Rob wrote:Marky Mark wrote:Clough's definitely got some tough decisions in the midfield area: Maris, Reed, Clarke, Boateng, Quinn, Hartigan to fit into potentially 3. Any 3 of those would be starters in any team.
Splinters Mark?
If we have a midfield 3 and all are fully fit I'd play Reed, Clarke and Maris. For me, not a tough call.
I don't think you've got a left of diamond there, I know they're all midfielders as such but they've also all got areas where they're strongest, so that looks a little unbalanced. This is how I see it, and I may be wrong:
Holding midfield: Reed, Hartigan, Maris
Right of diamond: Maris, Clarke
Left of diamond: Boateng, Quinn.
Maris definitely starts for me, I like the way that Boateng finished last season so we might be seeing the best of him and Quinn has always been central to us doing well, Clarke also has purple patches too and he drives us forward. I haven't seen enough of Reed yet but I don't think Clough has signed him for the bench, and I think Hartigan is probably the easiest to leave out. Given that though, and the balance, I'd probably go for Reed, Maris, Quinn/Boateng (can't split them - although Quinn will probably not play more than 60 minutes).