I'm confident Ledson is going to turn out to be a good player for us, but I think he'll still be a sub with Gally playing this well. Gally has all week to recover from Forest. Ledson is more likely to come into the equation over the festive games so I reckon they'll give him some game time in the next match or two, as a sub though.
Pearson return
Could someone please allay my fears. Pearson is injured and has not been dropped because he wants away in January.
Our central midfield resources on Saturday are likely to be two young fit players - Browne and Ledson, two young but maybe not totally 100 per cent in terms of match sharpnesss players - Johnson and Pearson, one experienced but maybe should not be used for 90 minutes week-in, week-out player - Gallagher. There is also one other player whom nobody seems quite to know what to do with - Burke. What does seem certain is that with Barker presumably out for some time we currently only have one wide attacker - Barkhuizen. How we deal with that on Saturday I don't know. If we allow that between them Browne, Ledson, Pearson, Gallagher and Johnson can cover the three central midfield positions over the 90 minutes then the options for the left of midfield if we play our normal formation are Nmecha, Burke, Earl if he is fit or even a debut for the lad Walker if we actually can play him in league games. Another option might be to use Johnson on the left of the 3 with a brief to stay fairly central because he is not really a wide player. Personally I would give a chance to Burke, who does have some talent and actually looked comfortable in a widish left position in pre-season.
https://www.lep.co.uk/sport/footbal...y-loanee-lukas-nmecha-is-developing-1-9486324
At the end of this article Burke is described by AN as a no10?
At the end of this article Burke is described by AN as a no10?
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The team has done pretty well without CR and Pearson but am a bit cautious about it. Both are class acts and even when not playing at their peak are still effective. AN has got lesser players to play above themselves ,but how long can that realistically last ( form is temporary ,class is permanent?).
The positives about an injury crisis is you can find things out about certain players who may otherwise have been given limited game time. So far Gally has shown he is fit enough to play in a series of games close together and still be effective and Moult has shown that he can be an effective player at this level.
The positives about an injury crisis is you can find things out about certain players who may otherwise have been given limited game time. So far Gally has shown he is fit enough to play in a series of games close together and still be effective and Moult has shown that he can be an effective player at this level.
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paddysr;n3410793 said:
Yet AN hasn’t played him there once, tells you all you need to know about his standing in the squad. There’s basically no chance of him playing 10 instead of quality, experienced Championship midfielders like Browne or DJ, and rightly so. Bizarre signing.
kbd_pne;n3410808 said:
Which is why I think it would be worth giving him a go - especially in present circumstances - on the left of the 3. Sure he isn't a flying winger but he has a good left foot and showed in pre-season that he can cross a ball from that flank. Yes also I recognise that he was defensively a bit suspect when on the right earlier in the season but remedying that is a matter of discipline and coaching.
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ernest;n3410851 said:
He would be incredibly predictable off that side. Wouldn’t be able to cut inside due to having no right foot, could just be shown down the left and he probably wouldn’t do anyone for pace. He seems like just another Pringle from what I’ve seen - very one-footed, not very athletic or quick (very important at this level and in our system), and nobody knows his best position.
ernest;n3410851 said:
I think we need to remember that just because we haven't seen a player doesn't mean the management haven't, they see Burke day in day out in training and I expect if they'd seen fit to trust him out of position they'd have at least trusted him to start more than once(?) this season.
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If Pearson is fit I would play him , Gally or DJ to make way with the option to bring one on for the last 30 minutes or so , they can both create chances so one to start for me that way they all get game time and the one looking fatigued gets a bit of a rest.