Thought id start a few waffly threads off since for once ive got some spare time(off tommorra yey!). Im sure at least Tre will join in cos he luvs talkin tactics and stuff;-)

Right- Barton 1st choice- reliable, hard working+interacts well down the wing- can often get reasonable crosses in- Griffin close 2nd- Hughes next

Central- the big debate- 11 MILLION on 2 defenders and wat have they done for us??? NOWT!! we cannot make much judgement about them as theyve either been injured or just returned from inj/no time to 'aclimatize' to a new team/league- Goma cud easily be sold to Spurs- i say go for it + buy Helder- Helder Dabs MArcell Hughes Howey our bank of centrals- Howey +Helder perhaps the best combin, who knows...i think wed lose big money if we sold Marcell.

Left - get Domi back there- he was bought particularly as a good 'positional' defender as TDM said. YBR sees his pace, control and passing(NOT crossing) as potential for left midf but these were used really well last season from defence when he had a good link to midfield(Glass). If were playing a very tough match use hughes/pistone/griffin instead. DOmi may be enjoying setting up a few goals but hes a defender +his U21 place is at stake- feel a bit sorry for him..... he can still use his pace+killer passes coming forward from defence. Give Glass a bigger chance too- sell a pacy skillful LEFT midfielder? madness.... im sure his injury hasnt affected him that badly even if reserve games havent got him going full steam.

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2000

Answers

AARGHH just wrote a load of crap about our midfield too for another thread- didnt put in subject line +lost it all! Ah well it made for hard reading anyhows :-)

-- Anonymous, March 08, 2000

Domi's got the NOT crossing behind the defence into the path of Shearer down to a tee though, better passing/NOT crossing the Sandra (although the Italian didn't have the luxury of any support from the games I've seen - caught between going forward and leaving space behind him or staying back and leaving space for the opposition to move into).

If we had Domi and AN Other working as well as the pair on the right would be superb though

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2000

Spud sorry about not responding sooner but work and Uni take precednce sometimes. ;)

Re: Defence

I think you got the Right Back correct.

At Left Back I to would prefer Domi to start with Griffin and Hughes as backups.

As for the centre of defence, big debates here. Id plump for Helder to start defo. A fit Howey, provided his old/good form is back would be his prefered partner. Young Aaron Hughes again subs here when other options are not available.

The big debate is the key backups, choosing 2 from Marcelino, Goma and Dabizas. Well it's pretty obvious that Robson rates Dabizas, plus the player does a physical presence about him. As much as I'd like him flogged, he stays. Between Goma and Marcelino, both have had limited opportunities to show us what they can do, but Goma has showed more and he would be my main sub behind the starting two. So flog Marcelino for whatever we can get for him back to a spanish club. I would even take a straight up swap for the onloan Helder.

That leaves Charvet, Marcelino and Pistone to be sold, hopefully we would get a combined 7 or million pounds.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2000