Midfield

[Durutti]

Johnson is now into the last 12 months of his current contract. What should we do I wonder if someone offered us a few hundred k for him?

What? Come on, I was unhappy with the Wigan game but Johnston was our best outfield contracted player last year. Best captain as well despite Browne keeping a portion of his arm warm, Johnson actually communicates and harasses Refs

 

[Schemer]

But if he plays there ok for his Country, (Q. and does he play well there for his Country?) - why can't Lowe have him there?

Have Potts behind Brown, Potts playing as the Full Back, and then he can't be blamed for not being in the right place when he feels a bit adventurous. Potts was wanting the ball sometimes , but he was often staying too deep for it to be a good idea to receive it. Sometimes he should have been sitting an inch from the halfway line, instead he was 6 or 7 yards too deep.

We don't play with full backs though. Or are you suggesting he plays as a RCB, behind Browne as a RWB??

 

[ernest]

What? Come on, I was unhappy with the Wigan game but Johnston was our best outfield contracted player last year. Best captain as well despite Browne keeping a portion of his arm warm, Johnson actually communicates and harasses Refs

I wasn't saying that I would like that to happen just speculating about what we might do if that situation arose. As you say the last match may prove to be a one-off. If there is a change in the midfield this Saturday the assuming no new signing it may be to see if we can start with someone more attack-minded than Potts from existing resources - maybe even though he is left-footed Fernandez.

 

[Thracia]

In the position he plays for his Country.
Is that at Right Wing Back , or isn't it ?

We know he's no Barky. What role does his International manager use him for ?
We'd probably all agree Browne's a better all-rounder that Potts is, and even though Potts is faster, he won't try to beat a defender with skill, instead it's simply just running with it.... that's if he's far up the pitch to receive the ball in the first instance - which he usually ain't. Perhaps Browne might know a bit more positional nous than Potts?

I haven't seen him in his International role, - dunno exactly how AB is used there & to what success. Anyone?

He played at right wingback in Ireland's last 2 games, a big win v Scotland (their first competitive home win for 3 years, in which Browne also scored) and a 1-1 draw v Ukraine. He was on the bench for their 2 previous games, defeats v Armenia and Ukraine.

I wouldn't go too overboard with how his "international manager" uses him in his "international role" though, as they seem to be a work-in-progress at the moment.

On Browne's selection for the Scotland game:
"Browne’s selection at wing-back was somewhat of a surprise given he is naturally a midfield player.

"He has moonlighted at right-back for Preston on occasion and boss Stephen Kenny name-checked Browne earlier in the week as an option, with Séamus Coleman out.

"And having replaced Cyrus Christie for the final minutes against Ukraine in the position, Browne got a chance from the start.

"But the Cork native was critical of his own performance and is unsure if he has done enough to keep his place for the Ukraine game.
Browne added: 'He (Kenny) just asked me to do a job on him. He felt I was the right person to do it.

"'I didn’t think the performance was fantastic. I could have done better.

"'But I’ve managed to keep one of the best left full-backs in the world relatively quiet so it was an all right performance.

"'I did some homework on him and I managed to keep him relatively quiet, so I was quite pleased with that.

"'We’ll see what the gaffer thinks about his team selection.'"

 

[noelpne]

Loving your wry use of inverted commas, Thrace😉.
Yeah they's "International" games but "National" Managers.... but possibly / probably both in relation to any player(s) role...👍🤔

 

[Thracia]

Loving your wry use of inverted commas, Thrace😉.
Yeah they's "International" games but "National" Managers.... but possibly / probably both in relation to any player(s) role...👍🤔

I wasn't being wry, I was directly quoting you and the terms you used in your own post.

 

[BPIG]

Johnson is now into the last 12 months of his current contract. What should we do I wonder if someone offered us a few hundred k for him?

Tell them to go fuck themselves hopefully

 

[Schofe]

Personally don’t get the Whiteman love in.

He doesn’t demand the ball and dictate play enough for me. The highlights when he came from Doncaster spraying the ball left/right seems to happen less and less. Whether that’s down to the poor runs of our non-existent wing backs, who knows.

He couldn’t ‘demand’ the ball v Wigan as Browne (in particular) and DJ kept coming towards the defenders for the ball which simply gave Whiteman zero space to operate nor ‘demand’ the ball as our other 2 midfielders brought 2 more wigan players with them. All this meant was whiteman was easily cut off, however it was not his doing.

Potts was also too deep which added to the woes and why we were totally stifled and couldn’t play out at all. Our midfield (Browne and DJ) and Potts couldn’t have made it easier for Wigan if they tried.

 

[Meldrew's Ghost]

Johnson is now into the last 12 months of his current contract. What should we do I wonder if someone offered us a few hundred k for him?

I wonder if he's asked about a contract extension and got the same response he did last time he did that?

 

[ernest]

Browne (in particular) and DJ kept coming towards the defenders for the ball

Which they had to do because we no longer have van den Berg whose great ability was to move with the ball from defence forward into the midfield and use it creatively. None of Storey, Lindsay or Hughes can do that and instead tend to loft the ball forward though their defensive work especially in the first two cases was fine. Diaby when he gets the ball in defence at least tries to play constructive forward passes but I can't see that there is a case for him supplanting Storey on Saturday.

 

[Schofe]

Which they had to do because we no longer have van den Berg whose great ability was to move with the ball from defence forward into the midfield and use it creatively. None of Storey, Lindsay or Hughes can do that and instead tend to loft the ball forward though their defensive work especially in the first two cases was fine. Diaby when he gets the ball in defence at least tries to play constructive forward passes but I can't see that there is a case for him supplanting Storey on Saturday.

I agree but also disagree with the above.
Storey is nowhere near as comfortable on the ball as sepp was, that isn’t even a debate, however knowing this why would Browne condense the space coming deeper do him any favours? It invites more pressure and simply asks a player whom isn’t comfortable on the ball to make passes through tight lines. Add to that Browne isn’t exactly a technically gifted player who can receive the ball in tight spaces, what we tried to do on our right hand side V Wigan was utterly ludicrous. Browne and Potts needed to move higher up the pitch to allow storey more space and perhaps then parrott can drop back and receive the on the half way line, which disrupts wigans set up? We were very predictable last Saturday that is for sure.

Hughes can be quite effective bringing the ball out, his issue is he doesn’t do it often enough for my liking.

 

[Liberation]

Shite.

And Lowe continuously picks them and leaves our best midfielder on the bench every game. Even more worrying, Ledson would appear to be ahead in the pecking order.

Sort it out Ryan

Our Midfield is too slow ...... Far too plodding.. And it's been like that for years other than the early part of Neils reign........ Unless it changes then we'll be mid table again at best..