I expect KLP to go for £20 million plus add ons, Greaves I expect to stay, I don’t think he’s good enough by many miles for the PL, so unless it’s a top end Championship team, he’ll be here. Shota I think will be gone by October/ November at the latest!! Ideally, Rangers lose their manager, and they look at ex player Shota, think, “he’s done well on a small budget,” he jumps ship, does well at Rangers, we get a manager in who’s got a clue, everyone says, look at how well Shota’s doing with Rangers, before someone pops up & says, “yes, his experience in Uzbekistan has come in really handy!”
My opinion is, offer KLP, Greaves and Honeyman new deals, and take the additional year option on Smallwood as a squad player. Also give Ingram another year. If KLP rejects a new contract, sell him. The others who are out of contract can go, along with Cannon and Moncur.
He’s averaged 1.16 points since coming in, that’s pretty good given the level of the squad. Impossible to judge until about 10 games in next season given the presumed squad turnover that’ll take place in summer.
I agree, about the 10 games, that’s why I said October/November! As for 1.16 per game over McCann’s 1.0734533452 whatever, you’ll be telling me next we’ve improved our passing & possession stats by passing it round the back 5, 6 if you include the goalie. Because personally that’s the only thing I’ve noticed that has changed!
Don’t think much could change with this squad! They’ve tried being more expansive today by sacrificing a holding midfielder for a striker and look what happened!
Same formation completely different set up. Smallwood was holding by himself and was terrible. Honeyman played further up in the midfield 2 and was lost. Might line up the same as previous weeks but they certainly weren’t playing the same way.
Should never get beat by a score line like that but it happens. Feel sorry for the travelling fans for their fantastic support when really win lose or draw we stay up anyway. I take my hat off to them it’s a long and expensive journey. Overall we have been inconsistent all season but have achieved staying up. If you have been a regular it’s obvious we need a lot more to challenge at the other end of league but at the same time we have a number in this squad who can compete at this level and will obviously benefit from better players coming in. Let’s hope it’s a long time before we are on the receiving end of a score like that again mind you next week it doesn’t get any easier. Makes the last game of the season interesting though then I will be glad of the break and hopefully an interesting summer.
Just glad our season is over given that abject performance today. We were never at the races. Hopefully we will show more fight next Saturday, as otherwise another hammering is on the cards.
"We have a number in this squad who can compete at this level". Probably so if we're talking mid to lower of Championship, but tbh I think there's very few to none who would get into a top 2, even a top 6 side. Many have done a great job against the odds, based a lot on effort & spirit, to make us safe with games to spare, but I think we over estimate the ability / quality. Realistically who? Before today I'd say possibly Baxter (although not ours) but he was dreadful today. Jones possibly, but right of back 3 is not his position . KLP, yes, but has a lot to work on Allahyer, possibly but ditto above (assuming he's ours) Fleming, ditto. For me, more likely than Greaves to make it. Greaves possibly, but not convinced Honeyman possibly Realistically that's it if we're talking top 6 or better. 1 yes, 4 or 5 possibly's. We're miles off currently and need at least half a dozen who are much better than we have and those possibly's to turn to yes's. Realistic rather than harsh?
If you read it it says we need a lot more, building a team isn’t always 11 top level players, it’s players who fit in and changing a complete team is never easy. Often teams what go up have a decent side but have three of four stand out players who make the difference. I would expect around eight to be brought in but hopefully not squad players. Some will be good signings some I would imagine will disappoint. I’ve watched some of the top six this season and wondered how some are up there.
We ultimately just need consistency and that comes with experience playing at a higher level. How else would you go from a 3-0 win to a 5-0 loss to 2 teams 3 positions apart in the table. Our most experienced players aren’t upto this level on a consistent basis. Would love us to be looking at Howson from Boro who’s out of contract, definitely need a big **** house at the back today because the back 3 were bullied by Martin today. On our day we can beat anyone we’ve shown that second half of the season. We just have that performance 1/2 out of 5. We are also unable to win if we aren’t playing well which ultimately is a quality issue unlike some top teams who’ve underwhelmed most of us at time but seem to walk away from us with 3 points
