Bradshaw's partner next season

It's pretty obvious Bradshaw needs someone with a physical presence next to him to bring the best out of him. Does anyone else reckon Hecky might be considering playing Moncur up front next season? With us having signed Mowatt and Mallan already, and several other central midfielders allegedly on our radar including McGeehan, this would make sense. He often played up front for Colchester, usually on his own from what I can gather, but I think he'd also be well-suited to playing in a front two personally.

 

I understand what you're saying but I'm sure Hecky said that they brought him as a midfielder and not a number 10

 

I'm not sure Bradshaw (as of yet) as done enough to warrant building the team to suit his playing style. Given his lack of telling contribution other than scoring he needs to score a lot more goals before you could consider him an automatic starter. At Walsall he usually played with a partner but rarely one with a physical presence Hiwula (sp) is a good player but no Paul Wilkinson. I think Bradshaw struggled with the standard of defender rather than our playing style


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Have to agree. He's got a decent touch, but he goes missing in games too much. Got a lot of improving to do.
He needs some competition for his place. A club should have 4 starters up front, if playing 442. 2 on bench & 2 on the field. We just about had that
at the start of the season with Winnall, Armstrong, Bradshaw & Watkins (if you count Watkins as a striker). The loss of Winnall & the disappointing form of Armstrong, meant Bradshaw was a constant starter, despite a huge goal drought. When a striker is not scoring it's sometimes better to drop them to the bench, rather than them knowing they are pretty much guaranteed striker.

I could see 2 of our loans being young premiership loanees & us maybe signing one other forward on top. Hopefully Brown may progress to a few substitute appearances too, when there are injuries / suspensions.

Failure to bring in competition will lead to a very hard season & I'm sure Hecky is working on it.
It looks like midfield is covered at least!

 

Whilst were shopping north of the border. Maybe Liam Boyce at Ross County could be worth a look. One of the top scorers in the premiership, 26 though but looks handy. Puts himself about, decent scoring record (albeit slightly lower levels)

 

I think hecky is going to move away from 442 as he did at times last season. 4141 seems to be his favoured way. Another 2 wingers, big striker and defensive mid will be his priorities to bring in with moncur mowatt and mallan fighting for the 2 central spots.

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Agree with that we played one up top quite abit after january trouble is I'm not sure bradshaw is suited to been a lone striker.

 

I think Bradshaw will drop to the bench in favour of a big lad, speed and attacking from the mid 4 with a safety barrier of a defensive mid behind.

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I've mentioned him on here before, I think he'd be a great signing, got another two against Kilmarnock yesterday. At 26 he might be slightly out of the range we look at, but if he has a good couple of seasons for us I can see a load of clubs wanting to take a 28 year old goalscorer off our hands.

 

I don't rate Bradshaw at this level. He's not fast, not particularly strong, he's small, not all that skillful and the one attribute he supposedly has - a good first touch and finish - has really let him down in the last few months. 1 goal in his last 14 appearances. And it's not like he hasn't had the chances, he's had umpteen golden opportunities but fluffed them. He doesn't have the same time and space as he did in the division below and there is a better class of keeper so either the defence are on him or the keeper blocks the shot. Given the same opportunities, Winnall would have had another 10 goals to add to his tally. I don't dislike Bradshaw, he works hard and he proved the season before last that at League 1 level he's a good player. I just don't think he has the stature and the physique for his type of game to work in the championship when he's up against defenders who are stronger, faster and bigger than he is; defenders who also have a bit of nouse.

Moncur I do rate. But not as a number 10. Play him in that role and he looks lost. Put him in central midfield and he looks like a player. He can pass and tackle, he works hard and like all good central midfielders he can time his run into the box, or make space on the edge of it, and grab a goal.

I'd be looking to sign players that complement Moncur's game with him at the heart of central midfield. Bradshaw I'd be looking to replace.

 

To be fair, the inability to keep Watkins or Scowen or sell them for a good fee kinda blows our so called buying philosophy out of the window. If were going to get cheap youngsters and develop them but just let em go for nothing but still maintain they gave us good service and be happy with that, why dont we buy the 26, 27 and 28 year olds then. Cant see much difference really, ok the older player maybe not as 'hungry' but theyre hopefully the finished article so what you lose on one hand you gain with the other. And when I say the finished article, I dont mean from another championship club because they obviously cost too much.

 

Tottally disagree.

Moncurs an Attacking midfielder. If you went to Blackburn you would have seen him at his best. He was bloody brilliant that day. He's done alright in Central midfield but he's playing massively within himself. He's having to constantly think about what he should be doing rather than just playing football. He's a very talented football Moncur with a lot of good attributes. Decent off both feet when he needs to. Very quick when running with the ball. Decent shot. When he plays CM you don't see the running with the ball as much and that burst of speed.

Looking forward to seeing him play next season.

 

You make the comment about not selling Watkins & Scowan, but the club have taken pelters on here for doing that in january with our other departures, imagine the meltdown if we had sold those two as well. Its a dammed if you do & a dammed if you dont situation.

 

I'd have to agree with that his natural position is attacking midfielder in the 10 role. As for replacing bradshaw already he was played up top on his own in many games which he is not a lone striker. Many leeds fans had wrote chris wood off as a donkey before monk was appointed and look what happened their I wouldn't write bradshaw off just yet but needs to be played with a strike partner to get the best out of him.

 

It makes me chuckle a little bit when I see Bradshaw not been a lone striker.

He had success in a 423ONE. It's what Dean Smith does and plays.
Bradshaw played very well with Sawyer who's a very good attacking midfielder and he pulled the strings for Walsall and Bradshaw fitted that well. Heckingbottom needs to get a way like D Smith did to get him doing more of what he's good at. He's good at holding the ball up with his chest and playing off that and spinning in behind. He's a decent instinct striker too. When he play up the centre backs have to have the ability to hit him at the level he wants. Hitting him at head level against a 6ft plus defenders effectively giving the ball away every time.

Saying that I think we've needed a all round striker for 12 months. Needs to be a hgh priority with the most money we can give it.

 

The bottom line is were supposed to have a way of doings things that people seem to constantly remind everyone of when it comes to transfers. Im just saying Warkins and Scowen disprove this. Of course selling them in January wasnt ever going to be a good idea, but the club was too reactive and not proactive enough, therefore it left us with an option to sell em for way below their value or let em go for nowt in June..both not great ideas and prove the system weve adopted has flaws if not kept on top of. I understand everything isnt going to work bob on all the time but surely this means we can get the odd player that doesent fit the transfer profile.
Can I just say I do agree with buying young good players from lower leagues in the main, but surely we can stray from this for one or two.

 

I'm certainly expecting more from Bradshaw next season and believe he'll deliver on a more consistent basis. As for partners, or striker alternatives, I'd like to see a speed merchant and an old fashioned target man in the squad to give Hecky other striking options. Whether that means they're promoted from within or recruited, I don't mind.
Moncur has shown the potential where he could well be the fulcrum of the team (ala Howard, Butterfield, Hourihane). I believe he'll be a big player for us next season.

 

Exacerbated by late promotion, losing 2 CEO's, owner serious illness and firefighting a bung riddled assistant coach. Wasn't ideal, but I can imagine the flack if we'd been in the bottom 3 all season with players who proved to be inadequate for the championship, sitting on nice inflated 3-4 year deals. Hindsight is a wonderful thing

 

Ok our system is fine then. Im no football expert but I knew Hourihane, winnall and Scowen were good enough for the championship. Offering them a 1 year extension last May was hardly a gamble.

 

I agree with most of what you say, you talk a lot of sense, however, I am curious as to how we should handle players who hedge their bets like Scowan & Watkins, because I believe they hold all the aces yet the club will inevitably take stick no matter what.