IF Griffin is fit for long enough and last until KO time on Wednesday.......

How about Hughes at left back and Griffin on the right.

Apologise to Hughes for making him a jack of all trades - but the Nevilles do it at Manure

Nothing can be worse than that abject performance from Elliot on Sunday.

Did he ever make a pass to a B&W shirt?

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

Answers

I also think Griffin and Hughes would be our best FB pairing, Pete - but you can almost guarantee that Elliott will play on Wednesday. He is essentially an automatic pick.

I've defended him so far, because I've felt his defensive abilities have offset his poor distribution, but in addition to giving the ball away yesterday I thought he was also terrible defensively.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

I occasionally worry about being biased or unfair about Elliott but the comments around me yesterday confirmed that the whole Toon Army think he's sh*te.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

Tragic really - when he left I'd have backed him to pay for England.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

What about Griffin on the left and Hughes on the right?

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

Despite coming here as right-footed LB, Griffin never looked comfortable playing on the left for us, whereas Hughes did pretty well there.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

Yeah that's right, I remember now. However, I still think he'd be better than Elliott there.

We also want someone who can form a partnership down the flanks. Solano and Hughes together have had some good matches together. Hughes on the left giving Robert some options would give us another dimension.

Also Olivier Bernard surely must be better than Elliott at left back? Ashley Cole and Mikael Silvestre aren't that brilliant at the back, but good going forward. The role of a left back has changed dramatically, and Elliott certainly doesn't fit that role.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

I wouldn't move Hughes from RB. He's been **cked around enough already and IMHO, is performing pretty well right now at RB.

I certainly am not happy with Elliott at LB right now, tho as a defender he's not done too badly (save perhapsfor Sunday, tho I haven't seen close analysis in video yet as I was at the match). Not sure about either Bernard or Quinn as defenders. IMHO, both are far better than Elliott going forward and passing. But as brick-sh!thouses, neither compares with Elliott. (The only one who does is Griffin on the other side).

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

Is Elliott becoming the new Barton. Sorry if I'm adding fuel to this fire :-(

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002

hughes @ l.back is shite my reasons behind this is that he's right footed, he's cr*p, he's slow, he's cr*p, he cant pass, he's cr*p and last of all he's cr*p. give bernard a crack.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

so if Hughes is crap at left back that would still make him a heck of a lot better than Elliot

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

Hughes actually had a couple of good games at LB at the end of last season and normally plays there for Northern Ireland but putting him there would only be a stop gap measure as he isn't really a LB. Hughes has actually done quite well at RB all things considered. He isn't as slow as all that, actually passes relatively well by defender standards and has a brain on his shoulders so makes relatively few mistakes. He has also been linking up 100% better with Solano than Elliott does with Robert.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

>>hughes @ l.back is shite my reasons behind this is that he's right footed, he's cr*p, he's slow, he's cr*p, he cant pass, he's cr*p and last of all he's cr*p. give bernard a crack.

While certainly not 100% in to the FB role, Aaron certainly hasn't let anyone down in that position. You underestimate him.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002

Hughes has done well at right back recently, can't really knock the lad.

I know we hate the idea of it, but how about a new formation?

Given

----Hughes------O'Brien------Distin----

Solano-----Dyer------Speed------Bernard

----------------Robert-----------------

---------Shearer-----Bellamy-----------

Robert rarely defends anyway, and when he does it normally disadvantages the team as he's too deep to cause them any problems. Play him behind the strikers, his crossing is sh*te but he can take players on like no-one else.

This way we have enough cover down the wings and if things get tough Bernard can drop back to form a back four.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2002