It will be hard to see some of them leave, however if the recruitment get this plan right it will be fine, the way this model is supposed to work is take jack Clark we will probably lose him in say 3 years but the club should already be looking or have a 17 year old replacement, and if it's going to plan have a 15 year old to be his replacement. This model could have us as an established premier league team in a few years which will do for me, unless we were taken over by multi billionaires that were prepared to lose millions every year we couldn't ask for much more. Get this right we could even be qualifying for Europe
I’m hoping, if we get it right off the pitch too, that the Jack Clarkes & the LNDs of the squad want to stick with SAFC and help turn us into a PL force to be reckoned with. But that won’t happen if the pay structure isn’t right. Exciting times tho I reckon. Bart
I agree that money talks in football and players will inevitably move for more money, but it would be very refreshing (and highly amusing) if, for example, Everton came in for Clarke and he just flatly turned the move down.
Another factor of course, is if we do have big enough players to defend set piece kicks into the box... we want to create space for the keeper to come and collect.
Unfortunately can't see them players turning down a move or the club turning down the money. The plan is develop and sell. I'd rather develop and keep but doubt that will happen with any of them!
That has to be the aim tho, or what’s the point!! Otherwise we will never progress, and the fans will eventually get pi$$ed off with that approach. Bart
I think it will depend on what level we get to as to whether we keep some players, even teams qualifying for Europe will lose their best players to the top teams
i hope people are not thinking i am taking a pop at patterson, much the opposite actually, the lad is turning into a very good keeper i am just sure he used to come and claim more balls in the box, i am actually thinking it might not be a bad thing as it shows both defence and keeper have confidence in each other to deal with it as they see fit and as i am one who believes teams should be built from the back, i am happy enough for it to continue..you are right though, as long as they all understand each other then all is gravy.
10 games in and it's going better than expected. The way the lads have reacted to adversity over those 10, whether on the pitch or off, has been nothing short of admirable. Mowbray seems a safe pair of hands to nurture them. My only concern is how tight the table is. A couple of good or bad results can impact the positions significantly. I had hope it would have opened up a little bit by now but I'm sure we'll be fine.
To be honest, having watched a load of football this past year, in England and foreign games I don't see many keepers coming through crowds of players anymore. You might see the odd one, but it's getting rarer and rarer from what I watch
Patterson like most other keepers when a high ball comes into his area when its not a set piece, has no problem coming for and catching a high ball. As mentioned above they will work on set piece defence and what keepers and defenders rolls are in getting the ball away from danger. I noticed today for instance that Leicester v Spuds the Leicester defence was shocking at defending set piece etc. It does say that much about their manager and their training/practice sessions. Its the 101 of football tactics.
I agree about set pieces. I get frustrated that certain fans on both boards and in the ground expect him to pile through a mass of bodies to claim a cross. I've got no worries at all about him being our first choice keeper
My brother has lived in the States for years and is into American Football. It was him that suggested that penalty area set pieces are getting more like AF 'downs' , scrums in rugby terms (blocking in rugby isn't supposed to be allowed) If you have a good corner taker, those in front of the goal know what to expect and run their 'plays' knowing who on their side is going to be the receiver. The defending keeper has to be kept away from the receiver.
Yeah I think gone are the days of just hoof it to the big centre half somewhere near the edge of the 6 yard box
That could still be the play, but his teammates have the job of allowing him as clear and unmarked header as possible.. You see this most of the attackers at a corner are not watching the ball they are more active in blocking defenders.
Be interesting to see which ref had the balls to blow and give a penalty for a some of the WWE wrestling that goes on
Yes its so bloody obvious, and 'professional refs' should be way ahead of old duffers like myself... in sorting it out. Blocking as far as understand the laws, is not permitted nor is wrestling... but
Speaking to my brother in law who is a west brom fan and a bit of a football nerd today. He was saying TM > AN by a long chalk, found it quite reassuring even though it feels like not a backward step, he was saying he's a big upgrade. Happy with that, he's into football enough to have stopped watching west brom or even looking for their results and start following a wee local side! Think they're about 3 years into our 2 decades of decline business model and he can't take it, haha
Just for comparison, last time we were in the Championship we had 6 points after 10 games and it took us 21 games to get the 15 points we currently have.
