Need to spend big and wisely in the JTW

[Harry's Game]

If we don't then we are going down,

We need..

A New goalkeeper

A new centre Midfielder

One maybe two wide men

A proven 15 -20 goals a season striker.

Even if we get them they need to hit the ground running. At the current rate we are going to need a repeat of the famous winning run of 1990 / 91 to stop up and from what I have seen so far this season I can't see it happening

 

[shorehamview]

Let's shake the player tree and see who falls out. The trouble with proven goal scorers is clubs tend to like to keep them.

Except us, obviously.

 

[yorkshirecoast]

If we don't then we are going down,

We need..

A New goalkeeper

A new centre Midfielder

One maybe two wide men

A proven 15 -20 goals a season striker.

And a new central defender with pace

 

[Harry's Game]

Let's shake the player tree and see who falls out. The trouble with proven goal scorers is clubs tend to like to keep them.

Except us, obviously.

Ah!! But we have "Liverpool style investment"now...

 

[sheffielder]

Whatever anyone thinks of Long I think he is the least of our problems.

Neither goal I believe were his fault, however he could have probably done better. We need to find players to win us games

 

[SwissBlade]

I thought Long was dealt a difficult bouncing ball for the first. It seems he hesitated but had he not he'd have taken the player out and seen red... So in a way, losing an early goal was perhaps preferable.

The second looked like an error by him, which proved costly. But I don't think we lost because of long.

Looking at the back four, if we're building a defence around Harry, then we need someone with pace alongside him. But we also need two fullbacks who instinctively get forward and get on the overlap.

Midfield we have options, but were getting overrun by the likes of gillingham. Up front Porter and Miller link up well, but we need a more direct powerhouse instead of porter. Porter played well today, though

 

[yuley82]

We need two full backs, a CB, wingers, a CM and a decent striker and get rid of McMahon Williams Doyle Flynn Murphy king Brandy Lappin and quite a few others... Easy, if only it was!

 

[brownie4583]

Clough needs to have a big clear out in January,and he probably knows this.
We need another good keeper to challenge Long,2 full backs,2 wingers,2 centre midfielders and 2 new strikers,1 a target man,in an ideal world,and get rid of King,Doyle,Flynn,Porter etc

 

[TarquinDelouche]

"Spending big" and "spending wisely" rarely go hand in hand.

 

[Wards]

Ideally I think we need a pacy centre half, a winger and a striker.

Deffo not a new keeper, nor centre midfielders - we have those in abundance. Just a shame he won't play any of them.

 

[Fazak]

"Spending big" and "spending wisely" rarely go hand in hand.

I agree, football is littered with examples of clubs that threw money at a problem and ended up worse off. There can be too many signings.

First of all the squad is far too big, the manager needs to be able to concentrate on how the team plays and not counselling those who will not be in his plans, are not happy and create a difficult atmosphere. If there are players not in his plans, which seems to be the case, then they need to go now to allow him to concentrate on the job in hand. New players are one thing but they need to come into a set up which has more discipline and professionalism. Perhaps shedding certain members of the squad might help achieve that.

I'll leave NC to decide on who the ins and outs might be, I think he knows a bit more about it than I do. The weaknesses are there for all to see.

 

[super_pig]

i reckon we simply ought to bring in a rule that players play in their correct positions.. we have a team of failed left backs.. non of whom is playing left back

 

[Gibbo89]

Midfield we have options, but were getting overrun by the likes of gillingham. Up front Porter and Miller link up well, but we need a more direct powerhouse instead of porter. Porter played well today, though

Fully agree that we could do with that but it would probably cost serious money. Also agree Porter played well yesterday but once we equalised, midfield dropped back and Porter and Miller never got the service they needed. I know we've got midfielders coming out of our ears but none of them really inspire me with any confidence.

 

[Kev Gee]

I think more than anything we need a grizzled midfield general who will take games by the scruff of the neck.

 

[SwissBlade]

Fully agree that we could do with that but it would probably cost serious money. Also agree Porter played well yesterday but once we equalised, midfield dropped back and Porter and Miller never got the service they needed. I know we've got midfielders coming out of our ears but none of them really inspire me with any confidence.

I liked the look of McGinn, Baxter and Taylor on the wing.

It's also worth pointing out that Flynn, despite the stick he gets was often double marked or at one stage had 3 men on him! Clearly they saw him as a threat

 

[silverfox]

As you say I thought any slagging of Flynn yesterday was unfair.

He defended from the front which on at least one occasion resulted in a chance for us.

Going forward he often had 2/3/4 defenders in front of him with no midfielder showing for him.

 

[alcoblade]

I liked the look of McGinn, Baxter and Taylor on the wing.

It's also worth pointing out that Flynn, despite the stick he gets was often double marked or at one stage had 3 men on him! Clearly they saw him as a threat

It's a fair point, they did seem to double up on him at times. Mystifying, seriously!



UTB

 

[SwissBlade]

It's a fair point, they did seem to double up on him at times. Mystifying, seriously!



UTB

Well it seemed to work as they left the lane with 3 points.

Personally I thought Flynn was one of the better players in midfield.

Doyle was almost invisible at times but at others he was commanding and wanted to spread the ball to the wings.

Gillingham were a hard working, well organised and determined side, they sat back once they were ahead, but second half they were much better organised than after they scored their first.

All that said, Midfield didn't dominate Gillingham, the additions of Baxter, McGinn and Taylor gave some hope, as they mixed things up, but we desperately need a physical centre forward.

Aidy White and Lappin were poor

 

[alcoblade]

Well it seemed to work as they left the lane with 3 points.

Personally I thought Flynn was one of the better players in midfield.

Doyle was almost invisible at times but at others he was commanding and wanted to spread the ball to the wings.

Gillingham were a hard working, well organised and determined side, they sat back once they were ahead, but second half they were much better organised than after they scored their first.

All that said, Midfield didn't dominate Gillingham, the additions of Baxter, McGinn and Taylor gave some hope, as they mixed things up, but we desperately need a physical centre forward.

Aidy White and Lappin were poor

The most alarming thing is I am totally convinced that Flynn is a poor fourth division player, yet he doesn't deserve singling out at the moment. Similar with Porter, we've fallen that low.

I still think we can hit mid table, but real doubts are creeping in. Could the unthinkable really happen?

UTB

 

[JohnDenver]

but once we equalised, midfield dropped back and Porter and Miller never got the service they needed.

You're right - the gap between strikers and midfielders became a chasm. What was that about? Fitness? The wrong sort of players in there?

It was working fine for the first half hour or more. But then the players just stopped doing it.

 

[Balham]

I was thinking about this on the tram back after the game. We need a Charlton-style clear out - it's seriously concerning that it looks to me that we need to replace three of the back four.

Out:
Collins, Hill, Williams, Doyle, Westlake, Howard, Ironside, McFadzean (loan?)

Out, dependent on youth progression/signings:
McMahon, King, Porter*

In:
CB with pace, LB, RB, CM, WG, CF?

Possible targets:
LB - Greg Cunningham, Bristol City
CB - Kyle McFadzean, Crawley Town
CM - Toumani Diagouraga, Brentford
CF - Jay Emmanual-Thomas, Bristol City

Potential January XI

Long

Flynn** McFadzean Maguire Cunningham

Brandy McGinn Diagouraga Cuvelier

Emmanual-Thomas Miller

Subs: Willis, Hodder, Kennedy, Whitehouse, Murphy, Taylor, Baxter​

*I like Porter but if we could sign someone like Emmanual-Thomas he should go.
**Until we find a decent right-back, I'd play Flynn there. His defensive work rate puts most of the current back four to shame.

You're right - the gap between strikers and midfielders became a chasm. What was that about? Fitness? The wrong sort of players in there?

The issue is that our defence has to stay deep as they've no pace at all. This then pulls the midfield back, a situation exacerbated by Doyle and Lappin both being über-defensive.

 

[Grecian2000]

FULL BACKS. TWO. Able to defend adequately and get up and down the line with vigour and purpose.

We couldn't make a single decent full back out of the FOUR that started Saturday. If they can't get in at their favoured position, for fucks sake don't let them clog up other areas of the team! It's Blackwellian in its criminality.

Having said that, this is as poor a set of players as we've ever had, Fatima Whitbread and Tessa Sanderson had more bollocks between them than this group of gutless wage stealers.
I do think we've reached the valley that our years of "good business" have pointed us to. This January coming up must signal the turn around or it's curtains.

 

[HoodedClaw]

On the basis that I dont see us getting out of the relegation zone by the JTW, it begs the question with our "game changing" investment who the fuck would want to come to play for us that would help turn this shit around??

4 of the next 7 fixtures coming up between now and January are vital to our season IMO. Anything we get from Walsall, Leyton orient and Swindon I think is going to be a bonus, but the ones against Bristol C, Stevenage, Oldham and Tranmere are already 6 pointers in my book.

Given the shite squad we have and our managers ultra negative, sorry defensive tactics, I'm not sure how many points we'll pick up.

This leaves us panic buying in JTW because no decent player would touch us with a barge pole if they have any sense. Kiss goodbye to the "investment" as it will be squandered on 30+ year old shite.

Sign this lucrative 3 year contract Mr Doyle mk2 and Mr Collins mk2 that should do you nicely until you retire at 40, and the cycle repeats. FFS!!!

I'm very concerned.

 

[HoodedClaw]

I was thinking about this on the tram back after the game. We need a Charlton-style clear out - it's seriously concerning that it looks to me that we need to replace three of the back four.

Out:
Collins, Hill, Williams, Doyle, Westlake, Howard, Ironside, McFadzean (loan?)

Out, dependent on youth progression/signings:
McMahon, King, Porter*

In:
CB with pace, LB, RB, CM, WG, CF?

Possible targets:
LB - Greg Cunningham, Bristol City
CB - Kyle McFadzean, Crawley Town
CM - Toumani Diagouraga, Brentford
CF - Jay Emmanual-Thomas, Bristol City

Potential January XI

Long

Flynn** McFadzean Maguire Cunningham

Brandy McGinn Diagouraga Cuvelier

Emmanual-Thomas Miller

Subs: Willis, Hodder, Kennedy, Whitehouse, Murphy, Taylor, Baxter​

*I like Porter but if we could sign someone like Emmanual-Thomas he should go.
**Until we find a decent right-back, I'd play Flynn there. His defensive work rate puts most of the current back four to shame.



The issue is that our defence has to stay deep as they've no pace at all. This then pulls the midfield back, a situation exacerbated by Doyle and Lappin both being über-defensive.

Sorry but a question McFadzean, Cunningham, Diagouraga and Emmanual-Thomas are all playing for clubs above us and in the case of Diagouraga he's playing for a team in the playoffs currently. What the fuck could we offer to make them think do you know what I'll sign for Sheffield United??

Do you really believe that any of the 4 you listed would be interested in joining us given the state we're in?

 

[Deadly_D'Jaffo]

The best work that can be done in the JTW is who we move out. I'm beginning to get to the point of accepting relegation, weening in youngsters & preparing for a L2 assault.

 

[Balham]

Sorry but a question McFadzean, Cunningham, Diagouraga and Emmanual-Thomas are all playing for clubs above us and in the case of Diagouraga he's playing for a team in the playoffs currently. What the fuck could we offer to make them think do you know what I'll sign for Sheffield United??

Do you really believe that any of the 4 you listed would be interested in joining us given the state we're in?

McFadzean is a Blade which I'd hope would hold sway.

Cunningham and Emmanual-Thomas play for a Bristol side which will be below us on Saturday if we can beat them. They've also got well-publicised financial issues and as Darren is very keen to point out, money talks. There was a rumour in the summer that we were looking at swapping Matt Hill plus cash for Cunningham which would be a deal worth pursuing.

Diagouraga isn't first choice for Brentford and he'd be one of the first names on the teamsheet here. That and, again, the higher wages on offer at the Lane might turn his head.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

JET is a quality League One striker but I bet you any money that he would turn to shit the second he drove into the Bramall Lane car park.

 

[SwissBlade]

You're right - the gap between strikers and midfielders became a chasm. What was that about? Fitness? The wrong sort of players in there?

It was working fine for the first half hour or more. But then the players just stopped doing it.

I think some credit has to go to Gillingham, they were organised and worked hard after they scored the second. They got men back behind the ball effectively using their wingers as additional defenders. Their left winger was often so deep he could've been a fullback

This was aided massively by our fullbacks. I can see what Clough is trying to do a the moment. He wants a solid back four. At least this is what I hope he is doing. Because why else would there be two strikers being marked by four defenders. McMahon was almost hugging the touch line marking the Gillingham bench!

We could've easily gone 3-5-2 and taken off McMahon

 

[brownie4583]

I think the performances since Clough took over,although a bit better,proves how poor these players are and the prince needs to get his cheque book out in a big way in JTW,sign 4 or 5 players to secure a mid table finish and then sort it out in the summer for a promotion challenge next season!
The only problem is there won't be a big queue of clubs wanting to sign any of the players we want to move on!

 

[Kenilworth]

I really can't see us spending that big in the JTW - one or two additions at most.

Surely any chance of promotion is way off the mark - we have already blown any chance of scraping into the play offs this season (and we have even less chance of winning those, as we all know - too well) so the only viable aim is to avoid relegation.

The hierarchy will feel that we have enough in the squad to avoid the drop into the Fourth Division - with maybe one or two additions - although from recent showings (post a little upturn when Morgs got them fired up) I have grave concerns over this. It feels to me there is just the same complacency around the place as we experienced when we dropped into the Third Division three years ago. I am certain that the players THINK they are too good to go down. So, with the aim being the avoidance of relegation I really can't see there being wholesale changes to the line up - why would you throw that much money at a problem when the bar is not set that high?

I agree that it will be very hard to shift some of the dead weight through sales or as free transfers - anyone leaving will be those whose contract expires next summer, not likely to be offered new terms, so will be offered a termination of their contract to help them find another club as a free agent. Not sure how that helps us with the salary cap though - it might make things more difficult as we may still have to account for their pay off - i.e. we lose squad members that might cover for injuries and suspensions (bound to get more of these when in a relegation fight) but we can't afford to go over the limits or we get a transfer embargo imposed because of it.

As a new manager Clough will be given the freedom to collect a couple of signings in the JTW, I have no doubt. However, any incomings will be more of a case of damage limitation rather than anything spectacular given that his more obvious objective will be to create a promotion winning side next season. His major problem though this time around will be to attract decent players to the club with a long term future that can make an immediate impact. Anybody coming into the side will have to hit the deck running - there is no room for development signings - so it's a sure fire thing that we will be forced into short term decisions, again - probably experienced players, at the end of their careers, not getting a regular first team place where they are currently.

The next three games look very tough indeed for a team really low on confidence (but in denial about their actual ability). Bristol City away (getting results together again) followed by Walsall at home (they ripped Peterborough apart last night in the live game on Sky - pace, movement, running at players, trickery, Andy Taylor looking like a decent left back, FFS) then Orient away (nuff said) tells me that we are likely to return zero points out of the next 9. I believe we will be spared bottom place in the league because County have an equally tough November. Going into Christmas, only two games, Swindon at home and Stevenage away will be just as tough - we will be lucky to return 3 from 6 here, which will leave us quite a way adrift in the relegation zone going into the Boxing Day fixture against Oldham. It does not bode well!

Be prepared for very defensive displays for the rest of the month as Clough attempts to cut out the mistakes and aims to avoid defeat, first and foremost. It aint going to be pretty, I tell thee.