Next Season - Strengths and Weaknesses
Aug 2, 2020 12:05:09 GMT
Lofty, Neshead, and 2 more like this
Post by Hobhead on Aug 2, 2020 12:05:09 GMT
There’s been the usual rumblings of the standard pre-season, ‘announce promotion’ type recently and (unsurprisingly) I think they’ve gone early. This is a thread to discuss what we’ve brought to the club so far, what we still need, what we’ve got but don’t need, likely tactics, Kenny Black’s hobo shoes and any other shit that might be worth considering.
Goalkeeper
O’Donnell is a good keeper for this level and wouldn’t be a concern at the one above either. The problem here is going to be the times O’Donnell is injured or suspended. I don’t have the first idea what Hornby is like but losing O’Donnell would likely be a big blow. We’re trusting to hope a little here and praying O’Donnell doesn’t get injured but we’ve got bigger problems to attend to.
Defence
This is where the concerns start to mount. Going by the way we’re recruiting and the odd hint dropped by McCall I suspect our default formation will be a 5-3-1-1 to start the season (until such time as it’s no longer objectively viable to select Clarke) meaning wingbacks with a back three. I’m not as convinced as some that Sutton was signed as a squad player and think he is earmarked for the right wing back slot. This is the first defensive concern as I’m convinced that Sutton will prove to simply be not good enough. His signing smells like one of the ones we make all too often and we end up hoping we can find a club to take his contract over while running his contract down to the inevitable release and drop to non league. In the meantime he’s got at least half a season as a substandard first team player to look forward to, three quarters if he can be defended as putting a shift in.
As for the central three A O’Connor becomes a concern as he seems incapable of playing in a three. The extra body in there seems to completely confuse him as to what is his responsibility and what is his fellow defenders’. This leads to the inevitable fuck ups where we seem incapable of carrying out the basics and A O’Connor then goes on to berate his fellow defenders for errors that are of his making which only increases confusion and pressure in future. If we must play with a back three than he’s going to need some work on the training pitch. That said he’s coming off the back of a decent season so he might not be liability that I’m worried he’ll be.
P O’Connor is coming off a disappointing season having looked like a genuinely good acquisition. He didn’t make enough appearances last season and another season like that and his development is going to be stunted. He’s twenty three now and needs a full, solid season under his belt or he’s another one that will fade into the semi-pro ranks. It’s a big season for Paudie, he needs to play and play well. Sadly his fellow central defenders might be his undoing.
BRE is twenty four carat, solid shite. He’s slow, clumsy and stiff. Aside from winning headers he doesn’t really contribute very much at all. Sadly we have bigger priorities elsewhere so it’s highly likely we’ll be stuck with him.
On the other side of defence is the star of the show in a Wood. We’ve absolutely no concerns in the left back/left wingback position other than getting him to sign a new contract - which we’re starting to look conspicuously slow to do.
In conclusion our central defence consists of a man who’s a bit of a cunt to his teammates and arguably can’t play in a three, a lad with a fair bit to prove and a lumbering penalty waiting to happen. At full back we’ve got one who I predict will prove to not be good enough and one who’s a genuinely quality player. This isn’t the stuff promotion campaigns are made of and we’ll be vulnerable to conceding stupid goals all season - especially at set pieces where we’ll see two men marking one and one wide open. Hopefully what’s ahead of them will be of sufficient quality to take the pressure off...
Midfield
Here we have an obvious work in progress and this is where we look to have done some very good business.
Cooke looked good even under the claustrophobic restrictions of Bowyerball. He topped our tackling stats and came fourth (I think) in the whole league for pass completion stats despite being squashed by Bowyer’s extreme caution and stifling his natural game as a result of being used as yet another sitting midfielder. There’s every chance that under McCall he’ll be allowed to play his natural game and we should see a much better return as a result. I can see Cooke hitting double figures for goals and being high up the assist charts.
We don’t know a great deal about Watt apart from the odd Twitter testimonial from Carlisle fans and one or two ‘sorry to see him go’ Tweets from Wolves fans. That said the one thing that gives me hope he’ll turn out to be a good player is that he’s been said to be the opposite of the Suttons that we usually collect in that he can apparently play well anywhere instead of not being able to master any one position but can ‘do a job’ in several. I think Watt will be a good signing and in him and Cooke we’ve got two young players who have every chance of improving as opposed to he fading old stagers with no chance of a resale that we usually collect. I’m happy with, and even looking forward to watching, these two.
As happy as I am with the midfield rebuild so far there is one glaring omission and it’s the ball winner. Cooke can tackle but in order for us to get the best of him we can’t expect him to do it all and he needs freeing up for us to take advantage of the attacking side of his game. If we are playing with a three man midfield then the next signing in there is crucial, get that right and we’ll potentially have a very good midfield.
One note of caution though is that I think after the next signing in there there’ll be no more. Any injuries and we’re into the promoted youth players or the ineffectual Pritchard for cover. While we’ve heard good things about Shanks, it might be detrimental to his development if we find ourselves in the position of having to select him due to injuries, suspensions and lack of cover. Playing a kid despite a lack of form because you have no other option is a sure fire way to destroy that kid’s confidence. Let’s hope we don’t get too many injuries or suspensions in there or, if we do, Shanks has balls like melons.
Promising so far though.
Attack
Up front is the biggest area of concern where, outside of Vaughan, I can’t see any positives. In all likelihood Vaughan will leave and if that happens we’re in trouble. Rumours Guthrie might be going to Crewe would be immense especially if Vaughan did leave. Looking at our forwards we have Novak who runs around a lot but contributes very little besides his effort. Donaldson is a spent force and anyone defending him as a player is left with little to work with other than slightly above average hold up play. He’s on big money, doesn’t contribute anywhere near enough and can miss an open goal from three feet out. Guthrie has hardly played but when he has he’s looked like a cousin of George Weah. Vaughan leaving will make room for one incoming and without Vaughan our forward line would need far more work than one transfer could cover. Again, this is why Guthrie leaving would be huge. Two goal scorers could replace Vaughan, one likely wouldn’t.
This leads us on to Clarke. Clarke will turn out to be a really poor signing partly because he’s not very good and partly because he’s exactly what we didn’t need. With a forward line that consists of three impotent bumblers and only one goal scorer what we desperately needed was a finisher; what we got was Clarke. Even taking into account the supposed increase in chances created that Clarke is here to provide, they aren’t worth a wank if he’s feeding strikers who can’t score. Clarke could also turn out to be the worst thing that could happen to Cooke. With Clarke liking to drop deep and Cooke looking to push on something will end up having give and you can bet your trousers it’ll be Cooke that has to accommodate Clarke. It will also mean playing Vaughan as an isolated front man and we all know how that works out.
We already have to move to a 5-3-1-1 formation to make room for Clarke but his inclusion will also affect how the midfield sets up and it’ll be to the detriment of both Cooke and Vaughan. Clarke’s not worth it and we’d have been much better served trying to add a finisher to our forward line, playing with a legitimate front two, helping both Vaughan and Cooke’s game in the process and likely increasing our goals for. Clarke isn’t capable of playing as well as he needs to to justify his inclusion and that’s why he’s such a poor signing, not because, ‘HE’S FUCKING SHIT’ etc.
Up front needs work and our lack of goals is the biggest concern followed by defensive frailty. After that we still need the right signing in midfield and we’re weak in the right fullback/wingback area. We could also use a bit of work on the wing as Ismail is injury prone and Pritchard isn’t much cop. We might find ourselves stuck with wingbacks and unable to make a tactical switch if we leave ourselves without any options on the wing. It’s a lot of work still to do.
In short I think our problems are too big to fix in one window, especially when we’re pretty potless. Every signing needed to be a good one this year if we were to push but we’ve already fired two blanks in Sutton and Clarke, any more and we could struggle. We've got too much work still to do, too much deadwood still to jettison and (so far) a tactically restrictive squad composition. With McCall quoted as saying we might sign ‘two or three more’ doesn’t lead me to believe it’s time to ‘announce promotion’.
Current prediction: twelfth.
Goalkeeper
O’Donnell is a good keeper for this level and wouldn’t be a concern at the one above either. The problem here is going to be the times O’Donnell is injured or suspended. I don’t have the first idea what Hornby is like but losing O’Donnell would likely be a big blow. We’re trusting to hope a little here and praying O’Donnell doesn’t get injured but we’ve got bigger problems to attend to.
Defence
This is where the concerns start to mount. Going by the way we’re recruiting and the odd hint dropped by McCall I suspect our default formation will be a 5-3-1-1 to start the season (until such time as it’s no longer objectively viable to select Clarke) meaning wingbacks with a back three. I’m not as convinced as some that Sutton was signed as a squad player and think he is earmarked for the right wing back slot. This is the first defensive concern as I’m convinced that Sutton will prove to simply be not good enough. His signing smells like one of the ones we make all too often and we end up hoping we can find a club to take his contract over while running his contract down to the inevitable release and drop to non league. In the meantime he’s got at least half a season as a substandard first team player to look forward to, three quarters if he can be defended as putting a shift in.
As for the central three A O’Connor becomes a concern as he seems incapable of playing in a three. The extra body in there seems to completely confuse him as to what is his responsibility and what is his fellow defenders’. This leads to the inevitable fuck ups where we seem incapable of carrying out the basics and A O’Connor then goes on to berate his fellow defenders for errors that are of his making which only increases confusion and pressure in future. If we must play with a back three than he’s going to need some work on the training pitch. That said he’s coming off the back of a decent season so he might not be liability that I’m worried he’ll be.
P O’Connor is coming off a disappointing season having looked like a genuinely good acquisition. He didn’t make enough appearances last season and another season like that and his development is going to be stunted. He’s twenty three now and needs a full, solid season under his belt or he’s another one that will fade into the semi-pro ranks. It’s a big season for Paudie, he needs to play and play well. Sadly his fellow central defenders might be his undoing.
BRE is twenty four carat, solid shite. He’s slow, clumsy and stiff. Aside from winning headers he doesn’t really contribute very much at all. Sadly we have bigger priorities elsewhere so it’s highly likely we’ll be stuck with him.
On the other side of defence is the star of the show in a Wood. We’ve absolutely no concerns in the left back/left wingback position other than getting him to sign a new contract - which we’re starting to look conspicuously slow to do.
In conclusion our central defence consists of a man who’s a bit of a cunt to his teammates and arguably can’t play in a three, a lad with a fair bit to prove and a lumbering penalty waiting to happen. At full back we’ve got one who I predict will prove to not be good enough and one who’s a genuinely quality player. This isn’t the stuff promotion campaigns are made of and we’ll be vulnerable to conceding stupid goals all season - especially at set pieces where we’ll see two men marking one and one wide open. Hopefully what’s ahead of them will be of sufficient quality to take the pressure off...
Midfield
Here we have an obvious work in progress and this is where we look to have done some very good business.
Cooke looked good even under the claustrophobic restrictions of Bowyerball. He topped our tackling stats and came fourth (I think) in the whole league for pass completion stats despite being squashed by Bowyer’s extreme caution and stifling his natural game as a result of being used as yet another sitting midfielder. There’s every chance that under McCall he’ll be allowed to play his natural game and we should see a much better return as a result. I can see Cooke hitting double figures for goals and being high up the assist charts.
We don’t know a great deal about Watt apart from the odd Twitter testimonial from Carlisle fans and one or two ‘sorry to see him go’ Tweets from Wolves fans. That said the one thing that gives me hope he’ll turn out to be a good player is that he’s been said to be the opposite of the Suttons that we usually collect in that he can apparently play well anywhere instead of not being able to master any one position but can ‘do a job’ in several. I think Watt will be a good signing and in him and Cooke we’ve got two young players who have every chance of improving as opposed to he fading old stagers with no chance of a resale that we usually collect. I’m happy with, and even looking forward to watching, these two.
As happy as I am with the midfield rebuild so far there is one glaring omission and it’s the ball winner. Cooke can tackle but in order for us to get the best of him we can’t expect him to do it all and he needs freeing up for us to take advantage of the attacking side of his game. If we are playing with a three man midfield then the next signing in there is crucial, get that right and we’ll potentially have a very good midfield.
One note of caution though is that I think after the next signing in there there’ll be no more. Any injuries and we’re into the promoted youth players or the ineffectual Pritchard for cover. While we’ve heard good things about Shanks, it might be detrimental to his development if we find ourselves in the position of having to select him due to injuries, suspensions and lack of cover. Playing a kid despite a lack of form because you have no other option is a sure fire way to destroy that kid’s confidence. Let’s hope we don’t get too many injuries or suspensions in there or, if we do, Shanks has balls like melons.
Promising so far though.
Attack
Up front is the biggest area of concern where, outside of Vaughan, I can’t see any positives. In all likelihood Vaughan will leave and if that happens we’re in trouble. Rumours Guthrie might be going to Crewe would be immense especially if Vaughan did leave. Looking at our forwards we have Novak who runs around a lot but contributes very little besides his effort. Donaldson is a spent force and anyone defending him as a player is left with little to work with other than slightly above average hold up play. He’s on big money, doesn’t contribute anywhere near enough and can miss an open goal from three feet out. Guthrie has hardly played but when he has he’s looked like a cousin of George Weah. Vaughan leaving will make room for one incoming and without Vaughan our forward line would need far more work than one transfer could cover. Again, this is why Guthrie leaving would be huge. Two goal scorers could replace Vaughan, one likely wouldn’t.
This leads us on to Clarke. Clarke will turn out to be a really poor signing partly because he’s not very good and partly because he’s exactly what we didn’t need. With a forward line that consists of three impotent bumblers and only one goal scorer what we desperately needed was a finisher; what we got was Clarke. Even taking into account the supposed increase in chances created that Clarke is here to provide, they aren’t worth a wank if he’s feeding strikers who can’t score. Clarke could also turn out to be the worst thing that could happen to Cooke. With Clarke liking to drop deep and Cooke looking to push on something will end up having give and you can bet your trousers it’ll be Cooke that has to accommodate Clarke. It will also mean playing Vaughan as an isolated front man and we all know how that works out.
We already have to move to a 5-3-1-1 formation to make room for Clarke but his inclusion will also affect how the midfield sets up and it’ll be to the detriment of both Cooke and Vaughan. Clarke’s not worth it and we’d have been much better served trying to add a finisher to our forward line, playing with a legitimate front two, helping both Vaughan and Cooke’s game in the process and likely increasing our goals for. Clarke isn’t capable of playing as well as he needs to to justify his inclusion and that’s why he’s such a poor signing, not because, ‘HE’S FUCKING SHIT’ etc.
Up front needs work and our lack of goals is the biggest concern followed by defensive frailty. After that we still need the right signing in midfield and we’re weak in the right fullback/wingback area. We could also use a bit of work on the wing as Ismail is injury prone and Pritchard isn’t much cop. We might find ourselves stuck with wingbacks and unable to make a tactical switch if we leave ourselves without any options on the wing. It’s a lot of work still to do.
In short I think our problems are too big to fix in one window, especially when we’re pretty potless. Every signing needed to be a good one this year if we were to push but we’ve already fired two blanks in Sutton and Clarke, any more and we could struggle. We've got too much work still to do, too much deadwood still to jettison and (so far) a tactically restrictive squad composition. With McCall quoted as saying we might sign ‘two or three more’ doesn’t lead me to believe it’s time to ‘announce promotion’.
Current prediction: twelfth.