I managed to pick out something that I personally find extremely believable, and slightly worrying although if the training staff can pull it off it may work extremely well. I'm a friend of Physio at Leeds, David Scrivener, he mentioned that Grayson isn't looking to replace Naylor with a new CB, and that he's going to trust that Andy O'Brien, Kisnorbo, Tom Lees and Paul Connolly (after lots of re-training, and focus on a new position) will surfice. The coaching staff and Grayson are happy that with Connolly's experience, pace, height and strength he will easily make the switch from RB to CB. They are confident that Monty Gimpel has what it takes to suceed at this level in a few months so he will also provide cover at CB. Grayson will be going back to Villa to enquire about Lichaj on a season long loan after impressing at the end of last season. And now one is overly concerned that Parker won't be fit enough by the begining of the season and therefore searches from a LB are being kept to a minimum. Aidy White to provide cover there. With the Turner twins encouraged to press those two, whether they can make the grade or not is out to the jury. And Howson is to start a programme on the weights which will see him bulk up in muscle with a view to him playing DM if we aren't lucking enough to find a suitable player. Nunez to be to forward going CM. While I hope this isn't true and that they aren't just going to try and make the best of what is already there (some signings are urgently required), I reckon with a bit more strength Howson could potentially do a job at DM, with the passing ability and willingness to get a tackle in. This opens up the attacking mid position for Nunez, and if Nunez is definitely in Graysons plans I can see it being a popular move. The way Conolly plays with patience and great understanding of what is going on around the pitch, I believe he would be well suited to a central defense role. He's calm, collected and confident at all times, a very good tackler and most certainly has strength, so I hope this one works. As for the rest, if Kisnorbo gets back to how he used to be and Tom Lees delivers on his early promise, we could have the makings of a solid centre back rotation. As for Parker? We should definitely be looking for more options for full backs. Lichaj is a no brainer, doing the job brilliantly at both the left and right positions. We will alos have a little more flexibility at the back, given that Conolly would still be able to do the full back job. Will Monty Gimpel as promising extra cover we may be able to do well with that. I don't believe the defenders we have are completely devoid of talent, just lacking in organisation and training was quite clearly an issue. Leadership was kind of missing at times as well. If they can make it work then more power to them. It seems the approach of "get new defenders because the ones we have aren't doing the job" policy we took last season didn't seem to work, with O'Brien and McCartney both showing signs of being able to do the job and then being massive let downs, so it may just be down to the training. It'll be interesting to see where all the transfer kitty will be focused if all this turns out to be correct.
Training staff had all of last year and I didn't see any light at the end of the tunnel... Devoid of talent...?...professional defenders, at the latter stages of their careers, and they need training...???
Connolly is poor at full back, cant run or hit the ball up the line without it going out for a throw in. Center half it is then
Que Somma, I don't mean this as an insult but how many games did you watch last season? Because most of the time, Connolly and Snodgrass had some great interplay down the right hand side and he was most certainly not poor, by far our best defender and a good few of his runs down the line led to goals.
i dont believe until we sign... its Larry's style and as for inside info....... again a bit dodgy Lets see what happens over the next few weeks!! be nice to get the work done early then we can look forward rather than keep looking around !!
If we can move Connolly to centreback and it pays off, very smart move provided we get Lichaj in. An adaptable Connolly, leader Kisnorbo, determined young Lees and then the experienced semi-reliable Bromby and O'Brien isn't a bad centre-back selection. Agree though that Parker's not up to scratch at left back. I really will be angry if we have to spend the season without any capable (permanent) signings to bolster our defense. Likewise Howson in defensive midfield. By all means get him beefed up but we can't rely on that all season; how costly will it be if it goes wrong?! This is definitely one of these rumours that sounds so detailed, farfetched and longwinded that it's convincing. But then again there really are some sad people on the internet who'll write anything to get attention and plaudits, so I'll remain hopeful that we'll get those two or three quality signings in defense and midfield.
Think about it, would anyone inside the club/ knows anyone inside the club actually leak this kind of information?
I suppose this Scrivener chap might tell one of his mates if they were a big Leeds fan. I find it doubtful that it's true though; Grayson might tell the physios to beef Howson and Connolly up, but would he really tell them his transfer intentions (or lack of intentions)?
i read that comment of the leedsrumours.co.uk - and anything that comes from that site is aload of bollocks!! wouldnt look into at all!
The idea of Howson converting to a hench DM is laughable to me because while he does chase and close down players well, he's not a tough tackler and I can't see him being aggressive enough because it's just not his game. However, wouldn't be surprised if all that has been said is in fact true... the other day on ja606 someone reported that the rumour flying around at the YEP is that Bates wishes to sell Gradel & Snodgrass for £7million and that only £1million of those recouped transfer fees would be available for Grayson to spend on wages with no funds for transfers. If that's the wage budget Grayson would have only after selling £7m worth of talent, then imagine how meagre his resources are now.
Marko You said it yourself at the start: I know it's just rumours but... We still have about 6 weeks more of the same kind of "rumours"
