Next season

[DesWalker]

1. Strong, commanding CB

2. Athletic, box to box midfielder

3. Wide man with pace

[TheEnchanter]

1 minute ago, dave said:

 

 

You're right - but look at the forward line now.  You could see that in a top two side.  Invest in the midfield where we invested in forwards this season and it'll get mighty interesting.  I do agree with the splurge comment though.  Some of the recruitment has been weird.  Abdi being the biggest one.

 

I think the use of Abdi has been weird. Not the fact we recruited him. To be fair he was one of the star midfielders at this level and features in most games for Watford in the Prem. We've just played him out of position from day 1 and inbetween that he's had too many injuries so it's been drop start. 

[HirstWhoScoredIt]

1 minute ago, Philb125 said:

Centerback who's dominant in air, yet comfortable on ball. Dunk is probably out of reach but in that style. 

 

Centermid to take ale pressure off Hutch if needed, Jackson Irvine has had a standout season for Burton. Does the gritty bit and chips in with goals. 

 

Depending on Mike Ashley spending I'd love us to grab 1/2 Newcastle players. Matt Ritchie, Jonjo - don't need them but they are a class above this league. 

 

If we sign Rhodes no striker needed. If we don't and Hooper is back no striker needed! Prior to Rhodes signing I was happy with our strikers on paper, I'd not turn Rhodes down but it's a lot of cash. 

 

 

We are contractually obliged to sign Rhodes and cannot back out.  Neither can Boro.

[Philb125]

Just now, HirstWhoScoredIt said:

We are contractually obliged to sign Rhodes and cannot back out.  Neither can Boro.

In that case maybe just Jackson Irvone as hard to see much more in terms of finances available without selling a few star players. 

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

5 minutes ago, TheEnchanter said:

 

I think the use of Abdi has been weird. Not the fact we recruited him. To be fair he was one of the star midfielders at this level and features in most games for Watford in the Prem. We've just played him out of position from day 1 and inbetween that he's had too many injuries so it's been drop start. 

 

Most of Abdi's Premier League appearances for Watford came as a wide midfielder, though. He should have been tailor made for our system where wide men often cut in and get involved in the centre of the park.

 

I wonder if he's been carrying an injury since the start of the season and never fully shook it off?

 

Either way, I just hope we finally see him at his best in a Wednesday shirt next season.

[britpunk77]

21 minutes ago, gurujuan said:

I think most would agree, a more targeted approach to recruitment is required. Personally, I don't like 4-4-2, but if we're going to play that way, it has to be played the way Brighton play. This hybrid system that Carlos has introduced, just doesn't get the best out of the players we have. Either he fine tunes it, or adopts a more orthodox 4-4-2 line up, where everyone knows their role, and the players that come in, fit seamlessly into the pattern of play. I would say, 3 or 4 players in, and players that will improve the starting eleven. We lack, aerial dominance at the back, combative midfielders and pace in attacking areas. Solve that, and with a clearer pattern of play, we can challenge

 

 

My thoughts also, couldn't have put it better myself.

[gurujuan]

41 minutes ago, HirstWhoScoredIt said:

We are contractually obliged to sign Rhodes and cannot back out.  Neither can Boro.

 

This seems to be the case, in which case Carlos needs to show us why he thought parting with that sort of money was a good idea. That's not knocking Rhodes, we all know what he can do, and his limitations, but the way he's been used so far, we could have got that for a lot less money. I'm not suggesting change our style of play, solely for the benefit of Jordan Rhodes, heaven forbid, but we have all these potential assets that we are not getting the best from.

[britpunk77]

15 minutes ago, Lee A said:

 

Sam Byram?

 

Definitely an upgrade on Hunt, just not sure he's enough of an upgrade to warrant the money.

 

 

 

 

I agree reed he would be an upgrade on Hunt but the likelihood of us getting him seem quite remote at the moment.

[HirstWhoScoredIt]

6 minutes ago, gurujuan said:

 

This seems to be the case, in which case Carlos needs to show us why he thought parting with that sort of money was a good idea. That's not knocking Rhodes, we all know what he can do, and his limitations, but the way he's been used so far, we could have got that for a lot less money. I'm not suggesting change our style of play, solely for the benefit of Jordan Rhodes, heaven forbid, but we have all these potential assets that we are not getting the best from.

I personally think him and Hooper with FF on the left will rip teams to shreds.

 

But he can't drop Fletch after 3 in 2.

[oh_weds_we_love_you]

32 minutes ago, gurujuan said:

 

Think we could have achieved it this year. There's a very clear brief of what's needed now, and it's exactly what was needed in the summer. However, we splurged money everywhere, without ever addressing those shortcomings. We simply can't make the same mistake this year

 

You call it a mistake, yet I think the signings of Abdi, Fletcher, Reach, and Jones (the main summer buys) have made us more competitive.

 

Yes, Abdi has had his problems, but he's a quality player. Fletcher is a massive upgrade on Nuhiu. Reach can play seemingly anywhere and is always steady - and also another huge upgrade on Helan. Jones is finally producing what he was signed for and means we don't miss Hutchinson like we did earlier in the season.

 

We appeared to be after a quality centre half and it never materialised (probably because Newcastle paid £6m for him to play in their reserves!), and then the decision was taken to add Hutchinson on to our pool of centre halves, which didn't work so well (due to missing him in midfield).

[Mid Wicket]

Imo we have to bring in players who are challenging for first team spots, not getting to the end of summer and going for bench fillers. I think Carlos will stay. A CB, a CM to cover Hutch and sign a wide player with pace. Then pray they all stay fit and we don't have major players out long term like Abdi, Mattias, Hooper and Lee have been this year 

[oh_weds_we_love_you]

20 minutes ago, gurujuan said:

 

This seems to be the case, in which case Carlos needs to show us why he thought parting with that sort of money was a good idea. That's not knocking Rhodes, we all know what he can do, and his limitations, but the way he's been used so far, we could have got that for a lot less money. I'm not suggesting change our style of play, solely for the benefit of Jordan Rhodes, heaven forbid, but we have all these potential assets that we are not getting the best from.

 

Rhodes needs a pre-season with our team. He barely played for Boro between May 2016 and January 2017, so it comes as no surprise he's not firing on all cylinders yet.

[gurujuan]

39 minutes ago, oh_weds_we_love_you said:

 

You call it a mistake, yet I think the signings of Abdi, Fletcher, Reach, and Jones (the main summer buys) have made us more competitive.

 

Yes, Abdi has had his problems, but he's a quality player. Fletcher is a massive upgrade on Nuhiu. Reach can play seemingly anywhere and is always steady - and also another huge upgrade on Helan. Jones is finally producing what he was signed for and means we don't miss Hutchinson like we did earlier in the season.

 

We appeared to be after a quality centre half and it never materialised (probably because Newcastle paid £6m for him to play in their reserves!), and then the decision was taken to add Hutchinson on to our pool of centre halves, which didn't work so well (due to missing him in midfield).

 

I would agree with that, the mistake was not addressing the very clear shortcomings within the squad. Had we have done that, then most of those others we signed, would have been useful additions to the squad. Again, I do have a bit of sympathy for Carlos, as we clearly tried to sign Hanley. We don't have the right balance of midfield players for the system we play. We also lack pace all over the park

[thewookieisdown]

As others have said largely stick with it. Our best performances this year have been better than our best ones last year. There's a consistency issue but no need for a major rethink.  

 

No doubt injuries will occur next season too. But long term absences to Lee and Hooper have been particularly unfortunate.

[oh_weds_we_love_you]

1 minute ago, gurujuan said:

 

I would agree with that, the mistake was not addressing the very clear shortcomings within the squad. Had we have done that, then most of those others we signed, would have been useful additions to the squad. Again, I do have a bit of sympathy for Carlos, as we clearly tried to sign Hanley. We don't have the right balance of midfield players for the system we play. We also lack pace all over the park

 

I think we have a good valance in midfield, I just think there is a problem by where Carlos wants to play his favourites - who he trusts - which isn't always the right balance for the team. Looks like the arrival of Reach has stopped Carlos playing Bannan out wide, which can only be a good thing. Will certainly be interesting to see how Carlos accommodates Reach, Wallace, Bannan, Hutchinson and Lee - his clear favourites - when they are all fit. Add to that Forestieri - best position seems to be out wide.

 

Carlos could easily have paid over the odds for a second choice centre half after missing out on Hanley, but opted for the sensible recruitment of Sasso instead.

 

McManaman has pace but Carlos doesn't seem to want to use him. Wonder why? I'm not so sure that someone with pace is really needed for the style we play, though would be great to have as a plan B. Can't imagine signing someone with pace and quality to deliver would come cheap either.

[WC1Owl]

Heartening to see that posters on this thread think the team is nearly there.

 

Agree that we need another central defender (I'd say we need Sasso + one more for numbers - we were alarmingly down to the bare bones when Sasso was suspended).

 

RB seems more in need of shoring up than LB, where all of Pudil, Fox and Reach are decent, and keeping each other competitive.

 

Someone to come in and make the impact as a wide player that Buckley and McManaman haven't quite done.

 

And I'd love us to have one more magic dust player who can turn a game when nothing else is going right - we've looked a bit pedestrian without Fessi at times this season. Someone like Ben Brereton, but not him, because he'll go to a top half prem side.

 

[oh_weds_we_love_you]

Something that has also got me thinking - what happened to Brighton in the summer of 2015? They went from finishing 20th with 47 points to amassing 89 points and finishing 3rd the following season.

 

We are 10-15 points off challenging for the automatic places, which seems like a lot until you see the above information.

[WC1Owl]

2 minutes ago, oh_weds_we_love_you said:

Something that has also got me thinking - what happened to Brighton in the summer of 2015? They went from finishing 20th with 47 points to amassing 89 points and finishing 3rd the following season.

 

We are 10-15 points off challenging for the automatic places, which seems like a lot until you see the above information.

 

Brighton had one duff season, though. Apart from that season they've been knocking on the door for a while.

[oh_weds_we_love_you]

1 minute ago, WC1Owl said:

 

Brighton had one duff season, though. Apart from that season they've been knocking on the door for a while.

 

The stats would certainly back that up. Worth noting that either side of that duff season they jumped from 75 points (2012-13) and 72 points (2013-14) to 89 points (2015-16). Brighton have certainly shown that jump of c.15 points can be made, we just need to learn how they did it!

[areNOTwhatTHEYseem]

5 minutes ago, oh_weds_we_love_you said:

Something that has also got me thinking - what happened to Brighton in the summer of 2015? They went from finishing 20th with 47 points to amassing 89 points and finishing 3rd the following season.

 

We are 10-15 points off challenging for the automatic places, which seems like a lot until you see the above information.

 

4 minutes ago, WC1Owl said:

Brighton had one duff season, though. Apart from that season they've been knocking on the door for a while.

 

Yep. It's more a case of 'what happened to Brighton in the summer of 2014?'

 

They'd been in the playoffs for two seasons running, and then...