Salford City v Swindon Town Matchday Thread

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

Shade in L2 Team of the week

[Peter Venkman]

Shade in L2 Team of the week

Thats a pretty good sign that he didnt play as badly as some are suggesting.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

Similar to the Brewitt Syndrome!

[RobertT]

Similar to the Brewitt Syndrome!

Haha - I am still not sold on him either.

To be fair to myself - this is always with context, that my expectation for STFC in the fourth tier is to be top three.  Anything below that is failure and not good enough, therefore, a team of players who miss that objective are not good enough.  Even someone like FBT, who I think is a better player than the other two, is questionable if we got promoted.  No time for sentimental thoughts - I just want our  team to be the best it can be, and right now it is NOT (stats support me - this is our third season in a row down here, so the team cannot be good if I expect them to be top 3).

[Nemo]

Haha - I am still not sold on him either.

To be fair to myself - this is always with context, that my expectation for STFC in the fourth tier is to be top three.  Anything below that is failure and not good enough, therefore, a team of players who miss that objective are not good enough.  Even someone like FBT, who I think is a better player than the other two, is questionable if we got promoted.  No time for sentimental thoughts - I just want our  team to be th best it can be, and right now it is NOT (stats support me - this is our third season in a row down here, so the team cannot be good if I expect them to be top 3).

Just out of interest, who would you consider to be definitely good enough if we got promoted in our side? For the first time in quite a long time, this side feels like it's playing above the sum of its parts in my view.

[RobertT]

I do believe that Flynn is over delivering right now - without knowing for sure, the squad size and struggle to recruit would suggest a budget not really supportive of a top three finish.

For L1 it depends a bit on what we were going for.  I think Godwin-Malife can probably develop at a higher level and I'd sign Kemp, who should be good enough for L1 (although I'd wager he has the same issue as Payne when up against better players, finding it more difficult to impact games).  Clayton has shown some talent.

I'm not including Austin, because I am not sure if he continues.

There are a group below that who you would likely keep in the squad, but based on what we see week in and week out, they would be struggling if they were the core.  Like Hutton, Mcheachran, FBT, Khan. , Hpeburn-Murphy.  I am just not sure if they a top half L1 calibre player - they may be, so you'd give them a chance.

Right now, I don't see anywhere near enough from players like Brewitt, Cain, Minturn (give him time maybe), Shade, Uwakwe, Kinsella, Adeloye, Aguiar etc.  They are playing at this level for a reason, in most cases they've been down here for a while as well.

[Jilted John]

Fucking hell you are hard to please, this is League 2 not the fucking Premier League FFS.

[Mooneyraker]

I do believe that Flynn is over delivering right now - without knowing for sure, the squad size and struggle to recruit would suggest a budget not really supportive of a top three finish.

For L1 it depends a bit on what we were going for.  I think Godwin-Malife can probably develop at a higher level and I'd sign Kemp, who should be good enough for L1 (although I'd wager he has the same issue as Payne when up against better players, finding it more difficult to impact games).  Clayton has shown some talent.

I'm not including Austin, because I am not sure if he continues.

There are a group below that who you would likely keep in the squad, but based on what we see week in and week out, they would be struggling if they were the core.  Like Hutton, Mcheachran, FBT, Khan. , Hpeburn-Murphy.  I am just not sure if they a top half L1 calibre player - they may be, so you'd give them a chance.

Right now, I don't see anywhere near enough from players like Brewitt, Cain, Minturn (give him time maybe), Shade, Uwakwe, Kinsella, Adeloye, Aguiar etc.  They are playing at this level for a reason, in most cases they've been down here for a while as well.

Let's not fall out here...

[RobertT]

Fucking hell you are hard to please, this is League 2 not the fucking Premier League FFS.

Read the context - I am assessing them against an expectation of L2 top three right now, and then the question was who would you keep in L1.  Not how do I feel about them in a top half finish in League Two.  Most of the names I'd be less sure about in L1 are good enough for a play off chasing team in L2 - I am not knocking them, but it's all about what you are assessing them against.  Player for player, our team under Wellens was better than this squad, and it did not do that well in L1, did it?

[Nemo]

I don't particularly disagree with your assessments of where most of those players are, but we've bid up from "top 3 League Two" to "good enough to L1" to "top half of L1" over the last few posts - and however competitive our budget is or isn't in L2, I don't think even Clem would claim it would be anything like enough to be top half in L1 these days! If even a few members of our squad were top part of L1 standard then I think we'd be fairly well set for the games we're currently playing.

Just looking back at how many recent STFC players have gone on to play Championship or higher - it's really not that many is it (particularly if you don't include loan players we had very young). McKirdy has really struggled stepping up and he was great for us, Jonny Williams didn't move up a level when he left, ones we've sold like DJ also didn't make an impact. It feels like a much bigger gap than it was when we got relegated.

[RobertT]

Let's not fall out here...

Has he shown enough to be L1 mainstay, thus far?  I don't think so.  I think you replace him if mid table or above is your aim in a division higher than where we are right now.  You need to compare him to players we'd have had in the past in L1 that were good enough, like Greer, like Stephens on loan.  Sorry, they are lights out ahead of him.

[RobertT]

I don't particularly disagree with your assessments of where most of those players are, but we've bid up from "top 3 League Two" to "good enough to L1" to "top half of L1" over the last few posts - and however competitive our budget is or isn't in L2, I don't think even Clem would claim it would be anything like enough to be top half in L1 these days!

Our stated aim is promotion, which I'd assume is then followed by NOT getting relegated.  That's the target on Clems back, he put it there and so he should have, because less than that is fucking dire for our club.

[Mooneyraker]

Has he shown enough to be L1 mainstay, thus far?  I don't think so.  I think you replace him if mid table or above is your aim in a division higher than where we are right now.  You need to compare him to players we'd have had in the past in L1 that were good enough, like Greer, like Stephens on loan.  Sorry, they are lights out ahead of him.

I'd say you've chosen "L1 exceptional" rather than "L1 good enough" in those two.

[RobertT]

Fucking hell you are hard to please, this is League 2 not the fucking Premier League FFS.

Lets think of this a different way.

If you were targeting top three this season, and you had some spare budget available and we were still within a transfer window right now.  Would you just leave it as is?  I wouldn't, the squad does not look like a top three squad, yet.

I'd want a new centre back who was better than anyone on the squad.  I wouldn't be getting rid of anyone (although maybe I'd send Ward back), because you need a squad, not just a first XI.  It's an obvious area to upgrade if we were really serious and could support the move.

Next, I'd want a midfield enforcer who can play a bit - tough, but I'm not putting together a squad to meandre, i want A Grant in 2019/20.  I don't know who that is at this level, but that is the type of player we are crying out for, that gets us three points against Salford.  I mean, in 2020 we had Doughty as well - would anyone in the current team displace him?

I'd also be getting in another striker and making Young and Kemp permanent signings.

I think those moves, with Flynn as Manager, and we'd be pushing for top three without worrying about suspensions or injuries.  Right now, we are in the hunt, but we look like a first XI that could very quickly fall away if too many suspensions or injuries hit us.

[RobertT]

I'd say you've chosen "L1 exceptional" rather than "L1 good enough" in those two.

Neither two were part of promotion winning teams.

Exceptional would be Culverhouse.