Ryan Taylor

Taylor is far from your regular brawny target man. He's not small, but he's not exactly massive and most of his threat comes from occupying the defenders and linking up play between midfield and the other forwards. In the modern era of giant defenders, he doesn't win a massive number of aerial challenges outright, but the ones that he does win tend to go towards his teammates and it's the lay-offs which make him more effective. It is the other end of the scale to the big forwards who use their physical attributes to achieve their aims.

The comparison with Lumpaldinho is a good one because he was never dominant in the air, either, but used his brain more than most 'big' forwards.

If you look at Taylor's record from his career, he has scored around once every six appearances yet has still been a regular in most of the teams where he's played. Says a lot about his general ability.

It will be interesting to see if we do try and keep him on for another season. I'd be happy enough if we did, but I don't think we could rely on him being available for the majority of a season.

Taylor is very clever with the way he uses his body. He positions himself so he wins balls and holds up the ball when he really isn't favourite for. It enables us to get up the pitch well, he can win cheap free kicks and alleviate pressure. The difference he makes is tangible and fundamental.

What he brings to the overall squad is a different dynamic to the front line. It’s a different option for the defenders when playing out. It frees up mcatee so therefore giving the midfield more space and options too. It allows mcatee to play his natural attacking game and offers the wingers (when used) a target when crossing in. Not only that, it’s the hassle he gives defenders, irritating/annoying/hassling them. Drawing fouls and putting them off their game.

No, he’s never going to be a world beater or transfer for millions. But, he’s an important part of how PH sets his side up to play.

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

I'm a bit mystified by the early post saying Taylor is a dying breed. That type of player is alive and kicking (literally) in league 2 - there've been no end of posts complaining that we got muscled out of games and we need players to be more physical.

While not exactly a Ryan Taylor, Northampton's No 9 on Saturday was a bit of a handful in the first half - he was physical, held the ball up, was a threat in the air and chased everything (he faded in the second half and got less to feed off as we took more control).

It's just lazy talk isn't it . There's some right units in the premier league right now

Interesting to see if he starts tonight.

Quoted from chaos33

Interesting to see if he starts tonight.

I'd be very surprised, he's only played 6 minutes in 3.5 months!

Quoted from It Bites

It's just lazy talk isn't it . There's some right units in the premier league right now

Not according to PH in his pre match interview.

Quoted from ginnywings

Not according to PH in his pre match interview.

I'm beginning to think that you can't believe a word PH says before a game - not in a Holloway 'I'm a lying tw*t' kind of way but he appears to say stuff that's designed to give nothing away to the opposition and wrong foot them in every way.

The problem is that it confuses us as well  

I’d be sort of surprised if he starts, and sort of not.

Emille Heskey was never prolific but basically played every game and was very highly thought of by his fellow forwards, Michael Owen being one who appreciated heskeys play, I would assume McAtee has a smile on his face when he knows  Taylor’s playing.