Jenas is our future

Last updated : 10 November 2004 By Craig Hope (website editor)

Graeme Souness has reassured fans that his plan to accommodate Shearer, Bellamy and Kluivert will work.

He asked fans to look at Sunday’s game, ‘Shearer could have scored four, Bellamy could have scored four and Kluivert could have scored four’.

A slight exaggeration maybe but an argument that nonetheless carries some weight.

It appears that popular opinion is that for Laurent Robert to play then we have to revert to using two of our three forwards.

I believe this is not the case. Playing with Bellamy, Shearer and Kluivert would work more effectively with Robert in the side. It is in central midfield that a player has to be compromised. Only two from Butt, Bowyer and Jenas can start in the middle of the park.

And, in my view it should be Jenas plus one. The England youngster is starting games very brightly before fading, unable to break free from the constraints that a wide role enforces upon him. He becomes too involved in concentrating upon staying wide and supporting the full back that it is his own creative game ultimately suffers.

Butt is pedestrian and offers little in attack despite some excellent defensive work and how much longer can we hold our breath until Lee Bowyer scores that goal and his performances dramatically improve as a result?

Jenas is the future of our midfield and should be switched to the central role as soon as possible. Butt, Bowyer and Dyer can fight for the one remaining place with Robert being restored on the left.

I believe that Souness will see this, don’t forget he is still getting to know exactly what his players can and can’t do – one thing he has got right is that three players of the undoubted class of Bellamy, Shearer and Kluivert can play together, it is up to him to build a team around them that will be able to reverse our dismal fortunes of late and hopefully bring home some silverware come May.


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