Do you think any other players will leave the club other than Wilbraham and Whitbread, and do you expect anyone else to come in?
Hughton did say the other day in a interview that he wants to assess the squad before deciding on any more comings and goings... But to be honest it doesnt take a rocket scientist to work out we do need a bit more quality and strength in depth adding in certain areas and for that to happen there will be players making way.
Lets ask the question another way as I have been too lazy to work it out for myself. With 2 in and 2 out how many over 21's have we got on the books and how many more could we bring in before having to ship some out?
Talk up north (local rag journo) believes Norwich will make a move for Burnley captain Chris McCann this week!
That's what I would say but, could another CM be on there way?? Would be improving tbh, not sure exactly what position he plays in cm, if he's a fox type player or if he's more forward thinking?
can definitely see one from Barnett/Ward leaving, and Crofts could be allowed to go at a reasonable price. I would imagine Korey Smith and Chris Martin will go out on loan, maybe short term ones. I would love to see the back of Jackson but I don't think it will happen now
Why on earth would you love to see the back of Jackson? He works hard, makes good runs and pulls defenders out of position, he's fast. OK, so sometimes he doesn't score as much as we'd like, but his goals got us into the Prem in the first place, remember. We look much more mobile up front when he's playing in my opinion. He's one of those players who get ignored because he does a lot of selfless work for the team. Very underrated in my view.
Completely agree. Our attack is more balanced when he plays and he offers a genuine threat of pace in behind the oppositions back four that our other strikers lacked last season. He has clearly worked hard to become more than just a goal scorer with intelligent runs and link up play.
I'm not taking anything away from what he's done, he just so often looks lost in possession... he runs all over the place but seems to lack any real direction with it and his finishing is weak. If Vaughan remains fit, he's almost as fast but better at striking a ball and I would pick him every time. I just get so frustrated with him every time I watch. it's not enough just to have the ball and be running.
Surely there have to be more comings and goings? Or, with a complete new coaching set up, does CH think he can improve results with what he has? I think most of us thought that toward the latter part of last season, there were one or two areas that probably needed reviewing. But maybe he thinks the talent is already there. I think that both Bennets, Pilks and Howson would have benefitted from last season, particularly confidence wise and will emerge as potential stars next season.
I would think that there are quite a few members of the squad that CH hasn't even met yet. From last seasons dvds he would have seen a lot of the players in regular acion, but some of the fringe players (Lappin, Korey Smith etc) he wouldn't know too much about. I would rather he takes his time and see properly what he's got, than just go out and buy for the sake of it. Panic buying will always end up holes in your squad and no money to fill the gaps.
I would expect to see Barnett move on, and quite possibly Crofts too. Chris Martin I suspect will be sold, not sure he'd want another season on loan. Lappin somehow seems to hang on, but really isn't good enough for the Prem so again I wouldn't be surprised to see him sold.
Answering my own question I calculate that with the comings and goings and the return of Chris Martin we have 23 excluding Korey Smith, Adeyemi and Francomb. It seems that Korey Smith is now 21 and the other 2 are 21 within a couple of months of the start of the season. Does anyone know how the rules apply to these 3? Whatever way you look at it we are fairly near the limit and then obviously CH will have to look at like for like replacements with relevent players being sold - assuming they are prepared to move rather than just see out their contracts - before replacements are bought. If, for example, we sold Barnett we would have to sign another central defender - part exchange with Birmingham? - or we would be a bit short at the back having released Whitbread. I suspect that Lappin would just be happy to see out his contract although selling Chris Martin would give CH some room to move. I can't see any sense in loaning out again any of the 3 'so called ' youngsters as we will know nothing more about them at 22 than we do at 21 so with them it must be a case of sell them or put them in the squad
Pretty much agree with that. I'm not sure Ward will play very much, so he too may go out on loan and I'm not convinced he's Prem standard. I'd like to see some cover for Tierney, as he missed around half of last season with injury, but really enjoyed watching his runs down the wing and his interchanges with Bennett. I've no problem with Jackson and agree that his pace is a very useful assett. I was talking to someone who has gone down to Colney when it's open to the public and apparently, he has no problem finding the back of the net in training.
So we sell Barnett and loan out Ward - that leaves us with 2 recognised central defenders one of whom is recovering from a long term injury!! You need at least 5 in a normal Premier League squad - are we really going to buy 3 more? Before you mention Martin or Whitaker filling in short term remember that we also only have 3 recognised proven full backs on the books and Whitaker has got to get up to speed with the Premiership. Surely CH can only replace what he sells especially as we do not seem to have any youngsters coming through to provide short term back up.
