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So we're fast aproaching that time of the season again, so I was wondering what areas people think we need to strengthen the most, or any players they would realistically like to see here.

I think personally, we need 2 new center backs and another right winger at least. I went to the Peterborough game and I noticed (not for the 1st time this season) that our center backs can be half decent at defending, but once they have the ball at their feet, it's just hoof! Consequentally, the ball comes straight back at them and piles on the pressure & the ball misses out our midfield and we can't start an attack. This was evident at Rovers and also Peterborough.

I think that having Timlin back in LB helps because he is more of a passer of the ball so looks to go to feet rather than hopeful ball over the top.

I also think JS usually tries to keep the ball on the deck and push forward.

Morrison from what I have seen also looks to play the ball along the floor but still lacks experience.

McGovern lacks pace and I would ship Marshall out on loan. McNamee has noone challenging him for a place. I would leave strikers.

Any thoughts on the GK positions?

I would ship out Ifil, Casal (loan), marshall (loan), Sturrock, Kennedy (loan), vincent.

Anyone else?

Sorry to go on but this is my first new topic and just had loads of things to say.

Discuss.

Well don't ship Ifil out for a start.

Ship out Sturrock if we can,Pook,Nalis,Amankwah,Casal and Aljofree-2 new centre backs and a midfielder is indeed a priority

Get rid of Casal, Nalis, Sturrock.

Loan Kennedy, Allen, Marshall

Ship out Ifil? I wouldn't think that is a worth doing in a month of Sundays. I personally think he's out best defender, inconsistent yes, but even with his inconsistencies, he still makes a better centre half than Aljofree.

With regards to hoofing at Peterborough, i thought Kanyuka was, surprisingly, a calm passer of the ball and kept it on the floor most of the time.

I'd ship out one of Smith or Brez, Aljofree, Sturrock ( not for effort thuogh ), Casal & Amankwanah. I would have added JPM to this list but he's starting to win me around by better performances. If he's not playing then I'd ship out Easton ( again not for effort ). So, we need another keeper, a right back and another midfielder and a new captain - Timlin to keep the badge? Agree about sending players on loan. Basically we've got a big enough squad but a lot ofp layers doing similar jobs - ie not very well.

how are we going to send vincent out on loan when he's perma-crippled now? if we can pay up his contract then we should.

perhaps most important is a new centre-back. someone with experience to shore up our leaky defence, along the lines of an adie williams type player - although younger and a bit quicker.

i don't think we'll see a huge shift during january. players like nalis, jp, aljofree will be here until the summer.

although what the fuck do i know, i've only been to a handful of games...

Who's contracts are up at the end of the year? That will have a big say on who's here come Jan 31st.

Ship out loans: Young players (Joyce,kennedy,  etc) 
Loans or sale : Amankwha**, Casal,  Pook*, Sturrock, Marshall

Bring in : another left back, central mid and wide man (left or right).

* assuming we bring in another central mid
** assuming Morrison stays

T-t-that's all folks. who have I forgotten?

I dont think there is too much wrong with the playing squad. Just a bit of confidence and a bit of leadership needed.

Phil Smith & Peter Brezovan are both decent enough keepers and neither will be going anywhere in January, if anything we need a better goal keeper coach which may come with the new manager.

Jack Smith is a more than capable right back all he really lacks is pace. Kevin Amankwaah looked ok in some games but was really poor against Huddersfield last time he played. He's worth keeping unless we've got a better replacement lined up.

Left back I thought was our problem position but Timlin has been very good there. Kennedy I dont think will ever be good enough and Vincent is hardly worth counting. Casal is one of the worst footballers I have ever seen. I'd do everything I could to get rid of Casal (cant believe we paid money for him!) I rather Kennedy at least went out on loan but if we got rid of Casal we'd need back up. If Vincet isnt going to play get him doing some coaching, he has always been a leader.

Central defence is ok, we have good players who arent playing well. I dont think any of Morrison, Kanyuka, Ifil or Aljofree are bad players. Aljofree and Ifil were pretty solid last season. I'd keep them all but get them some specialist coaching. Our defence has got worse since John Blackley the defensive coach left. Ifil is still our best defender. I'd keep Aljofree because despite the stick he gets he is a good enough L1 Centre back, shouldnt be our captain though.

Right wing is a problem. JPM is hot and cold but he is the only right winger we really have. I've seen very little of Marshall full stop always as an impact sub so no idea how he would do from the start. Get him out on loan. I'm no youth team expert and Byrne will no better than me but I'd give Lloyd Macklin a chance get him in the squad. He always looked good when I've seen him play. Whats the worst that could happen?

Left wing, we only have McNamee. He's good or shit. He has no competiton. We need another left winger.

Central Midfield difficult one. We have battlers like Peacock and Pook who will do a job but we could do with a more creative player.  Nalis is slow probably has a role to play maybe as a sub but not first 11. I like Allen as a player but lets be honest he's never going to get another chance here. Might as well get him on loan or out the door. Easton, well what the fuck has happened to him?!

Up front Cox and Paynter pick themselves. Corr as back up when not bloody injured. Not seen alot of Joyce perhaps one to get out on loan. Sturrock should be kept firstly because you can never count on Barry Corr and secondly if we do persist with the 4-3-3 option Sturrock would be a good addition to the 3 up top because he works the channels bloody well. Although if we could find a better player then can get rid.,


So

In: New Keeper Coach, New Defensive Coach, Right Winger, Creative Centre Midfielder, Left Winger

Out: Casal or Kennedy on loan, Allen on loan, Joyce on loan, Marshall on loan

Out if we've got a replacement who is better lined up: Amankwaah, Sturrock

i can guarentee that any new manager that comes in would have ifil back in the team so keep hold of him. without question he is the best we have. yes he does make the odd mistakes but unlike morrison and aljofree ifil has the ability to recover with his pace. i think if we made jerel available for transfer there wud be lots of interest and we would regret it big time

Are you saying he should be put down so he can't play for anybody else??

Don't get why Morrison is considered to have no pace, okay he may not be as quick over the first couple of yards but he's no slouch.

If Vincent is giving up playing then I'd have him as a coach perhaps with the youths to start with and he can replace Adie Williams who seems to have let himself and the club down, Vincent was always a talker and was always willing to pas on his knowledge so I suspect he may make a good coach - or even a good a manager for someone one day in the future.

Our squad does not need much tinkering with, left sided midfielder (not a winger) and ball playing central midfielder I think is all we need, plus get a few of the youngsters out on loan, with a bit of decent coaching I think a few of our players could improve with a bit of decent coaching (look at the improvement Ifil made under Blackley ?)

Aljofree will not improve with coaching though Morrison and to a lesser extent Kanyuka might but I'd still try to replace him

 I'd get rid of the lot with the exception of Cox, Macca and Ifil.

 5 wins in 22 games this season indicates being not good enough for this division, unfortunately the new boss wont be able to do this, because of contracts.  When these are up fro renewal, the fact the Board refuse to pay agents, probably means they'll go with the devil they know. 

Bit harsh on Morrison, Timlin and Paynter at the very least.

And Marshy!!

2 points from however many games it was when Harry Redknapp took over at Spurs would have indicated that Spurs were not good enough for the Premiership Reg. It's amazing how the right manager can transform players overnight though. I'm not going to be putting any money on Spurs to go down any time soon.

Lets target a manager first eh

 Not really a like for like comparison, as Spurs have a shedload of decent players, certainly good enough for mid table, also they'd only played something like 8 games.  They'd also progressed in cups.

 If you've got mediocre players you'll struggle, as Redknapp found when he went to Soton and got them relegated. We've a lot of mediocre players which is why we're struggling, the new boss will have to have a bit of a clear out

Totally agree (and I hate to say that )

I don't suppose it is a like for like comparison, no. But when you say they have loads of decent players, then maybe we do as well. But what makes a decent player? I've recently read Macari's biog and when you look back to that side and the individual players, most of them were no better than journeymen trying to make ends meet. There were no outstanding individuals. Put a lesser man in charge and they would have been, to put it bluntly, shit. A decent (well absolutely fantastic manager in this case) turned them into good players.

Would that be the same players that finished mid table last year reg

  Yes apart from Roberts, Minge, Vincent, Boob and Nicho.

You could argue that paynter and cox have been better than last year. Minge and vincent i agree

Most of the players have been better than last year....just a shame the old manager wasnt.

 I think Roberts is a miss at this level, he could win you the odd game, which is the sort of thing to keep you in mid table.

Dont get me wrong i agree about roberts just not last year

is it possible to try and get Bradley Orr from B City?

we should really be looking at players that are not like Nalis and too young but very very experienced but players not like casal with no experience.

darren potter from wolves?? (transfer listed in summer) creative center midfielder!
danny woodards from crewe?? was scouted by sunderland last january!

any others?

Bradley Orr is fishing for the Premiership, not League One. Plus he's a City convict.

fair shout
but could be worth a shot at!

Wouldnt happen, whole reason he is on the transfer list is beacuse he wants more money at shitty.

Byrne has been told that he can identify and negotiate for 2 players for January.

1 defender and 1 midfielder both have premiership experience apparently.

I'm assuming it will be a left back and central midfielder

Why is Byrne getting to choose players?Surely that should be up to the new manager.

Still guess he can't do much worse than Malpas.

Because for some reason Fitton is keeping Byrne on as Number 2 ....

And you Know that how fatbart

I don't think Malpas had any premiership experience, and probably wouldn't want to come back as a player especially as it's been a while since he played at left back.

I think it's pretty safe to say that Bryne will be after Graham Kavanagh if at all possible.

I think we should be starting to give some of the young kids some first team/reserve appearances. This Macklin who is supposed to be shit hot, has he even played for the ressies yet? Macca is too inconsistent at left wing, how about we see how Macklin does?

I'd imagine so! When does his current loan expire?


I'm not sure about that. The youths need to be given a chance, and if we were mid table with little chance of relegation I'd perhaps agree. But we are currently in a relegation fight and I'm not sure I'd risk ruining the youth players confidence by chucking them in to a struggling team.

JPC says Macklin hasn't played for the stiffs yet. That being the case the gulf between Youth and 1st team football is huge. He may be good enough, but I'm not sure it's worth the risk. He should be eased in.

Is DB acting on his own or has one of the candidates said that he wants these players on board as part of the deal?

Callum Kennedy starting Saturday

I think it's more a case of starting to identify targets for Jan and opening talks to see whether they're even vaguely viable. Given that we now seem to be looking at mid-Dec before a new manager is even appointed, if you leave it till the new guy is in place, has started looking at what we've already got etc and you haven't even done any of the groundwork, you're left with scraps in January and your first choices have already gone. So getting Byrne to at least start the ball rolling on doing the groundwork seems pretty sensible IMHO

No harm in letting Byrne go for players, he did sign McNamee after all and that had nothing what so ever to do with Malpas, remember?

As for Macklin, I dont pretend to be some sort of football expert (much) and I've only seen him a handful of times but I can not understand why he isnt making the 16. What with McNamee being very hot and cold after him Macklin is probably the most attack minded and creative player we've got. If he came on with 15 minutes to go he would scare the shit out of alot of League One left backs

I remember people on here posting that he should be getting his chance. Looks like the end of the road for Casal if he can't get in ahead of a kid.

I gather Bryne also said Ifill & Mcnamee are also back in the starting line up Saturday, so I guess it be Ajofree and Ifill at the back with Kanyuka stepping down.

Using the Malpas team selection formula again...... pick any 11 from 33

Will be interesting if The Beast does start. He must be doing really shit in training or something like that to not be getting in Byrne's starting 11 in the first place. IMO he can't be arsed with us anymore, he's just waiting till January.

Ifil is going nowhere, I suspect there may be a few departures when the new manager settles in, as we are overloaded in defence for a start and there's only really Ifil, Morrison & J Smith that are worthy of a place