Reece James

Briggsysgonagetya

Briggsysgonagetya

Well-known member
Did i drink too much before the game or did we look like a far more cohesive and effective unit with RJ at left back ? I thought the lad had a really good game and we looked solid and played the best footy ive seen this season.

Is Garbs being sidelined for a while is a blessing in disguise ?

Did all the players raise their game for the TV cameras ?

Or was I in a pished up fantasy land where we looked ace ?
 
I like him at left back. Different to Garbutt I'm that he drifts inside rather than overlaps so possibly a better fit playing behind a left winger who stays wide, bit again, another good squad option with a different skill set to what we have.

3 good left backs in the squad.
 
I'd rather have Garbutt on the right wing going forward I don't think he's a particularly good left back. Husband is the best left back then James in my opinion.

We are going to have a lot of wide attacking options with CJ ready to come back, Dale, Garbutt, Mitchell, Bowler, Anderson not to mention Gabriel & Sterling. A combination of Sterling and Gabriel down the right would be frightening.
 
Garbutt is a left sided midfield player.. He always was. He just hasn’t played there this term.
 
hertfordseasider said:
I'd rather have Garbutt on the right wing going forward I don't think he's a particularly good left back. Husband is the best left back then James in my opinion.

We are going to have a lot of wide attacking options with CJ ready to come back, Dale, Garbutt, Mitchell, Bowler, Anderson not to mention Gabriel & Sterling. A combination of Sterling and Gabriel down the right would be frightening.
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I think Gabriel and Bowler down the right is already frightening enough, we just need to click more in the final 3rd and start testing goalkeepers more.
 
People are far too quick to crown players as better than the others and start talking in absolutes.

James has played 1 game at left back yet we have people saying he is undoubtedly better than Garbutt. The same thing happened with Lavery and Yates, Bowler and Mitchell, Dale and Keshi and also with the crowning of Carey after Reading game and then the quiet sidelining of him after the Stoke game.

It's a squad game, we have two or three players for each position and we will need them all. It will be horses for courses and game will suit some players that won't suit others.

Talking in absolutes demonstrates fickleness and a lack of understanding of football as a squad game.
 
hertfordseasider said:
I'd rather have Garbutt on the right wing going forward I don't think he's a particularly good left back. Husband is the best left back then James in my opinion.

We are going to have a lot of wide attacking options with CJ ready to come back, Dale, Garbutt, Mitchell, Bowler, Anderson not to mention Gabriel & Sterling. A combination of Sterling and Gabriel down the right would be frightening.
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Garbutt a right winger and also advocating a right side of Sterling and Gabriel?!

Jesus ** Christ.
 
Tango1953 said:
People are far too quick to crown players as better than the others and start talking in absolutes.

James has played 1 game at left back yet we have people saying he is undoubtedly better than Garbutt. The same thing happened with Lavery and Yates, Bowler and Mitchell, Dale and Keshi and also with the crowning of Carey after Reading game and then the quiet sidelining of him after the Stoke game.

It's a squad game, we have two or three players for each position and we will need them all. It will be horses for courses and game will suit some players that won't suit others.

Talking in absolutes demonstrates fickleness and a lack of understanding of football as a squad game.
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I personally think James is better than Garbutt, it is only my opinion, but Garbs set piece delivery hasn’t been too impressive of late and James is a better defender . Wintle and Bowler both took very good corners yesterday so where would Garbs fit back in ?
 
hertfordseasider said:
I'd rather have Garbutt on the right wing going forward I don't think he's a particularly good left back. Husband is the best left back then James in my opinion.

We are going to have a lot of wide attacking options with CJ ready to come back, Dale, Garbutt, Mitchell, Bowler, Anderson not to mention Gabriel & Sterling. A combination of Sterling and Gabriel down the right would be frightening.
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1 game. Sigh. You've watched him there for a single game. And you've come to that conclusion. Why do you want to play so many players out of position?
 
Vince McLean said:
He looks better than Garbutt to me - the idea of Sterling at RB with Gabriel right attacking mid sounds good. Bit like the Trent AA thing - is JG a waste at right back??
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Nope. He had a good game
Tango1953 said:
People are far too quick to crown players as better than the others and start talking in absolutes.

James has played 1 game at left back yet we have people saying he is undoubtedly better than Garbutt. The same thing happened with Lavery and Yates, Bowler and Mitchell, Dale and Keshi and also with the crowning of Carey after Reading game and then the quiet sidelining of him after the Stoke game.

It's a squad game, we have two or three players for each position and we will need them all. It will be horses for courses and game will suit some players that won't suit others.

Talking in absolutes demonstrates fickleness and a lack of understanding of football as a squad game.
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Yeah, some next level thick posts on here today. He had a decent game but then QPRs threat wasn't anywhere near that side of the pitch.
 
Vince McLean said:
He looks better than Garbutt to me - the idea of Sterling at RB with Gabriel right attacking mid sounds good. Bit like the Trent AA thing - is JG a waste at right back??
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It's just so lazy though, "good attacking right back? Would be good at right mid!".

People thought this back when a left hand side of Wayne Bridge and Ashley Cole was proposed. The fact is the positions require completely different skill sets.

Full backs have the play in front of them and space to move into, they often receive the ball in plenty of space. Right mids receive the ball on the half turn, with a player tight in front of them and a player pressing them from the side / behind.

Right backs beat players through momentum of an off the ball run, right mids you need to have a trick.

Just completely different positions. That ignoring the wealth of quality right mids/right wingers we actually have in Bowler and Mitchell, amongst others.
 
Tango1953 said:
It's just so lazy though, "good attacking right back? Would be good at right mid!".

People thought this back when a left hand side of Wayne Bridge and Ashley Cole was proposed. The fact is the positions require completely different skill sets.

Full backs have the play in front of them and space to move into, they often receive the ball in plenty of space. Right mids receive the ball on the half turn, with a player tight in front of them and a player pressing them from the side / behind.

Right backs beat players through momentum of an off the ball run, right mids you need to have a trick.

Just completely different positions. That ignoring the wealth of quality right mids/right wingers we actually have in Bowler and Mitchell, amongst others.
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Bowler's great and can play right and left side - Mitchell ...c'mon.
 
Tango1953 said:
Garbutt a right winger and also advocating a right side of Sterling and Gabriel?!

Jesus ** Christ.
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Isn't that the way Critch plays his wingers, left footers on the right and right footers on the left? I suppose he would play Garbutt or Sterling on the left wing if they were playing as wingers. In which case you could perm any of those 8 players on the wings, so Sterling right back with Garbutt, CJ, Mitchell or Bowler in front. Or you could have Gabriel in place of Sterling.

On the left you could have Hubby or James as left back and in front any one of Anderson, Dale, Gabriel or Sterling.

You could also be traditional and keep the left footers on the left and the right footers on the right or do what Holloway did which was to get them to constantly switch. Lots of options.
 
SeasideKurt said:
1 game. Sigh. You've watched him there for a single game. And you've come to that conclusion. Why do you want to play so many players out of position?
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I would have Husband as left back every time if he is available. James is a left back, that's his position and he looked really good yesterday. Garbutt is a left midfielder and for me would be better on the right side as that is how Critch does it with the wide men up front, If he didn't then he could play on the left side of midfield. He looks more comfortable there. It's just that there is now a lot of competition for places all over the pitch and that can only be a good thing, I have no idea why you are getting so irate about it. It's just opinions. Overall I think we have an amazing squad and they are all going to get game time. I would just like to see Simms come in January and another creative midfielder, although Carey is a real prospect and Wintle ca play there too if Stewart was fit.
 
It baffles me that with Keshi, Bowler, Dale and yes, Mitchell all in the squad and (potentially in the case of Dale) our players for as long as we can keep hold of them that people are proposing moving Gabriel or Garbutt to the wing?

Why?

Sterling is a good player but he's a Chelsea player and there's no evidence at all that either Gabriel or Garbutt would be any good on the wing. I don't understand why we're so desperate to involve a player who isn't ours when Gabriel is tearing it up at RB and is as undroppable as anyone in a Critch team can be ATM.

If understand if we had an injury crisis out wide but we don't!
 
hertfordseasider said:
I would have Husband as left back every time if he is available. James is a left back, that's his position and he looked really good yesterday. Garbutt is a left midfielder and for me would be better on the right side as that is how Critch does it with the wide men up front, If he didn't then he could play on the left side of midfield. He looks more comfortable there. It's just that there is now a lot of competition for places all over the pitch and that can only be a good thing, I have no idea why you are getting so irate about it. It's just opinions. Overall I think we have an amazing squad and they are all going to get game time. I would just like to see Simms come in January and another creative midfielder, although Carey is a real prospect and Wintle ca play there too if Stewart was fit.
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Why squeeze Garbutt in though. I don't get what he offers that others don't.

I'm not against him, I've grown very fond of him but I'm not seeing how he particularly would suit the way we play in midfield.

Maybe I'm missing something!
 
td53 said:
It baffles me that with Keshi, Bowler, Dale and yes, Mitchell all in the squad and (potentially in the case of Dale) our players for as long as we can keep hold of them that people are proposing moving Gabriel or Garbutt to the wing?
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It's ridiculous. I understand the thought process, I don't understand typing it out and submitting it as an actual solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

There's no basis for suggesting replacing Bowler,who has been one of our best players, with a left back who NO-ONE has EVER seen play that position, or a right back who has played there a handful of times in league 1 when closing out a game and hasn't been particularly impressive.

It's nonsense.
 
Briggsysgonagetya said:
I think Gabriel and Bowler down the right is already frightening enough, we just need to click more in the final 3rd and start testing goalkeepers more.
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As a start it would help if Bowler lifted his head up a bit more to look at options instead of trying to run through brick walls all the time….will come with experience and coaching.
 
Middxile said:
Garbutt is a left sided midfield player.. He always was. He just hasn’t played there this term
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td53 said:
Why squeeze Garbutt in though. I don't get what he offers that others don't.

I'm not against him, I've grown very fond of him but I'm not seeing how he particularly would suit the way we play in midfield.

Maybe I'm missing something!
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It's just musings and options that there are, I was just playing around with possibilities.

Mitchell, Bowler, CJ, Dale and Anderson are all wide players and you could pick any of those to terrorise defences. My thoughts on Garbutt are really because I'm not sure he is first choice left back and he has played up front on the left previously. They can't all play and I think he will struggle to get back in the starting XI now.

Gabriel and Sterling are great right backs with bags of pace and skill going forward. Gabriel is preferable for me as he is our player although Sterling is a great player to have as he can slot into several positions if he needs to.

I was only giving some food for thought, some people are too touchy and precious on here. We have a strong squad and to be honest, if you sent our loanees back with the exception of Wintle, it wouldn't make much difference to our squad. That's why I hope we sign Simms properly in January and try and get Wintle bought. When we had the Stains as owners we were often fucked without loan players, what a turnaround it is.
 
hertfordseasider said:
It's just musings and options that there are, I was just playing around with possibilities.

Mitchell, Bowler, CJ, Dale and Anderson are all wide players and you could pick any of those to terrorise defences. My thoughts on Garbutt are really because I'm not sure he is first choice left back and he has played up front on the left previously. They can't all play and I think he will struggle to get back in the starting XI now.

Gabriel and Sterling are great right backs with bags of pace and skill going forward. Gabriel is preferable for me as he is our player although Sterling is a great player to have as he can slot into several positions if he needs to.

I was only giving some food for thought, some people are too touchy and precious on here. We have a strong squad and to be honest, if you sent our loanees back with the exception of Wintle, it wouldn't make much difference to our squad. That's why I hope we sign Simms properly in January and try and get Wintle bought. When we had the Stains as owners we were often fucked without loan players, what a turnaround it is.
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Fair enough. I agree it's not nice seeing someone like Garbo seemingly locked out and it's interesting to muse on whether he can play another role.

Maybe in a defensive line up he'd be ideal wing back or left mid if we're aiming for solidity. That's not unreasonable.
 
Tango1953 said:
Stop. Just stop.
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He's right footed, he could play on the left wing to cut inside as the other right footed players do. We don't need him to, we have plenty of players for that position, I'm just saying how many potential options there are. We can only play eleven players. I wouldn't play Garbutt or Sterling up on the wing but they are still an option. Calm down 🤣
 
td53 said:
Fair enough. I agree it's not nice seeing someone like Garbo seemingly locked out and it's interesting to muse on whether he can play another role.

Maybe in a defensive line up he'd be ideal wing back or left mid if we're aiming for solidity. That's not unreasonable.
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I like Garb's but he isn't as good a left back as Hubby. We have so many players for each position now it's such a tough choice. A good place to be but we are going to be second guessing Critch's selections all season. I mean, what if CJ is now fully fit, like he was last season before he got injured and he improves his control and decision making? He has to be in with a shout too, it's great.
 
hertfordseasider said:
I like Garb's but he isn't as good a left back as Hubby. We have so many players for each position now it's such a tough choice. A good place to be but we are going to be second guessing Critch's selections all season. I mean, what if CJ is now fully fit, like he was last season before he got injured and he improves his control and decision making? He has to be in with a shout too, it's great.
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I was thinking in the hypothetical situation we played a back 5 and hubby is ok on left of a 3. James is mobile but little. Garbo is a bit more physical.

Maybe if we were playing Wimbledon 1988 or something 🤣
 
It's great to see a player like James grab his chance and make a supreme effort to seize the shirt. I reckon with a few more games at LB we'd see plenty more positive stuff from him too. With the pace and physical challenges of this league we'll need all our squad to be ready when called.
 
James was really good yesterday but having him and Dale two newbies on the left side didn't work and that takes time you only have to see to see how Bowler and Gabriel have a connection to each other.
 
td53 said:
Why squeeze Garbutt in though. I don't get what he offers that others don't.

I'm not against him, I've grown very fond of him but I'm not seeing how he particularly would suit the way we play in midfield.

Maybe I'm missing something!
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He wouldn't as we don't play left wingers in a traditional 4-4-2. Makes no sense to do that.
 
td53 said:
It baffles me that with Keshi, Bowler, Dale and yes, Mitchell all in the squad and (potentially in the case of Dale) our players for as long as we can keep hold of them that people are proposing moving Gabriel or Garbutt to the wing?

Why?

Sterling is a good player but he's a Chelsea player and there's no evidence at all that either Gabriel or Garbutt would be any good on the wing. I don't understand why we're so desperate to involve a player who isn't ours when Gabriel is tearing it up at RB and is as undroppable as anyone in a Critch team can be ATM.

If understand if we had an injury crisis out wide but we don't!
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Hubby on the wing, no? His charging runs forward and crossing of the ball are making other wingers look a bit inadequate at the minute. Is there any position this fella cant play?!
 
Based on James’ display on Saturday he is without doubt a more effective player at left back than he is in the middle at this level.
 
No offence but 'looks like the sort of player' (I'll give you Ben Thornley and Ciaran Donnelly as examples) who arrive having been at a big club, are pretty boys and think football owes them a living. Refreshing therefore that James is nothing like that.
 
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