Editorial: Why center midfield is not the place to look

Last updated : 25 November 2003 By Austin Rathe
Against wolves, our best moves came from two places. One, Rooney droping deep and gathering the ball and two the wings.

One thing we are not short of is good box to box centre midfielders. Gravesen, Linderoth, Nyarko and Tie all fit the bill, and i would be happy to have any two of them in the centre of midfield. We even have two very good left wingers in Mcfadden and Kilbane. However, where we are lacking is the right wing. Take Steve Watson out of the picture (and he's really a full back) and you don't have anyone to play the role, hence Mcfadden doing it on Saturday. Try as he might, young James is very, very left footed.

Why not play to our strengths? Thanks to Walter Smith we have lots of good midfielders, so lets not look for creativity in the middle of the park. Rooney can provide that by dropping deep, which he loves doing. We should instead look to the wide areas, and this will require a "McFadden on the right", someone like that annoying Ronaldo kid who plays for Man Utd.

The whole thing makes sense, you ahve strong midfielders who do all the running, Rooney droping deep and attacking wide players who can drive into the middle to boost the numbers. C'mon David, drop the obsession with the center and see the wide, wide light.

Agree? Disagree? Think i'm talking complete pants? Have your say on the message board.