The Ronnie is reporting that Gary Speed's hamstring injury will keep him out for another 4-5 weeks.

Big blow imo, but should give Clarence Acuna the chance to show what he's worth - assuming, of course, he doesn't come back from Chile knacked.

-- Anonymous, August 31, 2001

Answers

IMHO, Acuna should get a place before Speed - more movement and more of a threat at the goal, although he doesn't seem to score as many.

His off the ball movement however is the main reason, Speed's movement has been lacking for the last 6 months.

-- Anonymous, August 31, 2001

The only problem I have with Acuna is that I feel he is a little undisciplined - gets enthusiastic and caught out of position rather too often. Having said that I hope he now gets a run of games in Speeds place so we can really assess his capability.

-- Anonymous, August 31, 2001

Let's assume Acuna does well replacing Speed in the coming weeks that he is out, I just get the feeling he will be back on the bench the moment Speed is fit again.

I agree with Clarky about Acuna being too enthuasiatic at times although I believe he's just trying too hard to impress i.e. to keep his place in the team. But maybe the tone down Bobby gave the team about picking up too many cards in the first two games might have an effect.

-- Anonymous, September 01, 2001

I think we might see this as a positive. Rob Lee played extremely well in a creative role after Speed left, something he seems afraid to do when Speed is in there. IMHO I'm not a big Speed fan and would prefer to see a more dominant player in his position. If Rob can do it (and he showed against the Mackems he was capable) I'd run the midfield through him. I'd interchange Bassedas and Acuna and see which one's better to run alongside Lee....

-- Anonymous, September 01, 2001

I reckon Acuna and Lee would be the best partnership in midfield at the moment, but Lee is not going to last that much longer. When Speed plays, he seems to tell the others how to play and shouts at them constantly, but then doesn't do anything himself. When Acuna plays he just gets on with it. He can pass, track back and tackle well (something Speed only does if we are 3-0 down), he's good going forward and I think he would bag a load of goals if he had the licence to go forward more often, which I think he is afraid to do when Speed plays. I do like Gary Speed, but I think it is time Bobby looked at who could offer the most to the team and in my opinion at the moment it is Acuna, Bassedas and Lee before Speed.

-- Anonymous, September 01, 2001

Agree with most of the points made, but Speed is a much more effective player than Bassedas imo. I'm afraid it looks as though Bassedas is not going to make it in the PL.

-- Anonymous, September 01, 2001

Chile were doing well in their friendly against France last I heard. Anyone know hoe Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion played then?

-- Anonymous, September 02, 2001

Just checked & Chile did indeed beat the reigning world champs 2-1. No mickey mouse team they had out either. No mention of Acuna on the Soccernet report and of course no team news so still unsure if wor lad featured in a BIG game

-- Anonymous, September 02, 2001