Centre midfield -

[Rayleigh boy]

I did not go to the game today cannot see how Brown cannot see the massive problem in the middle ..

Exactly what is his thinking on the key part of the team ??

I know some people like Timlin but I think hes well out of his depth and makes it a lot worse by shooting his mouth off and giving lots of "directions" to other players... last year he hardly got in the side.

Atkinsons engine and running is missing and we have a 17 year kid who might be good one day ...

Ryan Leonard might not be distracted by things BUT there is only one of him ...

So for defensive work with have one player who is under offer and one who is useless and Kightly and Maglashan who don't really impact on defensive duty -

I am not Pep Guadirola but it seems blooming obvious -

OR am I missing someone or something ?

 

[Taters123]

Totally agree with this. All summer Brown said we needed another central midfielder and then apparently we don't? It's obvious Leonard needs help. Not replaced Atkinson's energy

 

[southendwill]

Need to play ranger in CM

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

I did not go to the game today cannot see how Brown cannot see the massive problem in the middle ..

Exactly what is his thinking on the key part of the team ??

I know some people like Timlin but I think hes well out of his depth and makes it a lot worse by shooting his mouth off and giving lots of "directions" to other players... last year he hardly got in the side.

Atkinsons engine and running is missing and we have a 17 year kid who might be good one day ...

Ryan Leonard might not be distracted by things BUT there is only one of him ...

So for defensive work with have one player who is under offer and one who is useless and Kightly and Maglashan who don't really impact on defensive duty -

I am not Pep Guadirola but it seems blooming obvious -

OR am I missing someone or something ?

what the **** are you on about?

 

[OldBlueLady]

Woody is close to being back, let's hope things will improve then. In the meantime, get Jack Bridge out on loan and playing, please. He's about the only hope of creativity if Lenny and Woody are out. Likewise Dru, he's not ready for L1 yet, but more game time will help tremendously.

 

[southendwill]

Totally agree with this. All summer Brown said we needed another central midfielder and then apparently we don't? It's obvious Leonard needs help. Not replaced Atkinson's energy

Your in bits

 

[LennySUFC]

Rigsby will love this, a review from someone not at the game.

We were **** all over, end of.

 

[Blues4LifeDan]

I stated this before the Newport game and the general consensus was that we had enough in the middle. Lots of people saying we have youngsters signed up and Timlin etc etc. It is so obvious that we are lacking in midfield. Relying on Wordsworth to be fit for a whole season is an unrealistic assumption. Timlin runs around looking busy and has one good game in ten (putting his foot in) and people get convinced he is good enough. That one good game doesn't constitute 9 games of misplaced passes being acceptable.

Our budget being thin won't allow us to do anything about it though. Let's hope Brown can get things sorted!

 

[buffalowolf]

seriously think PB will be now looking to fill some gaps via loanees.not just midfield ,but we have 3 strikers cannot hit the back of the barn let alone the back of the net ,ROBINSON,COX AND FORTUNE,

 

[southend_aussies]

seriously think PB will be now looking to fill some gaps via loanees.not just midfield ,but we have 3 strikers cannot hit the back of the barn let alone the back of the net ,ROBINSON,COX AND FORTUNE,

It's been three games for blooming sake. One will score next week, guarantee it. McLaughlin and Wordsworth to come back will be huge, but we do need someone else in the midfield.

 

[SeaSideDoughnut]

I'd put Timlin in LB and ask Maher if he'd come out of retirement for a bit...

Just offering a suggestion for the sake of the thread and is only 50% serious. If it were possible I would move Timlin to LB instead of Hendrie [that bit I am serious about] Hendrie clearly needs to get his head on straight. Obviously that does create a gap in midfield. So, Kiernan has played in CM before, and where White has been coming forward to challenge for headers. I'd sit Kiernan in front of White and Ferdinand as protection leaving Leonard to pick up a space slightly more forward.

 

[Eddy Melito]

3-5-2 would suit many of the squad at the moment. You have an extra centre back available to cover for those attacking the ball and leaving space, and while neither full back is defensively great, they would both appear to have a decent engine and could probably do better with slightly fewer defensive responsibilities. Then Leonard or timlin screening the defence (covering for the more acceptable missing wing back) and another, with maybe kightly playing a free role behind the front pair. For tougher away games it can be tweaked to be 2 attacking mids behind a front man and 2 solid players in front of the back 3.

 

[South Bank Hank]

I did not go to the game today cannot see how Brown cannot see the massive problem in the middle ..

Exactly what is his thinking on the key part of the team ??

Surely the fact that we were after Forrester (quoted as saying he turned us down) is an indication of his thinking. We didn't get him and Wordsworth is unfit so we have to go with what we have. For now. Obviously, it's far more salacious to question our experienced manager's ability to see things us fans deem obvious.

 

[Tommy2holes]

I see where you are coming from. Timlin is a sub player at best. He is a committed player who gives his all but at the levels we need he lacking. Lenny looks disinterested and just coasting games. Wordsworth being fit for us is a huge boost and will help with lennys game.

I didn't think i would say this but I'd rather Timlin at left back over hendrie. Maybe if we played a 3-5-2 the wing backs would excell but in a flat back 4 both hendrie and Demetriou will get destroyed. Yesterday being an example of that.

Also ferdinand white and Kiernan are not particularly tall and were out of The depth against big forwards.

We need a loanee left back and tough tackling midfielder as priorities asap.

 

[bess30]

Listen we got stuffed yesterday and deservedly so.. not one player played well in anyway at all!! All we should be doing as fans is wiping our mouths and getting over it, I went yesterday as I do most away games and yes there is a reaction in our minds he should do this we should do that, but at the end of the day it's 1 defeat not the end of the world and we shouldn't be picking on the likes of hendrie or ferdinand or Lenard timlin because the whole team were s##t!! Fact start reacting wanting changes if it happends in the next 2 or 3 games but not now

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Give Yearwood a go. Lennie as the holding CM and Yearwood the attacking one. He's good enough so he's old enough. PB needs to be brave and use him

 

[RHB]

I know some people like Timlin but I think hes well out of his depth and makes it a lot worse by shooting his mouth off and giving lots of "directions" to other players... last year he hardly got in the side.

So for defensive work with have one player who is under offer and one who is useless and Kightly and Maglashan who don't really impact on defensive duty -

OR am I missing someone or something ?

You've certainly made your views on Michael Timlin clear. Last season he was bought in to cover for Ben Coker at left back. He's not a natural in that position but he did the job well and received some pretty good press from Phil Brown for his performances. He also became difficult to leave out of the team after that LB cameo. I don't know how many appearances he made but I would hazard a guess that it was more than 'hardly made any'. It's quite normal in professional football for midfield players to shout directions to their team mates. That is to be encouraged rather than discouraged by just about all professional coaches. As to him being useless, well that is your opinion. You may want to have a look at the majority of the match ratings for him on here in the Blackburn game. I'm not saying that he is an auto first choice, age is against him a bit there, but neither is he useless.

 

[fbm]

We have Wordworth coming back and Yearwood coming through. We have to ride the next few weeks.

For me, although not CM, we are woefully lacking height at the back. Turner was supposed to fill that role but is injured - this is where we need the help I think. Ferdinand had an off day by all accounts yesterday (as did most of the team by the sound of it) and Rotherham had a great day. I'm sure it was the combination of both that enabled us to succumb to our heaviest league defeat for 20-odd years. Rotherham probably won't play that well again and we won't pay that badly again all season.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Also ferdinand white and Kiernan are not particularly tall and were out of The depth against big forwards.

Ferdinand is 6'; White is 6'; Kiernan is 6' 1"; Turner is 6' 3". Out of interest, Dan Matsuzaka is also 6' 3". They are all tall enough, White is very good aerially, for example.

My issue is the way we are playing at the other end, we've been up against tall defences and persisted in trying to pump long balls up practically non stop - that's not going to work with Cox and Marco up there. We've got to get the ball on the ground more and run at opposition defences, and we've got to hold the ball far better in midfield.

 

[marlow17101032]

bring a couple of loanes in ,theres no competion for some of these players ,they know when they have a bad game they know that they will not be dropped