Midfield

[Cleveland_Stag]

Our midfield has been off the mark for a while, and it was again tonight. Pathetic showing in that second half. Tomlinson, Macca, Smith (he can be forgiven to an extent seen as though he’s so inexperienced) kept getting deeper and deeper, did not win any battles at all (which is what they’re meant to be good at I’ve heard?), didn’t want to take any responsibility on the ball and get us playing again. Tomlinson was incredibly pedestrian.

If we’re to be challenging at the top this season, this midfield needs to be transformed in my opinion. Even if Mellis can play again for us, Dempster has to bring in at least one more QUALITY centre midfielder. Tomlinson and Macca aren’t good enough to be starting games in there regularly if we’re to go up. We badly missed Mellis in there tonight, he’d have got us playing in that second half and actually provided us with some composure for a change.

[Parkinsons Perm]

What midfield, it's still the huge problem

[NG17_stag]

Second half we played with a back 8. Had Macca, Tomlinson and Smith all stood on the defence’s toes.

[wayno cordiniho]

They popped it around, our fitness levels (rose and Kahn aside) were shot after 60 mins and they picked us off

[BH_Stag]

Non existent tonight. For such an ‘industrious’ midfield they sure got overpowered easily. Bottom line is there’s not enough quality in there to make us play and we’re obviously weaker than last year now after this weeks revelations.

[Cleveland_Stag]

Non existent tonight. For such an ‘industrious’ midfield they sure got overpowered easily. Bottom line is there’s not enough quality in there to make us play and we’re obviously weaker than last year now after this weeks revelations.

Correct. If Dempster doesn’t address the midfield with proven, quality signings soon, we may as well not bother this season. No more ‘squad players’ who don’t make a big impact. Dempster said the money available to bring one or two in, he needs to use it wisely (Mark O’hara or Alex Woodyard anyone?)

[Hjeldefan]

We probably have the worse centre mid options in the entire league.

[geoffhill]

Midfield is a mess.Mellis and donohue would strengthen it.Not sure what will become of them.Dempster will realise the problem talk to the owners and hope fully get some quality in.Khan is the only player we have who has the ability to do something on the ball.He has taken two excellent free kicks and hit the same spot each time.a few inches lower and we score two goals.

[JLStag]

Best attacking lineup in the league with arguably the worst midfield behind them. What chance do we have when we rely so heavily on a 38 year old? Macca is definitely not the answer

[oldweststander]

I'm afraid we need emergency midfield reinforcement, McDonald apart, they wilted, ran out of legs and ideas, without Bish to shore them up they showed us what they really are and that is poor.

I had not seen Alistair Smith before but for Dempster to drop him into that game at that time, showed poor decision making by the manager.
Not being cruel, Smith ran around not knowing what to do or where to go, didn't see him touch the ball at all.

Extremely disappointed, we were top of the league at half time and 13th at full time, if money is available, now is the time to spend it?

[Bradders]

From the little I've seen of Donohue, he would have been a great asset to midfield. And even though Mellis isn't always great, he is a quality midfielder.
I don't blame Dempster for the lack of midfield. Take those two out and we're bound to look short in that area.

[Aspleystag]

You cant plan for 2 players deciding they want to be idiots and then the injuries we are having, he needs to bring in experienced midfield players on loan for a couple of months with the option if the two idiots dont come back they can be signed. If they do come back them see how they are affected by it. I do think it is too early to sack him, give him until Christmas.

[Chrisuknottm]

I fear it will be too late by Christmas Aspley

[Parkinsons Perm]

From the little I've seen of Donohue, he would have been a great asset to midfield. And even though Mellis isn't always great, he is a quality midfielder.
I don't blame Dempster for the lack of midfield. Take those two out and we're bound to look short in that area.

Surely you can blame him for playing a RW as his main stay midfielder. At the moment he cant change that but until he does we are going nowhere.
Dare I say it but Tomlinson looks like a latter day Fraser MacLachlan, runs about, tries hard, game passes him by and the ball when he does get it is a hot potato

[MutinyOnTheCounty]

From the little I've seen of Donohue, he would have been a great asset to midfield. And even though Mellis isn't always great, he is a quality midfielder.
I don't blame Dempster for the lack of midfield. Take those two out and we're bound to look short in that area.

Agreed - add a few other players, out with injuries / suspensions & we're bound to look a bit threadbare across the pitch. That said, a rookie manager will naturally struggle, and it's time like these when i'd expect the team to stand firm and make their grit and determination reduce any shortfall



Always find it interesting how we often complain about youth teamers never getting a chance, while wanting our squad stuffed with enough quality to deny this opportunity

[bellwhiff]

I fear it will be too late by Christmas Aspley

Too late for what ?

[Chrisuknottm]

I fear it will be too late by Christmas Aspley

Too late for what ?

To salvage any kind of promotion challenge nor get us away from the foot of the table and prevent copying Chesterfield and Notts County

[JLStag]

I fear it will be too late by Christmas Aspley

Too late for what ?

To salvage any kind of promotion challenge nor get us away from the foot of the table and prevent copying Chesterfield and Notts County

Bit extreme, we've lost one game

[yorkshire stag]

I fear it will be too late by Christmas Aspley

Too late for what ?

To salvage any kind of promotion challenge nor get us away from the foot of the table and prevent copying Chesterfield and Notts County

Bit extreme, we've lost one game

we didn’t just get beat yesterday, we didn’t bloody turn up second half, i take it you didn’t go ?

[Chrisuknottm]

I fear it will be too late by Christmas Aspley

Too late for what ?

To salvage any kind of promotion challenge nor get us away from the foot of the table and prevent copying Chesterfield and Notts County

Bit extreme, we've lost one game

we didn’t just get beat yesterday, we didn’t bloody turn up second half, i take it you didn’t go ?

Based on pre season and the start to this...and the general feel around the place....the way they look act and seemingly aren't fit....isn't that what pre season was for?

[oldweststander]

It's not the fact we lost but how we lost, terrible second half cave in.

[yellowstagsfan]

The warning signs were there in the first half. The two penalties just disguised it

[Jimstag]

I think they did pretty well on Saturday, I just wonder whether that took too much out of them for today and why they were dead by 60 mins. I don’t blame Dempster for putting on Smith as his options were limited and we needed fresh legs on, to be honest we needed about 4/5 subs. The bigger problem is that without reinforcements it doesn’t look good for the weekend!

[The One]

I think they did pretty well on Saturday, I just wonder whether that took too much out of them for today and why they were dead by 60 mins. I don’t blame Dempster for putting on Smith as his options were limited and we needed fresh legs on, to be honest we needed about 4/5 subs. The bigger problem is that without reinforcements it doesn’t look good for the weekend!

The players are unfit and should be up for two games in a row

[daddycool]

We could have been 4-o up at half time ,A brilliant free kick by khan plus that great move when Benning messed up .
All is not doom and gloom