Our midfield

[dorian gray]

12 minutes ago, McRightSide said:

 

You have to remember we are also potless 

I think dc is planning having a 'jumble sale' soon to make us 'less potless'.

[SallyCinnamon]

One poor game for Bannan and the knives are out.

 

One of the best in the league. If anyone thinks we can get better with the financial shitstorm that’s about to hit us is deluded. FFP IS A PROBLEM.

[bladeshater]

Hutchinson and bannan arnt strong or mobile when played in a 4-4-2 over a season 

[Brando17]

2 hours ago, Beholder said:

If I were Bruce I would have a good look at midfield and have a think about whether it can be consistent enough for a promotion challenge

 

With the players we have I think a Lee Hutch combo is a better option than Bannan Hutch in a combative high tempo game. I would be open to another contract for Lee if we can get him on the pitch before the season ends 

 

Regarding Hutch I think he is a tad limited as he is primarily a defensive player.

You need goals from midfield to challenge for promotion.

 

I'd even consider offers for Bannan because I think he is very highly rated , buy maybe a tad too highly rated.

Bannan is possibly our only proper ball player,Hutch is immense and without him we would be overrun every game,Reach is the player to get rid of and maybe generate a few quid imo

[MARTY BOY]

2 hours ago, McRightSide said:

The only place that we look adequately staffed is keeper.

 

We seem to have solved 50% of the full back issue by signing Iorfa, but left back is a major problem still

 

We’ve got one decent centre half.

 

We’ve got two decent CMs but no cover for either

 

We’ve for one decent wide player

 

We’ve got 4 adequate strikers who’ve all struggled to put any seblemce of form together for the last 2 years.

 

Essential priorities for me would be:

 

1. a Centre half

2. a left back

3. a defensive midfielder

4. a wide player 

 

Thats the bare minimum before we even start look at squad depth

 

This summer and next season ain’t going to be easy

Good Post, that sounds about right.. Been needing a dominant, powerful midfield presence since the playoff final. 

[S36 OWL]

5 hours ago, Beholder said:

If I were Bruce I would have a good look at midfield and have a think about whether it can be consistent enough for a promotion challenge

 

With the players we have I think a Lee Hutch combo is a better option than Bannan Hutch in a combative high tempo game. I would be open to another contract for Lee if we can get him on the pitch before the season ends 

 

Regarding Hutch I think he is a tad limited as he is primarily a defensive player.

You need goals from midfield to challenge for promotion.

 

I'd even consider offers for Bannan because I think he is very highly rated , buy maybe a tad too highly rated.

 

We badly need a box to box beast . We have done for years. 

[gurujuan]

24 minutes ago, S36 OWL said:

 

We badly need a box to box beast . We have done for years. 

Thing is, are there such players these days? It seems to be, it’s either a sitting midfielder, or someone who is looking to do his work around the oppositions box The nearest we’ll get, I would imagine, is someone like Keiren Lee, a player with energy who will be the link between Hutch and Bannan. Suppose Onomah was meant to be that player, but injuries have ruined his season as well

[HIGHERSTATE]

We were built originally as a portuguese team to try and out pass and outclass the opposition but it didnt work..not far off though

 

Changes since then should have been far quicker and more urgent..the signings after that were just desperate and random.

 

Hopefully now is the time as we have someone with championship knowledge on board.

 

Dcs approach has been a bit slapdash and random and hes thrown a lot of our money away.

[dorian gray]

4 hours ago, Yellowbelly said:

A destroyer

A creator

A runner

Pace out wide 

A strong, quick target man who can finish.

 

How many players on that list are currently in our squad? Get them & we may have a chance.

get them and we may be able to play in more than one manner.

[Philb125]

Weird that so many of the posters on here are happy to get rid of Reach and claim he’s disposable. Was a stat on Sky yesterday that Reach is in top three for assists over last two seasons in championship with 17 I think. 

 

If you add add to that his goals, fact he’s usually fit and plays almost every minute hard to see how we replace him. 

[gurujuan]

5 minutes ago, Philb125 said:

Weird that so many of the posters on here are happy to get rid of Reach and claim he’s disposable. Was a stat on Sky yesterday that Reach is in top three for assists over last two seasons in championship with 17 I think. 

 

If you add add to that his goals, fact he’s usually fit and plays almost every minute hard to see how we replace him. 

Makes our strikers goal returns look pretty poor then

[Philb125]

1 minute ago, gurujuan said:

Makes our strikers goal returns look pretty poor then

 

Imagine how many he’d have had in a team doing well? We’ve been terrible by and large for last two seasons and he’s managing assists and goals. In a high flying team I think he’d look twice the player again. 

[gurujuan]

5 minutes ago, Philb125 said:

 

Imagine how many he’d have had in a team doing well? We’ve been terrible by and large for last two seasons and he’s managing assists and goals. In a high flying team I think he’d look twice the player again. 

No exactly, you can’t fault those returns, but with that sort of supply line, any half decent striker would have a field day The thing is, we don’t have one None of our strikers are good enough to lead the line at this level

[Stoop]

Our problem is that Reach aside, our midfield carries next to zero goal threat. We’d be lucky to get 5 from Bannan and Hutchinson over an entire season which is dire

[Beholder]

1 hour ago, HIGHERSTATE said:

We were built originally as a portuguese team to try and out pass and outclass the opposition but it didnt work..not far off though

 

Changes since then should have been far quicker and more urgent..the signings after that were just desperate and random.

 

Hopefully now is the time as we have someone with championship knowledge on board.

 

Dcs approach has been a bit slapdash and random and hes thrown a lot of our money away.

Whilst I agree with that I also think it's possible to adapt with some existing players still in place- but not everyone.

 

We need to retain a core of the best players and build around that.

 

Binning everyone isn't the solution either (not that you were saying that)

Edited April 14, 2019 by Beholder

[HIGHERSTATE]

28 minutes ago, Beholder said:

Whilst I agree with that I also think it's possible to adapt with some existing players still in place- but not everyone.

 

We need to retain a core of the best players and build around that.

 

Binning everyone isn't the solution either (not that you were saying that)

Maybe i should have said..change with a coherant and clear plan...it didnt really pan out for carlos

[Luke]

our centee midfield is dire and massively overrated

 

all the top teams in this league have midfielders who contribute goals

 

id be amazed if bannan and hutch have 5 goals between um

[FreshOwl]

Tried and failed over the past 4 years, we need to spice it up and get an enforcer in there 

 

Mo Diame please Bug Bruce 

[gurujuan]

13 hours ago, HIGHERSTATE said:

Maybe i should have said..change with a coherant and clear plan...it didnt really pan out for carlos

To be fair to Carlos, he has got us closer than any other manager, two play offs, in his only two completed seasons. Yes, there didn’t appear to be any long term planning, but that was the brief from the chairman, promotion in two years. Had we achieved that target, and we came pretty close, most of those players would have been gone anyway. While I didn’t neccessarily agree with the strategy, it did nearly work. Perhaps Carlos deserves more credit for getting a bunch of seasoned misfits to a play off final, and coming close the following year, despite most of the players starting to decline. 

Where I think we made a mistake, is not refreshing the squad in year 2 with younger players. A bit of wheeling and dealing to get some younger legs in that squad, might have seen it through. It could even have been done with loans, as Huddersfield did. 

Thats where it all went wrong, even the loans were, long in the tooth professionals, who just duplicated what we already had. Then of course, there was the ridiculous signing of Jordan Rhodes, but don’t get me started on that one.

Now Steve Bruce has an opportunity to rebuild the squad. I don’t think this is something he can do in one season, especially as he is likely to be working under some pretty severe financial constraints. He has already shown that he can get a tune out of some of the older players, some of whom had been written off previously There is still a need to get some younger legs into the squad, and again, this can be done through the loan market. If he can instil a shape, and a way of playing, with some fresh blood, the squad should be good enough for a top half finish next season. 

[WalthamOwl]

I love Lee, if he could stay fit he would be playing in the Premiership imo. However I just can’t see him being fit for a run of games again. I think he will be released at the end of the season. I would like to see us bring in a player with pace and can put a good cross in the box to replace Boyd and also a new CM, someone in the style of Diame that Bruce had at Hull.