Scott Neilson

Just a thought but maybe hurst has been clever and he's not playing  Neilson to keep him out of the shop window until the window closes  

Quoted from The Singing Fisherman

Just a thought but maybe hurst has been clever and he's not playing  Neilson to keep him out of the shop window until the window closes  

And by allowing personal absence first, then illness through a sick note, could possibly be working the same with Aswad.

I would like to think that the club cares and has looked at the best solution to assist Aswad in the short term.

Hurst's comment in a recent interview that Aswad wouldn't get straight back into the team doesn't state he has left, so let's just wait for the time to elapse, and the situation to be resolved behind the scenes in a proper manner. The player's long term welfare is important as a priority.

Quoted from BIGChris

No I in team is the way i see it

But there are five in individual brilliance. Shamelessly stolen from Daniel in the last series of apprentice and not really relevant, I just find it amusing.

Quoted from carp catcher

I sit in the main stand and he was seen by more than one person if he was sat in findus why drive round there when there's no where to park

Does seem strange but he came in late and sat at the end of our row, it had to be the Macclesfield game cos it wasn't as recent as the Barnet game and wasn't the Gateshead game cos there was hardly any one there.
Perhaps because as alot have accused him on here, he's a lazy so and so.
Personally I'd love to see him back in the team playing behind a front 3 of LJL, Ollie & Jollie & just infront of Disley & Clay but I'm sure that won't happen.

Quoted from MrsMariner

Does seem strange but he came in late and sat at the end of our row, it had to be the Macclesfield game cos it wasn't as recent as the Barnet game and wasn't the Gateshead game cos there was hardly any one there.
Perhaps because as alot have accused him on here, he's a lazy so and so.
Personally I'd love to see him back in the team playing behind a front 3 of LJL, Ollie & Jollie & just infront of Disley & Clay but I'm sure that won't happen.

That would be bonkers. You'd have effectively a three man midfield where one of the three is well known for being a bit on the lazy side and you'd put him in a position which automatically makes him less defensive and in a bit of a free role? We'd end up effectively with a two man midfield and none of our midfielders are overly mobile and a forward three that would either function as a forward three and leave the midfield completely overrun or would end up with Jolley and LJl coming deeper to plug gaps. This would cause them to lose effectiveness going forward and we'd end up with just Ollie up top on his own being supported by Neilson and lose the good forward combination of Ollie and LJL in the centre.

If you put Neilson in the hole behind the strikers it has to be behind a front 2 and in front of a midfield 3 to give some sort of balance to the shape of the side.

Not sure it's that bonkers at all.

I'd possibly not go for those individuals but I can see the merits in a 4-2-1-3 system.

Yes, you've got a massive gap in the midfield but if played correctly (high tempo in the final third, full backs bombing on) you pen the opposition back so much they've limited opportunity to take advantage in the middle.    With four players in front of them, there's less onus on the midfield pair to make forward runs, therefore their energy is focused on covering right-to-left.

Even with the four of Palmer, Lenny, Neilson and Jolley it can easily become a 4-4-2 if required.  

Not a formation I would go for every game but I can think of quite a few games where it would be effective.

Thanks diehardmariner for confirming I'm not completely bonkers.
Everyone's quick to complain when we are too negative but with those players on top of their game playing at a quick tempo like you say, similar to the Gateshead & Alfreton games, there would be very few teams who could live with us.

I don't think it's bonkers either. Attack is the best form of defence after all and it's not formations that win games, it's players. Clever players can adapt to situations and snuff out danger before it develops. The teams at the top have the cleverest players.

It can quickly become 4-5-1 when needed.

Quoted from diehardmariner

Not sure it's that bonkers at all.

I'd possibly not go for those individuals but I can see the merits in a 4-2-1-3 system.

Yes, you've got a massive gap in the midfield but if played correctly (high tempo in the final third, full backs bombing on) you pen the opposition back so much they've limited opportunity to take advantage in the middle.    With four players in front of them, there's less onus on the midfield pair to make forward runs, therefore their energy is focused on covering right-to-left.

Even with the four of Palmer, Lenny, Neilson and Jolley it can easily become a 4-4-2 if required.  

Not a formation I would go for every game but I can think of quite a few games where it would be effective.

Even played at a high tempo, we'd still struggle to control games with the players at our disposal. We don't have particularly attacking full backs in Robertson and Magnay. Whilst I think Magnay is our best player, he's not a full back who bombs on particularly unlike Aswad and I think I'm right in thinking that Robertson is similar in that he's solid and dependable but not overly keen on bombing forward (from what I've read). So if we're playing at a high tempo and the two wide players of the 3 are pushing on the full back, any team with half a brain will instruct their wide players to drop a bit deeper into the space where we have nobody covering to receive the ball and then they're directly up against our full back.

Neilson is not a player who we can rely on to work hard defensively all game (I'd question his fitness honestly) and there have been many games this season where people have complained that whatever combination of 2 central midfielders we use, we often don't control the game, in my opinion because none of them are that mobile. If you had them covering the wide positions as well as the middle, they'd be completely overrun and it would leave us more exposed to counter attacks, something we already struggle with at home.

I'm all for an aggressive, attacking formation but with the players we have there needs to be defensive balance and a 4-2-1-3 with Neilson in the hole would leave us very vulnerable to any half decent counter attacking side. A 4-3-1-2, as we've already seen, can work really well.

I think a 4-2-1-3 with Neilson 'in the hole' would essentially end up as a 4-2-4. Though we have plenty of hard-working forwards, I don't think we're mobile enough in midfield to get away with starting with this formation. If we're chasing a game, by all means give it a try, but I think a 4-3-3 with 3 proper (defensive-ish) midfielders is probably about as attacking as we should attempt to be. Though we're doing well at the moment, I don't think we're that much better than most of the teams in this division and starting with four up front shows a bit too much hubris for me.

Pretty sure that the only 4-2-4 formations I've seen in the past were from Big Keef's Lincoln teams and perhaps Dagenham and Redbridge a few years back?