Time to Rip It Up and start again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESy-Z8vqMrE
I think I'd at the most keep:
Murphy
Baker
Cyrus
Adams
Jordan
Leon
Wilson
Barton (who I'd play every week at DMC)
Burge
Willis
Then in the
maybe class:
Fleck
Moussa
Elliott
That's 13 players.
Of the latter 3, Elliott has been unlucky with injuries (and hitting the woodwork!) and has done enough for me. Fleck has disappointed but has improved under Pressley-he clearly has ability and potential, but drops too deep to be effective at present. Having no striker to target doesn't help him, but he has creativity. Moussa is close to being a discard for me, but has done enough earlier in the season for me to forgive his poor recent form. Neither he nor Fleck have been suited to our quagmire of a pitch.
I'd be very happy to see the back of all of our loans (Bailey, Martin, Ball) and also:
Dunn (Crewe, say no more. Doesn't look like a goalkeeper to me!)
Stewart (not quite good enough, past his peak)
Edge (too inconsistent, gets battered too often)
Wood (awful and a massive wage drain)
Sheff (finished, I think)
Philliskirk (just doesn't look good enough to me).
Jennings (top of my Shit List right now..."poor man's Doyle" is starting to look like a HUGE compliment!).
Bell (
one good game and a decent corner a fortnight before does not a season make).
McDonald (can't play as the lone forward; watch him score goals for fun for Gillingham next season..)
Malaga (probably better than the others we have, but it looks like the boat has long sailed for him)
Jeffers (hasn't done much)
Actually I don't know how Pressley gets 34: that's 27! I guess Cameron too, but he's as good as gone already. Is he counting Phillips as well?
Who else? :thinking about:
Priority is at least two quality CB's-one who is a beast in the air, one who can play a bit. Willis also needs to be given a chance as I think he can play the ball out of defence and he is mobile. That I don't want any of our CB's from this season is damning.
We desperately need at least one left-sided attacking midfielder with pace. Ideally we need two of them, one who can play on either side or centrally too as well.
Then we need a striker who can play the "one up" role; as Leon is undoubted first-choice in that role, an old head with massive experience who doesn't expect to play every week would be what I'd target. That or someone younger and capable of playing out wide or in the hole-like that Gareth Evans who we were linked with. Elliott and Wilson are better as a second striker in a withdrawn role or impact-subs.
Then two other centre-midfielders: one who can tackle
and pass to a respectable level, something which
none of our central midfielders can do. An all-action midfield scrapper that can get forwards like Gary Jones of Bradford did when he was at Rochdale (only younger!). Or a young Lee Bowyer-type. Note that I don't say a defensive midfielder as the fact that Fleck and Barton want to play so deep and Pressley wants us to press high means that a Batty/Makelele is not what we want. The other midfielder is the fabled No.10 that Pressley alluded to last Monday; our best bet for that kind of player given our state is a quality loan from the top flight. Gylfi Sigurdsson of Spurs tore up L2 with Crewe when he was on loan from Reading as a youngster-that's exactly the sort of signing we need for such a key role. We're still a decent club at our level and with Pressley wanting to play good football, we should be a decent attraction to big clubs for that role.
7 key signings, add that to the 13 I'd keep from this season that's 20, make up the 24 with the best of our youngsters-I guess Lobjoit, Haynes and the lads who figured this pre-season and looked lively. Forget the midfielders name but someone will remind me.
7 signings, all of whom need to be better quality signings of all of our signings this season other than McGoldrick and Clarke. Hmm. Loans are going to be crucial I think. Unless Preston is succesful and gives us a reasonable budget-enough for 3 or 4 signings at 100-350k. We feel miles away from that right now!
