What Smith brings to the table LiD? I thought that was obvious. He's 6ft plenty and almost guaranteed to win a header every time. All we've got to do is get a winger or wide player to put it on his head. He'll either score with a header, or knock it into someone else's path for them to score.
Kissa " 2 good wingers is a must, Tommy Rowe and Chris Burke would be my choices but GFH can only afford them if we sell Ross " 2 good wingers to do what!!! fire crosses in to watch the likes of Gardner head them out of defence (and he is no where near the best defender in this league) against our small current strike force, its all a joke at the minute. Not having a go fella, just a bit frustrated with what i am seeing.
That's what I'm hoping will be shown if we ever do get these wide players in too Boggers. He has been pretty ineffective so far though (admittedly he's not had a lot of game time, and we haven't given him the best service) so I just worry he might be a bit one dimensional
in an ideal world yes but we know GFH have no money so that won't happen, deffo need a centre back too though
I think we all are mate, the only excitement this squad gives us is Rudy putting in a crunching tackle. Years and Years of poor management has left us arguably in a worse state than when Ridsdale ****ed us up. I think the wingers mentioned would create more space in the centre of the field for Murphy to work some magic, width is what we miss and our current set up leaves no room for any manouvering in the centre of the park
Morning all!! Yes, I share everyone's frustration at failing to beat a very ordinary Owls team. I have copied over some of my post in the match thread as I don't feel like typing most of it again. We definitely need a defender and some width, but I think Byram will give us that from right back, just need Warnock to get forward more to make the diamond work. Here's my thoughts on Saturday, following a post from Josh: Josh, some great observations about Saturday. Peltier is really poor, and he was helped out a lot by Wendies lack of quality or pace. He is slow and can't pass, and definitely not in Sterland's class. Our successful teams always had superb full backs that added width to our attacks and could cross capably ... Reaney & Cooper, Sterland & Dorigo, Kelly & Harte ... and they could all defend as well. Every time Peltier goes over the halfway line you panic because you know he is more than capable of losing posession, and not quick enough to get back. Watch him closely and see how often he jogs back from a failed attack leaving the centre backs to try and cope. He is making Lees look bad by forcing Tom to pull wider to cover his mess, and exposing our centre backs to the man cutting inside and running across the box. Good point about McCormack dropping deeper and deeper, and that was caused by Green and Murphy failing to get forward and link up play. Because our midfield was so static, Ross had to drop back into the space one of them should have been occupying to try and build an attack. This makes his role at the tip of the diamond ineffective, because he is now battling against midfielders on the halfway line, and not threatening at all, and even if he does manage to turn and play the ball forward, the strikers are well covered by four defenders. Ross has to be able to stay "in the hole" and receive quick balls from Murphy and Green, so that he can pull a centre back onto him and force a full back inside to cover. This should give him three options every time .. 1) play a pass in behind the centre back into the space he's vacated for a striker like Poleon to run onto at pace ... 2) steer a pass out wide into the space left by the full back covering inside for Peltier or Warnock to run onto and hit a first time cross into the box with the defence a centre back light ... and 3) (because a defending midfielder has dropped back to try and help his defence) play a sharp pass back into the path of a midfield runner who is bombing up to join the attack, leaving Murphy or Green time to find a killer pass with the play clear to see in front of them, or hit a shot at goal if that's a better option. This is why players like Peltier and Green (and the rest of Colin's donkeys) are liabilities ... they simply can't play a fast, passing game. Our lack of width from the full backs and shortage of midfielders getting forward kills the diamond, leaving Ross out on a limb and working back too often to try and start something. PHEW!!! Too much thinking for a Monday morning!!
Where close to play offs with this team. 4 games unbeaten, could get auto's if we were very lucky. The quality is not there, but sometimes that doesn't matter if the whole team singing from the same hymn sheet.
Morning all, I've read some interesting points on this board and just wanted air my own views. I agree with a lot of comments made today. Firstly, regarding how we look at this season. Frankly, we aren't currently good enough. I think we are better than last year, but that's more down to the manager. I think we will finish comfortably mid-table. So the same as last year, just without the relegation scare. Now, I think we are all in agreement that the MINIMUM requirement for this transfer window is a winger (if not two) and a centre back. I would ideally still like to shake up the strikers (ship out Varney etc unlikely) and replace Kenny. It was mentioned on here that even with these additions we are still not promotion candidates. I don't agree. If we manage to get more creative flair through the wings and another centre back we will be in good stead. With that squad in place, I have every faith that McDermott can get us in the top 6. I don't think his Reading promotion team were much better than what we will have here and I have faith that he can get the best out of our team. We did play some decent football on Saturday but we just need that little bit more. Byram back will be fantastic too! I also don't agree with the two year plan. But that's just me, I'm ambitious, sick of waiting and most crucially not in a position of ultimate knowledge regarding the true financial situation of the club. I do feel that telling the fans that we are in for another year of consoldation is like saying 'don't come as there is a good chance that we will lose' though. I know we are suppose to support the team through thick and thin, but ticket prices are still very high and without the feeling that we might actually do something this year, why should I come every week? And when fans don't come, we lose a huge amount of money for the club. I'm still waiting for the board to fully show that they are committed to the cause, by plugging the gaps in the squad, even if we still only realistically challenge next year (I'm looking at top 2!). If we don't have a half decent season, why would Byram and Ross even want to stay on another year? We could be in a weaker position this time next year, and our 2 year plan may as well be a 10 year plan! On the Southampton bit, I think that they invested well, but alot was down to the management. So I'd like to think we'll be in a position to challenge with Brian, but at the same time he is not superman. I also feel that we DO need to replace Kenny. He will stop some shots, but ultimately, I fear he will cost us more over a season than he save us. We need someone that commands his 6 yard box, not just stands of the line and try and stop a header from point blank range every time. We rely on either a lot of luck from set pieces or super human feats from our defenders. Another long post this morning, sorry!
Even Gardner beat him in the air on Saturday, so he's not guaranteed to win every header - loan him out, that'll be one wage saved, Varney's just as good in the air and better on the deck (and he's useless) Even though we're unbeaten, it looks like the honeymoon period is over for GFH, I can smell the bullshit from 200 miles away. Sultans of Spin as someone else described them, there's a limit to how many times you can fob people off. They need to stump up some transfer funds, keep hold of our best players, or go.
I think you mean we're close to the playoffs revolution, but you're quite right about having a united team. Sometimes it's not the most talented team that wins promotion, just the best team (as in team effort with everyne pulling together)
Warnock put together a team he felt could battle together as a unit, and they did. They stuck together and fought hard, but unfortunately were undone far too often by a bit of quality. In this division you have to keep the ball better, because Championship teams in general only know one way to play ... attack attack attack, which is why there are so many crazy results. Cardiff last season, West Ham before them and even Swansea ... all kept the ball well, had attacking full backs and got lots of crosses in. GFH have two weeks to help McD, lets see what they do.
Kenny is decent but I would prefer to play Ashdown to be honest Ashdown jumps and catches the ball which instills confidence in the defence Kennys just like Schmeichel useless for crosses and ****s his own defence up
Kasper actually dealt with all our crosses last week. It was seeing him that made me start thinking we needed more than we've currently got in Kenny. I think all our goals conceded this season have been close range headers have they not? Ashdown might be worth a punt again.
We are not playing to Smiths strengths his ability to head the ball its no use send low crosses in he needs crosses the wED put in in the first half to their big cenre forward I agree we need pace on the wings and a CB
While we've been wallowing in despair at the lack of investment in our club over the last 9-years. Thanks bates you robbing twat for selling just about anything that was decent and giving the manager fook all to replace the decent players with. We've watched how small village pub teams have gone past us up to the point where they are out of our range. It's embarrasing to say it, but all these years fighting for scraps has meant that teams like Fulham, Southampton, Norwich (Couple of teams we were playing 3 seasons ago who did back to back promotions) Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Stoke, Sunderland, West Brom, Cardiff, Hull and Swansea - these are small clubs who are getting ever richer in the prem while we suffer and lose ground. On top of these we have another bunch of small pub clubs in our own league, who are determined that they are going to get out and sit at the top table. Forest, Watford, Blackpool, QPR, Leciester, Reading, Wigan, Brighton, Bolton and Blackburn. Over 20 teams/clubs who were recognised as small village teams a few years ago, when comparing them to Leeds Utd, we're nowhere near them at the moment so even though we have history, we've been raped and abused and left years behind
I agree he has had a good start this season made some top top saves but still would encourage a more commanding keeper
I just hope that Ashdown is the keeper for our cup matches at least. BMD can then see what he brings to the team. At 6ft plenty, he should be more commanding in his penalty area, and certainly more than Kenny is.
