Open letter to Jose Baxter

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What we need is thread which poses two questions.

1, Do you think Jose is overweight?

2, What's your own BMI?

The truth is out there.




There was one recently - " Natural Weights". Some real doubters on there. Good read now.
 
Glad to see Baxter getting praise after so much criticism recently. He was excellent yesterday and was involved in everything we did going forward. As mentioned, his work rate was top notch and that is usually one side of his game that can be questioned.

The difference between Basham at centre half and in the middle of the park is unbelievable. I don't think he was particularly bad first half, but going forward just isn't his game and it showed when he got around the box. He drops to the back and becomes a completely different player, both aggressive and confident on the ball. It was evident anyway, but to see a transformation like that mid-game just makes it stand out even more.

It simply has to be Basham and McEveley at centre half at the moment, no question.
 
Glad to see Baxter getting praise after so much criticism recently. He was excellent yesterday and was involved in everything we did going forward. As mentioned, his work rate was top notch and that is usually one side of his game that can be questioned.

The difference between Basham at centre half and in the middle of the park is unbelievable. I don't think he was particularly bad first half, but going forward just isn't his game and it showed when he got around the box. He drops to the back and becomes a completely different player, both aggressive and confident on the ball. It was evident anyway, but to see a transformation like that mid-game just makes it stand out even more.

It simply has to be Basham and McEveley at centre half at the moment, no question.

The reason he was tried back in midfield again was that our central midfield has been too static. In our last three matches we've tried three different midfield selections:

Vs Barnsley 0-1:

Wallace, Doyle and Scougall

Vs Crewe 0-0:

Doyle, Baxter and Reed

Vs Walsall 0-1:

McGinn, Doyle and Reed​

So that's 270 minutes plus without scoring a goal. We've not been creative enough and not got enough men in the box.

In his first few games in midfield Basham was poor on the ball, but did get into the box regularly. I think Clough felt he had to give that a go again, hoping that his last few good performances (one of them was in midfield at Bradford) would make him more confident on the ball and when finishing. Judging by views here it didn't work and now he'll be back in defence for the next three games. It remains a problem.

I'm hoping that Che Adams is brought in to add mobility, tempo and goalscoring ability to our midfield, but Clough hasn't mentioned how he plans to use him yet.
 
@BergenBlade

I had no problem with him trying to add more movement into midfield, something did need to be done and Basham did play well at Bradford. It was more of an observation than a criticism of Basham or Clough. I think we do lack another midfielder who can get forward like Scougall with a more physical presence so I'm hoping to see us address that in January.

I'm interested to see what he does with Adams too. I've read various reports all saying different positions! It's a shame he'll be cup tied in midweek as I think it would have been the perfect opportunity to test him.
 
In many ways I don't want Baxter to have a good work rate, that's not his job. He should use the majority of his energy going forward. Obviously there's certain games where everyone needs to put in a shift but against weaker sides we can afford to have a 'luxury player'. Thought Scougall was much improved yesterday as well which helped. With Wallace out id have him and Doyle behind Jose behind a striker.
 
In many ways I don't want Baxter to have a good work rate, that's not his job. He should use the majority of his energy going forward. Obviously there's certain games where everyone needs to put in a shift but against weaker sides we can afford to have a 'luxury player'. Thought Scougall was much improved yesterday as well which helped. With Wallace out id have him and Doyle behind Jose behind a striker.

Completely disagree with that. A bloke in his twenties with cutting edge training and dietary support should be able to run hard for 90 mins without it destroying his creative ability.

If a player isn't going to close down or make unselfish runs then he needs to have the goalscoring record of Keith Edwards.
 
Completely disagree with that. A bloke in his twenties with cutting edge training and dietary support should be able to run hard for 90 mins without it destroying his creative ability.

If a player isn't going to close down or make unselfish runs then he needs to have the goalscoring record of Keith Edwards.
Or the creative record of Xavi:)
 
In many ways I don't want Baxter to have a good work rate, that's not his job. He should use the majority of his energy going forward. Obviously there's certain games where everyone needs to put in a shift but against weaker sides we can afford to have a 'luxury player'. Thought Scougall was much improved yesterday as well which helped. With Wallace out id have him and Doyle behind Jose behind a striker.
It was his work rate which helped win the game ,the way he chased the defender down and forced the corner ,he hasn't been doing that.
 
It all goes back to the saying "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard".

You can have all the talent in the world but the desire shown to win the corner was just as impressive as the header down for Murphy.
 



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