If Stewart got injured I wouldnt turn to Defoe to start personally. If Broadhead is fit he will get the nod, if he isnt I would play like Man City do at times and play without a centre forward. Probably Dajaku through the middle, because with Clarke and Roberts cutting inside we could play without a target man. It is how I would go anyway, give the league 1 centre halves a different problem.
I'll wait and see if the rumour is true, if it's an injury that'd be unfortunate but it could happen to anyone. I don't believe Neil would be daft enough to pick him and give him good game time if he was the decrepit wreck some are describing him as. If he needs a walking stick to get around in training he's not getting picked ahead of players who can get about. It'd help if he got some decent service and got a goal to give him some confidence.
It was a weird signing at the time given his age and his playing time over the last couple of years. Wonder if it was done with a view to move him into coaching. That's the only way it makes sense to me.
Diego costa ! yes please, mistake in Jan not bringing in a proper striker, 2 play off places left now should have signed clarke-harris will they ever learn ?
Sad end to what has been a stellar career, Just hope he had something lined up within the club...good asset to have around the place,
Might not have worked out as we all hoped....but we really dont need tgis to happen until end of season, get the opinions wouldnt be a loss if retired now....it could just be that very one moment he comes off the bench & does it, nearly got a goal sat (should have) but as we have no other options we still need him around just in case we need/hope he can produce that moment
Is that's the case then this has been a complete mess of a signing. Like a L1 Ronaldo - only signed to stop other clubs signing him (without the 20 goals this season obvs)
It all unravelled, in my opinion, right at the end. Everything seemed on track, as we had in the summer. We signed Hume, a player with a profile that seemed to fit our model. We signed Baath and most, if not all, thought that was solving a problem we all knew existed. We got Roberts and Clarke, again who seemed the right profile for us, although I personally started to wonder why we needed both. Then it went a bit awry. I remain convinced (based on nothing other than my own reading of the tea leaves) that Johnson had a falling out with others about Defoe, Flannagan and Gooch. I would be amazed if he wanted the latter two to go. As it happened Gooch said no to the move. We should not forget of course Matete arrived on deadline day too and that is a superb signing. If we take Hume, Baath, Clarke, Roberts and Matete then those look good deals in the main. At least you can see the logic. The problem comes in selling Flannagan without a replacement signed - big error. Signing Defoe without another centre forward as well was another mistake in my opinion. I stand by that even if he plays to the end of the season and I dare say Saturday gone is a perfect example of when we needed another number 9. I would also say sacking Johnson was a big mistake. Personally because I think the club give him players he wanted like Baath, Matete and Roberts but dont let him have a go with them. He may also have been proven right on things like Flannagan and Defoe (I suspect Neil would have wanted the same had he been in post of course). But even if you think Johnson needed to go for footballing reasons, which is fair enough, the club still ballsed it up timing wise. The two games after he went were worse than anything in our time in league 1. Either we have someone in the day after, or we keep him whilst we find someone. Those 6 points that we lost are on the head of those managing the club. I do not believe we would have lost both games had we kept Johnson in post for them, nor would we have lost them had we had another manager in post. Those two weeks after sacking Johnson were daft and I hope they dont appear to be the thing that we point to at the end of the season.
Tend to agree. We are seeing the benefits of Roberts and Clarke now but it's taken 2 months to get here. We took 13 points from 10 games in that time Assuming we don't go up and we can keep hold of the majority of the squad (assume we'll lose Broadhead, Hoffmann and probably Doyle) then we will be in a great position for next season (although I think I said that last year)
It was a mistake in not signing an adequate striker,most of us thought JD would be enough...sadly it seems we were wrong. As for Flanagan, two bids were in for a replacement for him,expected one of them would be accepted,neither were,and then two attempts at last minute loans didn't come off either. After agreeing to let Flanagan go,the club honoured their word to him,rather than pulling the plug and leaving him high and dry in June. Anyway,we still have four centre backs without using Winchester or O'Nien. As for Johnson,there's no guarantee that what happened after he went wouldn't have happened had he stayed.There were any amount of rumours about disharmony amongst the players,and,as Alex Neil has confirmed,the younger players had been flogged to death with no fit replacements up to match fitness.You could just as easily make a case for blaming Stewart at Charlton and Clarke at Lincoln for the loss of 4 points....and I won't bother to go back earlier in the season! Those lost points alone would have had us 3 points behind Plymouth with them to play. It could well be that a manager was lined up to take over straight away,probably Neil, and that the Keane debacle slowed it down,whilst that possibility was explored. I'm aware of the criticism Speakman has had about his manner etc. but I'd wager there isn't a DoF in any club up and down the country who has got everything spot on in every window.Overall,I think the recruitment has been very good.There is logic in the Batth signing, Hume,Clarke and Roberts all look to have exciting quality and Matete looks an excellent buy.
