Don't want to upset anyone, but amongst other subjects being discussed lately, anyone got anything to say about the club named at the top of this page? OK, I'll start. Malky's 5 man midfield seems to be the way forward with the type of player he's brought to the club to compliment the class of Whitts and McPhail. With Gestede on the mend, young Mason champing at the bit and Miller now starting to show his real class in a 4-5-1 setup, we don't really need anyone else up front. Well do we?
Miller has been amazing - anyone see his goal for Scotland? Here it is: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/default.stm
Sparkey, I agree with the 4-5-1 system and can't argue about Miller, Gestede & Mason but we need to have cover in all departments, the only one I see us lacking is a wide forward/winger. As for the subjects being discussed lately... well with no Cardiff City fix for a whole two weeks, what else is there to do.
I was playing the devils advocate there Rhondda. Didn't mention Earnie in the OP, but he is also a good bench option at the mo, but sadly little else from what I've seen. Agreed that wide right is an area that needs to be addressed, but who would you then drop from the present midfield?
Sparkey, With our smallish squad we could do with strengthening, but with Miller, Gestede, Mason AND Earnie, up front perhaps MM should be looking to strengthen elsewhere, a wide attacking player agreed, a couple of "utility" players in the Gunnar mould would be great IMO. As an aside my ban has been lifted...........I can now post on the Swans board
Not on here he wont Agree, up front strengthening isn't priority but Earnie hasn't been the player we'd all hoped he would be (so far at least) so although Miller seems to be hitting a rich vein of form at the moment, it only takes a freak collision (a la Turner) to put him out again. Rudy and Mason are young and keen enough but I think an experienced addition to the front players should be on the shopping list. Nice to get back to all things Bluebird...well done Sparkey
One of the criticisms of DJ was no Plan 'B'. 4-5-1 looks to suit us, but there will be times when we want to play 4-4-2 which is Earnie's style. 2-1 down with 15 to go, we may need to change our shape and push for a goal. It's good to have options. As alluded to by Proph and as I've repeatedly said, it is wide midfield where we need cover. Shed a centre half or two, move Parkin on and see if someone will take Naylor. That would free up some wages for another left back (though I'd be happy to see Blake there) and a couple of wide men or three. We wouldn't have any extra numbers, but would have a better balance to the squad.
John - by us, do you mean CCFC or Wales? Can't argue about Wales mate, but if you mean CCFC, we'll find out next Saturday and Tuesday.
I would hope we don't need to drop players, we need cover for injury or drop of form, would be nice to have a wide man on the bench but with there being only 5 subs allowed it might be hard to fit him in. Super Kev & Taylor are starting to play further up the field and Kev's passing was a lot better against Palace. I think Naylor is better than Taylor as an attacking force but leaves a lot to be desired defensively.
The international break came at a bad time. We were in great form. We need a couple of wide players with pace. Id also be very worried if we lose Whittingham for any period.
Agree with all your points Hilts. At a push, McPhail as the playmaker instead of Whitts would see us through. The extra 2 in the middle help cover his defensive frailties.
Mcphail isnt in the same league as Whittingham. Nowhere near creative enough and zero goal threat. If Whittingham is injured id play Mason in midfield or Joe Ralls. Mcphail did ok in the 2 recent home games but I thought he was poor against Leeds. To be fair in an emergency he can do a job in a 5 man midfield. But if we want to maintain our position we need Whittingham.
Don't disagree, especially about the goal threat. There aren't many midfielders of Whitts quality in the championship. Fortunately Whitts seems pretty robust and doesn't miss many games.
The one problem is if we dont go up this season then surely a good PL team will want him. Cant see him wanting to go to the likes of the small outfits like QPR , Norwich , Bolton (wont say Swansea as they will be back in the Championship) but the likes of Villa (a return) or Everton im sure would tempt him. Id want a massive fee though. Well in excess of the stupid fee Ridsdale accepted for Ramsay.
hilts still got green eyes of envy that the mighty swans came from 20 minutes of going into non league to climbing the leagues and wave as we passed poor cardiff on the way to the premiership... 10th place with 13 points is above what we need to stay up... we are Swansea don't forget....we achieve what we set out to do.....
he's top drawer at this level but the premiership is a big step up, as proven by bothroyd, who was probably a more important player for us than whittingham over the 3 years he was here and he's been distinctly average so far this season. whitts has the technical ability but the athleticism? i dont think so tbh, i could be wrong but i dont think there is a BPL team that ,will splash out the £3m or so needed to take him, its too much of a risk to have a player like him at a lower level team
