Saw this posed in the formation thread and thought it deserved a proper discussion. Hughes or Elliot for left back. I personally would go for Hughes, Elliot just seems to punt the ball forward every time he gets the ball. When Hughes replaced Elliot, Sunderland ceased as an attacking option down their right. Hughes to play left back, Obrien in the middel with dabs. Elliot can be a sub and quinn can play for the reserves.

On a separate note, no subs place for Bassedas on Sunday, is his career over for the toon??

AM

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Answers

Bernard!

I've seen him three times at KP, and against Twwwa at SJP. We've got a player there I'm telling you. If he makes no impression on the PL this season it's arse oot in the shop window for me.


-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

IMO Hughes is your best defender overall, anywhere in the back 4 Therefore i think he has to start in the middle, from what ive seen he is MUCH better than O'Brien Dabizas is a bit of a shocker like, the guy only gets a game because he has some physical presence to deal with the likes of NQ Discopants, Dunc Ferguson & the like.

Cant believe someone on here suggested you play 4-3-3 with Solano & Robert in the midfield, talk about overrun

Thanks to spending a lot of time with mags in ("REAL" - take note vicars) life, id say your best team is

Harper Griffin Hughes O'Brien Elliot Dyer Lee Speed Robert Shearer Cort

Given, Quinn, Dabizas, Bellamy, Solano

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Totally agree with you heednhands. Give Bernard a chance. He can't be any worse. I suggested this before the Mackem match but was summarily shot down by a whole lot of you for daring to think Bernard might just be a tad better than Elliot the local boy! I say we won't even know if we don't give him a couple of matches to show what he can do.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Fast, brave, skillful, athletic, confident, hard, excellent Frence footy education, did well on loan, inexperienced, 4'11".
Go on Bob, go on!

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Howway, own up. Who's cleftied the Barbarian handle ? :-)))

That's more like it Barb.

And did you really mean best team ? Putting out those 15 every week would do me, if we could get away with it. :-))

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Oops, 16

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

I think you're writing off Robbie Elliott too easily and far to quickly. He is adjusting to the pace of the PL in the same way Laurent Robert is, and to his new team mates in the same way Craig Bellamy is.

I actually believe for a local lad to return as he has done puts added pressure on him. In spite of that he hasn't done too badly, and is the best tackler at the Club. He hasn't as yet got the confidence to make positive forward runs in the way that he did previously, but at least give the guy a reasonable chance.

Aaron Hughes plays very capably at LB, and at RB for that matter - making him an extremely valuable squad member. However, imo Dabz and O'Brien form a better CB pairing.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

watch the replay and ask yourself where was Hughes when Phillips scored? When he went to left back who was he up against but a kid who got passed him 3 times look at the video and check.When the box is crowded you find O'Brien and Dazibas there. Hughes hides - WATCH THE VIDEO

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

All this raises an interesting question - what about Quinn? He seems very quickly to have become surplus to requirements. Elliot has back up in Hughes and Bernard (who I also like the look of) at LB, not to mention Griff, and further forward Robert theoretically has back up in the form of Bellamy, Elliot and Bernard again. The latter two perhaps no great shakes as attacking WBs (tho we don;t know about Bernard yet) but certainly no worse than WQ.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Spence, I'm quoting you from this time last year - I've got a good memory and found your thread after a bit of searching - "Is Hughes the best we can do at left back or centre half? Seems to me he lacks pace, belief when going forward and spinal fortitude at the back - Darlington is his next stop within 2 years". I'll admit that I adore Hughesie, and I'll agree with you that he ain't the World's best left back (not having a left foot, he won't be), but he has played everywhere we have asked him to play without arguing, was the only one of our international players to come back from holidays early (Speed and Given et al got let off the first week of InterToto training), having had two weeks' holiday and is NUFC through and through. That isn't a reason to keep him in the team when he clearly needs a rest but it is a reason for showing him a modicum of respect.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Spence, I sit right over the Gallowgate goal so I don't need to watch a video. He was pushed. He should have been better placed but then let's face it, how many defenders reached their peak at 21?

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

I'm with you dougal. I think people forget he's still only young.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Lynda, I do get a bit "over-protective" of Hughesie but it's largely because he was the first real youth team graduate we had for years and because he'd give a kidney for the club. I also think that bearing in mind the defensive role models he's had at NUFC, it's amazing he's as good as he is.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2001

Hmm! Is this a "Ladies for Hughsie" thread or can anyone join in?

It does suprise me that our defenders, well some of them at least, are rotated through different positions so much. Versatility is one thing but I don't thing we have had a settled defense and I'm not sure that all the rotation has been due to injuries. I realize that Dabs was out for a long time last year - but even so.

-- Anonymous, August 30, 2001

A bit harsh on Aaaron, he's a solid little player.

-- Anonymous, August 30, 2001

My idea of good defenders are Dixon, Keown, Adams and Winterburn. Boring, boring defenders who allow their side to win 1-0. None of them will ever look stylish but they are mean defenders who fitted together superbly.

We've suffered from defenders who cannot defend for two long. Many want our defenders to look good going forward, why ? There are 6 other players who can do that, let the defenders defend. For me the only defenders that have met my expectations over the last few years have been Goma, Helder, Howey and Hughes. The only full backs who came close were the 1996 versions of Vension and Elliot, and then I could still be argued out of it at a push. Hughes is still 21, still nowhere near maturity, he's good now, in a couple of years he'll be great.

-- Anonymous, August 30, 2001