[Archived] David Thompson?

[bob fleming]

Actually Tom - let's let last season lie. He wasn't alone in being a bit bobbins was he? Sure, he's a lot to prove and he even said as much himself, that he wants to show the form he is capable of for us this coming season.

So if you could give him the first five minutes against WBA, and then revert back to giving him stick, I think you'll have been more than fair.

[American]

Give him a chance with good balance on the left and Thompson beside him and you'll be singing his praises in a few months time (unless you're the type to never admit you are wrong, in which case you'd be finding something to complain about).

[Tom Pringle]

Don't get me wrong American. Like everyone else on here, i would love Rovers to win all their matches and win everything in sight.

If Emerton scores 30 goals this season and gets 30 assists, takes the michael out of every left back he faces and never turns back then i'll totally admit i'm wrong.

anything less and he has to go

I joke of course, if he plays well i'll be the first to admit it.

Bob -

[chris]

Don't get me wrong American. Like everyone else on here, i would love Rovers to win all their matches and win everything in sight.

If Emerton scores 30 goals this season and gets 30 assists, takes the michael out of every left back he faces and never turns back then i'll totally admit i'm wrong.

anything less and he has to go

I joke of course, if he plays well i'll be the first to admit it.

Bob -

he looked behind the pace of the PL last season, I thik he is going to need some high fitness to gain that extra yard of pace, always thought he looked a little heavy, I think by the Newastle game we will know whether he has changed, he's got got the ability we all know that

[AussieinUk]

Bit touchy aren't we?

Is it because he's a fellow Aussie? Or you just dislike my opinion?

Yes I am being touchy!

and I think it is a bit of both, (being Aussie and disagreeing with you comment) Emerton is talented, and I just get annoyed with him as you do with his perfomances last year, but come on...

There was a handful of players who played well for the Rovers last season and I admit Emerton was not one of them, but he is a Rovers player and I think one season does not make a career..

(just having a rant)

[Tom Pringle]

Fair enough, like i said, i would love to see him do well for us this season. But as they say, you're only as good as your last game.

Let's hope Emerton is 50 times better...

[nolan9]

We expected to much of Emerton last year IMO. He started off good and then faded like most signings do in there first year. But Emerton has to prove himself this year and show he can use the talent we all know he has got.

[chris]

I think Thompson can perform in CM, plus he can score some brilliant goals, i though he was class in his first season with us until he got injured, but most people have forgotten about him

[mjs]

Didn't Thompson play central midfield for Liverpool?

I don' t think it will take a lot of 'converting'. He naturally drifts into the centre when playing wide and imo would have no problems adjusting.

He drifts in when playing on the left.

I am not convinced that the switch to centre of midfield is that straightforward. Is he going to be the commanding prescence that we are so clearly lacking?

He is clearly industrious but that doesn't automatically make him a quality CM player.

Anyway unless Emerton shows a dramatic improvement we will need Thommo on the right.

[Philly Rover ®]

Not that any judgments can be made on this, but Thommo didn't look half bad in the friendly against D.C. United last summer (at least, the few minutes he played before injuring himself) when he was given more of a central role. The size and tackling ability isn't quite there, but he has the motor and aggressiveness to make up for some of his defensive shortcomings. Obviously, putting him in the center would require Ferguson to play a more defensive role, but I'm inclined to think that that's something he's capable of... hopefully he surprises a few people as T4E says.

[Lathund]

Tobias Linderoth who plays the DMC role for Sweden, and who tends to do really well, surely can't be much bigger than Thommo. He makes up for it by being aggressive, which I think Thommo can as well.

[ihateburnley]

I'VE GOT THE SOLUTION!!!

Right you play De Pedro on the left, Bazza in the middle with Toogs, and Thommo on the RIGHT. So where do you fit Emerton in I hear you ask?

Well you play Emerton at right back alongside Gray, Amoruso and Matteo.

Neill on the bench to cover any defensive position, which leaves the possibility of having two midfielders and a striker on the bench, or in fact one midfielder and two strikers. One midfielder could be Douglas, but we CAN afford to have another midfielder in the matchday squad, maybe a hot prospect from a lower division.

Move over Graeme.

[Eddie]

That's sort of been mentioned before. I feel though that Thompson would make an excellent central midfielder if he can rediscover the form that he had when he first came here, and I have no reason to believe that he can't do that. I also think that Emerton is a quality right midfielder, he simply wasn't consistent last season, but I think that with a true outlet on the left now some of the pressure will be taken off him and he will be given more space in which to perform, but we'll have to wait and see on that one. Neill I also think is a very good player, as I hope he is the player of two seasons ago rather than last years version.

If all the players play the way that they can I have no doubt that three of the slots should be taken up by De Pedro, Ferguson and Emerton. The question is whether or not Thompson is ahead of Tugay. Of course, for the games where we are feeling slightly more ambitious we could always play 5 in midfield, and then put Thompson, or even Jansen, in just behind the front two, and play Gray, Matteo and Neill at the back.

It's impossible to try and predict what are team is at the moment until we have finished all of our transfer dealings for the summer. Until then, this is really all just idle speculation.

[mark03]

I'VE GOT THE SOLUTION!!!

Right you play De Pedro on the left, Bazza in the middle with Toogs, and Thommo on the RIGHT. So where do you fit Emerton in I hear you ask?

Well you play Emerton at right back alongside Gray, Amoruso and Matteo.

Neill on the bench to cover any defensive position, which leaves the possibility of having two midfielders and a striker on the bench, or in fact one midfielder and two strikers. One midfielder could be Douglas, but we CAN afford to have another midfielder in the matchday squad, maybe a hot prospect from a lower division.

Move over Graeme.

That'd work if

a) Neill could actually defend, and

If Emerton were a defender. If he were stuck in defence he wouldn't be able to go on one of his magical runs, culminating in a goal for Gally.

[ihateburnley]

It's impossible to try and predict what are team is at the moment until we have finished all of our transfer dealings for the summer. Until then, this is really all just idle speculation.

Spoil sport

[broadsword]

I'VE GOT THE SOLUTION!!!

Right you play De Pedro on the left, Bazza in the middle with Toogs, and Thommo on the RIGHT. So where do you fit Emerton in I hear you ask?

Well you play Emerton at right back alongside Gray, Amoruso and Matteo.

No!

Let's face it he'd be to overlapping fullback play what George Best is to temperance and healthy complexions.

[ihateburnley]

I'VE GOT THE SOLUTION!!!

Right you play De Pedro on the left, Bazza in the middle with Toogs, and Thommo on the RIGHT. So where do you fit Emerton in I hear you ask?

Well you play Emerton at right back alongside Gray, Amoruso and Matteo.

Neill on the bench to cover any defensive position, which leaves the possibility of having two midfielders and a striker on the bench, or in fact one midfielder and two strikers. One midfielder could be Douglas, but we CAN afford to have another midfielder in the matchday squad, maybe a hot prospect from a lower division.

Move over Graeme.

That'd work if

a) Neill could actually defend, and

If Emerton were a defender. If he were stuck in defence he wouldn't be able to go on one of his magical runs, culminating in a goal for Gally.

Neill is actually a good defender in my opinion. Emerton also started many a game a right full back for Feyenoord.

[mark03]

He's alright, just tends to be a bit full-on in his tackling sometimes. I'd rather have a right-sided midfielder on the bench that could come on, meaning Emerton could then drop back to right back, rather than start Emerton at right back.

[bellamy11]

Emerton didn't come to play at right back. And, to be honest, him being a player of such potential, I'd rather have him around than not at all.

[Scotty]

He drifts in when playing on the left.

I am not convinced that the switch to centre of midfield is that straightforward. Is he going to be the commanding prescence that we are so clearly lacking?

He is clearly industrious but that doesn't automatically make him a quality CM player.

Anyway unless Emerton shows a dramatic improvement we will need Thommo on the right.

I agree totally mjs. I've seen nothing in Thompson that shows me he's disciplined enough to play in central midfield - certainly not as part of a 4-4-2 system anyway. He would be a less skillful version of Dunn imo and Dunn was rightly slated on here for not working hard enough and tracking back. I'm already worried about the lack of defence we have in central midfield, especially if Flitcroft is sold, and playing Thompson there wouldn't help at all.

The interesting comment for me though in Souness's LET piece is where he mentions that playing Thompson in central midfield may force a tactical change. Does this mean we might play a 5 man midfield? I can certainly see Thompson being effective "in the hole" with Ferguson and Flitcroft/whoever behind. But that would mean we'd either have to only play one up front or start with 3 at the back.

[92er]

I will be interested to see if Thomson can play in the middle. There was a school of thought that he could eventually take over from Filtcroft.I'm still undecided how good he is:I think he overperformed at the beginning of his spell with us. Then his form dipped and he got injured. Last season he was another disaster.He still has a lot to prove.

[American]

Maybe Thompson in the hole behind the striker? ala scholes?

[Morph]

I've always thought Thompson could play in the centre, and would agree with Scotty & American that he would be well suited to playing just behind the front two, given his ability to crack them from distance. Whether he could play in tandem with Ferguson is a different question. Both are predominantly attacking midfielders, and playing them together in the middle would probably lead to Ferguson (as the more defensively adept of the two) having to curb his natural game to a certain degree in order to protect the back four. I'd be more tempted to play Emerton in the role of midfield enforcer (he seems to like the centre of the pitch anyway), Ferguson in a slightly advanced attacking midfield position and Thompson on the right.

Edited July 23, 2004 by Morph

[Dr Rich]

The interesting comment for me though in Souness's LET piece is where he mentions that playing Thompson in central midfield may force a tactical change.  Does this mean we might play a 5 man midfield?  I can certainly see Thompson being effective "in the hole" with Ferguson and Flitcroft/whoever behind.  But that would mean we'd either have to only play one up front or start with 3 at the back.

If he wants a 5 man midfield the sensible thing would be to play a 3-5-2, as any of our forwards would be lost on their own up top. Having Emerton/Neill/Douglas on one side Gray/Gresko on the other as wing-backs wouldn't be too bad. Matteo, Short, Amo in the middle at the back, could work, useful having two reliable if unspectacular players to cover Amo's mistakes and all or nothing play.

[emerton]

Thompson to play central!!!