MAX BLANCHARD

[drwhoman]

I see he has got a new gig at Plymouth. They need anyone they can get who is remotely reasonable! It is a great shame what has happened to a decent club and one of the few outposts in the south west of England.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

After tonight's result he might have a change of heart. At least he never played!

 

[drwhoman]

True TT although they did have a man sent off early. I am not that well up on players in Div One and Div Two but Warren Feeney is the only Plymouth guy I recognise.

 

[Boz]

I think the rules prevent a new signing after the first tie playing in the replay. Max was an unused sub at the weekend. While he wasn't a world beater, can't help feeling that if we'd offered him another deal rather than signing Holmes & Kay, there would have been funds available for a more proven striker than Tiryaki.

Agree with what you say about Plymouth, not looking good for them just now.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Les does not much like utility players, and I have to say I tend to agree with him: I would rather have specialist cover at right back, and in the centre of midfield than a Blanchard or Edds doing a fair-to-middling job in those positions.

I think the decision to sign Holmes was made before Les realised there was any possibility that Raven would be coming here permanently, as I can't believe we would have opted to have three right backs under any other circumstances.

 

[Boz]

Les does not much like utility players, and I have to say I tend to agree with him: I would rather have specialist cover at right back, and in the centre of midfield than a Blanchard or Edds doing a fair-to-middling job in those positions.

I think the decision to sign Holmes was made before Les realised there was any possibility that Raven would be coming here permanently, as I can't believe we would have opted to have three right backs under any other circumstances.

Doesn't it depend on the calibre of the utility player though? For example, Tyrone Loran and Gary Jones from our recent past were in the utility category and proficient in their multiple positions, whereas it's hard to imagine Luke Darville (a specialist right-back) being proficient at anything. I've not seen Danny Holmes in action since he rejoined, but you felt his weaknesses against Chesterfield contributed to our downfall. I'd suggest Max on last season's showing would have done a better job there.

Also, it is hard to reconcile Les' remarks about utility players with his willingness to deploy other players out of position; Akins, McGurk, Gornell as wide players or Goodi as a striker spring to mind.

I agree that if Raven's availability was known earlier, we might not have signed Danny Holmes. Having signed Danny, part of the reason Les was able to justify the Raven signing was that he had been played in central defence for most of the pre-season, so in essence is a utility player!

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I wasn't the greatest fan of Gary Jones or Tyrone Loran either to be honest, but I take your point about Les playing people out of position. Ash Taylor, for example, has benefited from being given an extended run in his preferred role this season, rather than being used as 'Polyfilla' in a number of roles, as Les likes to say. Similarly, I have said for many weeks that centre forward would be Adam McGurk's best position but he has rarely been played there.

 

[drwhoman]

BLANCHARD

if I recall correctly McGurk was a central striker at Aston Villa and was well regarded until he had a serious injury. He plays outwide because Les likes a target man. Interesting that Liverpool have a similar dilemma with Andy Carroll. Personally I think they operate better with mobile strikers like Kuyt and Suarez. I know we are talking about a different skill level but I cannot help thinking that a more flexible approach might be worth trying.

 

[SonkORLY?]

In an age where we have attacking full-backs overlapping defensive minded wingers at the highest level, and where traditional attacker/destroyer distinctions in central midfield have been largely levelled, it seems strange that there are now less "utility" players than there used to be 15 years ago, given the more general distribution of skills that footballers are now expected to have regardless of their position. I'm not really sure why this is. Utility players remain well-regarded in other sports, but their stock in football is dwindling. I would side with the view that Parry's experiments with playing players out of position have generally not worked.

Zanetti is the only current top-level player I can think of that seems to have genuinely benefitted from his ability to play in a number of positions.

 

[Boz]

RLC, I thought Tyrone Loran was a great player for us until Little got hold of him. The fact that he ended up playing in the Dutch top flight with NAC Breda for a spell indicates his quality.

Agree with SonkORLY? about the slightly puzzling demise of utility players in football. Of the current England squad, only Milner might slip into that category and that's stretching a point. However Capello selected Phil Jones, primarily a defender, in midfield recently; where a utility player doesn't exist it seems there's a need to create one!

 

[bigmart]

Chris Smalling a centre half originally now plays a lot at right back.

John O'shea has played along the back four and in midfield

 

[SonkORLY?]

Chris Smalling a centre half originally now plays a lot at right back.

John O'shea has played along the back four and in midfield

Smalling is hardly a utility player though is he? He's just a centre-half who's been played out of position because Rafael's been injured/Rafael is ****.

JOS has spent most of his MUFC career at right-back. I think he put himself forward as a utility-type player because he knew that he wasn't good enough to be a specialist in any position at the club. Most self-respecting footballers would simply have left the club and played at their level.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Max has just scored a last minute overhead kick haha

Hero

 

[Boz]

Finally saw this, a quality finish from Max; his celebrating was quite restrained.