What if McNair AND Fry are out for the playoffs?

Jonny Howson played that role a few times for us 2 or 3 seasons ago and did ok. At 5’11” he aint the tallest, but I would play him at CB v Luton providing Crooks was in the team somewhere to add height at set pieces. Smith has played there before as has Bola too. If not Jonny then Smith, but he may not be fit either. I don’t mind who covers, too much, but Crooks is not someone who seems disciplined enough for that role and his tackling is rather clumsy at times, so I’d stick with Jonny as a makeshift for now and hope Fry will be back soon and McNairs problem isn’t too serious.
 
Simply red said:
The obvious choice for me would be Crooks at Cetre Half , at 6ft 5in he has the physicality , good in the air and on the floor .
A reverse John Hickton .
Play him there in training from now on and let MC decide if he can do it.
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What an insult for the defenders to do something like that I think.
I reckon MC will keep smith where he has been more than capable for us, and say to dijksteel, you’ve played CH previously, you have pace to burn, I’ve got total faith in you smashing it.
And the least disruption for the rest of the team
 
I think it would be Dijksteel. He has pace so can cover if Smith gets caught out of position and is comfortable on the ball.

Would be a worry aerially but McNair isn’t the best in the air anyway. Wouldn’t surprise me if Dijksteel played there and we actually look stronger.
 
Simply red said:
The obvious choice for me would be Crooks at Cetre Half , at 6ft 5in he has the physicality , good in the air and on the floor .
A reverse John Hickton .
Play him there in training from now on and let MC decide if he can do it.
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For the Luton game, I wouldn’t be against it. The physicality may be very useful.
 
Teams have literally prepared for Boro to have a settled 11 with 1/2 Rotations per game

Steffen
Smith Mcnair/Fry Leinhan Giles
Howson Hackney
Forss/Ramsey Chuba Mcgree
Archer

Now all of a sudden you've got
Isaiah Jones looking back to the Jones of last season
Dijksteel taking 2 or 3 men on down the right when he's barely had a kick
Mowatt coming in and controlling games

Teams must be wondering what they're going to have to combat. Will our players be fit?

If Fry is back you can longer target Smith down the right because Frys been excellent at covering.
If Dijksteel is in there you can't target the right hand side with pace because he's fast and Smith will do well as cover.
The methodical skill of mcgree or the sheer pace and dribbling of Jones?
Ramseys directness or hackney's technical ability?

We're gonna be so hard to predict
 
What if this happens? What if that happens?

—————-Steffen—————
Jones—Dijksteel—Bola—Giles
———Howson—Mowatt——-
Barlaser—Crooks—-Hackney
———-——Muniz—————

We’ve got a canny squad with some great coaches.. we’ll be reet.
 
Diego said:
I think it would be Dijksteel. He has pace so can cover if Smith gets caught out of position and is comfortable on the ball.

Would be a worry aerially but McNair isn’t the best in the air anyway. Wouldn’t surprise me if Dijksteel played there and we actually look stronger.
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Totally agree with you and that we could potentially be stronger because of dijksteel’s pace
 
We'd be in a very tricky situation.

There are still 3 weeks until the semi-finals, so hopefully it doesn't come to that.
 
Fabiopaim said:
I thought we played much better once Howson went CB the other night. Paddy looks devoid of confidence.
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I noticed a couple of times the other night he let the ball run across his body and went back to the keeper when he could have taken a touch and looked to play the ball forward.

I think he's being overly cautious because of mistakes he's made this season.
 
Not sure about putting dijjksteel at CB. Think maddison has questioned his heading ability in the past. Which i would say is a requisite strength to have as a CB.
 
could be wrong but I'm pretty sure Howson, Dijksteel and Bola have only really played CB in a 3. Doing it in a 2 will be tougher. Any of them could probably do a job but we would be weaker.
 
Howson to CB for me. Played well there whenever he has been asked to do a job.

Mcnair got pushed off the ball and beaten in the air by the young lad they had up top who was 4ft 10" against hull so cant see Jonny's lack of height or physicality being any more damaging than the set up currently
 
We've got options. If Smith and Forss are out and nobody else returns I'd guess

Steffen
Dijksteel Howson Lenihan Giles
Jones Barlaser Mowatt Hackney
Akpom
Archer

Crooks did play on the left for a bit midweek so could do that and move Hackney inside for Barlaser - but don't think he'd start out there
 
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Ex Footy Legs said:
What an insult for the defenders to do something like that I think.
I reckon MC will keep smith where he has been more than capable for us, and say to dijksteel, you’ve played CH previously, you have pace to burn, I’ve got total faith in you smashing it.
And the least disruption for the rest of the team
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Disagree . I think Crooks would be more suited at centre half than Bola , Dijksteel and Smith , as they lack physical presence and would be a weak link .
Adding Crooks also gives us height in both boxes , without him and Fry we are a small team and vulnerable in the air .
Luton and most teams would see this weakness .
Howson could get away with it , but I would have more faith with Crooks there than the other 3. We all have Opinions , that's mine.
 
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BoroPhil said:
could be wrong but I'm pretty sure Howson, Dijksteel and Bola have only really played CB in a 3. Doing it in a 2 will be tougher. Any of them could probably do a job but we would be weaker.
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Howson has definitely played in a two for Woody hasn't he? Or was he playing right back then? Sure he played games as centre half, and looked good.
 
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