Centre Midfielders

[ImReadingTillIDie]

Just been looking at next season's supposed teams and it appeared to me that we have many CMs who could be playing next season. Who do we want?
I like the idea of Carrico partnering Guthrie. I rated Karacan very highly two seasons ago but after a less than average season i'm not so sure. I think Akpan is great and i wouldn't mind seeing him start next season. I think its time to release Leigterwood as, under Adkins, i hope we will adopt a passing style and sadly that style doesn't suit Ledge.

[Cureton's Volley]

Agreed Akpan deserves some significant game time this season. He made more impact than Ledge in the games he played, and he is only going to improve with experience...

[WoodleyRoyal]

Dont understand the akpan love in he's played a handfull of games and looked ok. It amazes me how short people memories are, how can anyone make a justifiable decision that akpan is better than ledge when akpan has played so little?

[72 bus]

Carrico, Guthrie, Karacan, Akpan, possibly the best set of mid fielders at any club in this division

[yappy]

Not really sure how people choose Carrico to start either when we've seen very little of him.

[Hoop Blah]

Not really sure how people choose Carrico to start either when we've seen very little of him.

I can't see why anyone thinks he's likely to be fit and available for more than a handful of games considering his past history.

Yes he looked alright in two fleeting sub appearances, but he's shown nothing to us fans that he's going to make it this season so I don't get the optimism.

As for Akpan, he looked very raw but a decent talent. He played a couple of decent balls in amongst plenty of poor touches, and of course that killer assit for Le Fondre (the air kick that is), but generally looked like a lower league player trying to raise his game. He's probably got what it takes to be a Championship midfielder but I can't see him holding down a place if Guthrie and Karacan are fit and anywhere near in form.

Legiertwood is an interesting one. I think he's been very good for us but I'm not sure he's got the mobility to play the fluid game that Adkins prefers. At his best he has been good at winning and keeping the ball by playing it simple but I think Adkins will want all players to do a bit more than that and for the central midfielders to be more dynamic than Legiertwood. I think his time to move on may have come.

[Royal91]

We have loads of CM's but none can play further forward. Basically we need a sig

[From Despair To Where?]

Leigertwood is pretty decent in the air but is more of a stopper than a creator. Begs the question, can he play CB?

[Elm Park Kid]

Both Carrico and Akpan are unknown quantities for the fans so we can't really say, it'll depend on what Adkin's sees on the training pitch/friendly games. I expect them to feature quite heavily.

Depending on our formation (and his mentality) Guthrie should start as our attacking midfielder.

Dropping down a level makes Karacan appearing more likely but I still think he'll struggle. The championship is a different prospect now then 2 years ago.

[RoyalBlue]

Leigertwood is pretty decent in the air but is more of a stopper than a creator. Begs the question, can he play CB?

I think he did once for QPR against us. When we signed him from QPR, a QPR supporting colleague reminded me of that game and how Leigertwood completely shut out Doyle (I think it was) for the whole game.

[72 bus]

Depending on our formation (and his mentality) Guthrie should start as our attacking midfielder.

Has the penny still not dropped that Guthrie is NOT an attacking midfielder.
He does not want to play as one, has never played as one at any club he has been at.
He is a player who prefers and is most effective playing in front of the back four bringing the ball out and setting up play.

Still you are in good company as even the great Brian McDermott failed to spot this.

[ZacNaloen]

Closest thing we have to an attacking midfielder is Akpan.

We have some players who play out wide who could do a job in the middle as well though.

Guthrie is most definitely not. He sits deep and constructs play from there. He'll be important for us next year.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

I expect to see HRK as the forward midfielder, sat in behind Hooper

[Royalee]

Pretty happy with the quartet of Carrico, Karacan, Akpan and Guthrie - we also have the attractive option of binning Leigertwood and bringing in a replacement actually capable of passing and controlling a football. Karacan was diabolical under Brian, although he improved dramatically once Adkins took over. He stopped trying to hook the ball on aimlessly and running around like a headless chicken so I think this could be a big season for him.

[St. Brynjar]

Ideally Guthrie and Carrico at their best, but I expect we'll rotate the four if they're all still here. Time for Ledge to move on as good as he was for us in the Championship, too much ill feeling.

[West Stand Man]

I expect to see HRK as the forward midfielder, sat in behind Hooper

sitting

[Alexander Litvinenko]

Guthrie & Karacan together seems to work very well - I think they have the potential to turn into a quite outstanding partnership.

[super darren caskey]

Leigertwood is pretty decent in the air but is more of a stopper than a creator. Begs the question, can he play CB?

I wouldnt fancy seeing Ledge losing the ball that near to our goal tbh he would be ok back there if he just hoofed it when he got it but Adkins likes the passing game more.

[Alexander Litvinenko]

I can't see Leighterwood getting much of a look-in at all this season.

[Ian Royal]

Closest thing we have to an attacking midfielder is Akpan.

We have some players who play out wide who could do a job in the middle as well though.

Guthrie is most definitely not. He sits deep and constructs play from there. He'll be important for us next year.

This.

Akpan is by far the least polished, but he's got something about him. Whether he'll realise that potential is questionable. He'll certainly need games to do it. He's bigger and stronger than Jem and looks more box to box. May just be gut feeling but he looks to have a better strike for shooting than Jem too.

It's difficult to judge how Jem'll go given we've mostly seen headless chicken under McDermott and that's not what he showed under Adkins.