When the transfer window opens in January what do we need to do to get our season back on track and look for the top 6 finish that DC said he was looking for at the beginning of the season. Do we need to get players out and if so who and what positions do we need to strengthen if we do. I know consistency is a problem and some players don't appear to have played as well as they have in the past, we can't put it down to being in a higher division because we were here last season
Where do I begin! GK's: Start of the season, I was happy with the 2 new keepers. However, I feel Slocombe has failed to impress and Smith dont seem to be getting a chance. I think changes here may be needed. We defend better when we have a keeper who the defence can trust and I just dont think our keepers are trusted meaning not good enough. RB's: Leadbitter has the pace but looks lost when playing. He seems to have declined. Partington has a good assist rate but lacks pace. He is very hit or miss James Clarke is our new club sicknote. If Partington had Leadbitters pace or Leadbitter had a better end product like Partington, then this position would be fine to leave alone. However.... this position needs improving. LB's: Bola looked good when eventually given a chance but failed to impress in last few games. Brown not at his best either but good assist rate and I feel worth keeping. CB's: Lockyer is no where near his best. Maybe the captains armband is too much for him right now. He seems to be getting done a lot as well by the opposition. I would seriously question his form and therefore his call ups to Wales national side. We beat Northampton without him 6-0! Sweeney not as good as last season. Broadbent has done well but obviously unproven. But I would keep him. Burn seems to be down the pecking order and I would question what he brings to the squad. CM's: Ollie is no where near the same level as last season and I dont feel he deserves to be starting. Lines is hit or miss. I feel the quality of his set plays are not up to the standard you would expect from him. Sinclair huffs and puffs and runs his socks off. I love it. But he lacks quality. Sercombe for me is our signing of the season so far. But at times he is missing in action. But he has been our best CM by a country mile so far. Wingers: Bodin is a greedy git but maybe because he dont trust anyone else to have the ball! Without him, where would we be? The last 2 games is evident that we would be struggling without him. Moore to me is just not good enough. I rated Montano more than Moore! Moore has had a few scoring chances, especially at crucial times in games but failed to deliver. CF's: Harrison is our most improved player compared to last season. But still not the end product. Maybe will be his best season with us if he continues but still not scoring enough. To me, I believe he is a super sub. He looks far more threatening from the bench. Gaffney not getting as many chances to play games and stats show when he does get a chance, he scores. See the Gaffney thread for details. I dont think he will score the amount we need but worth keeping. Nichols is Luke James in disguise. But puts way more effort in. I like him. Just the lack of goals is an issue. Telford should be starting games. I hope he dont get recalled because the lack of game time. I havent mentioned players like Broom because they havent been given a chance. More development squad players. I would use Broom more often though.
So after my assessment, there would be many changes from me. Too many in fact which would probably cause more harm than good mid season.
We need to play with a settled keeper and defence instead of changing it around all the time. Thats the big issue now because we dont keep a settled side.
I think by the time January comes around a top six place may be beyond us ! We will need to look for hard men on four month contracts to shore up the back and ensure that all of the good work of the last few seasons isn't undone in one disastrous swoop, which is exactly what happened the last time we came up from Div 4 to 3. From what I have witnessed so far this term I have to say our current playing squad isn't good enough to compete at the level that they currently find themselves at { The Cobblers must have been....well, Cobblers } and that has to change if all of the rhetoric is to be believed.
IMO GKs not good enough nor are any of the Defenders s. Not sure why some fans think we need another striker for we're still one of the top scoring teams in the division we just need a whole new defence and two decent GKs.
I think Slocombe is a good G/K a new R/B and a fit J Clarke Sweeny to return to Stoke and Broadbent given more match time along with Rollin Mennayese a D M/F who can tackle a L/W and a big ST who can hold the ball up and take the weight off our small strikers. I think to class Tom Nicholls with Luke James is unfair, Nicholls will get goals for us he just needs a wild hack to hit him on his knee and go in to boost his confidence as for Ellis Harrison he seems to do more work in defence than some of our defenders and yes I DO LIKE MARMITE MAN
Both from Peterborough Both failed to score for us Both missed a penalty As for him getting that lucky goal to give him confidence, we all said the same thing about Luke James. Its not unfair to class them together really when you look at it this way, which is the way I meant. I did say though that Nichols works really hard and that I like him. He is a good player.
Given our appalling defensive record we need more experience at the back. Our first choice centre backs have looked off the pace and nowhere near good enough at this level. Having said that, Rollin Menayese looks better than the two first choice centre backs, and his partnership with Broadbent was the best partnership by some way. It would be a bold and brave decision to drop Lockyer and/or Sweeney, but that's what DC needs to do because they haven't been playing well together. Quite honestly, if things are tightened up at the back we'll be fine because there are plenty of goals in the squad.
There is plenty of thought and opinion on what is needed to improve our fortunes, and I don't intend adding to the speculation as to be honest, having studied the league table, I find the whole thing quite baffling! -- For example, after such disappointing results lately, how the hell do we find ourselves only 5 points from the play off places, yet 6 points from the drop zone. There are only 6 other teams in our league that have scored more goals than us, yet there are no teams that have conceded more goals than us. Finally, we are the only league 1 team not to have drawn a match this season, which would indicate that either we haven't had the rub of the green, and we've been unfortunate to come away empty handed, or we're too gun ho trying to score more than our opponents each time, and getting caught out by a flakey defence. I think both have been the case on occasions but that's a third of the season gone now, so in theory, as long as we don't deteriorate any more, start getting a bit of luck here and there and find a way of shoring up our leaky defence sooner rather than later, then a mid table finish shouldn't be beyond us. It certainly isn't the time to be slagging off DC or calling for his dismissal as someone on the other forum is saying. I feel embarrassed that so called Gasheads are even thinking that way, and just hope DC never reads these comments.
Getting the defence right is the key to this, because there are plenty of goals in the team and as long as we can keep clean sheets we're in with a shout. We haven't had a settled back four, and this is probably key, but the whole team needs to be better when they haven't got the ball.DC needs to make some tough decisions about who the regulars should be. I'm sure the right players are in the squad, but DC just needs to get a settled side for a few games, sort out the heart of the defence and everything should be fine.
Three points on Saturday against The Franchise would be a good start otherwise I think the manager is going to cop some. I know you will always have the rose tinted blind loyalists but I am afraid that football by nature of the beast is a tough ask for the team leader and regardless of what has gone on before if there is a run of bad results and equally bad performances then the man at the top is always going to end up being the punchbag.
