andrew1957 On reflection I think this indicates that Brain has given up all hope of finding a Siggy replacement (within the squad or elsewhere) in a 4-2-3-1 and now intends to revert to 4-4-2 - with either Hunt or Church playing off Long. I don't think there would be any point signing Leigertwood if we were not going to play him, so it looks like he will be the DCM, allowing Karacan in a slightly more offensive role. Will be interesting to see if this improves us.
As I have said many times before I feel sorry for Brian. He built the team around Siggy and I have no doubt that if he had stayed we would have been pressing for promotion this year. Instead Brian has been left with a hotchpot of players and has been experimenting all year to find some system which he can make work. I think the signing of Leigertwood probably indicates that he is not convinced that either Tabb or Howard are the solution at the moment. Howard's performances are very erratic. I feel sorry for Tabb but he and Karacan are too similar and as Karacan is on excellent form, we need a bit more size and power in CM - so on reflection if Leigertwood is any good this makes sense.
I don't think McDermott built ANYTHING last year. He inherited decent players, but a messed-about, dispirited team (at least results-wise as they all talked about Rodgers in extremely favourable terms)... He got them playing (is one way to put it)
Personally, I think the draw at home to Liverpool was a huge bonus, the win away, the stuff of dreams. Suddenly (and possibly fortuitously) the players had something to believe in again, something to lift their heads for, and THEN the results started coming. Take out the cup games and look at Mac's early games
A 1-1 Bristol City
H 1-1 Swansea City
A 1-4 Plymouth
A 1-2 Nottm Forest
A 0-3 Sheffield Utd
W0 D2 L3 4-11
One more defeat and we were probably headed for relegation, confidence totally shot. The cup games were a fantastic distraction and stopped the rot, IMO
That doesn't mean I don't rate McDermott. I think he has done exceedingly well, especially when he's been near-raped for quality players.
I can't say it was a case of "building a team around Siggy". We needed to play Siggy because he was class, but we tried to make a 442 side play 451 and it often showed. This is why it seems odd to talk about a Siggy replacement. Surely you look at your players and play the best system to suit them. We have 4 classic wingers Kebe-McAnuff backed up by HRK and Antonio and 4 strikers born and bred to play 442. Long and Hunt, backed up by Church and Bignall. True a 6' 2" bomber would be nice, but other than that all our players look suited to 442.
We are maybe a tad light in midfield for 442 in that we have Howard (good player but lightweight) and Tabb-Karacan, both excellent DISRUPTIVE, in-yer-face buzz-saw players but not really the type to ever slow a game down, think, and pick out a great pass. We could do with a serious "destroyer" and a fairly strong but creative type.
If we play 451 it must be Hunt in the hole. Hunt on his own up front will be battered and end up out injured.
Long needs a sniffer like Hunt to get some goals and take the pressure away.
I suspect then Long, too will start scoring more
