First choice midfield (1 Viewer)

Marosi
Dabo McFadzean Hyam Mason
Allen Kelly Walsh
Jobello Godden O'Hare

I thought Allen looked the best thing in our midfield in the friendly at Swindon, until he went off.
Walsh as holding midfielder, Kelly pushes forward

If everyone fit and firing

Marosi
Dabo mcfadzean rose mason
Kelly
Allen Shipley
Jones godden hiwula


O'Hare, Kasteneer and Jobello as impact subs.
Walsh was good yesterday but he was playing the kelly role which he wouldn't be doing if Kelly was fit.

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Walsh, for all his nice passing, was pretty poor defensively yesterday. Would rather him play the Westbrooke role with Kelly back in his normal role. Allen ahead of Shipley in the other spot if he lives up to the hype. O'Hare potentially takes either Jobello or Hiwula's place in the side.

Kilclines curly mullet said:

When everybody is fit, it’s 3 from:

Shipley - Decent squad player and has done ok to date this season, but not good enough to start for a promotion chasing side. Spots a decent pass but too often doesn’t pull it off.
Westbrook - Same as above, has done well coming out of the cold to starting all the league games so far. Not done anything wrong.
Kelly - Rock, simple
O’Hara - Has to start in my opinion, drives forward, eye for a goal, creative. Class
Allen - Not seen yet but deemed a marque signing
Walsh - Struggled first 20 minutes yesterday but after that his class shone through. Similar to Kelly but I thought a little more forward thinking.

So, discuss....who plays and who doesn’t........?

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“Not good enough to start for a promotion chasing side”

They’ve started every game this season and we’re second. What are you talking about?

For me it's Kelly, Allen, Walsh

With O'Hare playing left wing instead of Hiwula

Not sure because unusually we have an embarssment of riches! O'Hare is a starter. Allen by all accounts a starter when fit. But I see O'Hare in the number 10 role as would have been Bright from Wolves. Hiwula will have a free role and come inside from either flank. The wingbacks will provide the width and comitt forward a lot. Walsh, Allen and Kelly forming the diamond.

...................MOROSI
.........McFAZDEN..... ROSE ................
DABO........................................MASON
......... WALSH.......KELLY................
....................ALLEN........................
...........HIWULA.....O'HARE
.................GODDEN.................

ccfchoi87 said:

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That pass on about 1 min 40 secs....

Skyblueweeman said:

That pass on about 1 min 40 secs....

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Walsh looks very good.
Incidentally I note that the long diagonal to the point of the 6 yard box for Godden to score was no untargeted lump forward, they tried it again on this clip. It may have been to pinpoint a known Blackpool weakness or a regular ploy to utilize what a handful Godden is. Why the hell did we buy a 5 ft 6 inch attacking midfielder last season? We always needed someone like Godden

For me I can’t pick 3. All deserve a place and I expect we can all argue the case of who should and should play. What a fantastic position to be in.

Gibbo said:

Walsh looks very good.
Incidentally I note that the long diagonal to the point of the 6 yard box for Godden to score was no untargeted lump forward, they tried it again on this clip. It may have been to pinpoint a known Blackpool weakness or a regular ploy to utilize what a handful Godden is. Why the hell did we buy a 5 ft 6 inch attacking midfielder last season? We always needed someone like Godden

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Mcfadz tries these passes every game

Skyblueweeman said:

That pass on about 1 min 40 secs....

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Pure footballing porn!

Kelly plays whenever he's fit, build the rest around him.

Think he Godden & Marosi are the only 3 that have a cemented place in the team, let competition for places drive the rest on.

Why are we having this discussion? I was of the impression by some that we're still desperately in need of a CM because we lack strength in depth and have a small squad?

That with a fully fit squad Westbrooke and maybe Shipley might even miss out on being in the 16 is beside the point. That's with O'Hare being used further forward.

So we've got something like O'Hare-Kelly-Allen with Westbrooke-Walsh-Shipley, any of which could come in to replace the other. Then the likes of Eccles looking for game time to develop along with a host of other U23's.

My only concerns at the moment would be a Godden injury and whether we've got adequate cover for Dabo when he gets suspended.

I thought that Walsh had a great debut game on Saturday. He looks like he could be a stand out player. I notice his contract at Bristol City is up at the end of this season too. Based on a single performance, so too early to really say, but I wonder if we would be in to sign him permenantly in the summer?

Sky_Blue_Dreamer said:

Why are we having this discussion? I was of the impression by some that we're still desperately in need of a CM because we lack strength in depth and have a small squad?

That with a fully fit squad Westbrooke and maybe Shipley might even miss out on being in the 16 is beside the point. That's with O'Hare being used further forward.

So we've got something like O'Hare-Kelly-Allen with Westbrooke-Walsh-Shipley, any of which could come in to replace the other. Then the likes of Eccles looking for game time to develop along with a host of other U23's.

My only concerns at the moment would be a Godden injury and whether we've got adequate cover for Dabo when he gets suspended.

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I don't think anyone has said we are short at CM since O'hare and Walsh signed have they? Before that we were looking at Allen- Kelly- Shipley, and Westbrooke-eccles-Bartlett. Clearly those two coming in makes a lot stronger.

Watson is the cover for Dabo? He is more than adequate at this level as cover. Agree RE Godden that is our biggest concern.

4 from 6 for midfield this sat. Easier decision for robins Unforuntley than we would hope

I just worry about dropping contracted players for loanees. Sends the wrong message I feel to players like Shipley who have battled their way into the first team. Yes it's clear O'Hare has talent in spades and we have to use it of course but O'Hare won't be here next season and Shipley probably will. As long as the teams perform

CCFC88 said:

Kelly plays whenever he's fit, build the rest around him.

Think he Godden & Marosi are the only 3 that have a cemented place in the team, let competition for places drive the rest on.

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I'd add Mason to that (when fit obviously).

Manchester_sky_blue said:

I just worry about dropping contracted players for loanees. Sends the wrong message I feel to players like Shipley who have battled their way into the first team. Yes it's clear O'Hare has talent in spades and we have to use it of course but O'Hare won't be here next season and Shipley probably will. As long as the teams perform

I'd add Mason to that (when fit obviously).

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I think that's a good point Manchester.

I think the reality as you say is that football is a results business and we need our best players on the pitch - and in the lower leagues we should sensibly use the loan markets.

Last season we had Bright and Thomas - big losses - but we now have new loans in O'Hare and Walsh. Next season I expect will be the same with 2/3 high quality loans.

Shipley is very decent and suits the 4-3-3 nicely - and will play an important role this season as he has been doing so far. Just not sure he's an automatic starter given the talent we now have. Robins will ultimately make that call and may decide that Shipley's strength on the left, work rate and goal threat outweighs having a midfield purely made up of technical/ball players (Allen/Walsh/O'Brien). I would love to see Walsh,Kelly, Allen play together but Robins may decide they don't complement each other.

I think our use of the loan market has improved a lot in recent seasons and hopefully the quality of the loans allows other players to learn and progress.

Manchester_sky_blue said:

I just worry about dropping contracted players for loanees. Sends the wrong message I feel to players like Shipley who have battled their way into the first team. Yes it's clear O'Hare has talent in spades and we have to use it of course but O'Hare won't be here next season and Shipley probably will. As long as the teams perform

I'd add Mason to that (when fit obviously).

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That's all well and good looking after our contracted players but there's a reason players like Ohare and Walsh have contracts at Prem/Champ clubs and why Shipley and Westbroke have contracts with a league 1 club. We have to play the best team we have available no matter what their contractual situation, if we got promoted this year, which is clearly the aim, would you be happy with Shipley and Westbroke starting against Championship teams next year?

I don't get the whole "playing loans instead of contracted players sends the wrong message." They're here for the season, Callum O'Hare's aim is to get us promoted just as much as its Jordan Shipley's aim. We should be playing the best 11 available to get a result no matter what their contractual status.

Looks like Allen could be injured again...

Kilclines curly mullet said:

When everybody is fit, it’s 3 from:

Shipley - Decent squad player and has done ok to date this season, but not good enough to start for a promotion chasing side. Spots a decent pass but too often doesn’t pull it off.
Westbrook - Same as above, has done well coming out of the cold to starting all the league games so far. Not done anything wrong.
Kelly - Rock, simple
O’Hara - Has to start in my opinion, drives forward, eye for a goal, creative. Class
Allen - Not seen yet but deemed a marque signing
Walsh - Struggled first 20 minutes yesterday but after that his class shone through. Similar to Kelly but I thought a little more forward thinking.

So, discuss....who plays and who doesn’t........?

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Shipley would be my first choice in midfield - he has been one of the difference's this season- seems to go get better evry game and can score goals from free-kicks which is always to good to have in any team

hill83 said:

Don't forget Walsh can be re-called in January.

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Booo - Hill out.

Paxman II said:

Not sure because unusually we have an embarssment

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Couldn't get past this bit, unfortunately

covboy1987 said:

Shipley would be my first choice in midfield - he has been one of the difference's this season- seems to go get better evry game and can score goals from free-kicks which is always to good to have in any team

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See you on the coach to Burton, Shipperz!

CCFC88 said:

Kelly plays whenever he's fit, build the rest around him.

Think he Godden & Marosi are the only 3 that have a cemented place in the team, let competition for places drive the rest on.

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The cliche "build the team around..." is such tripe. It's an eleven man game, the star could be Messi, but if the rest are crap what use is it? Secondly it makes life so easy for the opposition, just mark or clobber the key man and that is the job done. Thirdly, at this level no player holds his form for every single game. And when the key man gets injured.... . I could go on.
The holding midfielder is a key position. The Club recognized that by the speed with which Walsh was recruited (big hat tip for having the information about him and acting so quickly incidentally). Kelly is good. But the combination of skills across all eleven is what you build the team around.
This myth "build your team around (fill in name)" has been most frequently used regarding England - Beckham, Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard and lately Kane. Southgate has just completely debunked it with success by having a shared team ethic.

Gibbo said:

The cliche "build the team around..." is such tripe. It's an eleven man game, the star could be Messi, but if the rest are crap what use is it? Secondly it makes life so easy for the opposition, just mark or clobber the key man and that is the job done. Thirdly, at this level no player holds his form for every single game. And when the key man gets injured.... . I could go on.
The holding midfielder is a key position. The Club recognized that by the speed with which Walsh was recruited (big hat tip for having the information about him and acting so quickly incidentally). Kelly is good. But the combination of skills across all eleven is what you build the team around.
This myth "build your team around (fill in name)" has been most frequently used regarding England - Beckham, Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard and lately Kane. Southgate has just completely debunked it with success by having a shared team ethic.

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Remember when we did it with McAllister. After 5 minutes teams realised all they had to do was mark him and we'd got nothing.

hill83 said:

Don't forget Walsh can be re-called in January.

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To bring us all back down to earth.

Mr Panda said:

I think it gets very tricky now that we've seen what Walsh is about, albeit one game. He was really decent yesterday once he got going.

You have to think Allen is a starter because his qualities are outstanding and O'Hare will be around the starting lineup alot more because he's the obvious link to Godden up front.

As good as Kelly is, at the minute he must be slightly worried if Walsh controls games like he did in the second half on a regular basis.

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Well you could see
Walsh and Kelly together and really let O'Hare off the leash. Kelly can also get forward and is capable of causing problems as he proved went partnering Doyle.

Lots of people including Allen in their formations.
He's never played for us, and who knows if he ever will.
He's injured again.
Could turn out to be another Tony Andreu.

Walsh vs Kelly is a really interesting one. Walsh looks susceptible defensively, which is where Kelly is best imo, but Walsh moves the ball a lot quicker than Kelly and makes passes I don't think Kelly can.

covboy1987 said:

Shipley would be my first choice in midfield - he has been one of the difference's this season- seems to go get better evry game and can score goals from free-kicks which is always to good to have in any team

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He’s only scored one free kick I think at Luton in League 2?

skyblue93 said:

Walsh vs Kelly is a really interesting one. Walsh looks susceptible defensively, which is where Kelly is best imo, but Walsh moves the ball a lot quicker than Kelly and makes passes I don't think Kelly can.

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Think while Allen is out 4231 with Walsh and Kelly at the base is the way forward

Horses for courses

SlowerThanPlatt said:

He’s only scored one free kick I think at Luton in League 2?

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I really enjoyed that free kick though but I agree I don't think that Ships (however much I like him) can be called the new Beckham as yet. He's a good striker of the ball though to be fair.