Greg Cunningham

[robinrover]

Interesting thing is he was just about to trigger a pay increase because of games played.
Salgado all over again
It's not official yet but there is no smoke without fire and this concerns me for team morale,rather than the losing of a past it mulgrew.

[champs95]

The good thing about Johnson is that he looks like a decent defensive player, but provides more in the way of go-forward than people like Evans, Smallwood and Lowe.
Playing alongside him should help Travis develop the same skill-set.

It looks as if Mowbray is still going to favour THREE advanced players of various types (from Graham, Gallagher, Dack, Samuel, Brereton, Butterworth, Armstrong, Rothwell, Chapman, Gladwin). There has been some talk of Rothwell as a central play-maker, but it is pretty clear Mowbray doesn't see him in that role.
Effectively, therefore, what we are looking at is a third midfielder.
What are the options there (in addition to Johnson and Travis)?
Downing, Bennett, Smallwood, Evans, Davenport, Buckley, Rankin-Costello.

Champs feels playing one of the youngsters is going to make a big difference. I'm not so sure, because Buckley and R-C would ideally both prefer a central position, but Travis and Johnson aren't going to be shifted easily.
Smallwood, Evans and Davenport are essentially 'holding' players. Bennett is completely off his game.
I can quite see, therefore, why Downing might be the default choice for the time being. Like Craig Conway (and Bennett at his best), he possesses that mixed skill-set of being a combination winger/covering wide-midfielder.

All I was saying was you have to have the right balance. You can't have midfielders all doing the exact same thing. And none of them offering any creativity. I didn't even suggest starting Buckley. Personally I wouldn't have. Rothwell is way ahead. I questioned why he didn't start.
The one thing I would not have done is taken Travis off and bring Buckley on with 12 mins to go. And play Buckley in the foot of a diamond. All the senior pro's where either heavy legged or having a poor day. Or just knackered. I thought it was unfair beyond belief on the kid to bring him on then. Not sure what he expected him to do. Especially when all the side around him where all doing nothing. Play him, of course play him. But is a him correctly. That wasn't the time or place to bring him in. 3 nil up at home having s good day. Introduce him then.

[AucklandRover]

Champs - I'd like Rothwell to start too. but if he is - in a sense - the extra midfielder, I assume Armstrong, Dack and Graham or Gallagher would still be used.
That doesn't fill me with reassurance about the protection afforded our defence, unless Johnson and Travis both played a little deeper.
To be honest, I'd prefer either Downing or Bennett as the third midfielder, and I'd play Rothwell INSTEAD OF Armstrong. I think I'm more naturally cautious than you. Also, I'm not sure how effective this "wide attacker" business is. If were going to play someone to get behind the defence (as opposed to a player from the Craig Conway mould), surely it should be Chapman. That doesn't look very likely at the moment, but I think we will gradually get to see more of him as a half-hour impact player.

[champs95]

I've been thinking it a while now, and it was the same first game. This winger system just doesn't work. You could revert to it, and like you say play Chapman who is really the only tricky pacey winger we have. I do think we need to change the system slightly to suit who we have. I also think he will change things round tomorrow. Personally I think he should stick with SG and let him bed in. I actually thought he did very well last week and looked decent. And that's who we spent our money on. Dack needs time to figure out his runs and vice versa. That does take time & patience. And I'm in agreement. I'd get Rothwell in ahead of Armstrong. But play him deeper inside. And get Dack closer to SG.

[AucklandRover]

It almost strikes me that Dack needs to do something special in the first ten minutes to spark him.
We know that he is "shaky" in character-terms, and if things don't go his way, his head goes down. All the same, it's very difficult to drop him because he does have that "special" quality you don't see much at our level. I just wish he was more consistent. (Although that could be said about nine of our players!)