| A massive old waffle... 09:22 - Apr 20 with 382 views | NthQldITFC |
We're in second, it's in our hands, I'd still have us favourites to go up - these things are all good and could well mean a 'successful' season, but...
In an ideal world, this season should have been about building at least half of a Premier League-ready team and squad. We had massive advantages in our parachute money, a healthy balance sheet after losing Delap and Hutch, Kieran McKenna well embedded in the fabric of the club and an ongoing feel-good factor regardless of the not unexpected relegation. Building half of that PL ready squad, whilst getting promoted ought to have been very doable.
Obviously promotion was the first priority, but as Ashton had stated, we needed to recruit players with PL physicality, even if they were not yet ready for the PL. Last summer really was a fantastic opportunity to do that, primarily from foreign markets, a la Azor Matusiwa - a fantastic bit of business and the blueprint for what exactly we needed. The opportunity to then develop that team/squad over this season was also really ideal for us - a relatively weak Championship and the core of a squad already in place to dominate it.
So - win promotion and do a good bit of PL team and squad preparation - how have we done?
The first bit is probably 60/40 for me. We'll probably do it one way or the other, but it's up in the air.
The second bit: I think we've tried to use pretty much the same system bar a slight tweak to the left hand side, but we've been more adept at getting behind the ball against an opponents counter (almost entirely due to the qualities of Matusiwa). We've also shown a willingness to sit in at times, and actually looked pretty good at doing it albeit against non PL opponents. O'Shea is a PL CB for me, and I think Greaves has really started to make much better decisions on and off the ball and use his abilities well. Davies as a hybrid LB/LW still works for me, but you absolutely need a quality RB + DCM to allow that to work in the PL. Furlong has been fine for top of Championship, but too slow for PL.
So at the back (including Matusiwa) we've improved somewhat, but without a Tuanzebe or better at RB, and without another Greaves or better for LCB cover we're not really where we need to be - before even looking at cover options, or more defensive options at LB.
The more creative CM to play with Matusiwa - nothing really. Taylor has quietly improved and has PL physicality so OK cover, Nunez not reliable enough in CM, Cajuste has disappeared, Neil not shown anything really, and seems too slight for PL engine room to me.
Left 10 - Philogene and Clarke, both a real threat in the Championship - can either cut it physically or mentally in the PL? Maybe. Not confident.
Central 10 - Nunez OK, but I don't see a player there who could do it in the PL, primarily because of reliability and communication issues. Mehmeti not sure. SWE maybe, but not had a chance there in the championship so ain't gonna happen in the PL.
Right wing - McAteer might actually turn out to be one of the success stories for me - he's found his hunger and confidence now, he suits that Burns role (as does Burns) and either might cut it in the PL up to a point. A narrower role in a different formation (4-3-3ish) would suit SWE but no sign of trying that, which I think has been an error.
Number 9 - I can see Azon doing a back up role there even in the PL - I know people will dispute that based on poor finishing, but his all round game has come on really well. Hirst seems way off the level now. His touch has never been great and I don't see him recapturing any kind of confidence here.
In short: we've developed with Matusiwa and possibly McAteer and Azon coming in, plus Greaves I think will be fine this time around assuming we go up. Then O'Shea definitely and Davis probably were already good enough.
Beyond that, there's been very limited development and there's very little additional potential in the building as far as I can see.
We've been firefighting since our poor start, trying to catch Cov or Boro. OK, we've done that (probably) but if we had had the points cushion we ought to have had with our advantages had we recruited as promised in the summer, we could have been developing the likes of SWE (in an experimental 4-3-3 perhaps) and bringing in other young, physical foreign recruits for development during this season. Ergo, it feels like a wasted season to me.
We might well go up and do all of that recruiting this summer, but this season seems to have been by and large a really wasted opportunity for me recruitment-wise and consequently on the pitch development-wise. Have we held out for too long for our ideal targets and meantime failed to land the sort of 'almost ready' development targets we should have stocked up with? I don't know whether the recruitment department (which was understandably behind the times two years ago) has been beefed up and can actually find the sorts of players that some of the smaller and more progressive PL clubs have been able to find from foreign leagues, or whether it's all been bluster from Ashton.
Hopefully the former.
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| A massive old waffle... on 09:35 - Apr 20 with 312 views | portmanking |
On the recruitment side, my biggest fear is if we stay down, we've got a SERIOUS job on our hands to rebuild. I keep looking at the current squad and it just feels like there's sticking plasters everywhere in a desperate bid to get over the finish line. Our recruitment prior to the last two summers had been pretty sustainable, measured, and fitted our general profile of players. We've got so many ill-fitting players in our squad right now, it's untrue. |  | | |
| A massive old waffle... on 10:37 - Apr 20 with 233 views | billlm |
This squad should have pi$$ed this league so apart from our inept start where has it gone wrong, for me simply not converting the amount of clear cut chances we create, the 23/24 squad would have, |  | | |
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