Jobi McAnuf down the middle

[marekisgod]

I know he usually only gets to play down the middle when were chasing games but i have felt for sometime its his best postion esp in a 4 - 1 - 4 -1 formation , he can chase back and can make a tackle and has a creative wandering style .

I can see him playing alongside Guthrie with Mccleary and Kebe in midfield with a holding player behind beit Karacan Ledge or the ex Sporting Lisbon capt , what do we think ?

[RFCSPACE]

Going by your username, your opinion on attacking midfields seems a bit skewed.

[juanpablo]

id like to try him on the bench with McCleary on the pitch personally....

[SydenhamRoyal]

id like to try him on the bench with McCleary on the pitch personally....

Id have him in the middle with McCleary on one wing, Kebe on the other. 4-5-1 like we were. Until Carrico is up to speed / Legsofwood is back

[juanpablo]

id like to try him on the bench with McCleary on the pitch personally....

Id have him in the middle with McCleary on one wing, Kebe on the other. 4-5-1 like we were. Until Carrico is up to speed / Legsofwood is back

agreed

then he can go on the bench......

[SPARTA]

id like to try him on the bench with McCleary on the pitch personally....

Id have him in the middle with McCleary on one wing, Kebe on the other. 4-5-1 like we were. Until Carrico is up to speed / Legsofwood is back

He offers us very little down the middle. I'd rather we utilised the new boy Akpan who can clearly mix it up physically and likes to get forward. McAnuff benched for the more effective McCleary if I had my way.

[UpThePrem]

id like to try him on the bench with McCleary on the pitch personally....

Id have him in the middle with McCleary on one wing, Kebe on the other. 4-5-1 like we were. Until Carrico is up to speed / Legsofwood is back

He offers us very little down the middle. I'd rather we utilised the new boy Akpan who can clearly mix it up physically and likes to get forward. McAnuff benched for the more effective McCleary if I had my way.

McAnuff can come back again when Hope gets banned.

[Jay o/]

BENCH!!

Start McCleary. At least he causes problems, has quick feet that make him a nightmare to tackle, and a good delivery. McAnuff is painfully predictable and his crossing often sh*t.

[bcubed]

id like to try him on the bench with McCleary on the pitch personally....

+1

[loyalroyal4life]

mcanuff down the middle wont work if it means in place of jem. We will be exposed even more

[SapperBRoyal]

Agreed, Skipper's armband or not, McCleary over Jobi currently. We need some invention down the flanks and we need to give Pog and Alfie some decent service. Jobi can't beat the first defender with a cross this season, and even Kebe seems happiest punting the ball in rather than trying to beat Premiership standard full backs.

[The Royal]

Personally, I'd drop jobi, he rarely has a good game and is normally shit, and when he is shit, he is shit

[WestRoyal]

You can't knock it and run past fullbacks at this level to often, guile, good first touch and trickery to put defenders off balance to get the jump on them is now required. Fullbacks at this level are quicker and tactically more sound to not leave so much space in behind and they tend to double up a lot more also and not get isolated with a quick winger

[SapperBRoyal]

You can't knock it and run past fullbacks at this level to often, guile and trickery to put defenders of balance to get the jump on them is now required. Fullbacks at this level are quicker and tactically more sound to not leave so much space in behind and they tend to double up a lot also.

I'd agree with that. It's not that I expect nutmegs and Ronaldo stepovers, just someone to get to or even near the line and get some decent balls, at pace, into areas that are difficult to defend.

[SPARTA]

You can't knock it and run past fullbacks at this level to often, guile, good first touch and trickery to put defenders off balance to get the jump on them is now required.

Exactly why McCleary should be ahead of McAnuff.

[WestRoyal]

You can't knock it and run past fullbacks at this level to often, guile, good first touch and trickery to put defenders off balance to get the jump on them is now required.

Exactly why McCleary should be ahead of McAnuff.

Jobi has a good turn of speed, dribbling and good change of direction and has a decent cross on him when he cuts in on his right. I wont knock him in the disrespectful way some have on here as its not needed and he has given us some great moments in the past but McCleary is growing on me.

[Ian Royal]

For all that Jobi is off the boil and not doing a lot of damage going forward, he is still commiting defenders - see Jones yellow. He (and Kebe) is also the best defensively of our other wing choices. And he's the club captain. So whilst HRK looks to have goal threat and trickery and McCleary has raw pace and trickery, he's still the sensible choice to start with for the only sensible plan we have available to win games. Because they are much less good defensively.

We need to accept that the plan should be to keep it tight and try and sneak a goal to take the lead and if that doesn't work go for it for the last 10 - 20 minutes. That means McAnuff and Kebe to start and then ALF / Hunt and McCleary / HRK coming on to try and take advantage of tiring defences and do the damage.

[If you still hate Futcher]

I think that with this weekend's game may have just hit on our best formation with Guthrie sitting deeper to pick the ball up from the defence (the role he much prefers and is best suited to) alongside Karacan/Carrico (when fit), McAnuff being our attacking midfielder and Jimmy, McCleary and Hal sharing the duties on the wing.

Jobi was very isolated on the wing and often had 3 men on him meaning he had to stop and come back in order to try and keep the ball, especially as he only really ever had 1 or 2 people to hit in the box. Unsurprisingly he was much more involved when moved to the middle and made several good forward runs off the ball, although I do have to admit that I was very surprised it was Karacan and not him who gave way for Alf when we switched to 442.

[LightwaterRoyal]

I wrote this on the other thread so Ill just paste it here.

What do we think of McAnuff in a midfield three allowing Guthrie to play the quarter back role and McCleary or HRK to start on the other wing.

----------Pog---------
HRK----Jobi----Kebe
--Karacan--Guthrie--
-------Defence-------
----------FEDS-------

I think McAnuff is more than good enough to play in the hole and more effective than when out wide, composed, pacey, hard worker, puts his foot in and can beat a man and lets face it, central midfield is a much better position for a captain.

In the Arsenal game (5-2) when we looked like we were going to get back into it that was the midield three we played with once ALF came on and they caused Arsenal so many problems with their movement and constantly swapped positions between eachother.

Guthrie is so much better sitting infront of the defence and we know Jobi has the workrate and balls to play in the middle.
The only thing is I dont know where that leaves Carrico or Akpan once their up to it. Putting Jobi out wide and Guthrie further forward would free them up a place but Guthrie doesnt suit it. Carrico is a Karacan style player from what I can tell and Akpan is also a quarter back.

The only other option I can think of would be Karacan off Pog and Akpan, Guthrie behind him, dont really think Karacan is composed enough on the ball though. The sooner we sign Andrey Arshavin the better.

[urz13]

BENCH!!

Start McCleary. At least he causes problems, has quick feet that make him a nightmare to tackle, and a good delivery. McAnuff is painfully predictable and his crossing often sh*t.

McCleary has a good delivery?

LOL.