Fresh Opinions?

Sarcevic - now he's fully fit, we are seeing the winner he is. Quality player. Amongst Stockport fans, they wish he was still there and the word on him was that he wanted a 2 year deal, but Stockport would only offer 1 year and he found security elsewhere.

Baldwin - growing into the team. He has a calamity in him more that the rest, but his passing range makes him perfect for how we play. I worry with his awareness and defensive play in L1?

Shepherd - again, another with a shaky start, it seemed he got a yellow card just by entering the field of play at the start. But he's learning his craft and is vital. I think he was in the top 5 ranked CBs this season for his defensive actions a few weeks back? Might have e changed after the red but he's been our best defender for me. You can tell he hasn't been part of an academy or youth setup with his naive moments and errors, but he's learning with experience.

Johnson - coming good, I must admit there was a time i completely forgot we had him on the books. Now he's finding his fitness he is slotting in seamlessly anywhere on that right side of the back 5.

Benn - feels like a panic move when we realised how long Johnson was out for. Had a few bright moments but I don't think he's up to standard for a promotion push.

Byrne - not good enough for me. Looks too slow, losses far too many headers for a guy his size too. Might be a starter for a lower end L2 team, but not a trusted starter for a promotion side.

Wright - frustrating to watch more often than not. Theres a player in there, he just looks like he coasts far too often when theres starting slots to be won if he could perform like he can. He hasn't nailed down a place anywhere in the side and it feels like GA only has him lined up as a wing back now. He's apparently one of our top earners, but he's likely 3rd in the LWB depth chart if everyone is fit and won't get anywhere near the attacking slots. Another I worry about if we step up.

Loans - Unfortunate for Adams. Diabate and Sanderson just didn't look up to the level needed.

 

I was chuffed when we signed Sarcs but early doors like you was disappointed and thought he might be on the way down. I've noticed lately he is a bit of a wind up merchant and if there is anyone in the division playing better than him at the moment then he is one hell of a player. His pass for Bobby's Brum goal was the pass of the game and Bobby emulated it yesterday.

 

This is a proven reason why you shouldn't write off a team till after Christmas or big up a team before a ball is kicked.
Personally I've always backed GA as a manager, even last season.
The recruitment has been better so credit to Sharpe for his influence on proceedings.

 

In regards Sarcevic - he looked quality from day one, just was stifled in his initial outings being played more defensively.

 

Totally agree. You could see his class in the first game of the season at Franchise FC, before he faded through probable tiredness

 

Alexander admits in a recent interview about how he didn't realise what was Patto's best position and i think this is similar to most of the players, although he has had Sarcevic before which made me wonder why he played him like he did earlier in the season. Now Sarcevic is further forward he looks a different player to the one struggling early on.
It's been interesting to see the evolution of the team from the start of the season to where we are now, the last two games being some of the best football played in years. From favouring a 3-5-2 to tweaking to a 3-4-2-1 and playing same players in each set up but getting better out of the same players because of it. Sarce and Bobby the perfect attacking two behind the lone striker, Patto dropping to help Smallwood but but being able to break from halfway when required. Also helps that the supporting back line is now stronger, the back three is better balanced with Crichlow left of the three, his pace allows the left wing back to push forward in turn allows Bobby support. Bobby in the midfield 5 earlier in the season never suited him same with Sarce.
The 3-4-2-1 suits our players best, note how Alexander brought on Khela for Pattison yesterday, meant we matched the energy alongside Smallwood, little things but go a long way to keeping that important shape.
You can tell I'm invested in this, Alexander is winning me over with how he's shaped the team, it's like when we lost at Wimbledon, I wasn't overly worried because bar the sloppy goal out shape was generally excellent.
Gonna take three good sides to stop us going up automatically.

 

You arnt far wrong RT….

 

Sarc - What a revelation, agree he had a slow start, but he is absolutely bang in form now and still the attacking threat I'd hoped we'd signed (but feared we'd missed out on). I still have one concern, but that's one for another day: if we do go up, I'm concerned he bottles it and wants to stay in L2 where he can really stand out. But if we make him feel vital to the cause, hopefully he'll stay. Presumably the very ambitious Stockport were making it clear they intended to sign competition for his position/replace him.
Baldwin - Credit to the scouting team, he does seem to be what we lacked. I still don't think he's an elite defender or anything, and he's made his share of errors, but he brings balance and balance is everything at this level. Great players look crap without a balanced side around them, and average players can look much better for it with one.
Shepherd - Probably my favourite defender this season, but he isn't the leader he will be one day. Think Barnsley have a good prospect on their hands and while he's not young-young, he's getting a good level of experience and I think he'll take that back with him. I don't think we'll keep him, but I'll be buzzing if we do. If he does stay, he needs to work on his footballing maturity.
Johnson - Still not a 'good' signing all told, but I like the look of him. Almost military in his aspect and the way he commands the right flank.
Byrne - Yeah, I think he's the worst of the defenders that we've signed. On paper he seemed a good fit, but if we get promoted I think we'll need to move him on.
Benn - Meh.
Wright - Honestly, I'm not a big fan. Recent performances have been good, but he's always been capable of putting in a good spell of form. Another one I'd be looking to move on if we got promoted.
Diabate and Sanderson - Thought GA did Sanderson dirty, but Diabate had his chance and looked poor. Both could be destined for the NLP.
Adams - I can't remember him, so no comment. Very sad to see a young player get a bad injury.

 

I think the thing Mark Hughes got so badly wrong was over-relying on Smallwood in the centre.

It's like he figured Smallwood was such a good, experienced defensive midfield general that he didn't really need anything else. That was really, really naive, as we've seen. To be fair to Hughes, he did try to address that in his second season with the addition of Pattison, but it wasn't enough especially with his injury record at VP, which is both bad luck and a continuation of bad planning.

Now we've got Smallwood, Sarcevic and Pattison at our disposal, I haven't seen a single L2 club that has come close to dealing with that and breaking us down in the centre. With all 3 fit, we have the best midfield.

I think if anything, though, the fact Hughes was so over-reliant on Richie suggests the budget must be bigger now. Smallwood is probably pretty expensive, Sarcevic perhaps equally so, and I doubt Pattison is cheap either. Did we give Hughes the budget to sign players like that? I know he had a big squad, but we've got a similarly sized squad now just with better, more established players.

 

I think we had the budget under MH , however he preferred the machine gun approach….. Recruit volume as opposed to quality , made worse by then getting another 4-5 players because he wanted to go with wingbacks ?

 

As I said last week, we have the best midfield in this division and probably better than many the division above ?

 

I'm happy to admit I was very wrong about Sarcevic and also Smallwood. They both looked awful in the early part of the season, and in Smallwood's case largely since he was here. But now they're both immense in our current set up. And much credit to Alexander who's admitted that the game has changed and he's had to reassess his approach. It takes a lot to admit something like that and he deserves huge credit for coming out and saying so. We've really got a team here now with a squad to back it up so let's just go for it every game and see where we end up. It's been an incredible transformation so let's all get behind this group and cheer them on to promotion.

 

I was looking through the team sheets on the BBC and we've come through quite a lot of permutations to get to this line up. A few factors, players injured, different formations but this looks the best balance. Pretty simple really, get the centre of the park right first and he's done that. But GA knows he has to stick with that 4, it's why I was glad to see he started his strongest midfield again. And with Richards injured our January strengthening down that side has been impressive, both Crichlow and Tayo look assured and Wright had his best game since coming back at Birmingham.

 

He had Gilliead next to him.
It's like playing alone.

 

I’d certainly give Romy a two year extension on his displays so far even for the div above if we go up. He’s very good cover for the left side. If we don’t, someone else will.

 

Have we an option on his current short term contract?

 

Yes, of a further year.

 

You are right I’d forgotton .

 

Good shout.