Hector and Onomah

[owlandished]

Every so often you see a run of games and can see where things are heading. In Carlos' 1st and 2nd season, it was nippy players like Bannan, Foresteri and Wallace swarming forwards with the ball. Pathetic as it seems, it was just having it dawn on me we weren't just going to lose possession that grew my confidence in the team. We actually had the belief on, and eventually off the field, that we could create chances and score through such relatively skilful players running at the opposition. For all the good work of CC's-predecessor, this was something we had been lacking. We didn't have the talent or the belief. We could probably afford neither, at the time.

 

The confidence petered out in Carlos' third season, and a lot of the talent was sidelined because of injury. But against Bristol City I started to see something different to emerge. Some steel in our team, again something I had not seen for many years. This was mostly thanks to our 2 loanees Hector and Onomah really taking command of things at the back and in the centre. Not only that, both of those players distribution was decent too. And despite Hector's needless booking, their temperament was to be admired too. As much as I love Hutch, he is too often OTT. Robbie Savage-like sometimes. Jos saw this skill set lacking in the squad he inherited, His other signing to date is Pelupessy. Lee and Pudil have retained their starting places, and another tough nut, Thornilley, has been promoted to the 1st team. This, combined with the artfulness of Bannan and Joao, and the drive we see from Penney and Reach, really does make me think we have good things to come.

 

Whereas Carlos brought flamboyance and an attack-minded philosophy to the team, he soon retreated into negativity. Strikes me that Jos has a more grittier, optimistic approach, liking to build from a position of strength at the core, knowing we still have kept under contract those players that can launch attacks and convert. It's also ironic that in Portugal there is no concept of goalkeeper "clean sheets". Yet Carlos and Westwood used to have a lot of those, whereas Jos and Dawson have zero this season.

 

Edited October 8, 2018 by owlandished

[IstillhateSteveBould]

A tall, commanding CB and a strong physical presence in midfield.

 

How long have we been asking for 2 players that fit the bill?

 

Looks like we've finally got them

[Adam Reachs left peg]

Great post hector and onamah have made a huge difference to the team, and added there own bit of quality. Thought lees was struggling before hector came in but has improved immensely, onamah is an upgrade on pelupessy as much as I like him, isn’t in the same bracket as onamah, we just need to tighten up at the back a bit hector is out of contract end of season so got to be looking at signing him permanent 

[Almat]

Just imagine what our team would be like if it was Jos and not clueless who had all those millions to spend. What's he spent in total so far? 300 grand? Not forgetting the 1.7 mill we got for Hunt!

Edited October 8, 2018 by Almat

[Sultan_Pepper]

3 minutes ago, Almat said:

Just imagine what our team would be like if it was Jos and not clueless who had all those millions to spend. What's he spent in total so far? 300 grand? 

I reckon Gray would have done a great job with some backing too

[Almat]

1 minute ago, Sultan_Pepper said:

I reckon Gray would have done a great job with some backing too

 

Totally agree.

[gurujuan]

15 minutes ago, IstillhateSteveBould said:

A tall, commanding CB and a strong physical presence in midfield.

 

How long have we been asking for 2 players that fit the bill?

 

Looks like we've finally got them

Indeed, now just need another quick option up front 

[asteener1867]

5 minutes ago, Almat said:

Just imagine what our team would be like if it was Jos and not clueless who had all those millions to spend. What's he spent in total so far? 300 grand? Not forgetting the 1.7 mill we got for Hunt!

Its such a pity that we haven't got a budget, until we sell, and a pity that to get a budget at all , we will have to sell our best players.

Ive been a bit baffled by some of JL's starting line ups, and by a couple of his substitutions, but...6th!!

I was expecting to be looking at the other end of the table all season..So its simply petty carping ...I'll probably keep doin' it though

 

[gurujuan]

7 minutes ago, asteener1867 said:

Its such a pity that we haven't got a budget, until we sell, and a pity that to get a budget at all , we will have to sell our best players.

Ive been a bit baffled by some of JL's starting line ups, and by a couple of his substitutions, but...6th!!

I was expecting to be looking at the other end of the table all season..So its simply petty carping ...I'll probably keep doin' it though

 

I’ve maintained all along, we could do this with 3 or 4 loans  We don’t need a huge budget, we already have the quality, it was all about balancing the squad. The 2 loans, and the introduction of one or two youngsters, has gone a long way towards doing that

[s29wfc]

10 minutes ago, gurujuan said:

Indeed, now just need another quick option up front 

Absolutely.. this is a must for how we want to play. Not sure Fletcher or Nuihu fit the central striker position that Jos wants.