Our Midfield

Quoted from Tommy

Selective quotes there Garth.

I gave a balanced opinion of him which did include negatives.

So we now have a completely new midfield in Osborne, McAllister and Clements (if he signs)

MB has said he doesn't mind players giving the ball away if they are trying to be positive with a pass. You see every week on MOTD, players with far more talent giving away goal scoring chances by playing out from the back. Sometimes a player can look bad because of those around him not being on the same wavelength and taking risks to get forward. A ball is played to where the man in possession thinks his team mate should be but isn't because he is naturally defensive minded. You see this every week at BP and it is what makes us disjointed. Pass and move football needs the move to make the pass effective. It takes a long time on the training pitch to get this fluid movement to come naturally. I think Summerfield could be a far more effective player in a more progressive, forward thinking side. Clements possibly suffers the same criticisms by Mansfield fans. It's easy to play the safe option and is why we struggle to break teams down.

Quoted from Tommy

Yes there has been a few times this season where a poor pass in our own half has given the opposition a chance to counter attack us. But at least that comes from him constantly wanting to get on the ball and pass it progressively. Even in those games he still doesn't hide after it and still always wants the ball which shows a bit of mental strength.]

In just about every home game I've seen him play in, he has gifted the opposition the ball and set up a counter attack and at least twice resulting in a goal for them. Once, twice maybe even 3 times could be forgiven but four, five, six... is a sign of a player who is a liability.

"Wanting to pass it progressively". Well it depends on how often that pass succeeds and I don't see him providing enough of this. Yes we need a player who can do that in the middle but we need a better player who can do that. Hopefully he will be one of the new signings.

Quoted from ginnywings

MB has said he doesn't mind players giving the ball away if they are trying to be positive with a pass. You see every week on MOTD, players with far more talent giving away goal scoring chances by playing out from the back. Sometimes a player can look bad because of those around him not being on the same wavelength and taking risks to get forward. A ball is played to where the man in possession thinks his team mate should be but isn't because he is naturally defensive minded. You see this every week at BP and it is what makes us disjointed. Pass and move football needs the move to make the pass effective. It takes a long time on the training pitch to get this fluid movement to come naturally. I think Summerfield could be a far more effective player in a more progressive, forward thinking side. Clements possibly suffers the same criticisms by Mansfield fans. It's easy to play the safe option and is why we struggle to break teams down.

Agree with this, also when we lose the ball the team has to win it back I'm not sure we have been as effective as we might be at this season to date.

I think Summerfield has shown enough to be given some leeway and see what he's got in a better balanced side. He looked very good at Bolton and in a couple of games at BP. If he can get some consistency and cut out the sloppy passes, then we could have a good player on our hands.

Disagree. I just don't think Summerfield is good enough, just my opinion. He has had the occasion decent game but nowhere near enough at this level. He may do okay at a lower level.

I think people desperate to see a creative type of midfield player at Town that they accept mediocrity as good. A similar thing happened with Nolan. We should be looking at players better than these.

Quoted from MarinerMal

Disagree. I just don't think Summerfield is good enough, just my opinion. He has had the occasion decent game but nowhere near enough at this level. He may do okay at a lower level.

I think people desperate to see a creative type of midfield player at Town that they accept mediocrity as good. A similar thing happened with Nolan. We should be looking at players better than these.

We have one - Vose! Sometimes you can only sign what's available and within your price range. I think we saw the value of Nolan when it counted - at Wembley! and also delivering the free kick for Omar to head home the winner in the semi at Braintree.  

As if Nolan was mediocre.

But maybe with a better midfielder than Nolan we wouldn't have fallen so far of the pace after his arrival and wouldn't have finished lower than Braintree in the League. Nolan's best game were when he had Disley and Clay alongside him to do the job he couldn't/wouldn't do. Nolan wasn't a bad player he just wasn't a good player. Mediocre.

Yes I would play Vose over Summerfield, he's a better more creative player.