Out of position players

[Diego10]

This has been a bone of contention with our team selection for a long time now, with players often played in a position where the majority of folk think they are not suited. Karipidis is the obvious one this season but lots of players have done it over the last few years, most infamously Robbie at Right midfield against Hibs and even Burley did it when playing McAllister at right midfield (although that was admittedly more to avoid picking Miko than any other reason)

 

The point it's taken me a while to get to is this. Are there players at Tynecastle who would benefit from being moved to a position they are not normally associated with. I think we have a couple. Lee Wallace is an obvious one for me. He's intermittently decent at left back, but the strongest part of his game is driving forward. I think given time he will grow into a central midfield player and I'd like to see him given a run there at some point. Strong on the ball, he can pick a pass and most importantly, go past players. We lose half his game by playing him at the back in my opinion.

 

Andrew Driver is a somewhat less obvious one but again I think there is the potential to try him somewhere else, namely as a striker. His pace and directness are his main assets. He's good on the ball and whilst his finishing is a bit erratic, he could prove to be a bit of an asset up there as he can certainly score goals and could give us the pace up front we currently don't have. He would work well running off a hold up man like Nade I think.

 

Those are a couple, anyone think of anyone else who could be better in a different position (obvious jokes about 'on the bench/in the stand/ at Easter Road' aside!)?

[Randy Marsh]

I think Driver being played up front wouldnt be a bad idea, he has more pace than any of our so called "frontmen" and he knows where the goal is.

 

 

I would maybe try basso up front as he surely wouldnt be any worse than the strikers we have.

[Garrincha]

I'd like to see Miko tried through the middle, just off Nade. I reckon he'd be far better at than Ksanavicious.

 

It's funny how the playing of players 'out of position' is taken as some kind of sign of 'bad' management. People forget that Burley played Wallace at centre mid and McAllister on the right wing a couple of times. For what it is worth I think Karapidis has been a revelation in midfield and Eggert Jonsson is a decent right back.