I'm assuming that because we only had three attempts on goal there was little creativity in midfield on Saturday. The responsibility was with Solano and Bassedas really, how did they perform?

Bassedas was called the steering wheel in Argentina. Surely you can only steer a balanced machine? Our left hand side doesn't even have a left wheel never mind a balanced tyre and new shocks!

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

Answers

He's got the Maric problem. Great passer with time and space (looked fabulous against Brum for five mins until O'Connor tried to break his legs) but is visibly frightened of what passes for fair challenges in the UK. No homework done at all. We should put together a video of the sort of challenges players can look forward to in this country and only sign anyone who can watch it without turning green.

When Silvio was reduced to the reserves he was one of those players who needed to get hurt to get over the pain barrier and then he was fine. A bit like in Rugby where it was always good to get a tackle in in the first few minutes and get flattened yourself to get all that debilitating fear out of the system. All adrenalin after that. Watched Maric stick his head in at knee height with a defender and keeper both trying to kick the ball away when he scored a hat-trick at KP, but only after he'd been cut in half a few minutes before hand.

Get Shearer to slap him around before the game and get his blood up. You can see them all diving in on him at the moment because word has got round that he can be intimidated. If he plays at SoS we can all give up before kick off.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

I noticed he played as the left midfielder on Saturday, which can't really be helping him.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

You can see Don Hutchison relishing this already. Hopefully he'll be suspended!

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

Maybe we simply misunderstood what they meant. He is like a steering wheel because he needs a firm hand each side of him to keep him pointing in the right direction. We are currently attempting to drive with our knees but unfortunately had our legs amputated a while back.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

'Driving with knees'. The Transit Van Man's second nature.

It's certainly not Power steered!

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

I've been disappointed with him so far. I saw and read a lot about him before he joined. I'd love to think that he is going to make it, but he has been singled out for a good howking and hasn't got to grips with that yet.(I think its called the 'cut and thrust' of the English game)

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

The signs are that he is toughening up. The reports from the IC Newc site say he was tackling better as the game went on.

It's as Softie says that he has to be kicked before he starts getting physical. Hardening him up is all part of his experience in the Premiership but one thing he can do is pass a ball and that is a far better base to start from than trying to make a footballer out of a thug.

Manure have tried similar things with Scholes and he still can't tackle for toffee!

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

And, to be fair on the guy, he really has not had an extended run in the position he was supposedly bought for(central midfield) since he came. If it's not injury, he's been kept out by Lee and Speed.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

Could be a translation thing - for 'steering wheel' read instead 'runs around in circles'!

To be honest, I can't say I've seen him bottle tackles, a la Solano, and he doesn't seem particularly intimidated by the midfield battle, in fact I think he's actually quite a brave player - the question in my mind is simply, can he compete on equal terms with the best? Certainly, he's shown nothing so far to suggest he can become a midfield anchor.

However, he is undoubtedly playing out of position, and before the end of the season Bobby really needs to give him a run in his preferred role to find out whether or not he can hack it. If not, we'll finish up transferring him back to Argentina for £350k.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

So really Robson should, before the end of the season, play athe following team

Given

Griffin-Caldwell-Hughes-Quinn

Acuna

Solano-Bassedas-Dyer

Shearer-Cort

Acuna provides the cover for the back four and Bassedas, Solano and Dyer do all the necessary attacking stuff. Obviously all the midfielders have to be intelligent enough to adapt to the way the midfield battle is going, but at least with a settled formation and an understanding of their clearly defined roles, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

Except Dyer is done for this season. :-(

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

DeB

Obviously with the exception of Dyer ,I would like to see that formation given a go. Actually I'd prefer to see Shola given a run with AS. I like the idea of Acuna playing there - I think he's doing well.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 2001

Ah I forgot about Dyer! I guess a fit Gary Speed would fit in well enough and give us that attacking option when he gets in the box.

Against the tougher teams, the ones that graft this team might be better because we wouldn't expect Solano to be doing that much defensive work.

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2001