Paul Sheerin

[eddie malone]

Am i the only person who thinks Paul Sheerin is actually a no bad player??

Ok hes not the most skillfull player in the world, he is a bit of a fairy.

But he is the hardest working player we have?

[templeofsaints]

Am i the only person who thinks Paul Sheerin is actually a no bad player??

Ok hes not the most skillfull player in the world, he is a bit of a fairy.

But he is the hardest working player we have?

He's ok but as you say a bit lightweight. That's possibly not a problem in itself but when he's alongside Henry in midfield it means we're losing a lot of the punch that that area of the park needs.

Cracking penalty taker though :D

[garydavidson]

Cracking penalty taker though :D

i was watching scotsport yesterday when the scores were comming him and it had his penalty in the classic celtic 1 caley 3 game what a strike!!

that day was like a national holiday in inverness sure my whole school went down!!

[Tranmere Saintee]

As Temple has said, the problem is having an even lighter weight Henry alongside him.

IMHO either could & would produce the goods in a winning team, but they need grafters arround them.

[Oldmuirton]

Ok hes not the most skillfull player in the world, he is a bit of a fairy.



I think that's a wee bit harsh. In my opinion he probably is the most skillful player in the present team. I agree he lacks any ball winning skills and also lacks pace but his use of the ball and his reading of a game is superb. And a midfielder who has contributed 8 goals and numerous assists in half a season is certainly pulling his weight

If he had a right foot half as good as his left he would be a hell of a player

[AJC]

and i beleive he is the best passer of the ball at the club


and he can be a bit silky sometimes

[eddie malone]

He is the best passer in the squad by a long shot and the hardest worker.

The only reason he gets so much stick is because he is always in the game looking for the ball and covering every blade of grass.

Therefore if you have the ball that much there is going to be more stray passes and poor balls picked up by some fans(hence the stick he gets)

Without Sheerin and Scotland who has come in for some stick lately we would be s**t

[Steve Maskrey]

Sheerin is definitely a quality player, a superb passer and one of the few players we've got who will actually play the ball in front of the man he's passing to. When we keep the ball on the ground, he's usually behind every good move we make but is lost when we play high balls. My only criticism of him is that he'll only kick the ball with his left foot and as a result he may make a bad pass or take too long with a move because he's trying to get the ball on his left side

[HeronAddict]

I think Sheerin's far more effective when we use the 352 system, as we seem to have done yesterday. This means that he's playing on the left side of a central 3 in midfield which gives him more license to get forward from a central area, as there's a defensive player like Mensing or Sheridan able to cover for him. He was probably in the best form of his career at Caley Thistle and this was the role he played for them.

If we're playing 442, then I think its pretty clear that he does not have the pace or the dribbling ability to play as a left winger, and I wouldn't drop Sheridan because I think he's vital to the team, especially if we are playing a midfield 4. If we stick to a 442, then its clear we have to sign some wingers this month.

I think therefore Coyle has to decide what system he wants to stick with for the future. IMO the players we have suit a 352 better, but its not a system i'm particuarly comfortable with, and I'd prefer us to play a 442. If he decides to stick with the 352, then we should have different priorities for the transfer window. I'd primarily be looking for a right-wing back, a central midfielder for Henry's position and a centre-half with a bit of pace.

[dan the saint]

He is the best passer in the squad by a long shot and the hardest worker.

The only reason he gets so much stick is because he is always in the game looking for the ball and covering every blade of grass.

Therefore if you have the ball that much there is going to be more stray passes and poor balls picked up by some fans(hence the stick he gets)

Without Sheerin and Scotland who has come in for some stick lately we would be s**t

your are rite mate 100%

[blueheaven]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Paul Sheerin is The Wizard.

I agree, however, with those of you who have said he doesn't really suit 4-4-2 - but why do people seem to think we can only choose between 4-4-2 and 3-5-2? There are other formations out there! Again, I'd like to champion the wonders of 4-2-3-1 - in that system, Sheerin would be able to take up a central role, and we'd get the best of both worlds because there would be room for both him and Sheridan, thusly!...

_______________Cuthbert

Mensing___Rutkiewicz___James___Stanic

__________Sheridan____Sheerin

Right-winger______Scotland______Left-winger

_________________Striker

[HeronAddict]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Paul Sheerin is The Wizard.

I agree, however, with those of you who have said he doesn't really suit 4-4-2 - but why do people seem to think we can only choose between 4-4-2 and 3-5-2? There are other formations out there! Again, I'd like to champion the wonders of 4-2-3-1 - in that system, Sheerin would be able to take up a central role, and we'd get the best of both worlds because there would be room for both him and Sheridan, thusly!...

_______________Cuthbert

Mensing___Rutkiewicz___James___Stanic

__________Sheridan____Sheerin

Right-winger______Scotland______Left-winger

_________________Striker

That's an interesting suggestion BH, but is it not just a 442 with Sheerin playing alongside Sheridan and Scotland coming off the front more? Its the kind of system Bolton play, and they rely heavily on having a big striker like Kevin Davies up there, and guys with pace and trickery like Diouf and Giannakopoulos (spelt it right!) around him. I think Savo or Peaso would struggle as a lone striker, and I just don't feel Sheerin's best position is as a partner to another player in midfield - he was totally anonymous alongside Hannah last season and furthermore both of your central midfielders are left footed, so there could be a lack of balance in there. Sheerin would also have a lot of defensive responsibility in that role, and IMO he's at his best with a licence to get forward.

I'm also not sure that Stevenson, for example, would be suited to playing the right-winger role and it could be really hard to find the type of players suitable for the wide areas, especially in this transfer window where the quality of player avaliable could be limited. That's why I'm coming round to the idea of sticking with the 352 - it matches best with the players we currently have, and would probably require less money to be spent to improve the team than if we stuck to with a 442.

[blueheaven]

That's an interesting suggestion BH, but is it not just a 442 with Sheerin playing alongside Sheridan and Scotland coming off the front more? Its the kind of system Bolton play, and they rely heavily on having a big striker like Kevin Davies up there, and guys with pace and trickery like Diouf and Giannakopoulos (spelt it right!) around him. I think Savo or Peaso would struggle as a lone striker, and I just don't feel Sheerin's best position is as a partner to another player in midfield - he was totally anonymous alongside Hannah last season and furthermore both of your central midfielders are left footed, so there could be a lack of balance in there. Sheerin would also have a lot of defensive responsibility in that role, and IMO he's at his best with a licence to get forward.

I think it's quite different from 4-4-2 - you'd have out-and-out wingers instead of the usual wide midfielders you get with 4-4-2. If anything, the wingers would push up and form part of a front 3, in a Moore-Roddy-Maskrey stylee. There would only be one out-and-out centre forward, but he'd have plenty of support if it was played properly - and I think both Milne and Peaso could happily play without partners anyway. Milne has a good enough workrate to cover the ground of 2 strikers (as long as he's told to stay up front!) and Peaso's always been fairly selfish anyway so all you'd be doing is giving him a license to be himself! Sheridan's presence would allow Sheerin to get forward at times, and the 2 of them would also have Scotland in there (in an almost "free role") to add that extra bit of flair. I don't really see why Sheerin would have any more defensive responsibility in a team with a back four and Sheridan than he'd have with a back three and no Sheridan?

I'm also not sure that Stevenson, for example, would be suited to playing the right-winger role and it could be really hard to find the type of players suitable for the wide areas, especially in this transfer window where the quality of player avaliable could be limited. That's why I'm coming round to the idea of sticking with the 352 - it matches best with the players we currently have, and would probably require less money to be spent to improve the team than if we stuck to with a 442.

Yup, 4-2-3-1 would only work if Coyle went out and signed two out-and-out wingers (Juanjo for one of the positions, anyone?). I don't see Stevenson as a winger at all - if anything, in that formation I'd have Stevenson competing for Scotland's position. I think that if you put Stevenson in "the hole" his workrate would mean he'd be a lot more involved in games, and I reckon he'd also score a fair number of goals from there.

I maintain that 3-5-2 will never work for us as a long-term option. Every time we experiment with it, it works for a few games, and then we're awful, and everyone starts demanding 4-4-2 again (I have no doubt that it will happen again over the next few months or so - we've been trapped in that cycle for several years now). There are loads of reasons why 3-5-2 doesn't work - back threes are too flimsy, and the wing-back position is too difficult to expect anyone to be consistently effective in it (you might say my formation would need us to go and sign outright wingers, but we don't have any true wing-backs in the current squad either). Wing-backs are meant to give you width, but in practice you actually end up with the exact opposite because you've only got one guy on each flank instead of two. You also have nobody to overlap - the job is frankly impossible and I can't understand why it ever emerged in the first place. With 4-2-3-1, everything is covered far better - you've got a traditional back-four (far more secure than a back three) with two holding midfielders for even greater security, plus genuine width and attacking flair provided by old-fashioned wingers and a guy like Scotland in a free "hole" role.

Join the 4-2-3-1 Party!! :P :wink:

[dave mc]

Thought he had a poor first 20 minutes,but came onto a good game!

[HeronAddict]

I maintain that 3-5-2 will never work for us as a long-term option. Every time we experiment with it, it works for a few games, and then we're awful, and everyone starts demanding 4-4-2 again (I have no doubt that it will happen again over the next few months or so - we've been trapped in that cycle for several years now). There are loads of reasons why 3-5-2 doesn't work - back threes are too flimsy, and the wing-back position is too difficult to expect anyone to be consistently effective in it (you might say my formation would need us to go and sign outright wingers, but we don't have any true wing-backs in the current squad either). Wing-backs are meant to give you width, but in practice you actually end up with the exact opposite because you've only got one guy on each flank instead of two. You also have nobody to overlap - the job is frankly impossible and I can't understand why it ever emerged in the first place.


Again you make a lot of good points, but I don't think you can dismiss 3-5-2 as a system that just "doesn't work". After all, the team that are top of the division at the moment play it every week, and it was also the system Falkirk used for most of last season. As I said earlier, I'm not a fan of it myself and would prefer us to play with a back 4, but I think you have to play a formation that suits the players avaliable to you, rather than try and shoehorn players into a position they're not comfortable in just to suit a particular system (eg Sheerin on the left wing). Also I feel Stanic is capable of playing as a wing-back, and while we'd probably need to sign someone to play on the right side, this would allow Stevenson to move into the centre alongside Sheridan and Sheerin, where I feel he would be more effective.

I like the idea of 4-2-3-1, but right now we don't have the players that can play in that system, and it could be difficult getting in the players this month or even in the long-term. I'd like to see us give it a go, but I just can't see it happening!

[blueheaven]

Just so that this thread doesn't spiral off-topic, I'll carry on the debate on the formation thread HeronAddict has started: http://www.saintschat.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=531