Our midfield

[STFC Bart]

Is very weak. We either need Ince or Wise to play because Evans apart we are poor. Monkhouse, Shakes and Pook havent performed in the opening games.

[janaage]

Fuck me Pook's shit, it really did worry me when Dennis said in his interview how well Pook had played.

Glad I'm not the only one not too impressed with Shakes either, seems unable to control the ball more often than not.  I'm prepared to allow Monkhouse a few games to settle before judging him though.

Evans will grow in stature as the season prgresses I feel.

[RobertT]

Next game it will be the defensive quartet up for a slating I presume.  Are you happy with the forwards now then?

[Piemonte]

I didnt think Pook was too bad by his standards 2nd half at least he got stuck in a bit, he did his usual invisible man trick 1st half though.

Evans is my new hero. its like watching a fitter, much better version of myself play

[Barry Scott]

Some people don't half hate pook.

I think don't think he's been bad at all. In fact i think he has been pretty good at times. Evans is quality, he's been superb.

Bart, even if we had Wise, Ince, Poyet and Evans all rotating in central midfield and on top of their game you'd whinge.

[janaage]

On the whole, not just midfield, the one place I have been impressed with is the defence.  We do not look like conceding (Hartlepool apart).

Rochdale (and Roberts) could have still been playing now and they still wouldn't have scored.  Williams is superb at this level.  He must have put the ball into touch about 20 times on Saturday, simple effective defending. somethign we have lacked in over the last two years.

In turn Williams' presence has made Ifil look much better.

As any decent manager does, Dennis has sorted out the defence, now for the midfield and attack.

[McLovin]

Ifil looked superb. Williams looks like he will bring the best out in him.

Pook needs to stop hiding behind opposition midfielders and look for the ball... he doesn't want it most of the time!

I think Evans and Weston would be a great pairing.

[RobertT]

I think it would have been Weston and Evans on Saturday but for Weston not being 100% fit.  They gave him one hell of a fitness test before the match.

[santini]

Pook needs to stop hiding behind opposition midfielders and look for the ball... he doesn't want it most of the time!

Do you trust Wise? He sees Pook reading the game and blocking the pass routes to stop their midfield moves. Deceptive isn't he?

[janaage]

In interviews he says such things, but is that not Wise trying to boost his confidence though?  I'd hope behind closed doors he may be a little more constructive with his comments.

[Dazzza]

The problem with the old midfield at the moment is it’s effectively four from five.

Brown is sat in Coventry, which discounting the youth players leaves just Pook Evans, Weston, Monkhouse and Shakes.  

Give it a few weeks though and we could have potentially an embarrassment of riches. With the addition of Paul Ince and the return of Andy Gurney and Gareth Whalley from injury and Brown back from serving his time in the midlands we’ll be laughing.  Add to that Dennis Wise himself and if he’s going to blow away the cobwebs perhaps the odd cameo from Poyet then I think we’re looking at a goldmine.

Interestingly enough in Wise’s post match interview with the BBC he gave an indication that his starting midfield pairing is likely to be Weston and Evans if both fit.  Will be useful to see how the pair play against Darlington on Saturday, certainly both seem the obvious choice to start.

Only question mark at this point is cover for Shakes on the right which I’d have thought may have been Turnes.  I wonder if he’s still here and will play in the stiffs again this week.

[Northern Red]

On the whole, not just midfield, the one place I have been impressed with is the defence.  We do not look like conceding (Hartlepool apart).

So we've only looked like conceding in one game (Hartlepool) and we conceded one in the Barnet game, which means we've only really looked like not conceding in one match (Rochdale).  

Sorry! They did look good against Rochdale, and reasonable against Barnet apart from the f**k-up for the goal.

But time will tell, I think they'll struggle to keep Darlington out....

[janaage]

The barnet goal was a second of madness, apart from that second Barnet never looked liked scoring.  I am confident that the Williams inspired defence will prove too strong for Darlo.  

4 out of 4, come on!!

Although I'm not that confident about our scoring abilities.

[sonic youth]

Is very weak. We either need Ince or Wise to play because Evans apart we are poor. Monkhouse, Shakes and Pook havent performed in the opening games.

at least give the club a chance to finish the ince deal before moaning about it

[RobertT]

On the whole, not just midfield, the one place I have been impressed with is the defence.  We do not look like conceding (Hartlepool apart).

So we've only looked like conceding in one game (Hartlepool) and we conceded one in the Barnet game, which means we've only really looked like not conceding in one match (Rochdale).  

Sorry! They did look good against Rochdale, and reasonable against Barnet apart from the f**k-up for the goal.

But time will tell, I think they'll struggle to keep Darlington out....

Although if Darlington defend like Saturday we might score a few.

I can see a 0-0!!

Personally, I think we are defending well as a unit and with a few games under his belt I think Williams pairing with Ifil could be very strong.