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Amongst all the hype surrouning a new manager i think alot of people may have missed the fact we could have fergie in charge but half the players are not good enough. I think we need a loan keeper ,centre half,right winger,controlling midfielder,and a striker.

I'd say we need 2 centre halfs tbh - who can go straight in. Then a defensive midfielder - that's the 3 priorities imo.

Obviously some sort of replacement for Cox if he goes.

Assuming Brez is off in January, we need:

- A 'keeper who can command his area, catch crosses and corners and kick straight
- A commanding centre half
- A combatitve/controlling central midfielder (Graham Kavanagh please)
- A proper target man who can hold the ball up
- A right winger with some pace and discipline to stay wide

I don't go to alot of games, so my question to those who go is who should we keep!?!

2 centre mids,1 right mid,one left mid,2 centre halves,1 right back,1 centre forward,and a goal keeper coach(our 2 keepers demise is fucking worrying)

Christ, are we Chelsea? Bar the Kavanagh bit of course.

Brez is off in January? where to, why would any want him he cant even get in our crappy team.

I still dont believe the players are as poor as everyone makes out. As I keep saying Sturrock had practically the same team in the top 10 last season. We've lost what? Comminges, Nicholas, Zaaboub and Mohamd?

I dont see how losing those 4 players would have turned us from top 10 to bottom 4.

Of course the obviously change is Sturrock, Blackley and Summerfield but we all already know this.

Lets worry about getting a decent manager in and see if he can get anything better out of the players first.

Dv i would argue that yes he got us to top 10 but was a false position. Seriously mate most our squad would not get into alot of teams first 11.

I wouldnt say we were in a false position under Sturrock. I think we deserved to be there.

Paul Sturrock (I do hate to keep going on about him as hes long gone) he's made a damn fine management career out of getting the best out of players.

Some of our lot dont even look like the same players. If I didnt know any better I would never have gueseds the Craig Easton of this season was the same one as last season.

Plus, if our players wont get into other teams first 11s (which on current form they wouldnt) then no one will want to take them anyway and we'd be stuck with them.

If you look at Spurs, all their players looked like no hopers who werent Premiership class, new manager and new coaches and now they look like Premiership players again.

Whilst I'd like to see some ins and outs in January I wont hold my breath as no one will take our crap players and I cant see us splashing the cash to get some more players in (seen as we wont even supposedly pay 100k for Richard Money which would be well worth it if that figure is correct imo)

Maybe 1 or 2 loan players in but that might be about it. What we really need is a manager who can get the best out of our players.

Can someone please re-assure me that we didn't pay cash for Casal?

It was a appearance-based deal wasn't it?

rumoured to be 80,000 + add ons

so thats about 79,999.50 too much

£80k? Christ alive.

I am going to investigate this.

I will be back soon.

http://www.swindontownfc.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10341~44374,00.html

doesnt mention anything about a fee there but 2 years

http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/Person.asp?PersonID=CASALKAS

Hi. I am back.

Here are the results of my investigation.

A Turkish side had bid €80k for him in February but this was declined (http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/2412554.0/?act=complaint&cid=1799289).

We eventually agreed to pay "a small fee" for our man (http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Casal-make-Swindon/article-252785-detail/article.html), believed to be around £35k.

 You've forgotten Roberts, although inconsistent, he could win you a few games.

Good shout Reg, seen as we didnt release him you kind of forget he has gone.

I suppose you could say the same for Jamie Vincent seen as he hasnt played all season.

There were both good players who must have played most of our games last season, Roberts was a match winner on his day one of the reason I keep championing Lloyd Macklins cause because he's the closet thing to a Christian Roberts we have.

how many games did roberts win us?use 1 hand to count
vincnet hasd been a much bigger loss.

Luton away and erm... that's it.

luton away, sheff weds home, Roberts was class on his day no one can deny that, although on his off day pointless having him playing

hull at home he was quality to add to the handfull

The two priotities are getting a keeper and getting Vincent back fit. If we can get the defence sorted it will take the pressure off the others. I am confident putting Vincent in the centre and making him captain will sort a lot of the crap out - as long as he's match fit.

Whilst im sure Roberts didnt win us many games on his own, he contributed to a fair few of them every now and again.

Whilst he wasnt brilliant, he is a player we miss.

cost a fee,would have been a high earner,value for money? not a fucking chance.
dv and reg you are bordering on the insane today.must be something in the water

Infact a quick look at last seasons results shows that Roberts scored 5 league goals last season.

We won 3 drew 1 and lost 1.

Two of those wins were 1-0!

We could sure use an extra 10 points right about now

Really? I disagree. My memories of Vincent was that he was a steady but unspectacular player. I guess it is possible he held the back 4 together but I am highly dubious.

I think it is a collective team failing. The back four as a whole unit seem seem somehow worse than the sum of the parts.

 Roberts cost 20K...last season he won us a game v Rovers and a game at Luton. 6 points, bung that on to what we have at the moment and we're safely mid table. At the moment we lack players with any sort of aggression or desire to win.

 

He got the best out of Ifill when he moved to centre and they were a brilliant pairing. He organised the back 4 and basically owned it and encourageed the others, told them where they should be etc. He was constantly on at the others making sure they were focussed. Alos he's a good defender - bollox going forward admittedly. 

here we go again, the classic case of saying how much we miss a player when we have a poor result, the other week it was Ifil who was massively missed, he has a shit game now Vincent will be the saviour, then it will be said that Kanyuka has to start

Kanyuka has to start

i agree, put him in and i will be very suprised if we conceed a goal for the rest of the season

...although I've been one of the few who has been saying good things about Vincent since he's been here. I do believe he is/was the talker and leader of the defence.

I think you'll find I have been very consistent with my praise of Vincent since he's been here.

In  the case of Vincent it was easy to see how much he better he made us as a defensive unit, despite being a few inches too short (IMO) for a centre half. I said after one of our earlier home drubbings this season that we needed him back.

JPC does sarcasm?

Anyway back to Vincent, communicator or not I still say something more fundamental is amiss with our team. I'll leave it there or we'll be here all night.

I'm obviously in the minority - I reckon out current squad is pretty good and better than we could hope for.

They regularly show that they can play decent football and compete with the best in the division, they just can't keep it up for 90 minutes often enough. The problems are solely down to the manager as far as I'm concerned.

Team selection appears to be random, there is no consistency and its not based on form. There is a complete lack of confidence, no doubt partly due to the random team selection coupled with a crap manager and a crap caretaker manager.

Tactics appear to be totally non existent, unless "go out there and do what the fuck you want" counts. Our most dangerous threat going forward is McNamee yet he is kept out of games for long periods as the ball isn't given to him - with it normally being booted aimlessly forward instead.

Get a new manager in and things will improve immediately. Whilst I've always liked and rated Byrne he has to go so there is a clean break, or a lot of the problems will remain.

Goalie

Central Defender

Midfielder

Striker


with priority on the first two.

I don't reckon we need a goalie. Everybody was creaming over them under Sturrock, they just need good coaching and their confidence back.

An experienced centre back and possibly captain to play along side Ifil/Kanyuka/Morrison.

A midfield 'boss', the type of player that Nalis was supposed to be.

Possible a sexy, silky skilled little centre mid who can deliver wicked killer balls, just cos I like players like that.

An out and out right winger.

We were shit Saturday, we need an organiser in defence (Whatever your views on Vincent, the defense hasn't been as good without him and he was the talker in the back four) an enforcer in midfield and that's about it.

The Phil Smith situation is becoming hysterical. watch any game, from the Premiership down, and you'll see goalkeepers making mistakes. We're becoming fixated on the 'points he costs us', when, if the defence were doing their job, half the chances opposition players have should be snuffed out before Smith is even involved.

Both goalies looked good last season, both look shit this season. Maybe Glanville has some part in this, but the main problem, imo, is our wanky defence.

I think if you are thinking Roberts then think Macnamee both were / are frustrating both on their day match winners but for both it does not happen anywhere near enough.

Macnamee is becoming a luxury player, teams have worked him out now and keep him quiet and he has no idea how to get over this especially away from home.

We need a comanding centre half who is a leader and play maker in the centre of the park, and then a left sided player who can play reasonably consistent, not a winger someone that can go forward when needs be and defend when required and link up with the full back when he over laps.

So you are suggesting that we replace arguably our most skill-full player McNamee then P2P.
Instead why not get a manager who can make him "more" consistent, even Cox seems to be losing form. And why not try to stop relying on him so heavily by getting in a right winger to give the team other options. And if the opposition have worked him and and want to double up on him then fantastic because it will leave gaps for the other players to exploit.

Let's not forget that he has proven himself in the CCC and even has some Prem experience.

Agree about mcnamee i personally think it is down to midfielders not getting the ball to him quick enough.

We seem to be bypassing our midfield alot this season as it is and when they do get the ball often the wrong choice is made but then i suppose that happens in league 1. I know he keeps getting mentioned but someone like Kavanagh would make sure Mcnamee saw alot more of the ball.

Bangkok is spot on aswell we need a direct winger who will stretch teams, mcgovern actually played ok saturday but i dont think he scares fullbacks the way someone with pace would.

it would help our defence out if one of our wingers could tackle...and I've never been a fan of JPM and think he would be happy to move on but at a financial loss to us unfortunately....fuck it, play a combative  ???narrow 3 and give macca a free role with licence to roam....

An Andrew Nicholas this season would've came in handy. underated.

Thats what malpas did with his 4-3.5-2.5 formation.

It rarely worked and he kopped loads of shit for it

Agree with that

Lloyd Macklin!!

The only team at home I've seen that have kept him out of the game was Leicester. In all the other games its our own players that have kept him out by not getting the ball out to him. As a result he drops too deep or moves inside to try and get more of the ball, which doesn't help but is just out of frustration.

You have to play to your strengths and ours is McNamee and Cox. Get the ball to him as much as possible and then make sure there are players in the box and we'll score a lot more goals.

This wank fest over maklin is getting bad. Malpas and byrne have both shown by playing Kennedy and Morrison they are willing to play youngsters if they believe they are ready. Maklin has played 1 reserve game so surely this suggests that maklin is obviously not ready yet

Lloyd played plenty of reserve games whilst Sturrock was here and went on the pre season tour aged 15 and played in the JPT aged 16, Malpas come in and has hindered his progress for a year, now malpas has gone Lloyds back in the picture

I agree. The problem isn't the goalies...they never used to be this dodgy (probably something psychological & our "defence" isn't doing them any favours either). It would be like saying that Cox is a shit player just because he played badly on saturday...the talent's there, we all know it...just got to get it out of them again! We don't have a bad team. Just bad tactics, no confidence and a squad inconsistency.

I agree with the pair of you... judging by the folks around me on Saturday, we must be wrong, however.

I know they are not playing like they are capable but bad coaching cannot be blamed for missing punches,dropping the ball like smith has done recently. Thats just bad goalkeeping simple as that really.

The more serious problem is how Ifil let a 4ft midget beat him in the air and how the same midget out jumped Peacock everytime

both keepers have been rubbish this season.i dont know why but it's true nonetheless.
the defending for all 3 goals on saturday was a joke.it was a collective thing but the positoning of some players was piss poor.how the fuck did peacock get mom?look at the third goal and where he is.he's a jack of all trades and a master of none.i'm also convinced ifil should move clubs, for his and our sakes.no player endears himself to me at all and i dont give a shit who stays or goes,i just want a team that can compete with the best in this division.

whoah  whoah whoah where did peacock get man of the match?

adver

haha no fucking chance

Shows how much shit they are full of then.

still a better choice than sean morrison.

although I cant understand why it hasnt gone to Timlin, he was the best of a piss poor bunch. Kennedy was alright to.

Luke Rodgers was the best player on that pitch but a fucking mile.

Peacock better than Morrison? Bloody hell DV what game were you watching? Morrison (bar the second goal) actually did OK. I agree about Timlin though.

Adver claims the only meaningful thing that Timlin did was to score!!  I thought he was mom by a long way, well for Swindon anyway!

I think we need a left back, a right back, a centre half and a right midfielder.

We also need someone (in any position) who is prepared to run through walls for Swindon because they current lot are a bunch of pussies. As Reg said, just hardly any aggression at all. Showed a bit at Rovers and it was much better, but they just cant raise themselves.

There is a young 18 year old at Hamilton Accies who is very highly rated. He scored 2 last weekend against Motherwell and has bags of potential.

I reckon we could pick up for cheap and with Malpas having contacts at Scottish Under 21 level we would be in with a great chance of signing. Ah!

I agree.Roberts or McGovern?Mmmm,let me think!

According to today's WDP, we've been making enquiries about a centre half,with Aljofree having suffered

a ligament injury.I'd be looking at an experienced player,someone like Ian Breckin (Forest ex skipper) who's

been transfer listed.He's a been there and done it type of player,having been with Rotherham,Chesterfield

and Wigan.He's also a leader having been skipper at Forest and Wigan.Not the youngest at 32,but could do

a job for us.Maybe on loan for january and see how things go? He's also the type of player who Ifil responds

to,with Jerel being told what and when to do things.

Breckin would be awesome, and scores a fair few aswell

aljofrees injury could be a blessing in disguise id we signed a proper cvaptain like breckin to replace him (assuming hes still any good)

Robbie Fowler on a short term deal?

Rumoured to be offered a job with Grimsby as a player coach, could be decent here to come off the bench with 20 minutes left as an experienced super sub. Or is this a stupid idea after Ruddock and Ince never really worked out.

Fowler - No.

Breckin - Yes please. Somewhere in the midst of Colin's rumoured appointment here, Breckin was mentioned as joining as well, which I thought was a fucking good move. Shame the whole thing won't happen, but I'll take Breckin.

Breckin is just what we need.

Is that the same one the likes of barcelona and man utd are supposedly interested in?

James Mcarthy he is called. Wouldn't have thought clubs of that stature would be interested but come on, who is going to sign for them, when they have a great chance of becoming a Swindon legend!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/7790832.stm

ibelieveinmrreeves is right, Jimmy Quinn was looking to sign him for us before BasTodd took over. Think we would have been priced out though in the pre-Brady era.

Sounds good to me, my one problem is (if you hadnt already have guessed) is who is going to sign him, the manager....oh wait!!!

Paul Wotton who appears to be off to Brighton on loan would have been a good signing to.

Is breckin not that twat who started goading the town end when we played forest last year?

Julian Bennett.