Midfield trio

[Alanwycombe]

Plenty of criticism of the defence and our non- striking strikers but is the main problem hiding in plain sight? Our midfield trio all do pretty much the same thing, and not that well. Scowens breaks things up - so does Luongo. Freeman gets forward a bit more and has the odd goal in him but all too often he ends up in trouble. None of them can pass very well, none of them shoot very often and none of them break into the box with any conviction. We're always wide open to the sort of attack that gave Forest their first goal because they get by-passed on the counter........and then Ned gets blamed for not being everywhere at once. Clearly, all can play but opposing teams seem able to cope with them easily. We never boss a game from the midfield.

[1973 ranger]

Our supposed star studded trio are actually our biggest weakness as we are unbalanced everywhere else on the pitch.

[FurtiveFox]

Whole system destructive. Full backs and wingers can't perform, lack of consistent service to strikers, central defenders seem uncomfortable and congested, all too ineffectual midfield. See no pluses to current way we play.

[West Acton]

Mass only one of three who carries his weight. Other two would not be bothered if they were dropped

We were led to believe that prem sides were in for Scowen but he chose us!!! No way in hell was that the case. Freeman is Freeman can be good can be woeful but flatters to deceive

This whole 532 system is in place to keep these three in the side when manager should grow some balls and drop one of them so we can play system that suits. Weak manager

[1973 ranger]

100% correct Westy! Would give Cousins a run when fit with Luongo in Central Midfield and see how that goes as cannot be any less inventive than we are now.

[qprted]

i think we play better with conner in the front line up although he cant score many goals he does push there defence

[MattyRangers]

I like them all tbh, but when you take a step back and look at it; playing 3 in the middle should mean you're a solid unit that doesn't get penetrated often which gives you a base to play from, utilising your wing backs (albeit they're pony, but that's for another discussion...). Yet it seems to are constantly overrun in midfield!

The formation simply doesn't work for us, I personally would prefer to see 4231 with Scowen & Mass as the 2 and Freeman as the centre player of the 3 behind the striker, likely with Smyth & Eze either side maybe.

[HertsHoops]

Maybe he's carrying a knock, but yesterday Scowen wasn't on it, then tried to make up for his mistakes and got rightly booked
The midfield 3 were making a hash of tracking runners from the start

The lot of them were standing off and giving Forest far too much space. Their 5th came just after the added time was announced right in front of us, and their bloke waltzed past 2-3 of ours as if they were happy to let him have a go - which he duly did !

[1973 ranger]

Why play players who are totally out of form like Scowen who goal aside v Barnsley has been poor in the main after the first 10 games or so. We have a bloke in our ranks who was highly rated before he came to us in Cousins who has hardly played in his correct position. Surely a box to box midfielder is someone we should be looking at right now as the midfield do not create what you would expect them too.

[MattyRangers]

Why play players who are totally out of form like Scowen who goal aside v Barnsley has been poor in the main after the first 10 games or so. We have a bloke in our ranks who was highly rated before he came to us in Cousins who has hardly played in his correct position. Surely a box to box midfielder is someone we should be looking at right now as the midfield do not create what you would expect them too.

No way. Been poor of late, agreed, but no chance has he been poor since September.

[1973 ranger]

Matty. All about opinions but to me he is ordinary at best and what is this nonsense of dropping so deep he is in line with the centre halves to just pass the ball sideways to a defender.

[dave58]

I thought at one stage this midfield would be decent but it seem they've lost their way we seem very weak in their with Luongo & Freeman running down blind alleys giving the ball away far too much, we now look very weak centrally , but we are very weak all round but as the midfield are the engine room and all playing very poorly the team looks very weak.

[davieqpr]

Virtually every player is going backward under this current regime.

[brightonr]

Plenty of criticism of the defence and our non- striking strikers but is the main problem hiding in plain sight? Our midfield trio all do pretty much the same thing, and not that well. Scowens breaks things up - so does Luongo. Freeman gets forward a bit more and has the odd goal in him but all too often he ends up in trouble. None of them can pass very well, none of them shoot very often and none of them break into the box with any conviction. We're always wide open to the sort of attack that gave Forest their first goal because they get by-passed on the counter........and then Ned gets blamed for not being everywhere at once. Clearly, all can play but opposing teams seem able to cope with them easily. We never boss a game from the midfield.

Nothing to disagree with in that.

And in no way wishing to sound rude, it's actually just stating the obvious. Well, it's obvious to most, but not the one person that matters.

Pretty sure that all 3 would be capable of much better if a proper system were deployed as opposed to the nonsense we see every game.

[gator]

The midfield 3 had some really good games earlier but are now struggling individually and as a unit, injuries, loss of confidence, teams figuring out how to exploit our system have all been factors from what I can tell! Maybe they need to be rested more, all 3 are always going to start if fit, maybe changing up the formation would help, I am surprised how little match time the 3 have missed considering all the minutes played!