WHO DO WE KEEP? or try to 1) permanent players 2) current loan players 3) SPACES TO FILL ... BEFORE... JULY 14th ! 1) OUR 3 GOALKEEPERS .. FLINT .. SMITH .. BRYAN .. LITTLE .. GOLBOURNE .. PACK .. WILLIAMS .. AYLING .. WAGSTAFF .. .. WILBS .. AGARD .. KODIJA .. REID .. FREEMAN .. GARITA . 2) BIG YES ...... ...... TOMLIN, ODEMWINGIE, MATHEWS, BAKER ... lesser yes ..... Pearce 3) Midfielder attacking, midfielder playmaker, defender pure, defender attacking, all dependant on 2) ABOVE and also who from the academy is good for the squad . ( Burns, Vyner, Morrel ..?. ) Squad size.... .... ... .. . VERY IMPORTANT now no loan periods ... I would say 23 .... .... Formation ..... .... ... .. . whilst it needs to be flexible, 4- 4- 2 seems to have done us well, Maintain 4 at the back and go ... 4 - 4 - 2 / or 3 - 3 / or 3 - 1 - 2 combinations useful ? 3 - 5 - 2 is this now dead in the water? I THINK SO as you need to cover all eventualities along that last 20 metres, and champs players are more adept and quicker at getting up the by lines ......
using the equivalent to "glass's guide" for 2016/17 we have and we want with £ estimated "real value" :- Left back's ___________Centre back's _________ Right back's Williams .. .. . £300k _____Flint £500k _________Ayling £400k Golbourne .. £600k ______ Baker £2m__________Little £350k £ ******** ___________Pearce# £1.25m_____ __ Matthews .. ..£2m .. # utility LB /CB Left Midfield _______ Centre Midfield ________ Right Midfield Bryan £300k _______ Smith £600k ________ Wagstaffe £200k £***** _____________ Pack £200k __________ £***** ************** _______ Reid £200k __________ *********** _________________ Tomlin # £2.75m _______ # secondary striker .. ## forward/right winger Left wing ___________ Centre Forwards ______ Right winger £****** ________________Kodija £2m __ _______ Odemwingie ## £1.2m *********** ____________Freeman £330k _______ *********** ____________________ Agard £400 k ___________________ ____________________ Wilbraham £200k _____________________ ************* It is difficult to know who to go after until the present Squad goes home or Youngsters are added Burns, Morrel, Vyner Garita .... WITHOUT THE LOAN players we have a team that could hold its own in DIV 1 .... BASED on the "price/ value " of the loan players 2 year deals would likely cost around £18m Definite needs, ASSUMING we buy the loanee's ..IMO .. a left winger Johan Gudmundesen / Dan Sparkes / David Henen a left back ....Dean Moxey left midfielder right midfielder Emilio Nsue FEW likely candidates?
I don't want to jinx it by saying we are safe. Only last Tuesday we were 1-0 down and the rest of the results made us 4 points clear - not enough.
I think the valuations on Flint, Kodjia, Bryan and Smith are way to low, not wanting to disrupt your effort and what action should we take on goalkeeping?
I think the goal keeping is OK depends on what happens after May 8th .... Valuations are not mine, from a site specializing in players and values, base rate? it depends on what peeps will pay as to their "true" value eg Kodija cost £2.2m valued at £2m although done well! Dack WE WOULD PAY £2M? VALUE £350k ... Gilbey WE WOULD PAY £2m valued at £120k etc etc Flint valued £500k but would expect to get +£2m? Korey £600k but we would be foolish to accept less than £2m ...
Tomlin ..seems like he would relish a full season in a team .. like in the championship if the BP is correct 9in their reporting seems we have second shout ... the likelihood of Bournemouth? I would say 40 /60 ....
Tomlin definitely- If Gillingham dont go up, then Dack would be a good chance- We need 2 strikers. Agard and Kodjia to move on-
You really want to ditch our top goalscorer?! Shown plenty of promise and has already contributed well in my eyes.
Can see him moving on perhaps,He started brilliantly and with pace, but think he has been worked out by defences-For me, Kodjia needs too many chances per goal- Seems to score almost when it doesn't matter so much, like in a 3-1 defeat or the two against Bolton when we were already 4-0 up. The last one was Bryan's in all but a final touch and was going in anyway. Maybe its just me, but I don't see him being as successful next year.
DONT FORGET different environment different style of football this season will have done him good . a striker is usually good from an early age or clicks when a few older ... a further season will determine KODIJA.... Agard has been second fiddle a different style unless we can find a super striker other than Tommo signing or not worth keeping
'Maybe its just me, but I don't see him being as successful next year'. Fair enough but I think/hope he will be a better player in his second season with us. Time and again new players perform better after their first season, especially coming from abroad.
I think we will see a more confident team playing Kodjia next season. As others stated second season is normally the standard for players to settle. plus 16 goals so far ain't that bad is it?
If we can sort out his tendency to run offside all the time, I think he could easily be top scorer in this division next year and I am going to have a large punt on that. I did have a decent bet on that this year but even with a pretty dodgy spell, he is still joint 3rd top scorer in a team that spent over half a season with it's shoelaces tied together. This time next year Rodney....
Provided we get safe, I feel we can make a real impact next season. The last time I had such a feeling was just after we went down, and I felt it would take 2 years to get back and we would go back up as champions. Not a bad guess as we were in the bottom 3 until November, when Cotterill joined us. This season I had no real intuition on us at all, and developments have thrown a light on perhaps why. But I have a good feeling about it for next year, and I feel we are good for a run at the play-offs. I think a top ten position is ours, and possible excitement for the final 3 months. Not trying to be clever, just getting the same vibe I got before (when I was right !). Keeping my fingers crossed (in case it works)
We naturally need to get the right players (and attitudes) in and get off to a reasonable start to get the confidence going. If as has been rumoured, LJ is to be given a significant sum of money to bolster/revamp the squad in the Summer, then I hope he and Ashton spend the money wisely. As things have turned out, this season has been about a relatively small number of genuinely strong and consistent teams in this league, with the rest all largely capable of beating each other at will. You only need to look at the bottom half of the league table to see it. Next season it could be a whole lot harder if Villa and possibly Newcastle and Sunderland come down and are competitive from the off, along with whoever loses out in the Play Offs.
He did say in his press conference after the game, that this club is going to go forward at an alarming rate and the players need to step up to convince him that they will be part of it. That to me says I've got money and I'm going for it so prove to me you're worth retaining.
