Complete overhaul needed

[BigBed]

Seriki as RCB? I’ve not seen him but always thought he was more a right wing back/right winger. Not sure he’ll be ready to start Premier league games in 2022/3 I’ll have my doubts, but would be over the moon if it’s the case.
I thought he’d be in the next wave of talent coming through, after the ones we bring through this time.

Seriki can play anywhere on the right hand side, Gordon is also able to play anywhere across the back line, 2 decent options for the future.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

Next season we will be a championship team and that has to be the comparison . Not for one minute would we beat Norwich City, they are the yardstick,went down came straight back and with ease. That team last night will not do the same,as for the subs bench, wow, very poor. If we don’t get rid of the majority of this squad we are in for a struggle, all next season.
Just hope the new management team understands what’s required and act quickly. Only my opinion so probably wrong?.

Unfortunately we’ve been playing like a Championship team, a season too early.

 

[Newbury Blade]

Nothings really changed for me, we’re in the same position as was clear in January. We need around 4 new faces in midfield and then to replace who we lose and to replace those we sell.
I’d love to keep Berge but think it’s unlikely if he’s a release clause and I’ve no doubt that Fleck and Norwood would do an perfectly adequate job at Championship level next year but we need to be aiming higher.
If they do not have relegation clauses on their wages, which would surprise me, then they need to be moved on as they’re not worth PL money. If they do and they’re happy to play as part of the squad they have a role to play bringing the next iteration through but they can’t be seen as critical starters. Of course should their performances next season step up and demand they start that’s something else entirely but they aren’t our future. We know they would need replacing if we hope to play above that level.
Defensively we need to know where we are with JoC, Egan and Bash. Bash as with Fleck and Norwood would do a fine job if we keep a back 3 but we need to be looking past him, it doesn’t mean he should be tossed aside just yet. Out of the three I think he’s the best personality to coach and mentor a younger player into that role. JoC will be a huge loss if he is indeed finished so that will be a significant problem to us, and I think Egan would be a colossus back in the Championship but perversely I his role in a 3 is the easiest to replace and upgrade.
At full back we’re set if we keep what we have. Baldock, Bogle as starter and cover are better than any other squad at that level but you would suspect we’d be open to offers on George.
RND is raw but is a championship level left back who’ll improve. He is not peak or even Championship Stevens though. Stevens who knows. If dropping the level restores his confidence then he could be a huge return but he looks broken and done, if there’s interest then maybe a move is best but I suspect he’s not going to be easy to move on. Max Lowe has had a bit of a bum deal I believe.
As with Rammers he’s been thrown in with a constantly changing unit and expected to perform. Incredibly difficult but Lowe’s not got time on his side. As a unit the defence is as good as any relegated side could hope for but we need to replace what we lose and if possible look to improve. Everyone else in the defence is unlikely to be good enough for future consideration so should be replaced if the options make themselves available.
Up front I’ve no concerns at all, should we actually build a midfield who can create something give them half a chance which they’ve not had for 18 months.

I think you must be the bloke who sits behind me on the Kop, pontificates at great length, but who is wrong, completely, about everything.

 

[Pittsburg Blade]

I'm going to stick up for Furious George as he's the only one who looks anywhere close to trying his hardest out there at the mo...

His box to box run was pretty awesome to be fair. Deserved a goal.

 

[JJ Sefton]

We are absolutely fucked.

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

I think you must be the bloke who sits behind me on the Kop, pontificates at great length, but who is wrong, completely, about everything.

Fair enough, so what’s your view?
You don’t agree that we need to replace and upgrade Norwood and Fleck, but we do need to move on Egan, JoC and Bash?
Please share your genius so we can really assess your sanctimony.

 

[ATL Recs]

4-1-3-2

GK Ramsdale
DR Bogle
DC Egan
DC O’Connell
DL ???????

DMC Berge

MR ???????
ML ???????
MCA ??????

ATT????????
ATT????????

Three of that lot will be sold we won’t buy any strikers only sell / offload i

 

[South Sea Blade]

The amount of over-reaction on this board never ceases to amaze me. IMO the very last thing we need is a mass clear-out. This squad has generally been excellent....sure, it's been an horrendous season, but these players have not suddenly become bad players. There has been a lot of extenuating circumstances that could explain why things went so badly this season. Injuries, Covid, Lack of fans, Loss of Form and don't underestimate the lack of downtime and pre-season which the players missed out on last year, after a phenomenal effort the previous 2 seasons.

No need to change anything in the forward line at all. McBurnie, Brewster, Sharp, McGoldrick and Burke will be the best strike-force in the championship. Moose is the interesting one...generally a waste of space but potentially the best in the division - If we could get over £5 million I would sell, but otherwise we might as well see if the new coach can get his head straight.

Keep Ramsdale - he has been excellent these last few months after an admittedly shocking start.

Defensively, we have Furious and Bogle as RWB's Bash, Egan and O'Connell are top drawer for the championship, and Enda and RND can fight it out for the LWB role. The problems arise if any of the Centre-halfs get injured....we need one more good centre-half who can at least cover for JOC and/or Egan.

Midfield is the problem. I would love Berge to stay....we should keep him until at least January to see where we are. If we are challenging for the top two then keep him, if we are mid-table (or worse) then obviously we have to try and cash in. Personally, I can't wait to see the the back of Lundstram, and I think that we need a more dynamic player down the right. I like the look of O'Brien at Huddersfield - lots of energy and skill and shouldn't be too much cost-wise. Freeman should be involved as I think we missed him as an option, especially with Fleck's poor form for the first half of the season.

We should get rid of the following:

Lundstram (thank god)
Norwood (if Berge stays)
Jags
Rodwell
Robinson
Bryan
Moose (If we get a decent fee)
Moore
Verrips or Fodringham
Lowe

 

[guancheblade]

Making wholesale changes will only put us in a mess. Sure get rid of all players that have played 2 seasons of premier league football, the same players that finished in the top half of the championship twice and replace them with who? An entire squad of over inflated championship signings or a bunch of 2nd string foreign players due to Brexit restrictions who have no idea of what it’s like to play championship football or appreciate the clubs history/fan base. What was the saying ”we have our club back“ going down the latter route will guarantee the opposite.

In terms of the current playing squads ability to compete, which one is it:

1. A higher percentage of teams in championship are now as good as the Sheffield United side that went up despite the fact we have played at a higher level.

2. The premier league makes footballers worse players

A reset is not required in this situation, people are going off like we’re Wendy. The core needs to resemble a close reflection to what worked last season. Without doubt we will lose players but, clever addition and, if so tactical tweaks are what we need. Let’s learn from our mistakes rather than overhauling and creating a whole new way of making new mistakes, leaving us all scratching our heads next season when we’ve done nothing but float around in mid table.

How will it put us in a mess? At the end of a cycle overhauls are a necessity and it's always put us in good stead in the past.

1997 Spackman overhauled the starting 11 and brought instant success
2016 Chris Wilder did the same

Heck even Danny Wilson did a good amount of first 11 tinkering when he arrived and we were all the better for it.

Build a team and formation around Luke Freeman and a style that plays to Brewster's strengths. Then assess where we are lacking in the team to facilitate this system.

 

[Silent Blade]

1997 Spackman overhauled the starting 11 and brought instant success

What success?

 

[guancheblade]

What success?

Errr unbeaten in his first 10 games, quality brand of football, top of the league pretty much until he resigned and heading straight for the Prem with ease.

Or is your bar impossibly high?

 

[Silent Blade]

Errr unbeaten in his first 10 games, quality brand of football, top of the league pretty much until he resigned and heading straight for the Prem with ease.

Or is your bar impossibly high?

You said



Both were different Spackman started well but slowed down in October/November and then quit in March so I wouldnt call that a success over the whole season.

Wilder had a terrible start but improved a lot from the 5th game and got success

 

[BushBlade]

You said

View attachment 111155

Both were different Spackman started well but slowed down in October/November and then quit in March so I wouldnt call that a success over the whole season.

Wilder had a terrible start but improved a lot from the 5th game and got success

As I recall, we were third and comfortably in a play off spot but behind the top two. I always suspected that McDonald panicked a bit when it looked like we weren’t going to get automatic. Relatively speaking, he spent a lot of money on that squad, we more or less had a team of top level players.
There’s absolutely zero chance of PA being able to fund a massive overhaul like McDonald did then. Harking back to what we did 25 years ago is akin to saying we should only sign players from within a 20 mile radius of Sheffield because Celtic won the European cup with a similar approach. The game has changed. And it’s changed again because of Covid and, it’s quite difficult at this stage to fully understand what the long term implications will be.
I feel that I know less about football now than I did 30 years ago, every aspect has become more complex, from tactics to finance.

 

[Silent Blade]

As I recall, we were third and comfortably in a play off spot but behind the top two. I always suspected that McDonald panicked a bit when it looked like we weren’t going to get automatic. Relatively speaking, he spent a lot of money on that squad, we more or less had a team of top level players.
There’s absolutely zero chance of PA being able to fund a massive overhaul like McDonald did then. Harking back to what we did 25 years ago is akin to saying we should only sign players from within a 20 mile radius of Sheffield because Celtic won the European cup with a similar approach. The game has changed. And it’s changed again because of Covid and, it’s quite difficult at this stage to fully understand what the long term implications will be.
I feel that I know less about football now than I did 30 years ago, every aspect has become more complex, from tactics to finance.

Agree.

guancheblade called it a success which is puzzling as it is like saying that not finishing a marathon can be a success!

 

[BushBlade]

Agree.

guancheblade called it a success which is puzzling as it is like saying that not finishing a marathon can be a success!

Still probably the most attractive football I’ve seen us play but I always felt with the squad we had, we should have dominated, not been third. Plenty of style but not quite enough substance.

 

[guancheblade]

Agree.

guancheblade called it a success which is puzzling as it is like saying that not finishing a marathon can be a success!

What if you're in the leading pack and then someone grabs your trainers off you and runs away with them?

Still probably the most attractive football I’ve seen us play but I always felt with the squad we had, we should have dominated, not been third. Plenty of style but not quite enough substance.

Don't underestimate the loss of Whitehouse early into that season. He was a man possessed under Spackman in his new no10 role. We lost just once in 19 games before that injury, winning over half those.

You said

View attachment 111155

Both were different Spackman started well but slowed down in October/November and then quit in March so I wouldnt call that a success over the whole season.

Wilder had a terrible start but improved a lot from the 5th game and got success

Silent Blade Show me where I said Spackman brought success over a whole season... yeah thought not.

As I've said there was a slight downturn in results after Dane's career ending injury playing a system built around his new role. But very much in the leading pack until Spackman's departure. The next Blades manager starts a season the way Spackman did not a single Blade will be complaining. The original post to which I replied said a squad overhaul can "only put us in a mess" but there's plenty of examples where it has been anything other than a "mess". You started the debate about Spackman's level of success. I'm just saying it certainly wasn't a mess. You can steer away from this as much as you like but its still true.

 

[Silent Blade]

What if you're in the leading pack and then someone grabs your trainers off you and runs away with them?



Don't underestimate the loss of Whitehouse early into that season. He was a man possessed under Spackman in his new no10 role. We lost just once in 19 games before that injury, winning over half those.



Silent Blade Show me where I said Spackman brought success over a whole season... yeah thought not.

As I've said there was a slight downturn in results after Dane's career ending injury playing a system built around his new role. But very much in the leading pack until Spackman's departure. The next Blades manager starts a season the way Spackman did not a single Blade will be complaining. The original post to which I replied said a squad overhaul can "only put us in a mess" but there's plenty of examples where it has been anything other than a "mess". You started the debate about Spackman's level of success. I'm just saying it certainly wasn't a mess. You can steer away from this as much as you like but its still true.

Am sure it was Green that did the overhaul rather than Spackman. The overhaul we had for 1997/98 wasnt a success and it caused us problems for the next few seasons

 

[guancheblade]

Am sure it was Green that did the overhaul rather than Spackman. The overhaul we had for 1997/98 wasnt a success and it caused us problems for the next few seasons

Does it matter who was responsible for it? Someone claimed a squad overhaul can only lead to a mess. And in this example it wasn't the overhaul that caused the longer term issues, it was the board going down that road and then bottling it. Had they stuck to the original plan we'd have been promoted of that I'm in no doubt. Even with what happened we reached an FA Cup semi and the play offs.

 

[Silent Blade]

Someone claimed a squad overhaul can only lead to a mess.

Yes it did when Kendall took over and 1997-98 too

 

[Champagneblade]

What if you're in the leading pack and then someone grabs your trainers off you and runs away with them?



Don't underestimate the loss of Whitehouse early into that season. He was a man possessed under Spackman in his new no10 role. We lost just once in 19 games before that injury, winning over half those.



Silent Blade Show me where I said Spackman brought success over a whole season... yeah thought not.

As I've said there was a slight downturn in results after Dane's career ending injury playing a system built around his new role. But very much in the leading pack until Spackman's departure. The next Blades manager starts a season the way Spackman did not a single Blade will be complaining. The original post to which I replied said a squad overhaul can "only put us in a mess" but there's plenty of examples where it has been anything other than a "mess". You started the debate about Spackman's level of success. I'm just saying it certainly wasn't a mess. You can steer away from this as much as you like but its still true.

I was overseas at this time but I thought we played 5-3-2 and Whitehouse was the left of three, which suited because as good as he was, he was very one-footed. I don't recall us playing a number 10 unless you count when we'd got Saunders and for a couple of matches we tried to squeeze in 3 strikers.

 

[BushBlade]

I was overseas at this time but I thought we played 5-3-2 and Whitehouse was the left of three, which suited because as good as he was, he was very one-footed. I don't recall us playing a number 10 unless you count when we'd got Saunders and for a couple of matches we tried to squeeze in 3 strikers.

I think you could be right there, but I’d agree it was a big loss. Whitehouse was a good player for us in the PL and too good for the championship or whatever it was called at the time. I’ve got the video of that season but it’s on VHS and I don’t really need to be reminded of it anyway, another disappointing season after a promising start.

 

[guancheblade]

I was overseas at this time but I thought we played 5-3-2 and Whitehouse was the left of three, which suited because as good as he was, he was very one-footed. I don't recall us playing a number 10 unless you count when we'd got Saunders and for a couple of matches we tried to squeeze in 3 strikers.

He was always more advanced than the more defensive minded Marker and Paterson which is why he was far and away the highest scoring midfielder up until his horrific injury. I think Graham Stuart was specifically brought in to fill the void and he certainly played in the mould of a 10. It may not have been considered a no 10 back then but with today's perspective looking back you could easily call it that.

 

[guancheblade]

Yes it did when Kendall took over and 1997-98 too

So let's give players 15 year contracts then, wouldn't want to risk rocking the boat in any way

 

[Silent Blade]

So let's give players 15 year contracts then, wouldn't want to risk rocking the boat in any way

Eh?