[Archived] Benni Mccarthy - Gone

[MeanGreenMachine]

I think the only team that plays with an attacking midfielder behind a front two is Chelsea, and that's because they've got the best selection of central midfielders to choose from to protect behind.

Other Premier League teams don't play that way, we'd get absolutely murdered doing it.

We have been bummed dry playing the ultra defencive 4-5-1 ###### tho?

[LeChuck]

We have been bummed dry playing the ultra defencive 4-5-1 ###### tho?

The only time we've played an ultra-defensive 4-5-1 with Dunn and Di Santo playing was against Man Utd. I hope we don't play that way again as well. The 4-4-1-1 we were using pre-Chelsea was working fine, and it certainly wasn't lacking going forward.

[MeanGreenMachine]

You on about the games against Burnley, Villa and Wolves? Wolves and Burnley with there fantastic squads and great away form and for a hour a dire performance against villa which changed when we had a man sent off .

4-5-1/4-4-1-1 or whatever it is/ment to be doesn't work because we dont have the players to make it work.

[LeChuck]

You on about the games against Burnley, Villa and Wolves? Wolves and Burnley with there fantastic squads and great away form and for a hour a dire performance against villa which changed when we had a man sent off .

4-5-1/4-4-1-1 or whatever it is/ment to be doesn't work because we don't have the players to make it work.

Well you've just brushed aside three wins and three good performances as if they don't mean anything.

We've shown numerous times that when we apply 4-4-1-1 in a positive fashion that we can make it work, it's when we sit deep and don't get the midfield forward that it gets exposed. I don't understand what logic you're using that tells you we don't have the players to make Dunn playing off a front man work, but we do have the players available to do it with McCarthy.

[MeanGreenMachine]

Ah right lets pick out 3 performances (2 of which were against dire just promoted sides) and brush off the rest of the games we have played?

Please explain how 4-4-1-1 can be positive? At all

Please tell me who this target man is who fits into this role?

Please tell me why we are in the relegation places with one of the worst away records in the country and also one of the most shocking goal differences in the league.

Yes clearly 4-5-1/4-4-1-1 is working a treat.

[Iceman]

Ah right lets pick out 3 performances (2 of which were against dire just promoted sides) and brush off the rest of the games we have played?

Please explain how 4-4-1-1 can be positive? At all

Please tell me who this target man is who fits into this role?

Please tell me why we are in the relegation places with one of the worst away records in the country and also one of the most shocking goal differences in the league.

Yes clearly 4-5-1/4-4-1-1 is working a treat.

4-4-1-1 is like 4-4-2, except a midfielder or striker, sitting behind the other striker. What LeChuck is getting at, is that if we play an attacking game, then we can be more of a threat to the opposition. However, with Sam adopting these defensive long ball tactics its stifling the formation. Our midfield and defence are constantly under pressure, because the ball gets knocked up field and comes back in a flash. If we adopt a more attack minded approach, we basically running with 5 midfielders linking up with the striker. With the attacking 4-4-1-1 tactic, we still have the effect of a 4-4-2 formation.

[DeadlyDirk]

It's just a shame that with our financial situation being pretty tight that we have to sell to buy. At the end of the day if Benni isn't in Sam's first team plans then he needs to go both to give us some spending money and to help his own chances of the World Cup.

I'm still a big fan of Benni but he's almost a cache 22 situation. Seems like he can't get in the team so doesn't seem to bothered about giving his all and then on the other hand he can't be bothered so he doesn't get in the team.

Still a fantastic player on the ball but just doesn't seem to be Big Sam's cup of tea and at the end of the day he's the manager. In a 4-4-2 I'm sure he'd get plenty of more games but Dunny has almost forced the formation with his own decent displays.

Still with the jury out on Kalinic and Di Santo probably going back to Chelsea we could well regret letting him go if we indeed do.

Overall I think it depends on price for me, if him leaving means we can strengthen the team then so be it but if we let him go for a couple of million just to be eaten away by wages or to be spent on fringe players then I feel we are better off keeping him as part of the squad knowing that he can do a job for us if he gets stuck in.

If he does end up staying at Rovers then surely with the WC coming up he'll know he needs to give 100% all the time and could get us some important goals, even if he's not going to be a first team regular.

Up to Sam I guess, my heart says keep him but my head says perhaps it's time for him to move on to help us and himself.

[thenodrog]

Up to Sam I guess, my heart says keep him but my head says perhaps it's time for him to move on to help us and himself.

Nobody does that anymore. They'd miss the big pay-out.

[bob fleming]

How bizarre! Benni has to play well and score goals in his International team to earn his place in his club side!

Have I missed something here? Has Benni not been over weight for the past season or so? Didn't he admit as much, that he "took his eye of the ball" etc

So what do we have now then. We lose at Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal and the end of the world is nigh. Let's bring back Benni who in recent times has ahown as much enthusiasm for the game as a heavily pregnant sloth.

So kind of him to state that he now wants to move on after being unfit for so long and how coincidental that this new wave of enthusiasm for the game comes as the South Africa boss is sacked.

Someone's taking the proverbial.

[MeanGreenMachine]

Yes but does he score goals when he plays?

[BiggusLaddus]

Yes but does he score goals when he plays?

Usually, if we get a penalty.

[S15]

Ah right lets pick out 3 performances (2 of which were against dire just promoted sides) and brush off the rest of the games we have played?

Please explain how 4-4-1-1 can be positive? At all

Please tell me who this target man is who fits into this role?

Please tell me why we are in the relegation places with one of the worst away records in the country and also one of the most shocking goal differences in the league.

Yes clearly 4-5-1/4-4-1-1 is working a treat.

This post is beyond belief. This season there had only been two games where we have not got the result we would probably have expected before the game; West Ham at home and Sunderland away. We picked up a better result against Villa than most would have predicted, and by all accounts, most people around here will tell you a point is the minimum we should have got at Sunderland.

The truth is our team isn't that good at the moment, certainly not a brush on what it was a couple of seasons ago. With that in mind, the win all the games we would 'expect' to is a fine achievement, and like when Hughes first took over, we'll have to build the team by buying a new first teamer a season.

People always twitter on about the negative football, and it's pathetic because it's all born from pre conceived opinions about Allardyce, which people are unwilling to change. The football under Hughes was not great, and was all built around being hard to beat. There is not much difference between Hughes' and Allardyce's systems/tactics, the only difference is the players, something Sam can't be blamed for, not for another season or two.

McCarthy, for the past two seasons has been ABSOLUTE @#/?. Awful. I wish we'd have sold him after his first season. He has a decent goal return, but an awful lot of them over the past couple of years have been penalties.

He should not be in the team, and I would prefer Dunn playing off Di Santo every time. And, like it or not, that combination is working.

Everyone is concerned about the away performances, but the results are as expected. I think the performances, when push comes to shove, are down mostly down to our general low quality of player compared to the top teams (a few years ago our team had a few players who could get in their teams, not any more), as opposed to the system they are playing.

Anyone who thinks Benni McCarthy is going to improve the fight and influence the result when the going gets really tough is on a different planet, as he's never done it before.

[bob fleming]

Yes but does he score goals when he plays?

You've done me there. I don't know why he doesn't play the unfit, immobile, shadow of his former self every week. Still, he has a chance to play in the World Cup now so maybe he'll sort himself out. Which will be good of him.

[CAPT KAYOS]

This post is beyond belief. This season there had only been two games where we have not got the result we would probably have expected before the game;

I expect us to beat anybody at home

[thenodrog]

I expect us to beat anybody at home

Me too.......... until the alarm clock goes off.

[CAPT KAYOS]

Me too.......... until the alarm clock goes off.

Would that be the alarm to advise you of your game of golf Theno?

[Jackson]

I mean, surely, we could just play Benni in central midfield instead of Julie. Anything, absolutely anything, is a better option and if Julie does play again, I would expect the bench to be deviod of anything better. I'd even stick Brown there as a better option.

[Oklahoma]

News here report that Benni recovered from swine flu and started training for tomorrow's game.

He was also called for the next two South Africa games.

[Ozz]

You've done me there. I don't know why he doesn't play the unfit, immobile, shadow of his former self every week. Still, he has a chance to play in the World Cup now so maybe he'll sort himself out. Which will be good of him.

Not keen then Bob?

If Di Danto bogs off in the New Year, I would play the same system with Dunn behind Benni. A motivated McCarthy playing with Dunn close to him should in theory be as good as what we have now, if not better. If he stays, and we are paying him wages then why not?

[Scotty]

Reading some of the comments on here, Benni seems to have become a much better player while he's not been playing. I'm sure that if he did start for a run of games we'd all get back to moaning about him like we did the last time he was in the team for an extended period of time.

The fact is that our forward combination of Dunn and Di Santo is the one part of the team that seems to be working. Are we missing loads of chances? No. Our problem is that we aren't creating enough, and Benni isn't going to help that.

[Neil Weaver]

Reading some of the comments on here, Benni seems to have become a much better player while he's not been playing. I'm sure that if he did start for a run of games we'd all get back to moaning about him like we did the last time he was in the team for an extended period of time.

Spot on Scotty. In the same way, Emerton had become a world beater that could play in just about any position by the start of this season. Another few weeks and reality will kick in. Hell, if Andrews gets injured for a few weeks, he'll become a £5 million internation midfielder.

As is often remarked about other things, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

[Billy Castell]

Spot on Scotty. In the same way, Emerton had become a world beater that could play in just about any position by the start of this season. Another few weeks and reality will kick in. Hell, if Andrews gets injured for a few weeks, he'll become a £5 million internation midfielder.

As is often remarked about other things, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

I doubt anyone would say that on this board given the 'love' so many have for him.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Someone suggested that Mokoena is a better player so he's right - absence does make the heart grow fonder, Keith may not be Lampard but Mokoena was just a downright liability.

Edited November 6, 2009 by Anti-Dingle-Brigade

[thenodrog]

Someone suggested that Mokoena is a better player so he's right - absence does make the heart grow fonder, Keith may not be Lampard but Mokoena was just a downright liability.

Poor axe's appearence as sub last week was booed by the pompey faithful apparently.

[Mr. E]

How anyone can question Benni after today is beyond me.