Yes, Gower is slow (I used the words before, the pace of an aging tortoise) and not a particularly good tackler. BUT, vitally, he can see a pass and is capable of making that pass accurately. He is also good at finding a bit of space in congested, frantic areas of play. The running off the ball of the front players on Saturday (Kermorgant, Church and Harriott) as well as Solly and (to a lesser extent) Wiggins, made life easier for him. Cousins complemented him superbly, as, later in the game did Wilson. The latter two did the hard work and the tackling. Admittedly, I have only seen the Gower/Cousins combination for one half of one game, BUT it looked better than ANYthing we had last season. Elsewhere on here I have outlined Powell's problems in keeping all his midfielders happy, even in an area of the team which is regarded as weak. It is a difficult yet nice problem to have. Will Jackson get back in? .. will we sign another mediocre midfielder? (for me there is no point). Midfield and the constant changes has been a problem for over a year. It needs sorting soon, we need consistent selection in there. Gower is probably one of the players who should now be selected for every game and used as a 'playmaker'
I'm yet to see him spray balls around the park, put strikers in with quality balls. To me his play seems negative, and he doesn't bring enough to the team to warrant a CM role in our team. Hollands, Stephens, Jackson, Cousins, Hughes, Pritchard... Options are there and to be honest I'd rather have any of them players in there ahead of Gower.
I reckon he has quality there but we have yet to see it, probably needs someone like Pritch running around doing the leg work for him to be the most effective, certainly not going to write him off after 3 games
I'm yet to see him spray balls around the park, put strikers in with quality balls. To me his play seems negative, and he doesn't bring enough to the team to warrant a CM role in our team. Hollands, Stephens, Jackson, Cousins, Hughes, Pritchard... Options are there and to be honest I'd rather have any of them players in there ahead of Gower.
Maybe you need to pay for attention then. When we were on fire and scoring great goals at the end of last season he was putting the ball about superbly. Look back at Yann's volley against Bristol City and you'll see a peach of a ball to get the move going from Gower
Everybody has their favourite players. (Myself included)
It is only natural that some are saying "give Green a run in the side", even.though, IMO, he's had a couple of stinkers.
Others are saying, "I don't see what Gower brings to the team", despite the comments of Cousins.
Others are saying "play Hughes", despite him being absolutely woeful against Bournemouth.
My view of Gower is clouded by the Bristol City game, where he hit a peach of a pass between the 2 centre backs to Pritch, (another who divides opinion) for his cross that was thundered in by Yann.
Perhaps it's not down to one player, it's due to the right midfield unit being available?
When we had that run at the end of the season the settled midfield was Pritch, Gower/Hughes, Jacko and Harriott.
So far this season, for various reasons, CP has not had that formation available.
He can't spray the ball about if he's playing alongside players without the pace and energy to win the ball, or the movement off the ball to make the runs for him to pick out. So far most of the time he's played alongside Hughes, Stephens and a struggling Jackson. Green doesn't really offer good movement or pace either. From the sounds of it he did well alongside Cousins.
He was a creative passer at Swansea and I'm sure he's not lost that. Difference is he played in a team that kept the ball well. He played in a 3 man central midfield and probably had plenty of good movement and pace from the attacking players.
I have never said or thought he is rubbish, but that I don't think he is the type of player that compliments our team. As Scoham has said - in a side that is good at keeping the ball, he would fit it well. He alone is not going to turn us into that sort of side and as we play now, he just provides an extra pass.
If he played more incisive balls it could work, but he doesn’t strike me as the sort of player who looks to do this enough. I hope to be proven wrong, but I’d like to see Cousins, JJ and Pritchard start on Saturday.
He's a good player, but doesn't fit into our system currently. With the right players around him he'd do much better than any other midfielder we have, but i'm not sure which midfielder would compliment him successfully.
He's a good player, but doesn't fit into our system currently. With the right players around him he'd do much better than any other midfielder we have, but i'm not sure which midfielder would compliment him successfully.
You could put Gerrard or Wilshire in our midfield and they wouldn't fit in.
Feel sorry for Gower expected to boss a Championship midfield area with only Stephens or Jackson for company. We are too lightweight, too sparse and too slow in midfield and Gower can't fix that on his own.
Comments
The running off the ball of the front players on Saturday (Kermorgant, Church and Harriott) as well as Solly and (to a lesser extent) Wiggins, made life easier for him. Cousins complemented him superbly, as, later in the game did Wilson. The latter two did the hard work and the tackling.
Admittedly, I have only seen the Gower/Cousins combination for one half of one game, BUT it looked better than ANYthing we had last season.
Elsewhere on here I have outlined Powell's problems in keeping all his midfielders happy, even in an area of the team which is regarded as weak. It is a difficult yet nice problem to have. Will Jackson get back in? .. will we sign another mediocre midfielder? (for me there is no point). Midfield and the constant changes has been a problem for over a year. It needs sorting soon, we need consistent selection in there. Gower is probably one of the players who should now be selected for every game and used as a 'playmaker'
It is only natural that some are saying "give Green a run in the side", even.though, IMO, he's had a couple of stinkers.
Others are saying, "I don't see what Gower brings to the team", despite the comments of Cousins.
Others are saying "play Hughes", despite him being absolutely woeful against Bournemouth.
My view of Gower is clouded by the Bristol City game, where he hit a peach of a pass between the 2 centre backs to Pritch, (another who divides opinion) for his cross that was thundered in by Yann.
Perhaps it's not down to one player, it's due to the right midfield unit being available?
When we had that run at the end of the season the settled midfield was Pritch, Gower/Hughes, Jacko and Harriott.
So far this season, for various reasons, CP has not had that formation available.
He was a creative passer at Swansea and I'm sure he's not lost that. Difference is he played in a team that kept the ball well. He played in a 3 man central midfield and probably had plenty of good movement and pace from the attacking players.
If he played more incisive balls it could work, but he doesn’t strike me as the sort of player who looks to do this enough. I hope to be proven wrong, but I’d like to see Cousins, JJ and Pritchard start on Saturday.
Feel sorry for Gower expected to boss a Championship midfield area with only Stephens or Jackson for company. We are too lightweight, too sparse and too slow in midfield and Gower can't fix that on his own.