Jamie/Rob

[CusworthRovers]

Been a very good partnership all season this. Very dominant.

I think Rob rightly took a lot of plaudits in the first half of the season, but I personally feel he's not looked as dominant to the standards set earlier. Still Captain Fantastic of course and first name on the teamsheet. I think Jamie had a lean spell last month (although we later found out he was a poorly boy), but he's back and to be fair to him, he's looked the more solid of the two (bar the back header). Seems to be the one of the two they give it too, to come out from our area or to distribute upfield.

I likes these 2 in League 1, but one feels we will need a turnover of players if we go up and these may be vulnerable to a Prem 2 striker

[mushRTID]

Agreed. By the way what an earth was Jones doing when he ducked out of way of the ball over the top yesterday...?

Jones looked shakey at times yesterday but I suppose he can't be unplayable every game!

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

I actually think last few games Jones looks a klittle tired but mccombe has improved and been superb bar his error at Bournemouth our defence is still very good.

[RoversAlias]

Agreed. By the way what an earth was Jones doing when he ducked out of way of the ball over the top yesterday...?

Jones looked shakey at times yesterday but I suppose he can't be unplayable every game!

I don't think he ducked out of the way at all - he set himself ready to head the ball away and then the ball changed direction as it was high in the wind so Jones was suddenly underneath the ball! The wind played havoc all day especially with the keeper's kicks out.

[afro goal machine]

I thought he slipped. Couple of his clearances were abit suspect yesterday but we got away with them.

[bedale rover]

Wouldn't have either in the league above
Sorry

[afro goal machine]

Wouldn't have either in the league above
Sorry

Think you would if the alternative was Sam hird and habib beye (no disrespect)
Let's not forget we've had some piss poor venter halves last couple of seasons.

[MachoMadness]

Rob Jones could definitely do a job in the Championship. His strength, aerial ability and organisational skills mean that he could still do a job, don't see why everyone is so quick to write him off just because it's a higher level. Obviously he's lacking in pace and he wouldn't be quite as immense as he is against L1 players but get the right player alongside him, a younger, faster CB and I'd happily have him at Championship level.

[RobTheRover]

Exactly. Right from the days of Sgt Brighty and Fozzie I've always maintained you need a destroyer and a ball player as your 2 CBs,  one to do the nasty stuff and one to do the tidying up. As you go up the ladder,  the destroyer needs to be a decent ball player too.

[RoversAlias]

Rob Jones could definitely do a job in the Championship. His strength, aerial ability and organisational skills mean that he could still do a job, don't see why everyone is so quick to write him off just because it's a higher level. Obviously he's lacking in pace and he wouldn't be quite as immense as he is against L1 players but get the right player alongside him, a younger, faster CB and I'd happily have him at Championship level.

Probably because he played at that level before and struggled. I can see where doubters of Jones' ability to step up again are coming from, but some of our own players surprised us by adapting to the new level of quality last time. I'm thinking of players like Gareth Roberts and James Hayter.

[RedJ]

Rob Jones could definitely do a job in the Championship. His strength, aerial ability and organisational skills mean that he could still do a job, don't see why everyone is so quick to write him off just because it's a higher level. Obviously he's lacking in pace and he wouldn't be quite as immense as he is against L1 players but get the right player alongside him, a younger, faster CB and I'd happily have him at Championship level.

Probably because he played at that level before and struggled. I can see where doubters of Jones' ability to step up again are coming from, but some of our own players surprised us by adapting to the new level of quality last time. I'm thinking of players like Gareth Roberts and James Hayter.

The Scunny manager played a ridiculously high line for someone of his pace though iirc.

[RobTheRover]

Jones as sweeper with 2 destroyers in front of him, a la Glenn Hoddle at Swindon many moons ago?

[MachoMadness]

Yep, Scunny played a high line whereas we sit deeper and keep our shape so teams can't get in behind.

Important to remember too that:

A) most of the times we saw Jones play he was playing against Billy Sharp, who can run any defender at that level ragged.

and:

B) Jones was partnered up with some rate useless lumps in that time, not least among them Cliff Byrne who's existence as a footballer has always confused me. Put a younger CB alongside him and it'd be good for the both of them.

Furthermore, and the most compelling of all my arguments I think you'll agree:

C) Scunny are shit. Shit sides invite more pressure and Rob Jones is only one man who can't do the job of a whole team. Hopefully we won't be shit next year.

[Red wizard]

Jones will be fine. Just the fact he can head the ball away is better than Hird and co could do. Of corse we will need additions but you get that every year.

[RobTheRover]

I liked Sam Hird.  A local lad and a tryer.  However, there was a Chesterfield fan on the radio the other day saying how poor he had been for them.  Very disappointing that dropping down a couple of divisions hasnt worked out for him.

[Mr1Croft]

Hird was a good player but he needed to be alongside an accomplished no nonesense CB that we had in Shackell/Mills, moving to Chesterfield they have relied on him to be the star of defence which hasnt worked in his favour unfortunatley...

[andysly]

Above is spot on..
Sam always looked a decent lad when he had somebody to boss him around and tell him where to be. He would work well with the Corporal. Or McComber for that matter..

[RoversAlias]

Hird was a good player but he needed to be alongside an accomplished no nonesense CB that we had in Shackell/Mills, moving to Chesterfield they have relied on him to be the star of defence which hasnt worked in his favour unfortunatley...

Agreed, that is dead on. Hird always looked like a miles better player when alongside a quality player like Mills or Shackell. The combination of Hird and Mills was terrific, how they helped us get promoted and then to have what was a very solid defensive record in our first year up in the second tier.

[MachoMadness]

Agree with all the above, Hird is one of those players who needs quality players around him to really shine. No surprise he's struggling in League 2. He and Mills were one of the better CB pairings in the Championship at the time, our defensive record in that season was incredible. I believe it was the best outside the top 6, or it was certainly up there.

[Mr1Croft]

Agree with all the above, Hird is one of those players who needs quality players around him to really shine. No surprise he's struggling in League 2. He and Mills were one of the better CB pairings in the Championship at the time, our defensive record in that season was incredible. I believe it was the best outside the top 6, or it was certainly up there.

Considering that was the season when we were rock bottom on Xmas day I'm not so sure it was statistically one of the best but up until that point it had been a very unlucky season...

[Red wizard]

Agree with all the above, Hird is one of those players who needs quality players around him to really shine. No surprise he's struggling in League 2. He and Mills were one of the better CB pairings in the Championship at the time, our defensive record in that season was incredible. I believe it was the best outside the top 6, or it was certainly up there.

Considering that was the season when we were rock bottom on Xmas day I'm not so sure it was statistically one of the best but up until that point it had been a very unlucky season...

We may of been bottom but we didn't let many in. I still to this day think had we had Sharp that first year we would of been arounfd the play offs.

[MachoMadness]

Agree with all the above, Hird is one of those players who needs quality players around him to really shine. No surprise he's struggling in League 2. He and Mills were one of the better CB pairings in the Championship at the time, our defensive record in that season was incredible. I believe it was the best outside the top 6, or it was certainly up there.

Considering that was the season when we were rock bottom on Xmas day I'm not so sure it was statistically one of the best but up until that point it had been a very unlucky season...

That was to do with our shocking goalscoring record more than anything else. I know we'd only scored about 9 goals before the Forest game, most of our games we lost by the odd goal. I know at the time we played them we had a better (or at least very very close) defensive record than Wolves who were top when we played them near Christmas. Our defensive record was surprisingly good that year, I remember being amazed by it at the time, and it was purely our completely blunt attack which had us rooted to the bottom.

[pubteam]

I certainly think that Rob Jones could cut it in the Championship if deployed correctly. I doubt we'd have conceded as many goals as we did last season if we'd had Jones organising the defence and heading the ball away.

I'm not sure the partnership would work with McCombe though. Jamie would be adequate back-up for me, but we'd need someone with a bit more pace and on-the-ball ability back there I reckon.