Squad Depth, "the plan" and signing players after a long injury

[robbiez666]

I'll start by saying that my position on Clough is this: He should stay until we can no longer get promoted, if we don't go up. The only logic in replacing him at this stage would be if the Board knew they could get a much better manager in now, but that manager isn't likely to be free come summer.

Anyway, back to the point.

Squad Depth:

We've got a huge squad at this level (41 I think). However, we've not really got strength in depth.

We all know the current CB debacle.
If Harris got injured, who would cover? (our cover is playing at CB and I've seen Freeman at LB before)
If Murphy was out for a few weeks, what then?
Ditto with Doyle
And Davies
And the right of midfield is a mess and has been all season

Clough has brought in a lot of new faces but I'd argue that we don't have strength in depth.

"the plan"

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the plan was to build a squad for the future. I also thought the plan was to have a small squad which would be bolstered by the youngsters. What happened? A lot of our signings haven't been players who can take us forward at a higher level and the youth players have mostly been relegated downwards.

Post-Injury signings

I'm struggling to think of any player we've signed after they've had a serious injury being any good for us. Wallace has been injured all season. Coutts looks a pale shadow of his former self. Even going back over 20 years, I remember Whitehouse being half the player he was at his peak after he got sidelined for most of the season. I realise these players are probably cheap, but I can't remember one ever working out for us.

I'm slightly confused as to what the current "plan" is.

 

[Kenilworth]

Plan A

Of course

 

[robbiez666]

Plan A

Of course

I'm guessing A doesn't stand for Attack?

 

[metalblade]

I don't think all the blame can be laid at Clough's door, he has not been backed by the SUFC board this season not until the JTW anyway. Why have we brought in players coming back from long term injuries, from non league or Scotland ? simple because they are the cheap option. I seriously do not believe money was there to bring in good players in the summer hence we missed out on O'Grady, Conor Coady etc and certain members in the boardroom expected a top striker joining us for free in October . By the end of 2014 the board could see like everyone else we were struggling and that is the only reason for the utterly ridiculous decision for a League One club to pay more than £1.5 million for a full back in an effort to keep the fans sweet. All season the club has been re-active rather than pro-active and this season is now in danger of ending as a complete cluster fuck from all concerned.

 

[Highbury_Blade]

Plan A

Of course

Plan A was to have Evans up front.

 

[Worksop II]

It's funny that Clough assumes he has time to rehabilitate these long term recoveries, at the expense of SUFCs promotion push.

 

[Esablade]

I've always thought with Clough the board are looking long term..next season at least.
If we don't get in the play off's that 'plan' will be threatened.

If we get a 'noble failure' in the play off's, i think the board will tough it out with a couple of early decent signings that should have been made last summer.

If we go up, well great! Obv....

 

[robbiez666]

The thing is, I wouldn't mind missing out through he play-offs if I saw some sort of plan happening this season which would make us stronger in the future. I'd be happy with inconsistent results if it was because we were blooding youngsters, but it's not.

He's had more financial backing than anyone since Kendall, and I'm seeing results and performances that are on a par with Danny Wilson's second season when he had no support.

 

[Worksop_Blade]

I don't think all the blame can be laid at Clough's door, he has not been backed by the SUFC board this season not until the JTW anyway. Why have we brought in players coming back from long term injuries, from non league or Scotland ? simple because they are the cheap option. I seriously do not believe money was there to bring in good players in the summer hence we missed out on O'Grady, Conor Coady etc and certain members in the boardroom expected a top striker joining us for free in October . By the end of 2014 the board could see like everyone else we were struggling and that is the only reason for the utterly ridiculous decision for a League One club to pay more than £1.5 million for a full back in an effort to keep the fans sweet. All season the club has been re-active rather than pro-active and this season is now in danger of ending as a complete cluster fuck from all concerned.

Before January

Turner
Butler
Alcock
McGahey
McEverley
McCarthy
JCR
Basham
Ben Davies
J Wallace
McNulty
Higdon
Adams
O'Grady


January and Beyond

Freeman
Brayford
Coutts
Done
Holt
S Davies

Not backed until January? 14 players brought by Clough before the JTW, 6 since. Reportedly £4million in transfer fees and only 6 points better than at this point last season.

Brighton offered O'Grady a deal far better than we could offer, Huddersfield probably did the same with Coady and Cardiff wanted Brayford for themselves.

Wasting the biggest budget in the division on 14 bang average signings is all Nigel Clough's fault, all he had to do was ring Jackett, Powell, Jones, The old man from donny or Adkins and ask them what sort of player he should look at for this division.

Signing a bunch of midgets then blaming the lack of height for set piece incompetence is embarrassing. Talking of embarrassing, Jose Baxter and Michael Higdon should be embarrassed and ashamed at their personal fitness levels, does the club no longer have a fitness coach? I remember under Warnock we had Tony Daley and the team would still be all out attack after 92 minutes. Nigel Clough's Sheffield United look knackered after 29 minutes.

 

[Living In a Fantasy World]

We do have depth in the team, we just need to improve the quality. Clough has not improved us in quality but has placed a "foundation" to improve on. We do have some key players at the club, players like Murphy, Brayford, Harris, Done and Cuvelier who all can be key assets for the club in the future.

 

[metalblade]

Before January

Turner
Butler
Alcock
McGahey
McEverley
McCarthy
JCR
Basham
Ben Davies
J Wallace
McNulty
Higdon
Adams
O'Grady
What we have here are players who came on free transfers or on loan some did command small fees but hardly the game changing investment the fans were led to believe was coming to the squad.


January and Beyond

Freeman
Brayford
Coutts
Done
Holt
S Davies

Not backed until January? 14 players brought by Clough before the JTW, 6 since. Reportedly £4million in transfer fees and only 6 points better than at this point last season.
Is that Freeman who's wages we couldn't afford in the summer?
Brayford now we are talking game changing ............................ his transfer fee was probably more than all the pre January signings added together. I would imagine well over £2.5m spent in January

Brighton offered O'Grady a deal far better than we could offer, Huddersfield probably did the same with Coady and Cardiff wanted Brayford for themselves.
Another one who's wages were beyond us in the summer strange how we could afford him in January, Coady went to Hudderfield for nothing like the figure Liverpool were reportedly asking. Do you really believe if we had got in quick and offered £400k that he would not be a United player now ?

Wasting the biggest budget in the division on 14 bang average signings is all Nigel Clough's fault, all he had to do was ring Jackett, Powell, Jones, The old man from donny or Adkins and ask them what sort of player he should look at for this division.

Signing a bunch of midgets then blaming the lack of height for set piece incompetence is embarrassing. Talking of embarrassing, Jose Baxter and Michael Higdon should be embarrassed and ashamed at their personal fitness levels, does the club no longer have a fitness coach? I remember under Warnock we had Tony Daley and the team would still be all out attack after 92 minutes. Nigel Clough's Sheffield United look knackered after 29 minutes.

Looking at the list of Clough signings some are OK for League One some have been disasters but I still think it is safe to say a lot more money was made available to Clough in January than what was there in the summer. I have to agree though he has had more to spend than any United manager for a long long time and on the whole has made a right bollocks of it.

 

[YES Blade]

We do have depth in the team, we just need to improve the quality. Clough has not improved us in quality but has placed a "foundation" to improve on. We do have some key players at the club, players like Murphy, Brayford, Harris, Done and Cuvelier who all can be key assets for the club in the future.

But how strong will that foundation be if we don't get promoted this season? I expect Murphy to leave in the summer if we're still in league one because I think he will want to get into the Scotland squad which isn't going to happen in league one. The rest, who knows.

So it could be a rebuilding job every summer until we go up. That is why I'm not patient!