Looking Forward

Time to start planning for the next year now that we know where we are going to be.

First thing we should do is get Carl fletcher signed up but who should stay? I say keep Cole, Berry, Blanchard, Purse and (though I surprise myself) Williams as a starting defence. In midfield I would keep Wotton and Young (the next Martin Barlow) but Walton, Hemmings, Hourihane and Bhasera for one reason or another have to go. Up front I am undecided but would keep Feeney and MacDonald, Tsoumou, Fletcher (who has been best of the three in the few times I have seen him) and Chadwick show exactly how we want to play. I suspect Tsoumou is the best long term option and maybe the cheapest one too.

Keep

Cole
Berry
Blanchard
Purse
Williams
Young
Wotton
Feeney
MacDonald
Tsoumou
All of the kids

Get Rid

Bignot
Walton
Bhasera
Hourihane
Fletcher (but we need somebody like him)
Chadwick
Daley
Soukouna

Although I might keep Soukouna. I like him.

(I put this on the wrong board.)

Hey Mods! I think there could be some mileage in this thread but it is on the wrong board. Can you shift it to the right one, please?

Oh yeah. I'd like to add Carl Fletcher as manager too.

Moved as per Frankie D's request.

I think MacDonald will join a higher league club on loan next season. Tsoumou is like a crapper version of Pericard (who was shit), although he could improve. I would probably keep Bhasera, but we might be able to sell him to Ollie for a Plymouth price. Another player where there has been a lot of hype (and I can't see why) is Nelson- I'd sell him to a higher level club as he is error prone.

Thanks Frank.
I don't agree with Ali about Tsoumou. He's as slow as a house but has a really good first touch. There's talent enough there to thrive in this division.

The sooner they ship Tsoumou out the better.Pub footy would be about his limit.C'mon Feeney,Chadwick,Tsoumou,not exactly going to break the back of the net on a regular basis are they.Chadwick and Tsoumou were both signed by Fletcher.If you look at our goals for column then that just about sums it up.

Trigger never scored many and we did alright with him up front. I don't actually blame the front men for the lack of goals. I'd look at the way the team was set up for that but it worked and we stayed up and that really is the acid test for how we played.

First thing I would do is get rid of Walton. I just cannot find anything to rate him. I think Bhasera will go anyway. Probably upwards. Sadly MacDonald isn't ours to keep or get rid of as I would love him to stay. Cole is another of my bug bears. He just cannot command his area although he is a great shop stopper. I find him a liability half the time and a hero the other half. Feeney works "his socks off" every match but he just doesn't score enough. Shame because I like his work ethic. Blanchard and Purse are a must. Young definately one for the future and I think he has a very bright one. Berry improved out of sight from the starting player we saw. I would have to keep Wotton partly out of sentiment but I still think he can do a job. I quite like Hemmings but he can be a passenger and he isn't our's either so it is a mute point. Williams has done ok for me.

The spine of a decent side is already here in my opinion. We need a midfield man who can support the frontmen in the same way we had Friio. If only we could find another one of them. We need a regular goal scorer who can put the ball away which may not be Chadwick. Maybe we have one in the youngsters already as one or two of them have been quite reasonable. I would keep Nelson for cover and he will improve. He isn't that terrible right now. A wide player on one side and encourage the fullback on the other to do the same job. Guess that would be Berry then as Williams hasn't got that pace.

SFD...would disagree with you strongly on that one.Trigger scored some fantastic match winning goals....Burnley at home, Brentford away,Swindon at home with that amazing free kick.C'mon get your memory in gear.

I can't help but wonder how good Blanchard is in midfield. There's a touch of the Friio's about him in terms of build and nationality and Friio was always a central defender before Luggy moved him into midfield. Trouble is Blanchard's been so good in defence that we're unlikely ever to find out.

oddball wrote:

SFD...would disagree with you strongly on that one.Trigger scored some fantastic match winning goals....Burnley at home, Brentford away,Swindon at home with that amazing free kick.C'mon get your memory in gear.

I'm not disagreeing with you about the quality of his goals just the quantity. He got a fair few but he played lots of games along the way. He was nowhere near as prolific as Marino Keith.

Sensiblegreeny wrote:

First thing I would do is get rid of Walton. I just cannot find anything to rate him. I think Bhasera will go anyway. Probably upwards. Sadly MacDonald isn't ours to keep or get rid of as I would love him to stay. Cole is another of my bug bears. He just cannot command his area although he is a great shop stopper. I find him a liability half the time and a hero the other half. Feeney works "his socks off" every match but he just doesn't score enough. Shame because I like his work ethic. Blanchard and Purse are a must. Young definately one for the future and I think he has a very bright one. Berry improved out of sight from the starting player we saw. I would have to keep Wotton partly out of sentiment but I still think he can do a job. I quite like Hemmings but he can be a passenger and he isn't our's either so it is a mute point. Williams has done ok for me.

The spine of a decent side is already here in my opinion. We need a midfield man who can support the frontmen in the same way we had Friio. If only we could find another one of them. We need a regular goal scorer who can put the ball away which may not be Chadwick. Maybe we have one in the youngsters already as one or two of them have been quite reasonable. I would keep Nelson for cover and he will improve. He isn't that terrible right now. A wide player on one side and encourage the fullback on the other to do the same job. Guess that would be Berry then as Williams hasn't got that pace.

SG in short I think your saying we need a completely new team(Purse & Blanchard excepted)

Done very well to stay up,looked very grim around christmas.Well done team ,management and most of all the fans.Did come down for the southend game,some of your fans got me a bit pissed,good day out though

Keep

Cole
Berry
Blanchard
Purse
Williams
Young
Feeney
MacDonald
Tsoumou
All of the kids

Get Rid

Bignot
Walton
Bhasera
Wotton
Hourihane
Fletcher (but we need somebody like him)
Chadwick
Daley
Soukouna

I struggle with Cole for the same reasons as sg gives. Some of his saves have been outstanding but that's not all that a keeper is about. The trouble is at this level would we get a better replacement? Difficult one!
Sadly, Wotton has to go - he was what we needed for the stay-up fight but whether he will manage another season for, hopefully, a promotion push, I'm not sure. I wouldn't object to him staying as cover.
For similar reasons, I almost put Feeney onto the 'get rid' list but I think he has more to offer for a while yet but maybe not as first choice starting every match.
MacDonald staying or going is not in our hands. If he was able, I'd keep him.
Tsoumou has got more to offer. I was impressed with some of his touches. He's young. If we can keep hold of him I'd be ok with that. Maybe another loan would be an isurance. Just don't bloody well use him as a target man!
The only reason I've put Bhasera on get rid is that others seem to think we could get a good fee for him. I don't see that so wouldn't object if he stayed.
I like Nelson. I think he has got a good future in the game. He is very young. Given support from an experienced pro beside him and away from the pressure of being exposed in a relegation scrap he will improve. It's a pity that Purse & Blanchard are such a superb pairing otherwise Nelson and Purse would be a damned good combination eventually. I can't see Purse lasting more than another season so maybe Nelson will have his opportunity then.
Luke Young just gets better & better.


That's a large number of players we need to bring in and meld into a team over the summer! So where are we going to get the new boys from? Some defensive cover. Almost a whole new creative as well as holding midfield. A big lump of a seasoned pro in attack plus some subtlety.

Not much to ask.....

I don't think I did say that Oddball. "the spine of a decent side is already here" is the words used. Some players are not ours to keep anyway and there are 4 maybe 5 I would get rid of. That is hardly a new squad altogether. I'm only asking for 3 maybe 4 players to come in and where I would like them to play. We might need more depending on the number that go but I'm talking right now. If I could only keep one player it would be Blanchard for me.

SG... to me a spine is about three players and I believe Brian Clough said the same.A goalkeeper, a centre half, and a centre forward, and you build your team around that,Well I'm happy with Jake Cole and more than happy with Darren Purse at this level.Other than that I think big changes have to be made if we are to be a force to be reckoned with next season.Just have to disagree on this one. No worries.

No Blanchard?

I wasn't aware I had to do Cloughie speak and "the spine" was my definition not anyone else's. I expanded on my definition to 3 or 4 players in and the numbers out.

I think that the forwards are the most difficult to work out as Fletch hasn't really used them as such this season, no striker would score many goals playing in a defensive minded 4-5-1 set up. It will be interesting to see if Fletch can make the hard decisions about which players to ship out when he has played with them for so long.

Soukouna is a strange one for me. The times I have seen him he has shown obvious talent...but I'm at a loss to guess why he is stuck in the reserves