i know this is kinda obvious most would want a balanced squad but what if we could only have one of the three above options?

the reason behind the question is that we have had a fairly strong squad, we have also had a skillful team in recent years but we really suffered due to having a lack of hardworking players. this season we seem to have that and it gets my vote over the other options.

It's all about team balance, you need all 3. Some of the most skilled players can be said to be lazy... but it can make all the difference between a team being ordinary to one that is extraordinary.

If you could only have one, I would opt for hard-working all day long.

The issue is we tended to border to closely to one of the three, whereas this year we are up there in terms of work-rate - we do lack that extra quality at times. Despite players like Jorge Grant and Ryan Yates adding it.

Skillful!

Usually this means a player has prospect and if they have ambition it should show more on the pitch. There's nothing wrong with hard work, you just need that quality sometimes.

I would vote for "hardworking" any day of the week.  We are in League 2 so we have to accept that we're not going to get the sort of players we see on MOTD, but the one thing I can never accept is a lack of effort and application.  If I could pick out one player as an example, it would be Stanley Aborah.  His skill wasn't in doubt, he had more natural ability than 90% of players at our level.  But he was bone idle, when we didn't have the ball it was like playing with 10 men.  Give me a Neal Bishop type (or his younger clone Ryan Yates) any day.  It's not a pretty part of the game, but stopping the opposition play is half the battle.

Whilst I am in agreement with @Elite_pieon 95 per cent plus of his PoN postings, I recall one posting stating his preference for Paul Bolland over Stanley! I rest my case your honour! 

44 minutes ago, Piethagoram said:

Whilst I am in agreement with @Elite_pieon 95 per cent plus of his PoN postings, I recall one posting stating his preference for Paul Bolland over Stanley! I rest my case your honour! 

Correct, on the basis that a team of hard working but very limited Paul Bollands would absolutely batter a team of skilled but gutless Stanley Aborahs.  It wouldn't even be close, Stanley would perform some great pirouettes on the halfway line, but that would be about it.

Whilst accepting to differ on this point with @Elite_pie. Ricardo's home form of exciting and entertaining football of which Stanley was pivotal, has to be noted. Yes, Aborah may have been too much a liability away from home but his ability to draw 2 or 3 opposition players in, before releasing the ball, did create spece for the rest of the team. Perhaps, if our forwards had converted the higher percentage of shots during this time, we would never have got Fullarton as manager. Fullarton epitomised maybe a hard working team but without any cutting edge in skill... especially recalling the game at Crawley where Valencic scored a cracking goal, only to be dropped the next game...prompting me to comment at the time, in jest "Jamie....I don't want players who score cracking goals in my team"

I must admit I enjoyed the home games under Moniz, always entertaining which was a pleasant change after years of dull football at Meadow Lane.  Aborah looked part of the team while Moniz was in charge, but lost all interest when he was sacked and became a showboating passenger.  Looking at his wiki page it seems he has disappeared after making one start for Portsmouth last season.  

Surely hardworking is the Notts County way? I can always forgive a player for not having the skill needed, but never one that is bone idol and appears uninterested in the rest of the team.

It has to be hard working! If a team fails to take this attitude towards playing, it does not matter if they are skillful or strong they will just end up being taken for mugs as we have seen previously.

One choice-hardworking but I'd add adaptability to all 3 options.