Liam Bridcutt | Vital Football

Liam Bridcutt

Cricklewoodimp said:
Great to see him get fifteen minutes last night with a telling contribution to Morton's goal. The question is, just who makes way for him? I get that there will be some squad rotation, however any of the current midfield would be desperately disappointed to be left out.
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MA said that Grant would probably be moved further up to accommodate Liam so someone else might be sacrificed. We have options though so as long as everyone knows it’s a squad game, esp this season we will probably rotate a lot.
 
There has already been some rotation. And we have won all 4.
McGrandles was rested against scun. jones only did about 30 against scun, 80 last night. Grant has done the most minutes - 90/30/90/90
edun has started two out of four.
and the bridcutt injury has already meant there has been rotation in the dm position, even within the games. grant being the big plus there, and hopefully Edun learned a fair bit from his 2 games.
 
It's an interesting one because a big part of our play has been the speed in wide areas so far this season, which isn't really Grant's strength so is it wise to put him wide whilst we're doing so well in those areas?

Jones is always a threat from long range shots, is a strong, powerful runner and works hard, McGrandles is the sort of player who you'll not notice much of but links everything together well and Bridcutt will add some nous and steel in midfield.

Maybe Jones will make way because of his recent injuries and three games in a week is a risk for him at the minute. Add Edun in, and that's 5 very good players who can play centrally and being a big fan of strong midfield's myself (I'm not sure if I've mentioned that before...) it's a good position to be in.
 
I think having Grant out wider negates a lot of his creativity, but as mentioned it’s a nice problem to have with several options available to MA.
 
Purely guessing but I'm going for Grant being pushed higher up but still central (for Mcgrandles) rather than wide left.
 
Bridcutt has to play, he is by far the best defensive midfielder we have and exudes class with every touch. That defensive element of midfield has been lacking in these early games - I have said before that Jones and especially McGrandles seem not to tackle a great deal, preferring to cover space instead. Perhaps that is the game plan, but it has left us exposed down the middle a few times.

Jones offers more than McGrandles going forward, and his physical presence is also a plus point. Grant is our most skilful playmaker, although Jones is showing some great touches as well. We also have Tayo Edun to consider, who has shown some ability too.

As others have said, great problems to have. As things stand, we are well-placed to handle that intense schedule - there has been some clever squad-building here.
 
MA in his post match interview said Bridcutt back 'gives us great options going forward because Jorge can push on a bit more'. Suggests to me the thinking is that Grant remains as part of the midfield rather than out on the left.

Retains the 4-3-3, which I read in an article has been where Bridcutt is most effective as the base of the middle 3, with Grant and Jones or McGrandles further forward and retaining the pace and strength of the front 3.

Good problems to have!
 
We have competition in every position, which can't be bad.

I'd leave Grant out completely as I think our best midfield is Bridcutt, Jones and McGrandles. Harsh on Grant, but Elbouzedi has missed out so far after an excellent pre-season. Melbourne has done nothing wrong, but Roughan is a better bet and will probably start on Saturday. Ross did nothing wrong in pre-season, but has rightly lost out to Palmer. Morton had a decent game last night, but Hooper will most likely start at MKDons.

When Archibald, Lewis and Walsh are fit and the new forward comes in, the hard job will be keeping them all happy with enough game time.

For all my criticism about MA's style and performances last season, and his speed in getting rid of the old squad in the summer, his recruitment has been top class. Everyone I have seen is comfortable on the ball and work really hard. Early days of course, but so so promising. We do need to get better at defending set piece crosses though!


 
mikeosullivan said:
We have competition in every position, which can't be bad.

I'd leave Grant out completely as I think our best midfield is Bridcutt, Jones and McGrandles. Harsh on Grant, but Elbouzedi has missed out so far after an excellent pre-season. Melbourne has done nothing wrong, but Roughan is a better bet and will probably start on Saturday. Ross did nothing wrong in pre-season, but has rightly lost out to Palmer. Morton had a decent game last night, but Hooper will most likely start at MKDons.

When Archibald, Lewis and Walsh are fit and the new forward comes in, the hard job will be keeping them all happy with enough game time.

For all my criticism about MA's style and performances last season, and his speed in getting rid of the old squad in the summer, his recruitment has been top class. Everyone I have seen is comfortable on the ball and work really hard. Early days of course, but so so promising. We do need to get better at defending set piece crosses though!
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A bold opinion on Grant, expect a bit of this :throw:incoming.

I personally would play Grant as he influences the game and I expect even more so if he's higher up the pitch. A lot of salient points regarding the other players and overall squad position.
 
Scotimp said:
Bridcutt has to play, he is by far the best defensive midfielder we have and exudes class with every touch. That defensive element of midfield has been lacking in these early games - I have said before that Jones and especially McGrandles seem not to tackle a great deal, preferring to cover space instead. Perhaps that is the game plan, but it has left us exposed down the middle a few times.

Jones offers more than McGrandles going forward, and his physical presence is also a plus point. Grant is our most skilful playmaker, although Jones is showing some great touches as well. We also have Tayo Edun to consider, who has shown some ability too.

As others have said, great problems to have. As things stand, we are well-placed to handle that intense schedule - there has been some clever squad-building here.
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re: exposed down the middle (yikes!), noticeable in the friendlies; and when edun gave the ball away in bad areas against crewe; and early on against scunny [midfield: edun/bradley/howarth]. haven't seen anyone running through the midfield in the last two games tbh. looks like that issue has been dealt with.
 
mikeosullivan said:
We have competition in every position, which can't be bad.

I'd leave Grant out completely as I think our best midfield is Bridcutt, Jones and McGrandles. Harsh on Grant, but Elbouzedi has missed out so far after an excellent pre-season. Melbourne has done nothing wrong, but Roughan is a better bet and will probably start on Saturday. Ross did nothing wrong in pre-season, but has rightly lost out to Palmer. Morton had a decent game last night, but Hooper will most likely start at MKDons.

When Archibald, Lewis and Walsh are fit and the new forward comes in, the hard job will be keeping them all happy with enough game time.

For all my criticism about MA's style and performances last season, and his speed in getting rid of the old squad in the summer, his recruitment has been top class. Everyone I have seen is comfortable on the ball and work really hard. Early days of course, but so so promising. We do need to get better at defending set piece crosses though!
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re: defending set pieces. first signs last night of palmer coming off his line to deal with a couple of corners, which was an improvement. also, bradford had three big centre backs and two big centre forwards on the field first half... that is a lot of aerial threat to deal with. we won't be up against that every week.
 
Scotimp said:
Bridcutt has to play, he is by far the best defensive midfielder we have and exudes class with every touch. That defensive element of midfield has been lacking in these early games - I have said before that Jones and especially McGrandles seem not to tackle a great deal, preferring to cover space instead. Perhaps that is the game plan, but it has left us exposed down the middle a few times.

Jones offers more than McGrandles going forward, and his physical presence is also a plus point. Grant is our most skilful playmaker, although Jones is showing some great touches as well. We also have Tayo Edun to consider, who has shown some ability too.

As others have said, great problems to have. As things stand, we are well-placed to handle that intense schedule - there has been some clever squad-building here.
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Agree with pretty much all of this, also Bridcutt's ability to make space when pressured before he delivers the pass is excellent and just negates an opposition press most of the time. I would say that though McGrandles engine seems incredible to me There was one point last night with about 10 minutes to go where he lost the ball on the edge of their box, he was then making a tackle halfway into our half to recover it. That is a proper midfielder...
 
Teams will be picked on a match by match basis. We don't have a first XI, as we have had in the past but a squad of 20, all of whom can do a very good job. It may be that a team selected to play away at Portsmouth will be set up very differently to one which would play at home to Rochdale, personnel included.

Remember when we had a squad of about 14/15 under Murph. Better with the options now available (despite the quality of those players back in the day)
 
sedgleyimp said:
Teams will be picked on a match by match basis. We don't have a first XI, as we have had in the past but a squad of 20, all of whom can do a very good job. It may be that a team selected to play away at Portsmouth will be set up very differently to one which would play at home to Rochdale, personnel included.

Remember when we had a squad of about 14/15 under Murph. Better with the options now available (despite the quality of those players back in the day)
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Absolutely. This season is already intense and not going to ease, particularly if progressing in cup competitions. The way they've gone about the first 4 competitive games shows physical conditioning is superb, but sustaining that intensity over a season largely of 2 games a week will be impossible without some rotation.

The midfield '5' and forward 5/6, whatever, will be rotated to preserve fitness and suit setup against particular opponents, didn't I read MA has said he wouldn't expect any player to have more than 40 games.
 
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