That's brilliant, still a long way to go for us but to get Varney off the books is a step in the right direction. He's a good player, but unfortunately my view is a little tarnished after his selfish gameplay and subsequent swearing and gesturing at Pompey fans. Good luck to him though. http://www.leedsunited.com/news/20120723/deals-agreed-for-varney-and-austin_2247585_2858137
Best of luck in getting the contracted players off your books and hopefully at some point getting your club back on its feet on an even keel
I think he means consider Varney as a replacement for one of those two and not Warnock, Simon is working overtime in trying to spread the positive outlook
Not at the moment from a squad point of view. The only immediate clouds are corporate: ticket prices remain too high, we still have Bates and mates at the helm and this means more businesses that are nothing to do with football, more loss in income and profit, etc etc etc. Unless his quiet side of the last two months is how he plans to conduct things from now, and with a change in emphasis towards the playing side of things as shown by the signings so far, things could be on the up irrespective whether there is a takeover
If I come over too negative I don't mean to, however I am certainly not going to get too excited with the signings and believe it is a championship winning side. Last season I predicted 11th when some were saying we might even make the automatic promotion spots, it is all subject to opinions. It is easy when you support a team to see them through rose tinted glasses and believe that they are the best. Do I believe with the signings so far and including today's that we have a better squad than last season? Yes just in general but not as good a midfield as last years starting one in Howson, Gradel, Snodgrass and Clayton. I know we shouldn't look back and yes the squad we have now is better than the squad that ended the season however that is a squad that finished 14th so we needed to make some major improvements. Not only do we need better, we need better plus some more to compete with those around us who are also making improvements. The signings and money spent/recovered/saved so far smells exactly the same as when we had Grayson. I just hoped with a T/O we could have expected a little more and a little better, maybe my expectations were too high.
True and I hope we get that wow signing that makes me sit up and get excited. Until it happens though this squad is not in my opinion good enough for a top 6 without McCormack and Snodgrass and with them it is questionable. If we get Norris and sign up Crainie, swap McCormack for Mackail Smith and maybe sign another player along the same quality as Varney and Norris would you be happy if that big wow signing doesn't come in? Do you believe Snoddy will see that as ambition??
Not particularly and I have no idea what Snoddy would see as ambition. On the other hand you can't just pick and choose rumours to try to spin the most negative scenario possible.
Every chance we are going for a 4-5-1 (or 4-3-3 for those that prefer to see it as more attacking) In midfield we will have Brown or Austin holding things at the back (in the same way Johnson did), 2 of Snodgrass, Roberts and White covering the two wings, two of Green, Thompson and Pugh in the middle. One up front - likely to start with Becchio and then freshen things up later in the game. Now if we can bring in one creative leader-filled stamina-laden midfielder - the old Strachan maestro - we do have a squad that can compete with every team.
Or a 4-2-3-1 for those who prefer to see it for the actual shape it tends to take for 70% of the game. We're still in need of a right-back, and a playmaker/general like you say. And the striker issue needs resolving - Becchio is the obvious choice to play in the lone position, but will Varney deputize? Will McCormack stay? Will Somma have a big role? Will Paynter ever bloody leave? Will we get Beckford or someone else who can provide a proven touch of class, or another Becchio better-suited to that lone striker role? That's a really big question for Warnock to answer, along with the wings which sort of overlap in the cases of Varney, Snodgrass and McCormack.
We have had makeshift or loan right backs the last couple of seasons - I hope we cover that slot, and Crainie might provide one berth. For the striker, you seem to be in many minds as to which one could do which job but this is where the pre-season comes in so Colin can see how they work together. There are many options, and the loan market has noteven been tested yet Keep your chin up
Connolly wasn't makeshift - genuinely didn't look out of place while we were in the playoffs for much of 2010-11 - he just lost it afterwards and his effort levels last season were rubbish. Left-back has been more of a problem for us both over the last couple of seasons and more traditionally. Cranie and Peltier both look like reasonable buys anyway. You don't need Maicon to get promoted from the Championship, just someone who can run the channels, not get skinned by every winger and keep their wits about them.
This is exactly right. Someone who can just do their job, in an ideal world yes you would want someone special like Clyne (obviously he has already gone to the prem) or Hutton but its not a big deal to me if we sign Cranie, he seems decent and is still young. At the moment I can imagine the team looking something like this: -------------------Kenny------------------- Cranie-------Pearce-------Lees--------Drury --------------Austin---Green--------------- Snoddy----------McCormack---------White ------------------Becchio----------------- Subs: Ashdown, Kisnorbo. Pugh, Thompson, Rogers, Varney, Gray Which I actually do think is considerably better to the team that started against Southampton last year, it doesn't have gradel or howson admittedly but we also don't have a CB who was signed the day before so he can play LB. Add to that the fact Warnock still wants to make another 4 signings. I'm hoping one of those will be a midfielder and probably a cover for CB, maybe an exciting winger to replace white in that team and probably an RB (ie. Cranie, I just put him there because I don't like putting Connelly in a team). I am liking the way the squad is coming together. Although I do believe our only lone striker at the moment is Becchio and I think that may need some looking at even if he wants him to start, if he gets injured we may struggle for that position and have to revert to a different formation just because we have an injury
