If you assume that we have a first choice and a backup for each position: Kelvin (Bart) Harding (Dickson / Mills) Richardson (Butterfield) Fonte (Martin) Jedi (Seaborne / a new signing) Lallana (Holmes / Guly / Dickson) Chamberlain (Guly, Forte / Butterfield) Spiderman (Chaplow / Guly) Hammond (Chaplow / Guly) Lambo (Forte / Doble / Guly) Barnard (Connolly / Guly) So the squad is pretty well covered - perhaps just a CM and striker to add?
well exactly, a COUPLE and i mean couple of decent performances last year or so and thats it. if he is injury free this year then he is a weapon - however i'l believe it when i see it, until then i forsee another article on the OS 'holmes raring to go' then not so long after he'l be crocked again - then a comeback mid-season.....then a breakdown in training...... you get my drift. nothing against him but you see this all the time - hell i know this i am injured all the time for my footie team, once major injuries start you get new ones crop up all the time he is just one of those players. sicknote MkII
I think I have to agree - when fully fit he isnt going to get into our starting eleven as things stand. However he DOES have the potential to be a useful player - a loan move for a couple of months seems to make sense.
Ah! A grammar Nazi, I wondered where this type of being had got to. "Seaborne" is what I would go with though..!
You've answered perfectly why lots of people class him as deadwood. If he stayed injury free I doubt Derby would have let him go in the first place. Unlike Connolly, he's not an outstanding player for us when he's fit. It would be a shame to let him go as he's talented and has the right attitude, but he's not great value for money the time he spends on the treatment table. He's still got a contract though, so he'll have at least this season to prove his value.
Going to upset a few people with this but here goes: dead wood equals, Connolly ,Holmes , Harding , Hammond , Jaidi , Butterfield , Forte and Forecast. I have said this before we have a strong spine to the team but round the edges we just dont have the players to compete in the championship and if we lose Chamberlin and Barnard gets sent down then I feel we are going to struggle. We need Adkins to get his finger out and the Don to open the cheque. We need to take inspiration from Norwich last season who if my memory serves me right brought in about 8 players and look what it did for them.
- Harlee Dean - Tommy Forecast - Dan Seaborne - Dean Hammond (sorry but I don't think he's good enough for Champ) - Johnathon Forte (again, not good enough for champ) - Jason Puncheon - Joseph Mills
How many of us have seen enough of Forte to decide. Players such as Harding and Hammond are untested at this level and should be given a chance. We can always add in December. We really need a centre back and a striker though.
We need to get behind Hammond, because he is here to say, certainly for this season, but the last thing we need is disgruntled moans the first time things don't go our way. Lets see if Dean can make the step up, but lets not try & knock him down before its even started.
Hammond is a determined player, and like Lambert, has never had much opportunity at this level, so I think it is difficult to know how they will get on; some may flail whilst others flourish!
Am surprised how many of us Saints fans are dimissive of Joseph Mills - he is the one player on the books who has had two continiuos seasons in the Championship and may offer backup to Lallana on the left wing. I saw him on TV last season I think was against the Blades and he had a terrific match - a real threat going forward.
Forecast and Puncheon are the only obvious ones. Unfortunately Holmes, Dean and academy graduates like Racine, Reeves and Doble may be the next to go. Its only fair to class players as deadwood when they don't play or are utterly useless when they do. I certainly wouldn't put Mills, Harding, Hammond, Jaidi, Seaborne, Butterfield and Connolly in that category. Deadwood is players you can't give away until their contracts run out.
