You are flogging a dead horse as this has been discused time and time again. They did make mistakes and we need better recruitment this summer. In this you are correct. That said there have only been 4 duds out of three times as many good signings.
I would suggest the injuries to Casey and Anders are ultimately what have cost us and this happens. It appears your wishes will be answered anyway , Duff was clearly involved in the Jan transfers ,and will likely be again in the summer.
New signing is going to be one hell of a player to hold down all those positions!
That sums it up quite nicely doesnāt it? Weāre not that short, but the places weāre lacking are absolutely vital.
When you bring in about 18 different attacking mids and still need one.
Iām sorry @Wendoverman but didnāt several of the signings in the summer praise the Dodds effects and highlighted that they liked working with him in the past? Iām quite sure that Dodds had an involvement with the recruitment last summer, just like Duff was involved in Jan
If Norris is in the team, you can write off promotion straight away. Whilst I never get at him from the stands, he is a disaster.
So do all the players you slag off. They all train every day too.
Dodds was involved in the summer. CbM youth player at Birmingham, when dodds was with the academy, plus Huggins from Sunderland.
Managers dont do everything nowadays, and they shouldnāt. But its clear they have impact.
Duff wanted to sign Lowe at Huddersfield. Youād also sat, it was his staff that got in Vidigal.
I still think we were signing Morley regardless of the manager though.
You may be right (though I donāt recall anyone mentioning the Dodds effect myself).
Canāt believe he chose Fink and then hardly played him though.
Interesting and slightly surprising to me that in all the analysis of the team for next season, Josh Scowen - probably regarded as our best player before his injury - seems to have become the forgotten man.
So far heās looked a shell of his former self, but that has been an incredibly small sample size of minutes, many of which whilst unfit to play. I think pre-season will do him a lot of good and he will be important for us next season. He probably wonāt start 35+ games, but he could be a vital experienced head for 15-20.
Presuming we play the same formation, with a deeper midfield 2 out of CBM Morley and Henderson, I dont see how he fits in. I dont recall him being a similar type of player. But he could be a good impact sub to help shore up or hassle if we are chasing a game.
I think we need to let Scowen walk before expecting him to run. While heās prob at a suitable level of fitness, he is still very rusty and not yet up to speed. Lets give him a whole pre-season to get the wheels moving again before we make any judgements over who is / isnāt our best midfielders
If anything, this is proving that Leahy has fallen massively down the pecking order now that our Centre Midfield area is now packed with Morely, Scowen, Henderson, Mullins, CBM all getting game time / on the pitch in the last 2 games but he was left on the bench? Could he been seen as a backup to Harvie now at LB?
Leahy has had a distinctly poor three or four months, but prior to those he was playing really well in the run up to Christmas.
Norris really exemplfied his footballing IQ when coming 30 yds out of his goal to a ball he was never going to win on Friday. Anders will attest that he has form in this regard.
Iām sure he is a good goalkeeper, and it is probably confidence issue at play but he has never performed for us. Might I suggest if he wasnāt always first down the tunnel and faced up to the fans once in a while, good or bad, there might have been a bit more forgiveness and support. I think his disinterest showed before anyone was paticularly on his back. The bridges have been burned and it is undoubtedly time to move on.
A N Other has experience to cover these positions.
I think it is very easy for us all to think that the players we watch week in and out are better than those of our opposition. However, the truth is that not one of our team will be named in the League one team of the year.
If we are serious about promotion next year, then we need a very big injection of quality and a few players who can add physical strength and leadership.
To step up and keep moving forward we need to continuously improve.
trialist sometimes plays 10 or 11 positions in one game
Letās be honest, the only players that are good enough for top 6 challenge are the below:
Huggins (if we get to sign)
Harvie
Morley
Henderson (if played in right position)
CBM (under rated in my view)
Fred (top 3 player in the league on his da
Vidigal (level above)
BELOW COULD BE GOOD ENOUGH OVER TIME
Anders
Casey
Mullins
Junior
Woodrow
NOT GOOD ENOUGH
Leahy
Allen (as CB)
Grimmer
Norris
I would have an away team that always includes Scowen (assuming he is at at least 80% of pre-injury ability). His ability to predict danger is unparalleled.
At home, where under Duff we seem more willing to attack, I think we can be more open