| Balance of the midfield without Downes 11:28 - Sep 4 with 692 views | Hullblue |
I’m gutted about the Downes situation because it means I’m unlikely to ever see him, Dozzell and Bishop play together in a midfield three.
I know some people still aren’t convinced by Dozzer but I think he’d be excellent in there next to two fellow academy products who play the same way - especially two mobile ones that are full of running.
With Downes off the natural replacement would be Huws or Skuse, and neither of them give us the legs we need next to Dozzer, IMO. Nolan can run but he would leave a lot for Dozzer to do defensively.
Anyone got any solutions? |  |
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| Balance of the midfield without Downes on 11:30 - Sep 4 with 670 views | Dubtractor |
I fear that our midfield without the energy and bite of Downes will be a bit crap, if I'm honest. |  |
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| Balance of the midfield without Downes on 11:32 - Sep 4 with 653 views | Darth_Koont |
Start without Dozzell?
A midfield of Skuse, Huws and Bishop is probably better balanced between attack and defence. Then bring Dozzell on as and when needed. |  |
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| Balance of the midfield without Downes on 11:34 - Sep 4 with 643 views | TheTrueBlue1878 |
Probably Skuse, Bishop, and one of Nolan, Huws, Judge |  |
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| Agreed on 11:36 - Sep 4 with 638 views | unstableblue |
| Balance of the midfield without Downes on 11:30 - Sep 4 by Dubtractor |
I fear that our midfield without the energy and bite of Downes will be a bit crap, if I'm honest. |
one of the fundamental issues Ipswich have faced over the last decade is the lack of a midfielder to grab games, and drive the team forward and on
many time last season Downes showed that pedigree
as much as I like Skuse I can count the number of games on one hand where I left PR thinking 'jesus Skuse was on it'.. yes I get 'but you don't see the off the ball stuff'
huws is probably the next best thing |  |
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| Balance of the midfield without Downes on 12:15 - Sep 4 with 585 views | OsborneOneNil |
| Balance of the midfield without Downes on 11:30 - Sep 4 by Dubtractor |
I fear that our midfield without the energy and bite of Downes will be a bit crap, if I'm honest. |
Outrageous when you think we have about 34 midfielders. |  | | |
| Balance of the midfield without Downes on 12:21 - Sep 4 with 568 views | clive_baker |
Keep him? |  |
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| Balance of the midfield without Downes on 12:32 - Sep 4 with 541 views | IpswichKnight |
El-Mizouni could do it but he's obviously in the bad books and will be sent out on Loan to Cambridge again or something equally stupid. |  | | |
| Balance of the midfield without Downes on 12:57 - Sep 4 with 483 views | Herbivore |
If we can't pick a decent, balanced trio with the 400 CMs we have at the club even without Downes then something is badly wrong. Personally I am not overly worried. We're stronger with him than without but if Palace match our valuation we will get by. |  |
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| Balance of the midfield without Downes on 13:11 - Sep 4 with 451 views | Parmigiano |
| Balance of the midfield without Downes on 12:57 - Sep 4 by Herbivore |
If we can't pick a decent, balanced trio with the 400 CMs we have at the club even without Downes then something is badly wrong. Personally I am not overly worried. We're stronger with him than without but if Palace match our valuation we will get by. |
I agree. Downes is fantastic and none of us want him to go but midfield is the one area of the squad we can afford to reduce.
I do think Downes leaving would spell trouble for Dozzell though. It's clear that his best position is a deep-lying playmaker but that relies on a midfield three with one of the other players being a box-to-box triple-lunged engine who's as good defensively as offensively (Pirlo had Gattuso, Xabi Alonso had Gerrard, etc...). And after Downes, I'm not sure we have that engine. Nolan possibly but he's not so disciplined in the tracking-back side of midfield.
I expect Lambert will simplify it and go with an anchorman and then two attacking midfielders in a 4-3-3. Probably Skuse behind Huws and Bishop. |  | | |
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