Guest Mancunian_Owl Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 (edited) The team that played: Kirkland Palmer Loovens Llera Reda Maguire Lee Semedo Maghoma Wickham Nuhiu What do fellow fans think? How far off are we from really competing in playoffs? . With exception to Wickham and Kirkland, I'd say that team looks distinctly mediocre, which in my opinion shows what a great job Stuart Gray did last season. Wickham will be replaced by someone else (we always do get another lad in who can slot them away - Kenwyne Jones, Maclean etc) therefore its about understanding how good a Coach SG is to get the most out of the lads. Its not a strong squad on paper, but hopefully they will continue to defy the odds this season. Edited August 1, 2014 by Mancunian_Owl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OasisOwl72 Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 After news about Lees about to sign for us, I decided to watch the game again where we destroyed leeds 6-0 to check out how he did, despite us giving them a right beating. Got me me thinking looking at the lineup of that game, that we are not that far off from being a decent team able to compete in the top half of the division and who knows maybe the playoffs. The team that played: Kirkland Palmer Loovens Llera Reda Maguire Lee Semedo Maghoma Wickham Nuhiu In goal we have brought in Westwood, definitely an improvement on Martinez. The recent signing of Lees has improved our defense and is a player who has great potential for the future. Could be a key player for years to come, an improvement on Llera. Now Reda's gone, we have Helan and Mattock as a suitable replacements. The midfield players are all still here, Semedo signing a new contract and with Maguire, Lee and Maghoma looking to improve on last season. Hutchinson has also been brought in giving us more options in midfield and defense. Antonio should hopefully be over his injury problems last season. Upfront, Nuhiu I'm sure will get more goals this season than he did last time round in a new league, country and environment. Madine coming back is an added bonus. So basically up to this point, you could say we are in a better position than we were at that game. The final piece of the puzzle is having someone like Wickham in our team. That is mainly where we are lacking, a 20 goal a season striker and a few reinforcements to give us that extra depth. What do fellow fans think? How far off are we from really competing in playoffs? . I like the sentiment of the OP and I speak with realism/perspective not negativity but…our two best players that day were Reda (he battered them) and Wickham who was/is a class apart. Mattock is certainly not a replacement for Reda and the Leeds game isolation Reda played in a manner Mattock isn’t even capable of. Helan too although he is a decent replacement for me. Wickham is someone who could be playing and scoring regularly in the Prem next season and Madine is unproven at Championship level. If our play off credentials were highly dubious even based on that game and great win replacing that team with two questionable players over the two best ones I think leaves the answer to your question in no doubt i.e quite far! UTO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorian gray Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 After news about Lees about to sign for us, I decided to watch the game again where we destroyed leeds 6-0 to check out how he did, despite us giving them a right beating. Got me me thinking looking at the lineup of that game, that we are not that far off from being a decent team able to compete in the top half of the division and who knows maybe the playoffs. The team that played: Kirkland Palmer Loovens Llera Reda Maguire Lee Semedo Maghoma Wickham Nuhiu In goal we have brought in Westwood, definitely an improvement on Martinez. The recent signing of Lees has improved our defense and is a player who has great potential for the future. Could be a key player for years to come, an improvement on Llera. Now Reda's gone, we have Helan and Mattock as a suitable replacements. The midfield players are all still here, Semedo signing a new contract and with Maguire, Lee and Maghoma looking to improve on last season. Hutchinson has also been brought in giving us more options in midfield and defense. Antonio should hopefully be over his injury problems last season. Upfront, Nuhiu I'm sure will get more goals this season than he did last time round in a new league, country and environment. Madine coming back is an added bonus. So basically up to this point, you could say we are in a better position than we were at that game. The final piece of the puzzle is having someone like Wickham in our team. That is mainly where we are lacking, a 20 goal a season striker and a few reinforcements to give us that extra depth. What do fellow fans think? How far off are we from really competing in playoffs? . yeah! were just short of one international class c/f on a hot run to lead the line... i think last years result against l**ds spoke volumes about their mindset, and the turmoil at bellend ruwad at that time... hopefully it will continue, and milan won't let anything like that occur here, i'm sure he won't... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
areNOTwhatTHEYseem Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 I thought this thread was going to be about these two... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smhouston Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 People are saying that Wickham was vital in that game, but I'd have to disagree. That was actually one of his poorer games for us, and he even admitted that himself IIRC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogers Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 To be honest, he didn't look like he was on top of his game, his positioning was awful at times, but he was playing on the right side of a back three. Put in some decent challenges and then was substituted at half time. So pretty hard to judge him based on 45 mins where we dominated them. I have high hopes for Lees. Think he will be a reyt player. Plays for us now be a reyt player - no doubt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkeye Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 When Smith came on at the start of the second half and we reverted to 4-4-2, I thought, even at 2-0, there was still something in the game for us. The sending off ended the contest, we gave up and it could of been 7,8,9 really. Not a game where I'd be judging Tom Lee's performance but Brian McDermott's formation. Fair assessment. We overachieved massively that day and Leeds got everything wrong. Hence the absolute hammering. The egg got it completely wrong for you lot, really surprised me how much he screwed it up. No chance that our current squad will pull that off a dozen times this season. Which is what we'll need at the moment. Reda for mattock? Wickham for Madine? And our options off the bench? Betra, or another young inexperienced lad as it stands. Call me negative, but we are sleep walking into a disaster start here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorian gray Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 People are saying that Wickham was vital in that game, but I'd have to disagree. That was actually one of his poorer games for us, and he even admitted that himself IIRC he'd still be the priority to their markers, having such a potential threat leaves spaces for fellow team mates to run into... the biggest threat will always be marked the best, i think one of the few exceptions to that would have reda at corners, and close in set pieces... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorian gray Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Fair assessment. We overachieved massively that day and Leeds got everything wrong. Hence the absolute hammering. The egg got it completely wrong for you lot, really surprised me how much he screwed it up. No chance that our current squad will pull that off a dozen times this season. Which is what we'll need at the moment. Reda for mattock? Wickham for Madine? And our options off the bench? Betra, or another young inexperienced lad as it stands. Call me negative, but we are sleep walking into a disaster start here. i don't even think were walking... i may be wrong and things may be going ahead unseen... but at present it's looking like a start without anywhere near the personnel needed to win points... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
since59owe Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 To be fair though Leeds were utterly dreadful in that match which made us look a lot better than we actually were. Very true ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airborne_rat_of_s6 Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 After news about Lees about to sign for us, I decided to watch the game again where we destroyed leeds 6-0 to check out how he did, despite us giving them a right beating. Got me me thinking looking at the lineup of that game, that we are not that far off from being a decent team able to compete in the top half of the division and who knows maybe the playoffs. The team that played: Kirkland Palmer Loovens Llera Reda Maguire Lee Semedo Maghoma Wickham Nuhiu In goal we have brought in Westwood, definitely an improvement on Martinez. The recent signing of Lees has improved our defense and is a player who has great potential for the future. Could be a key player for years to come, an improvement on Llera. Now Reda's gone, we have Helan and Mattock as a suitable replacements. The midfield players are all still here, Semedo signing a new contract and with Maguire, Lee and Maghoma looking to improve on last season. Hutchinson has also been brought in giving us more options in midfield and defense. Antonio should hopefully be over his injury problems last season. Upfront, Nuhiu I'm sure will get more goals this season than he did last time round in a new league, country and environment. Madine coming back is an added bonus. So basically up to this point, you could say we are in a better position than we were at that game. The final piece of the puzzle is having someone like Wickham in our team. That is mainly where we are lacking, a 20 goal a season striker and a few reinforcements to give us that extra depth. What do fellow fans think? How far off are we from really competing in playoffs? . Reda gone, Helan injured so we are down to Mattock. That is just one example of the bare arse thin squad we have Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronio Posted August 1, 2014 Author Share Posted August 1, 2014 Reda gone, Helan injured so we are down to Mattock. That is just one example of the bare arse thin squad we have Agree that the squad needs extra depth, but there is a basis of a decent team there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob_owl_92 Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 I also didn't think that was Wickhams best game for us but he still had moments of class that no one else in our squad can consistently provide, albeit against an awful Leeds side. I've said before that on our day our first 11 is capable of beating anyone in this division but the problem is once we pick up injuries and suspensions we're well and truly fooked. We can't progress into a mid-table/top half team with players like Coke and Zayatte featuring regularly for us. I know they aren't our first choice players but we need quality to come in so that we are well covered in every department. Westwood and Hutchinson were a very good start but we need 4/5 more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shandypants Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 After news about Lees about to sign for us, I decided to watch the game again where we destroyed leeds 6-0 to check out how he did, despite us giving them a right beating. Got me me thinking looking at the lineup of that game, that we are not that far off from being a decent team able to compete in the top half of the division and who knows maybe the playoffs. The team that played: Kirkland Palmer Loovens Llera Reda Maguire Lee Semedo Maghoma Wickham Nuhiu In goal we have brought in Westwood, definitely an improvement on Martinez. The recent signing of Lees has improved our defense and is a player who has great potential for the future. Could be a key player for years to come, an improvement on Llera. Now Reda's gone, we have Helan and Mattock as a suitable replacements. The midfield players are all still here, Semedo signing a new contract and with Maguire, Lee and Maghoma looking to improve on last season. Hutchinson has also been brought in giving us more options in midfield and defense. Antonio should hopefully be over his injury problems last season. Upfront, Nuhiu I'm sure will get more goals this season than he did last time round in a new league, country and environment. Madine coming back is an added bonus. So basically up to this point, you could say we are in a better position than we were at that game. The final piece of the puzzle is having someone like Wickham in our team. That is mainly where we are lacking, a 20 goal a season striker and a few reinforcements to give us that extra depth. What do fellow fans think? How far off are we from really competing in playoffs? . There are lots of parameters that effect a game. I could be that Leeds had a better team than us but, on the day, everything went right for us and nothing went right for them - it could have been 6-0 the other way on another day. What we do know is that our current squad is threadbare and definitely not one that we should be entering the season with - that's a fact irrespective of the reason for the squad being like it currently is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solo Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Watch where Reda is and what he does for pretty much all 6 goals definatly played a huge part for a left back in that game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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