Apparently we are going to launch a bid for Dale Stephens of oldham hes 21 and was on loan at southampton last season. Come on Powell we need atleast 2 new centre backs not another guy in the middle of the park! http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11719_7002317,00.html
Bel, you're right about the centre backs but I reckon we could do with one more wide (Green please) and one more central (maybe this fella) as well. Lot of people are talking about 6 more signings, if the two above come to pass that still leaves the two Brentford blokes and the one from Colchester plus one more anywhere you fancy on the park. Give CP time, this is turning out to be an eventful closed season.
i know i just see us going after all these midfielders which is great but other areas are much weaker and if we do have a new centre back partnership next season (highly likely) they are gonna need as much time as possible to gel.
we have a whole new squad that is going to need to gel - much like our 1st season in the Championship but the good thing is it looks as though they'll all be reporting in for pre-season training to give them as much time as possible, exactly what Curbs used to do
i think what with racon off to millwall and the likelyhood of semedo leaving, we'll have a lot more players this season as those coming in wont be on as much. their £7-8k each can be spread round to four players on £3k, and even then, thats still top end of the market we're looking in. in other words, chill... defenders will come. please log in to view this image
Completely agree on the defence, problem is I think that it's probably the hardest position to find affordable quality at, especially for this level. So this will take some more time
I can't have Jackson at LM. Imo we need genuine out and out wide men who are capable of committing their full back and getting them heading backwards. As good a player as Jackson is, he will not strike fear into the hearts of full backs in this league when deployed out wide. A quality squad player who can do a decent job in a number of positions. However, i fear he's become a bit of a Jack of all trades yet master of none. I'm hoping that between Harriot and Evina they can solve our problem LM slot.
I think we need Jackson in the team left midfield it's no co-incidence his injury co-incided with a poor run of form it'd be a great partnership with Evina on the left hand side as both can play all up and down the left side
Martinho is spot on. A left sided midfielder who can defend and an attacking full back, that's balance. Also can't agree Jackson ifs a squad player when he got injured and we bought BWP they were joint top goal scorers in the division. I think his loss last season and Youga's the season before were both watersheds for us. A fit again Jackson could be key for us.
I seem to hold the same views as Franco on Johnny Jackson. To me, we need a pacy, attacking winger who's not afraid to take on the full backs, and this simply isnt Jackson. I dont believe he contributes anything to the team other than his knack for scoring goals (which would be fine for a forward, but we need our midfielders to be able to pass, retain possession and provide a service to the strikers). I dont buy any of this "his injury coincided with our drop in form" either. Plenty of things coincided with our drop in form - New ownership, new manager, new scoreboard, new calender year, I could go on... Personally, I also dont believe it would be good 'balance' to have an attacking full back playing behind a defensive Left-Mid. That would be about as useful as having Strikers who are great at tackling, with Defenders who have an eye for goal.
fair enough WeWant I can understand your points there but I don't think Jackson is a defensive left mid even though he does play left back too, all I can think though is one of the best partnerships we had on the left hand side in recent times is the Chris Powell / John Robinson left side combo, Powell was an attacking left back while Robinson got back to help Powell defend and even played left back for Wales I believe, they often both attacked and defended as a pair. A successful team is made up of 5 good partnerships, the left side, the right side, centre backs, centre mids and strikers from the left side I would want them to both be able to defend and attack and think they could both do that, one goes forward the other stays back, it sounds like an Alonso & Hollands CM partnership could do that too in centre mid as they both describe themselves as box-to-box midfielders all we can do is see how CP will get them playing
WWOCB are you sure our form didn't tail off before all the things you mention. Whisper this: While Parky was still manager! I never said Jackson was a defensive midfielder, only that he could defend. Martinho is right about Chrissy and Robbo, also Curbs would often play Konchesky in front of Powell, Konchesky wasn't keen but it worked very well.
Oh and strikers who are great at tackling win the ball in useful places and defenders with an eye for goals score goals.
I think JJ at LM and evina at LB would be a good balance. Harriot is not ready for a starting berth, we should continue to nurture him more, rather than rush him in.
Exactly WWOCB... We need to get back to basics. Defenders who excel at defending, midfielders who can pass the ball, wingers who are direct and able to cross the ball and forwards who score goals... It's a simple old game football. Jacksons main source of goals was from the penalty spot. Whilst i appreciate he's skilled in this discipline i don't think it's a reason to pick him over a more natural wide man. I too don't buy into the 'it all went wrong when Jackson got injured' nonsense!!
i think jacko could operate on the left of a 3 in a 3-5-2 but i agree with franco re needing a natural "skin em on the outside" stanley matthews type in a 4-4-2. but in that formation i could see JJ being the ball playing 1 in a 2 man middle...would need partnering by hollands rather than alonso though i suspect Sullivan Solly AN OTHER AN OTHER Evina Green Hollands Jackson AN OTHER Hayes BWP Benson Alonso Elliott starting to look a bit stronger, as long as AN Other turns out to be half decent!
