Most liked posts in thread: Starting eleven

Which is exactly what I was saying ................

 

how can we put a starting 11 when we have not seen half the squad play yet.
Those putting Reeves in the middle dream on. He's miles away from playing.

 

Reeves is still miles off

 

OD
Mellor Paudie Everton Longridge
Scannell Palmer NEW CM Ismail/NEW LM
Donaldson Vaughan

 

The club should've just been honest that there has been feck ups along the way instead of all this secrecy instead of Reeves taking the brunt of the suspicion. Not on really.

 

Absolutely! Hes strong enough to not let it ruin his reputation, his conscience is clear and cant wait to get back into it - and Bowyer highly rates him, which is always a good sign.

 

He'll be doing his own pre pre-season training by the sounds of it. All cardio/muscle/prep work before he starts on ball work. Rush him back without the prep work and you're back to the beginning again.

 

I'm not convinced either Tolly. Just clutching at straws knowing I potentially have to watch him for another year. Never seen such a weak tackler for a bloke of his size. Ducks out of a lot of headers too. Doesn't seem to have any sort of bottle. I understand he's on a big wage so would be tough to move on but he would've been one of the first ones out of the door for me.

 

worth considering given Parky was very successful at this level playing one out and out winger and one wide midfielder who tucked in and provided defensive cover. I think our main worry is centre midfield, we need an out and out battler to recycle the ball and break up play and I don't see any of the current set with those attributes. Palmer seems to be a good all rounder but would most likely be overran playing alongside your akpans or andersons as neither exactly screams warrior.

 

I disagree that the above team looks "very strong on paper". Anderson and Akpan need replacing, as does Ismail who's not a left winger. Additionally, there are still question marks over Longridge and Everton.

Using the players that are available (so excluding Reeves and Robinson) i'd go with:

------------------------O'Donnell----------------------

Longridge----PaudieOC----BenRE----Mellor

Cwood------Akpan------Anderson---Scannell

---------------Vaughan----Donaldson--------------

Connor Wood only gets in as he's left footed.

The team still needs a lot of work looking at that. All of our midfield bar Scannell need replacing.

 

2 class midfielders (one ugly, nasty bugger and a playmaker) and a left winger and I think we'll walk top 3

 

I think CM and LW are the two areas of concern now. I quite like Akpan and don’t mind Anderson but after that we are desperately short in quality. Another 1 is needed at least as Devine and Colville don’t fill me with confidence that they could cut it playing 20 games.

LW we are just totally short of options so at least 1 proper left sided player is needed.

 

Doyle I don't rate at all, he can go for me.

 

Akpan and Anderson have enough quality to be part of a promotion chasing starting XI. That said, I’m not convinced Akpan will stay and even if he does, the squad is still missing someone in the middle of the park who can put their foot on the ball, control the tempo of the game and connect defence to attack. They don’t have to be glamorous, just simplistic. Without referencing a cliche, basically a Gary Jones!

 

Like yourself, I feel it's far too early, and I expect to see two more permanent signings, and perhaps a couple of loans, over July (Still leaving August for any 'tweaking' ).

As things stand, the squad is lower half, to mid table, IMO. 3 or 4 more signings could change that significantly, depending upon the quality of those recruits.

Thankfully, GB's friendly fixtures program will allow him to see where the shortfalls are, and hopefully address them.

 

Whilst I agree with the sentiment of the post, the problem is, we don’t have any quality in the middle of the park which will be our downfall if we don’t improve in there.

 

Right now I would play Hornby - Mellor BRE POC Longridge - Ismail Akpan Anderson Scannell - Donaldson Vaughan

Definitely need a couple of central midfielders, another winger and a striker but that is better than a lot of teams in this division.

 

Don’t get me wrong there are threads that regularly get to the stage where they seem pointless. The one thing i would agree with is that the squad as it stands will more than likely change with comings and goings in the next few weeks. Until then we have no idea what the final squad will be so any discussion is pure speculation regarding certain players and positions.

 

Reeves wasn't a CAM.. that shows how much you remember him.

 

He didn't say too much, and I wouldn't want to pressure him, but when people say 'he's miles off' I wouldn't be too sure. Obviously the first few weeks are too soon, but I'd expect mid-late September.