come on slade for god sake get some midfielders in with pace and clout,because now we have not got either,whitts and gunner are to slow and cant pass a ball to save their lives,look at the stats for Saturday,and the week before not good enough.
Don't know Isaw. He's a newbie and only 2nd post. Right in much of what he says other than Whitts can't pass. Whitts has faults which have been documented on here but an inability to pass is not one of them. We must improve possession stats though. The more we have the ball the less likely are the opposition to score. The right person coming into midfield will help that but our defence, midfield and forwards must get closer and support each other. Too often against both Fulham and Colchester our guys would be isolated with no one close bye to receive a pass. The only option them is to lump it. There were glaring gaps between each section with no one dropping into space to take the simple ball. Probably the only one capable of doing that well is Kimbo when played in the right position - but he may well be on his way out. A fit Pilkington will make a difference when he returns.
.............and in his first post he didn't say anything at all. For all that, essentially he's right though. Either we need some quality to fit Slade's preferred system, or Slade needs to look at his available midfielders and play 5 of them instead of 4. Repeating the present problem that practically everyone on here can see is all getting a bit boring now, and unless more radical changes other than just shuffling the 4 behind a front two are implemented, it'll carry on. Quality midfield generals with pace and aggression are at a premium out there, but those that are or could be available should be the target. It might cost a bit of money, but I'd rather commit to offloading a few more players who are never going to figure in Slade's plans to acquire the right player(s).
Got to be the right ones though Nin. Too many crap signings in the last 18 months. I guess Dalman, Choo and even Tan are micromanaging any money required for new players. Hopefully there will be sufficient funds if the right person becomes available.
We allegedly got £2M for Daehli and have spent peanuts on Malone and Ravell and are looking at a virtual Trinidadian freebee. With players like Daehli, Eikrem, Cala, Velikonja, Berget, Ravel, Guerra (and probably others I can't think of right now) off the books, there must be cash and previously committed wages freed up for some decent midfield additions. I'd prefer to go further than that if Tan insists on very little if any new money being made available. I'd let Marshall go back to the Prem for say £6M+, and use that cash to strengthen our obvious weaknesses. The other option of course would be to get another manager in who could see it as well. EDIT - just seen this - wonder if Marshie does have a one way ticket............ http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/leeds-and-cardiff-to-fight-it-out-for-serie-a-goalkeeper
Boomerang Berget has just come back and Guerra not quite gone. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30803163
Why would we want Mathews at this point in time? What would Slade do with Brayford if he did come here? We've already got (at the moment) 3 left backs in John, Fabio and now Malone, so no point in switching Brayford over there. We've also got a perfectly good right back option in Connolly who I'd be happy with in Brayford's absence. A potential match wining midfielder in Kimbo out and bringing in another full back in along with Malone on the other side wouldn't be tackling the real issue - in fact it could make our options worse. Our midfield play through a combination of slow players and a manager who doesn't seem willing to recognise it has lost us points hand over fist. Until that area is addressed either with new blood in the middle of the park or a rush of blood to Slade's head to put it right with what he's got, we will struggle against all but the poorest sides in this division - we played one of them last Saturday and won it with 37% possession.
I know I'm a bit biased with regards to Kimbo but he should be given a chance in a central attacking midfield role (his actual position). As you say we look seriously understocked on match winning ball playing midfielders. Why we'd bin one we have who is proven at Championship level is an absolute ****ing mystery. Getting quality midfielders in during January was never going to be easy. That's why people are happy to take the ones we're getting rid of.
We don't need any player in the back 5 other than a back up keeper if Marshall goes (I'd take Moore as No1). If signings are to be made to fit into Slade's game plan (?) it is in the front 6. looking at the strikers we have, probably don't need anything there, so midfield 4 (preferably 5) only for me.
