Colombia Blade
Member
Agree with this. Our lack of creativity got us relegated the last time, and as you say, Ndiaye, Berge and McAtee's creativity got us up and none of those are now with us. We've already signed Hamer who plays in a very similar position to Doyle, although he did play a fair few times as LCM in a flat 3 last season (according to SoccerWay) so I suppose we could have Doyle - Souza - Hamer if we play like that, tho it seems a little off balance to me. Hamer also played LM in a double pivot a few times, so we could have Doyle - Hamer which I do like the sound of, but then where does Souza play? It could be possible that Hamer is pushed further upfield to attacking midfield right or 10, leaving a midfield duo of Doyle - Souza, but then Hamer never played in that position for Coventry last season (not to say he couldn't).I agree with all of this. I was very underwhelmed by Doyle who, after an amazing debut, spent the rest of the time either injured or in middling form.
It wasn't until March that we started to see a bit of what he's all about.
My only issue with signing Doyle is, where do we play him? We've signed Souza as a holding midfielder, when Doyle was at his best everything went through him in the middle.
The next problem is our tight budget and total lack of creativity and goal threat since losing Ndiaye, Berge and McAtee.
Should we be allocating a large chunk of our remaining budget to Doyle who doesn't really solve those issues?
Signing Akpom instead of Doyle (if money is tight) + a creative attacking midfielder on loan + Archer (loan or buy) would to me make more sense and solve some of the issues of replacing Ndiaye and McAtee (if Hamer is the replacement for Berge). I'd probably prioritise O'Brien before Doyle as well for balance and budget for when we do play a flat 3 in midfield.
That said, I do rate Doyle and if Hamer can play further upfield, then Doyle back could be a very good signing for the team (as long as the budget stretches to solving the creativity issues we have)