Some roles in football are obvious. The ironman defender, the fleetfooted winger, the lethal striker. However others are less succinct, somewhat harder to define what is the standard type.
Nowhere more do we encounter this conundrum than in midfield. Here at the Wee County we are no different, let me explain.
A potent midfield is a mix, it’s a devils brew. The trick is to tie together all the available components into something which is most effective. If you get the midfield right then it can unlock the whole game and allow your side to play football rather than just launching it from the back and everybody charging up. Get it wrong and the opposition will just fade through you, you won’t see the ball for most of the game.
Harry Potter in Potions would be hard pushed to get the right brew this year at Nairn. We have our ball-winner, Toshy, who will get you the ball all day long…. but stats tell us he completes more passes in any given game than anyone else so you want him in the centre of the park, getting and giving.
Kyle Wilkie is like Didier Deschamps (check your history) he’s the workhorse, give him the ball and he will run all day (you just have to make sure he’s pointing in the right direction).
Ross Naismith is like Carol Vorderman… he’s a bit of a conundrum… he’s a lovely football player, can crack a safe with a pass, scores lovely goals… but he doesn’t get a lot of gametime and he’s a bit lightweight still so can get steamrollered in a bruiser of a game.
Bradley Halsman is your sitting midfielder, its hard to impress as a sitting midfielder, you get the ball and give it to somebody else to do something more interesting with it, but Bradley is growing on me as the season progresses.
Then theres Hen, Hen is like Toshys evil dark side, he will get the ball all day but distribution can be a bit erratic.
Finally theres El Pollocko, Alan Pollock, who plays with the mentality that there’s nobody he can’t beat and the rest of the team are insane when they don’t pass to him. I like that attitude, it’s good… and he might be right!
So you pick your poison and you see what you come up with with. The midfielder is the most complicated role on the park as it combines elements of defence and attack with strategy and craft.
Today we have a mix of players who have the ghosts of the past midfield greats upon them… Ronnie Sharp, Chic Allan and Deadly Davie Penman to name but a few… its up to them to find the solution to the Twilight Zone of the midfield and establish themselves as the legends of tomorrow.