Question Clarke out - Francis or Sankofa to centre back???

[dashman]

Well with Peter Clarke being out due to the red card at Stockport whom will be his replacement???

Personally I see Francis filling in quite well........

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Back four should be:

Sankofa Francis Barrett Herd

Francis played well against Northampton at CB and personally felt he should have stayed there for the MK Dons game.

 

[shrimperton]

Francis no doubt, but we all know Tilly, he could play him centre forward :)

 

[dashman]

Francis no doubt, but we all know Tilly, he could play him centre forward :)

Aye!

Y'know

 

[sufcalways]

Think we should sign someone instead!

 

[BrettieAngell]

Francis played centre-back for the second-half so I imagine it would be him with Sankofa staying at right-back, but we still need another defender or two.

 

[Welly7]

Get in a new centre back and a left back before Orient!!

 

[BrettieAngell]

Get in a new centre back and a left back before Orient!!

:clap:

Yeah just like that!

 

[undercovershrimper]

Back four should be:

Sankofa Francis Barrett Herd quote]

well seeing as they are the only four defenders we have that are available id say that was spot on!:tumbleweed:

 

[dashman]

Get in a new centre back and a left back before Orient!!

Heard of a young chap called Herd!?!?!?

 

[Rob Noxious]

Heard of a young chap called Herd!?!?!?

I've heard of & seen Herd, but still think we need full-back cover as it's a lot to expect him to play the rest of the season- the young 'uns need to be wrapped in cotton wool & all that. It's quite timely that PC is out as Francis needs a role at the club before he is tempted to go elsewhere. There was some talk about Clarke going to Norwich a while ago & lots of the peeps here have been saying that he & AB 'can't play together'- my guess is that we'll be needing another CB soon in any case & if Tilly doesn't address this (& need for a creative midfielder & some pace up front, pending Laurent's return), then I fear that we are staring down the barrel entitled 'relegation dogfight.'

 

[Reg Martin]

Francis no doubt, but we all know Tilly, he could play him centre forward :)

strangely enough against blackpool in league cup last year, francis come on as sub and played... centre forward!

 

[dashman]

I've heard of & seen Herd, but still think we need full-back cover as it's a lot to expect him to play the rest of the season- the young 'uns need to be wrapped in cotton wool & all that. It's quite timely that PC is out as Francis needs a role at the club before he is tempted to go elsewhere. There was some talk about Clarke going to Norwich a while ago & lots of the peeps here have been saying that he & AB 'can't play together'- my guess is that we'll be needing another CB soon in any case & if Tilly doesn't address this (& need for a creative midfielder & some pace up front, pending Laurent's return), then I fear that we are staring down the barrel entitled 'relegation dogfight.'

Still don't need a left back, full back cover would seem to be Francis..................

 

[OldBlueLady]

strangely enough against blackpool in league cup last year, francis come on as sub and played... centre forward!

And not for the first time. Franno is the new Lewis Hunt.

 

[grassroots]

Agreed OBL! Francis is a talented player who has been pushed and pulled around the squad to cover for other's inadequacies(be it poor form, sendings off or suspensions). IMHO, he has spent most of the season trying to cope with Betsy's lack of covering, now after 25games Tilly seems to agree, leaves Betsy out, but promptly drops Francis as well, so nothing is proven! To leave the lad out for the 2 Chelsea games after being an ever present was brutal and had me thinking he was on his way, but apparently not. I still think that given a run, Right Mid will be his best position, even against Chelsea he got in 2 good crosses in the 10 mins he was on.

 

[Rob Noxious]

Agreed OBL! Francis is a talented player who has been pushed and pulled around the squad to cover for other's inadequacies(be it poor form, sendings off or suspensions). IMHO, he has spent most of the season trying to cope with Betsy's lack of covering, now after 25games Tilly seems to agree, leaves Betsy out, but promptly drops Francis as well, so nothing is proven! To leave the lad out for the 2 Chelsea games after being an ever present was brutal and had me thinking he was on his way, but apparently not. I still think that given a run, Right Mid will be his best position, even against Chelsea he got in 2 good crosses in the 10 mins he was on.

Interesting points, here- I have liked Francis' abilities going forward since he joined us just ahead of 'the Championship season.' The question mark surrounding him has been his defensive ability, although judging from the reports of the Northampton game, he was excellent at centre half when covering for AB's ban following his red card at Hartlepool. Tilly reinstated the skipper for the next game v MK Dons & moved SF to right midfield, where he apparently had a poor game. Sankofa had been playing better & SF took the chop for the Chelsea games- expediently, it would seem, & probably due to misgivings about how he might cope with the threat from their left side, with Ashley Cole (BOOOOOOOOOOO...) often prone to support attacks from there. I hope he does well at CH in Clarkey's absence- I presume he is more likely to be 'the sweeper' as he is not a particularly aggressive defender (sigh- in wistful reverie of Paul Clarke) & hope that he will continue to play for us for a while yet.

 

[Rob Noxious]

Still don't need a left back, full back cover would seem to be Francis..................

I don't think Francis played very well at left back when he had to cover there earlier in the season. The boy Johnny is doing great, but we shouldn't expect him to cope with (sometimes) 3 games in a week for the rest of the season. The best managers have looked after their youngsters- I'd be surprised if Tilly hadn't picked up on this!

 

[GBJ]

francis at CB. easy. when he played there earlier in the season, he was superb.

 

[BrettieAngell]

francis at CB. easy. when he played there earlier in the season, he was superb.

He had a decent agaisnt a side that did virtually **** all going forward, superb is stretching it a bit but I still would play him there.

 

[dashman]

I don't think Francis played very well at left back when he had to cover there earlier in the season. The boy Johnny is doing great, but we shouldn't expect him to cope with (sometimes) 3 games in a week for the rest of the season. The best managers have looked after their youngsters- I'd be surprised if Tilly hadn't picked up on this!

Herd needs to be playing, learning etc - Harding was expected to do this...

Franny covers elsewhere I feel.