JP is a brilliant footballer and an incredible talent, but he's not even a midfielder, let alone a central midfielder, let alone a dedicated defensive midfielder. Placing him there for a one-off cameo against one of the more solid teams in the league seems like it has a decent chance of backfiring spectacularly.
It was Bilic that suggested it “He can play all four positions up front. I said to my staff, lets say that we needed cover in the areas where Choudhury and Kayembe play, I know we have Gosling but Pedro could play that role. He has everything."
I can't remember the match now but didn't he turn out in centre mid at least once for us in the PL? I don't think it was a complete disaster (at least in the context of the complete bin fire that was our relegation season).
I'm sorry, people are actually suggesting that Pedro drops back into the base of the midfield? That is truly the most ridiculous thing I've ever read on here, and I've seen some sh*t.
He played in midfield once against Forest under Xisco in the promotion season, with Hughes behind him and Zinckernagel alongside - it went alright, in that we managed to win, but he wasn't being asked to be a defensive player and we weren't deficient in the rest of the midfield to anything like the same degree.
I read his comments too, but personally I didn't interpret 'cover in the areas Choudhury and Kayembe play' as 'let's field our best attacking player in defensive midfield', particularly given how important they are in covering for our defensive deficiencies this year - more like a mix of paying tribute to his discipline/versatility, and talking about his role in picking up and carrying the ball from midfield to attack. I don't see it as anything like the same thing as becoming our sole dedicated defensive midfielder, as I said.
I believe he played there as a kid, but for us, the deepest he's played is as a central midfielder against Nottingham Forest, where, he admittedly played quite well. Not one I'd want to revisit in all honesty though!
Featuring the 'boy wonder' James Garner, taken off our hands by United because he was too good for us apparently
We coped...OK in his absence today against mediocre opposition, but I'm praying his injury isn't too serious as we don't have anyone in the midfield like him
When is he back? I think when he initially got injured they said 4-6 weeks didn't they? If that's true, if we could just get through the next two home league games unscathed, then Choudhury should be back in the team soon after
Hope you haven't forgotten to run this through the Watford FC medical conversion calculator as your initial step.
4-6 weeks then consider allowing him to walk...then re-introduce him to the squad...then reintroduce him to training by increasing his sessions by one minute per week...then allow him to play five minutes at the end of a game. Should be back playing 90 minutes by Christmas.
Considering he's been injured for a bit, that's quite an impressive haul already this season! At what point of the season do bookings get wiped? Must be fairly soon, though I imagine he'll be walking a tightrope for a few games at least
