here or elsewhere, one of my many modern football annoyances is people joining struggling Prem clubs in January and then demanding to leave on the cheap when they inevitably go down.
ProTip: To avoid that auto-formatting when trying to post a line up in their rough positions, you can wrap your lineup in triple backticks. ```your team here ```
@Commoner's lineup then comes out as...
Allsop Grimmer Stewart Tafazolli Obita McCleary Thompson Knight Fred Muskwe Ickpeazuwho stands out?