Having watched Crofts with a cameo at Cheltenham and his full game against Northnts I am a happy man.
It's like us going out and getting a new top signing in the Jan window. His calmness and positional and passing sense are of a higher quality player and I see us going on to do even better with Crofts in the team. Excellent.

Would you sign him on for next season?? ?

All depends how he fares through the season - one swallow doesn't make a summer - I hope he doesn't pick up further injuries. He's in his mid 30's and of course he may not want to stay if his mate leaves..

Mr Figo wrote:All depends how he fares through the season - one swallow doesn't make a summer - I hope he doesn't pick up further injuries. He's in his mid 30's and of course he may not want to stay if his mate leaves..

On the other hand, if "his mate" leaves, he may fancy replacing him.

Cornish Exile wrote:

Mr Figo wrote:All depends how he fares through the season - one swallow doesn't make a summer - I hope he doesn't pick up further injuries. He's in his mid 30's and of course he may not want to stay if his mate leaves..

On the other hand, if "his mate" leaves, he may fancy replacing him.

That's a scenario that I've heard could happen ..... from a reliable condiment of course .

If that is true ( and is a big "if") then the Club would be taking a huge gamble - I would rather have him on the pitch.

Mr Figo wrote:If that is true ( and is a big "if") then the Club would be taking a huge gamble - I would rather have him on the pitch.

Yes indeed. If Tues. is anything to go by, he still has a lot to offer as a player. How often he can deliver remains to be seen of course.
Listening to his comments however he still appears to have the hunger and enjoyment to continue playing for a while yet.

We had the same conversation when Hayes started well.Same age with injury problems so best to wait and see.Like Hayes,he has looked good,just hope it's not like Hayes and old injuries catch up with him.

Crofts as last night showed was the only midfield player who turned up. He has a wealth of valuable league and international experience which is shared to the youngsters.
Let us be honest County's midfield area has been a weakness of the team for seasons always highlighted when key players in this position are out injured. ie. Bennett, Dolan, Labadie and possibly Marsh - Brown who has hardly been seen.
Defensive minded with a tactical brain is even more rare and this is why Crofts and Labadie will be like having new signings when the latter is fully fit and Crofts recent comeback games have been positive and both will be vital if we want a chance of the play offs.
Mikey needs to add possibly 2 midfielders with a defensive minded, hard edge to their game to help our defence who have been too exposed by some players who are in a comfort zone; with the expectations of the attack stopping the danger by chasing back ie. Amond almost looking like a midfielder/defender with his work rate and bloody mindfulness and the defenders who will defend at all costs.
YES ! You midfielders have to chase back and help and cover and not just attack put a shift in (not all our midfielders included ) to help stop more goals that we are over conceding ! Rant over.
YES! Hippy mate Like a new top signing.

I agree Somerton, Midfield is our weak point, it doesn't deliver quality balls going forward and is too wide open and puts pressure on the defence. Crofts and Labadie will help the latter and whole team shape for sure, but for me the biggest missing part of the jigsaw is a ball playing attacking midfielder, which Sheehan has so far failed to be, if we make good money from the cup, I'd go and see if we can get Byrne back. Bakinson started like a train early season but has tailed off, and I just wish either Bristol City or Flynny have a word with him, as he could be some player. Also, I think Semenyo has to start more often and Harris used earlier, having said all that, we're fourth and into the next round of the cup (replay willing) and that's great work for our budget and where we came from in the great escape. UTC, see you Saturday!

The NCFC Hippy wrote:I agree Somerton, Midfield is our weak point, it doesn't deliver quality balls going forward and is too wide open and puts pressure on the defence. Crofts and Labadie will help the latter and whole team shape for sure, but for me the biggest missing part of the jigsaw is a ball playing attacking midfielder, which Sheehan has so far failed to be, if we make good money from the cup, I'd go and see if we can get Byrne back. Bakinson started like a train early season but has tailed off, and I just wish either Bristol City or Flynny have a word with him, as he could be some player. Also, I think Semenyo has to start more often and Harris used earlier, having said all that, we're fourth and into the next round of the cup (replay willing) and that's great work for our budget and where we came from in the great escape. UTC, see you Saturday!

if we had two ball winning midfielders Sheehan could , IMO excel as he wouldn't have to do the midfield dirty work as he is trying to do now. he could play behind the front two rather than just in front of the defence as we have no midfield at present...
A 5 -2- 1 - 2 or 3 - 4 - 1 - 2 for home games, a formation with our wingbacks as our main attacking threat ( same players but push the fullbacks/ wingbacks further forward for home games when we should be looking to dominate sides )

I agree with Neil - Sheehan should be given a more 'free' role just behind the top two that I would say should be Amond and Matt/Harris. I think Amond plays better with Harris but Matt's performances/goals so far show that he shouldn't be dropped.

At last a decent thread that talks a lot of sense. I was criticised after the Northampton match recently when I was moaning about the midfield after a match that we’d won. The annoyance for me is that all season often our midfield has gone awol putting too much stress on the defenders and the whole team drops deeper and deeper. We could easily have thrown games away by allowing waves of attacking that should have been nipped in the bud earlier.
Let’s hope the return of Crofts and Labadie turns things around and then with Bakinson, Sheehan and Dolan et al we , at least on paper, have an embarrassment of riches. Let’s hope it turns out that way but I still wouldn’t say no to Byrner returning!

Totally agree on this. I don't watch as many games as most people on here, but of the games I get to, it seems midfield is far too easy to slice through, often in one pass.

We seem to be good in possession, particularly on the flanks with the wing backs pushing on, and the midfield are good at switching play when in control of the flow of play, but the lack of steel in the middle when defending invites more pressure onto the team and that's why we seem to crumble and concede "soft" goals.

It's been like this for years - it's partly why we had that awful run of losing/drawing games in the last 15 minutes of games, and why we used to really struggle to see out games, particularly with a 1-0 lead.

It's got better, in part because the attacking line up is much stronger than it used to be!

Feel free to disagree, but this is the feeling I've got from seeing 4/5 games a year.

lowandhard wrote:At last a decent thread that talks a lot of sense. I was criticised after the Northampton match recently when I was moaning about the midfield after a match that we’d won. The annoyance for me is that all season often our midfield has gone awol putting too much stress on the defenders and the whole team drops deeper and deeper. We could easily have thrown games away by allowing waves of attacking that should have been nipped in the bud earlier.
Let’s hope the return of Crofts and Labadie turns things around and then with Bakinson, Sheehan and Dolan et al we , at least on paper, have an embarrassment of riches. Let’s hope it turns out that way but I still wouldn’t say no to Byrner returning!

Plenty of our midfielders are good going forward, very few of them are any cop chasing backwards.

I pray that Labadie is the same player he was before his injury. If he is, we'll be alright.