What would it take for Ardley to change his midfield?

Rose and Doyle's distribution has been awful for a while now. I've never seen a midfield give the ball away so often. Was the same against Hartlepool. They just invite pressure from situations where there shouldn't be any.

I think Doyle for the most part of this season has been quality, takes the ball in tight places, passes to feet and protects the back four well, agree today though he was awful and looked leggy but wasn’t one of the players saying the other week he covers more ground then any other player? I think people are using his age and his perceived arrogance as a bat to hit him with.
Rose for me is a bit too inconsistent, almost falling into the Hewitt category.
I saw Crawford pre season against alfreton and he was awful and what I have seen of him before wasn’t great, I don’t think he was a regular starter in his loan period and my gut feeling is he’s just not quite up to it.
We need JOB back, I don’t think we have a massive issue other than there is no back up at the moment if players are having a bad game or in poor form.

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Originally Posted by nw6pie

With JOB injured, we don’t have many options in the middle of the park...

1. Move Booty inside at expense of Doyle or Rose, both of whom seem untouchable.
2. Play Crawford, whose standing has only gone up thanks to a spell on loan at Fylde when he was in and out of their side (and definitely out by the end of the season). Produced nothing in a Notts shirt as of yet, although chances have been rare.

Am I missing someone other than playing someone out of position like Tootle (forgotten man) or Oxlade-Chamberlain (forgotten man 2)? We definitely need a positive-thinking player in there who’s looking to link up with the forwards.

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I'm frustrated because of the inflexibility. Right now Doyle & Rose, soon Doyle & JOB/Rose (yes an improvement) but it's all very unambitious. Booty isn't a world beater but he's of an age where he needs game time in his best position. It seems when JOB is back he is 4 in line, truly ridiculous really.

As for Crawford I agree he's totally unproven. But surely given we've invested 2 years wages on him shouldn't we at least give him a chance?

One thing is for sure the old midfield 3 have their best days behind them, I'd just like a hint of forward planning.

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Originally Posted by matt_magpie

I saw Crawford pre season against alfreton and he was awful and what I have seen of him before wasn’t great, I don’t think he was a regular starter in his loan period and my gut feeling is he’s just not quite up to it.

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He wasn't a regular in the Fylde team but the year before we signed him he started every game in the second half of the season for Chester as a 17/18 year old once he broke into their first team.

Rose on paper should be a decent fit for Doyle but he tries to do way too much, his job should be to close people down and stick a foot in, then give it to Doyle, no more, keep it as simple as that, let Doyle be the playmaker and Rose do the running for him (not that Doyle doesn't cover a fair amount of ground to be fair to him though).

When we had Bishop and Ravenhill the only reason having two midfielders as defensive as them worked was because of the attacking talent we had around them in Westcarr, Davies, Hughes and Rodgers or Hawley AND on top of that when things weren't going so well we had a keeper on his way to being world class in goal to bail us out.

We have attacking talent around the two defensive midfielders this season but we don't have a Ben Davies to come and get the ball and take it forward or slide the pass into Lee Hughes, the closest we have to that is Regan Booty, who isn't fit to lace his boots (in more ways than one)

I'd go

-- Rose Doyle

Enzio Booty Osbourne

---- Thomas

I don't think Osbourne is great but I think Shields is sh*te and we have nobody else

Mitch Rose needs to be taken out the team for a while , he is struggling atm perhaps because of being overplayed in Jims absence?
He is contributing very little at present and even at 38 Doyle is still out running him

Injury or Supsension.Simples

This is the most frustrating part of watching Notts at the moment. I’ve supported Ardley throughout, but the knowledge that Rose and Doyle are both in the middle again is becoming a serious downer on the pre match pint!
They offer nothing as a pair and today proved it. The team were ****e. Yes, but those two were especially ****e!
I think we need another loan player in for the middle and JoB back as soon as.
With Rose and Doyle we will struggle to keep up with the top lot. Barrow proved that emphatically today.

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Originally Posted by hissingdwarf

This is the most frustrating part of watching Notts at the moment. I’ve supported Ardley throughout, but the knowledge that Rose and Doyle are both in the middle again is becoming a serious downer on the pre match pint!
They offer nothing as a pair and today proved it. The team were ****e. Yes, but those two were especially ****e!
I think we need another loan player in for the middle and JoB back as soon as.
With Rose and Doyle we will struggle to keep up with the top lot. Barrow proved that emphatically today.

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Ditto

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Originally Posted by freemuzzy

Hope you’re right as he’d definitely be the answer but Rose and Doyle were still playing 90 minutes when OB was fit. I fully expect him to come back in and play on the wing when he is fit, and other teams to cotton-on and press Doyle into mistakes in the same way Barrow did so well today.

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Yep JOB will come in for Booty. For whatever reason, Doyle and Rose are literally undroppable.

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Originally Posted by BigFatPie

Yep JOB will come in for Booty. For whatever reason, Doyle and Rose are literally undroppable.

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I believe this will happen as like most have said, Doyle and Rose are 100% certain starters in midfield.
I would like to see JOB and Booty as the center mid partnership with Enzio and Ozzy on the wings and Rose moved to right back.