JSWWFC, apologies you are correct on the "majority" point, but 9 players have been with Aldershot - Halls, Harding, Winfield, Sandell, Straker, Donnelly, Bull, Grant, Davies. That is a big chunk of players from his last club. Whilst I would fully expect managers to sign players from their last club, that is normal, but 9 players he had at a team that have not really threatened to get promoted from league 2. My worry is that he struggles to address the painfully obvious point that we do not score enough goals. Thankfully Beavon has kicked on this year but that was by no means a guarantee but he alone is not getting enough goals for the whole team.
Didn't sound too promising did he? Maybe Waddock will find a better one. It will have to be a loan deal from one of the better clubs in the Premier. Strikers who can't get a game for a Championship side may not be good enough to turn things round but there could be some potentially very good strikers who have no chance of a game for the likes of Arsenal, Man C, Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea. Notice I've named the teams who have an interest in Ibe. Could be an attractive part of a deal.
Sandell -he scored goals at the start of last season that masked the fact that he was awful at left back. He couldn't defend and was so slow. He slightly improved on the wing but not enough. Winfield - Very hit and miss. Take Charlton at home for example, awful first half, very slow to react when the ball rebounded off the post for the first goal and gave the ball away for the second goal. He was then fantastic in the second half. Misses a lot of games through suspension, he has already racked up 4 bookings in 9 league games this season so suspension looming already. No more than solid overall. Grant - Have not seen anything to suggest he will be key in league 1. Disappears from an awful lot of games. Bull and Donnelly - Great and good signing respectively Davies - Started well when initially on loan but faded towards the end. In the second spell he showed very little. Been at Crawley 2 minutes and already farmed out on loan. As for addressing the striking problem yes he has tried but his efforts to do so are not exactly impressive - he has signed Benyon who has barely scored at this level and Bignall who has a stunning record of 4 goals in roughly 50 games. Was Rendell performing any worse than Benyon? I would rather an underperforming striker who scored me almost 20 goals last season despite the emotional turmoil he went through last year. He persists with Strevens who struggled with goals last season in the division below and has continued to do so this year. Beavon this year is a plus point as he is adding goals, particularly the "natural striker" goals within the box. Yes he has a tight budget but take out the top 5 and Preston, how many of those teams do you think have a particularly large budget?! I don't fault him for effort, I do fault him on his ability to sign good players that he hasn't already encountered at previous clubs. There are certain things I do like about Waddock being his use of younger players from the start of games rather than just 15 minutes here or there, the fact that he will drop players regardless of whether or not he has signed them and the fact that he doesn't make excuses to the press. However, JS I do not think we are going to agree on this one, so let us agree to disagree on this!!
agree with finchy on grant looks to have so much skill but wanders in and out of games and sometimes you dont even know he is on the pitch and at the moment doesnt deserve a first team place
I wouldnt mind taking Paul Benson on loan from Charlton as he doesn't get a look in these days and we have a couple of former Daggers players here so could help him settle. A player of his experience would take the pressure of Beavon and he could contribute 10-15 goals. However, that is also wage dependent.
i was very suprised we never signed morrisson when he was at stevenage cos taylor had first hand knowledge of him and look where he has ended up
If we did a deal with a Premier Club coming in for Ibe I would like to see the deal involving the loaned player scoring of x number of goals for us and Wycombe avoiding relegation, without this affecting how much we got for Ibe. In other words, we don't get sold down the river with what turned out to be paying the wages of a waster.
Finchy i think you have summed it up spot on there. I don't htink waddock could ever be faulted for effort i do thik he can be faulted for not taking enough of the responsibility when things have been like they are. For example on player after the rochdale game he was very quick to point out the faults of the team and the fact that once they cross the white line it is in there hands but he is the one who sends them out over the white line yet in my opinion failed to actually acknowledge that. But more importantly what is concerning the most is the apparent lack of being able to motivate the players. Its ok when were playing the better teams motivation shouldn't even come into it but in games against the lesser sides the ones we are competing with what you could call the bread and butter there isn't a semblence of motivation anywhere and this unfortunatly will be his downfall unless that is corrected and i just don't see it at the minute.
I think the your last paragraph Gravey is the key to our season and whether or not we stay up. I think we are in a mini league of about 8-10 teams whose ultimately goal is survival. We need to perform in these games in particular. Performing well against the likes of Sheffield United is all well and good but chances the teams at the top will play well and a good performance will generally muster a draw and no more. Perform well against the teams around us and we should pick up wins. I genuinely hope Waddock does turns it around as he is a manager that is approachable and can talk to the fans. He isn't distant like others have been and doesn't criticize the supporters, in fact quite the opposite. There are some key games with teams around us from now until early January so these will hopefully show us where we are going
