[Archived] Who Should The Midfield Pairing Be?

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Dunn, Reid and Savage, any pair works.

[rebelmswar]

Dunn, Reid and Savage, any pair works.

Is the axe hated that much?

Does anyone else think that he looks like the medical robot from Empire Strikes Back?

[b12_simon]

Is the axe hated that much?

Hated is a bit strong IMO. He's useful in some situations but too limited to be more than cover in most.

[Alan75]

On current form it should be 3 in the middle, with a lone striker.

Reid Tugay and Savage in the middle, with Dunn and Bentley on the flanks. With both flank players cutting in to allow Warnock and Emerton to overlap.

With his one touch control, all five midfielders should be getting on the score sheet, feeding off Cruz.

Of course this depends on the midfielders giving Santa some service.

We can but dream

[Oakland]

Bentley - Tugay - Savage - Dunn

[Rob of the Rovers]

I voted Savage and Dunn, but I would also be happy with Tugay and Savage or Mokoena and Dunn. Basically Hughes has got his combinations wrong at times, because Savage/Mokoena (ball retention!) or Tugay/Mokoena (sit holding hands on the edge of our own area!) have serious flaws.

Reid, when fully fit and in form, is our most adaptable central midfielder and could play more easily with any of the others.

[Rovermatt]

Has to be Reid and Savage I'm afraid. Mokoena is a shockingly bad footballer and Tugay is just too damn old.

[thenodrog]

Quite a few people have commented that Hughes is currently picking the wrong team, in particular the two central midfielders Tugay and Mokoena. So who should be the first choice? Keep in mind, obviously if you choose Bentley, then we have a problem on the right hand side.

Much depends on the opposition.

[AndyH16]

I voted Savage & Dunn, if Reid had a few more games under his belt I'd have probably voted for Savage & Reid.

Tugay plays some well measured passed and has good close control but there just seems to be too many instances where he gets caught out and it can cost when he loses it in the middle of the park.

And yes, it really depends who you're playing against.

[blue phil]

Has to be Reid and Savage I'm afraid. Mokoena is a shockingly bad footballer and Tugay is just too damn old.

There's not too much to choose between Savage and Mokoena ...and Tugay still walks into the team - and he hasn't disappointed despite his age .

"Shockingly bad" is a daft comment - maybe it looks that way from the sofa but I've seen worse . A lot worse ......

[tcj_jones]

Savage and Dunn worked REALLY well in the first third of the season. They should be together now.

However, if Pedersen were to be dropped, I would move Dunn to the left and give Reid a starting role.

Tugay should only ever be used on the occasion where the game suits him and Mokoena should be employed as a sub to see games out.

Hmmm, the two players I definitely don't think should be starting regularly have, in fact, been starting regularly...

[andrew92]

tugay-reid, reid-savage, dunn-reid, they are they only 3 parings that i would consider depending on who we are playing, but who would you have at left mid? not pedersen imo!

[John]

BLACKBURN VERDICT: Normally one of the most consistent sides around, they have now only won one of the last eight games. An uncharacteristic lack of solidity does not help, and neither does Morten Gamst Pedersen's extended slump in form, but being outmanoeuvred in midfield was the main cause of their difficulties tonight.

[ni_rover]

Savage and Dunn.

Savage can sit back and help protect the defence, whilst Dunn is the only one capable of properly supporting the front two from central midfield unless Reid can get back to where he once was, but I expect that to take a few months.

Dunn! Ha ha ha ha ha! He is done mate.

Savage & Tugay until atleast we sign someone!

[ScudCrater]

Hi everyone,

First post so here we go (too good a subject to sit back on, especially during our current run of poor form)...

It seems to me that we suffer from a lack of decent creativity through the middle of the park (specifically as we get close to the opponents' penalty box) and, without doubt, the most creative and attacking player we have in midfield is Bentley... so I would play him at the front of a four man diamond with Tugay sitting behind (for those long range super passes) and play two tough tackling (but semi-attacking) players either side of them in a tight midfield. My preferred options would be to see Dunn playing inside left and Reid (when fit) playing inside right. Our other issue in recent times has been the lack of control in the centre of the park so this tight midfield should help us keep possession and control the game a tad more, whilst protecting the centre backs through the middle... although it does leave us a little exposed on the flanks. That said, it does provide plenty of space for our extra-attacking full backs to get up the field and get their crosses in.

In this formation, there isn't really any room for Benni (as he likes to play deep, almost as deep as I am suggesting Bentley should play) therefore I've got to with Santa and Derbs/Roberts/new striker up front (not that we are actually discussing strikers in this thread.. just couldn't resist, sorry!).

Anyway, until we get back on a solid defensive footing, this may work. It does mean we lose Bentley's crosses from the right (well, some of them, as I'm sure he'd float into that space a bit) but, hopefully, his trickery where it matters would disturb the opponents centrebacks and open up spaces for our front two to exploit.

I'd bring on the Axe (or Huddlestone if he came) for Tugay where appropriate, and Savage (or somebody new) for either Dunn or Reid. Gamst could be on the bench in case we needed to change back to a more traditional 4-4-2 (or when he returns to form.. whichever comes sooner!).

What do people think?

[John]

Could work and sounds good in theory but I always worry when we start talking about new formations. Simple is sometimes best, and in our case, we just need the majority of our starting eleven to get their form back.

On Reid, thought fitness wise he looked good last night. He was making a few sliding challenges as well.

[blue phil]

Much depends on the opposition.

Too much at the moment ....!

I wonder if Avram Grant will be worrying the same about our midfield line up on Sunday

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I'd have Mokoena playing in front of the back four with instructions not to go out of his own half and Tugay with instructions to play in their half and in no circumstances get behind Mokoena.

[Guest WestSussexTombo]

I have voted Dunn & Reid, but with money i think the club might have, id go with Huddlestone and Lassana Diarra.

So midfield of Bentley - Huddlestone - Diarra - Gamst

Then in the summer id bring in Thomas Hitzlsperger from Stuttgart as he would be available for about 3.5 million and he could push the midfield and Gamst on the left... He has been impressive for Stuttgart, signed a new contract recently but i think he'd be tempted to return to the Premier League...

[broadsword]

You can't put two new signings into the middle of the pitch that is bonkers.

[LeChuck]

I have voted Dunn & Reid, but with money i think the club might have, id go with Huddlestone and Lassana Diarra.

So midfield of Bentley - Huddlestone - Diarra - Gamst

Then in the summer id bring in Thomas Hitzlsperger from Stuttgart as he would be available for about 3.5 million and he could push the midfield and Gamst on the left... He has been impressive for Stuttgart, signed a new contract recently but i think he'd be tempted to return to the Premier League...

I agree completely.

We also have to address the situation up front, Santa Cruz is getting no support.

I've heard good things about Billy Sharpe, maybe we should move for him...

[rover6]

I'd have Mokoena playing in front of the back four with instructions not to go out of his own half and Tugay with instructions to play in their half and in no circumstances get behind Mokoena.

Old dog, new tricks... I think, you might as well ask Teddy Sheringham to play a box-to-box midfield role.

[Hasta]

I think the big problem with last night was the midfield pairing again. Tugay and Mokoena will not work! I've said this many times all season and hughes just keeps proving me right. The problem is that both want to sit on the half way line and neither can get forward. They are also very immobile. This leads to them being picked up and harassed very easily. Last night the defence had no options infront of them when they had the ball. (This doesn't excuse their hari-kari like habit of getting caught in posession that they have developed.) The midfields inability to go forward also leaves a gapping hole behind the strikers. When the defence does lump it forward, any knock downs are mopped up by the opposition midfield. Bentley and Pedersen are having to move infield to try and help solve this problem when they should most of the time be out wide.

Of all the possible pairings we could play in midfield this one is the worst. Its not suprising that it has received 0 votes on here.

[DanLad]

I wonder if this poll should be reset given that we've seen more of the Tugay/Axe combo and potential developments with Sav?

I thought that some efforts were made to address the 'midfield too deep' argument last night as when we were attacking the Axe did push forward a bit more. Unfortunately, one of the last people I want to supplement our attack is the South African battler. I'd prefer Tugs to play in the opposition half and the Axe to sit back (with the caveat that I'm not expecting the Axe to pick the ball up from our centre halfs and spray the ball around - I think that Nelsen/Samba/Zurab can all play decent balls and are better than the long ball merchants that they appear to be at the moment)

[Hasta]

I think the big problem with last night was the midfield pairing again. Tugay and Mokoena will not work! I've said this many times all season and hughes just keeps proving me right. The problem is that both want to sit on the half way line and neither can get forward. They are also very immobile. This leads to them being picked up and harassed very easily............... Its not suprising that it has received 0 votes on here.

Mr Hughes. Listen to us please. They are clueless together FFS.