Buy in experience or be relegated

I find it hard to believe that the new board will not realise that they need to spend a bit to survive. Why would they not do so. I do not think they will want to take a step backwards and run the bagatelle of L1 promotion. I am convinced they will bring in some players to steady the ship in the coming month. Yes they said they would not do anything crazy but they also spoke of using their resources too and to me that can only mean a player or more from Nice. Maybe one or two from UK and maybe a loan or two. But why would they invest in us and then let us be relegated, that is just not logical at all.

 

Time will tell

 

I'm assuming they have a plan. Not "the" plan, but a plan. What that is I have as much idea as the next man ie no clue whatsoever. It may even include relegation - who knows? But in light of that I think it utterly pointless to speculate. Why not just sit back and see where the ride takes us?

 

indeed it will, but I would be amazed if they do not take steps to keep us in the championship.

 

We might lose Mowatt that would be tragic...

 

Who is going to want him?

 

I think we could do with letting a couple of midfielders go out on loan to get game time, in we are going to bring an experienced midfielder in.

Key has to be a striker & sort out some goalkeeping cover, maybe letting Townsend out on loan, or moving him on.

Defensively we are starting to look OK.

Not miles off a decent team. A few in & out & I've faith we can stay up. 3 points tomorrow would be a boost too.

 

Might with some luck get Fletcher , forget the rest , they will be out of our league

 

I can’t believe you would opt not to sign a striker this window.

We need a striker in over EVERY other position. We are beyond desperate for it.

Keeper we are desperate for someone who is good enough to be number one.

Centre back we are fine.

Full back required if Yiadom goes.

Winger needed if Barnes goes.

Centre midfield only needed if they are definitely better than what we have and can tackle.

 

Agree with this.

Luton are flying in League 2 I’d try and get Mcgeehan back there to get his confidence back up.

If someone else comes in we could also let Moncur or Mallan go out on loan however I’d like to see Mallan given a chance as he was okay vs Preston.

Ideally go with Williams, Gardner, Bird, Mallan/Moncur and one other but only if he’s definitely better than what we have. May not see much else of Bird, Moncur/Mallan but if we have someone better it won’t matter.

 

Time to punt Moncur out

 

I'm not sure that the spreadsheet flags up the type of forward we need. There may be several 'big man' options out there that can do a job, but their value to the team might not translate into many goals and assists for themselves. Hecky certainly seemed frustrated at what he was being given yesterday, when he talked about sticking centre halves up front.

 

I think a couple of forwards , a Matty James type of midfielder would be great , preferably himself & if Yiadom goes he will need replacing but I am perfectly happy with the rest , including the goalkeeper

 

At various points of this season, we have all questioned why Potts was getting picked, or why Fryers was getting picked when neither was playing particularly well in their position. The answer may well be that they provide additional height in defensive dead ball situations. We are not a particularly tall team, especially when Mallan and Isgrove are in the side. If he plays a centre back as a target man, as well as helping up front, he might also allow us to play McCarthy and Yiadom at full back, or Mallen in midfield. A centre back up front allows Hecky to balance the rest of the team better, and we have McDonald who in theory improves our distribution from the back because both centre backs are then not left sided, with one playing out of position.

 

We haven't looked solid at the back since Roberts left, despite numerous pairings. We can't have Kevin Long, but everyone will remember the huge influence he had on our defenders in his short loan spell. Someone similar is required, for me.

In midfield, we haven't properly replaced Hourihane or Scowen. Gardener and Williams are improving, but they don't provide Hourihane's creativity or Scowen's solidity.

I'd be happy to address these deficiencies and to judge our existing strikers once we have provided them with some decent quality supply. Another one would do no harm, but it's not the biggest issue for me. Leadership and creativity is.

 

You have elected to begin fixing the team from the back, whereas most of us have elected to begin fixing the team from the front, but in essence I think that we all agree that that team is not working from back to front. You say that if the defence can hold its own, we can begin fixing the rest of the team, and there is no argument that midfield is playing 10 yards deeper than it should be and is constructed with defensively minded players. That is because Hecky has chosen to try to keep clean sheets, but in fairness, when there is a problem with a team because they are not scoring, most coaches would elect to start by trying to keep clean sheets, simply because there is no way that we can outscore our opponents. The question is not that team team needs fixing, it is where is the most pressing and obvious place to start. We lack quality all over the field, but the most obvious area where that absence of quality is telling is up front. Our best forward seems to be Bradshaw, but he lacks most of what you are looking for at this level. He is not tall enough to be a threat in the air, or even to provide cover at the back for defensive set pieces. He does not have the pace to be a threat to the average defence at our level and therefore defences are happy to push up and condense the space and he does not score goals from distance and he is not particularly accurate from close quarters either, even though this is where he scores the majority of his goals. But he is our best.

A team is never about just one thing, but if we could get them playing further up the pitch, it would do a lot for team confidence and effectiveness, and the best way to do that is by pushing the opposition back towards their own goal, and the best way to do that is to provide a threat up front, either in the air or on the ground. Most of us have suggested that we should go for an aerial threat because that at least allows us to continue with the long game in order to allow the midfield to continue protecting our defence. I believe that is the place that we should start, but by no means does it solve all our problems.

 

Cameron Jerome from Norwich is up for sale & would be ideal although competition for his signature might rule us out as Cardiff , Sunderland & one or two more championship clubs are rumoured to be interested

 

Just a general point of reply..... why, now, should we be ruling ourselves out of signing good players?
I'd have thought that other clubs in this league would now be including Barnsley in the list of "we can't compete with them."

 

Do we really want to continue with the long ball stuff by signing a "big" striker?