Central Midfield and Team for Saturday

[Despair]

Can't agree about the central area, Robin. Most successful teams are built around a play-maker. IF Byrne turns out to be a miracle signing in that respect, fine, but I suspect we're going to have to rely on sheer numbers or put the emphasis on a packed midfield, with supply to the striker(s) coming from out wide.
The problem is, play-makers take a long while to develop, and trying to pick one up who is on the decline rarely works, as Danny Murphy demonstrated.
Unfortunately, it looks as if O'Sullivan is going to be judged as not quite good enough, so Tomlinson's development becomes something very important to keep an eye on.

Same for me Aucks, I see (and have for some while now) our midfield that operates akin to a diode (for those elder pre chip folk ). Where in one direction there is 'passage through', but in other direction its blocked off!
The only time anything offensively ventures through is when Marshall is 'on song' and advances from mid.
This is though on a solo venture with a strike himself. I cannot honestly recall for what seems years now where pass and move interplay has occurred within our midfield offensive play (Dunny being the last probably).
Even a fairly 'static' midfield general is banished to the archives now.