to our last 3 tier 3 promotion teams: 2006 Ritchie team Colgan Hassell Reid Kay Heckingbottom Devaney Howard McPhail Shuker Hayes Nardiello 2016 Heckingbottom team Davies Scowen Mawson Roberts (Age 26) Williams Isgrove Hourihane Brownhill Hammill Fletcher Winnall 2019 Stendel team Davies Cavare Lindsay Pinnock Pinillos Bahre / Potts Mowatt McGeehan Brown Woodrow Moore How many players in our current 11 get into any of those sides? Connell over Mowatt or Howard nowhere near, Humphries to Winnall, MDG to Pinnock, O'Keefe to Scowen...you get the point I think
I think the answer you'd expect is that nobody in out current side would be pushing for a place in those. Maybe put Roberts in for Roberts.
We are missing a strong midfield maestro controlling the game and a natural goal poacher for sure. If we added those I think we would be ok. Connell certainly ain't able to dictate a game as it currently stands. I think Hourihane should push the boat out on the fitness. If we could get 65 mins out of him per match we may see a difference.
The thing we're missing the most (IMO) is width. Each promotion side had good quality attacking wingers, and two strikers up front feeding on that service. Our obsession with the three at the back and wing back model has put a stop to this.
Two flying wingers, one of which could score brilliant goals from distance, especially at Wembley. It’s like another lifetime
Not many of this lot can score from distance that’s for sure. Some our shooting recently has been embarrassing. Connell being the worst culprit.
I think that highlights all the more that recruitment and development over the last 2-3 years at least has been awful. in 96/7 we played with wingbacks and we played the best football I've seen in my lifetime by an absolute distance. 2016 and 2019, we played spells of excellent football, with very different tactics and very different systems. It sounds obvious to say that in each of those instances we had good players, being coached well and in a system that suited them. I don't know who picked this system, but it obviously wasn't Clarke. But we have 3 centre backs that don't look comfortable when wingbacks push on, and we have wingbacks, who wouldn't look comfortable as conventional fullbacks. There's no congruency. I could understand the sentiment of the Cryne ethos of keep a system, change the coach to suit the system. I didn't always agree with it, but I understood the reasoning and intent behind it. As fans, I think we need to bin off the idea that anything from the Cryne era is actually in play anymore. These are new owners, new executives with their own ideas that have heard what was passed down and either modified or abandoned what we've done prior. And we are all the poorer for it. Losing more money, playing worse football, failing to deliver what fans want as a playing style. Sometimes you just have to ask yourself tough questions and be honest about it. The question to every board member and every executive... are you enjoying... 'this'?
If the three teams listed, what’s the best League One XI? For me: Probably a 4-3-3 Davies Hassell Mawson Pinnock Heckingbottom Hourihane Mowatt Brownhill Hayes Winnall Hammill If it has to be 4-4-2, as those teams all in reality were, then Howard in for Brownhill
No comparison not one of these gets in any of those teams Phillips the closest but goes awol too often. I think the recruitment needs.to go.back to the sort of players we went for then. The players who have excelled in league 2 or even conference. Which brought us conor, winnall, scowen, Roberts, pinnock etc although it would probably cost more now than bringing in josh Benson, Cosgrove, watters etc
Agree about the Crynes will have little involvement now in recruitment etc. Someone posted a comment yesterday about binning the spreadsheet. The 2015-18/19 is probably some of the best I've ever seen us do even the loans. Now we go for Benson, watters, Cosgrove etc even Roberts (ok he's been good not knocking the signing) but unwanted by brum. Previously we never signed players released. The model has changed. Am I enjoying it, no I even thought to myself for a 2nd last night a drop in leagues and come back stronger could do us good.
