The 2019 Summer Clearout

[Strawberry Avenger]

As I think this season is now very difficult to get in top 6, I believe we should start to bed in players now for next season. We don't need to keep relying on the likes of Ben "Ave it" Watson or Murphy up front. Yates shows you can play the youngsters, so lets see who can make the next step up.

That would help us work out what we need and who we can get rid of come the summer.

Decent post, Widdow. 

SA.  :cool:

I don't think managers have the luxury of being able to write of seasons prematurely.

Yes we should have used Ryan, & possibly others, earlier & yes we should have alternatives in mind for ageing players like Watson & Murphy etc., but these are things we should have been looking at last summer, not at the business end of the season.

It's one of the things I've been going on about for a long time, long term planning with regards to squad management & both recruitment & the integration of players from the academy, & with that in mind, if the play offs become mathematically impossible I'd expect to see the pace of experimentation increase, but for now we still have to balance getting results as well.

Aye.  

Perhaps that is where the most recent recruit to backroom staff comes in?

SA.

Certainly intended to help. A football club is full of different departments these days so you need to make sure everything's all coordinated & that everyone's working to a plan that it's hoped will serve the common good.

I keep saying Martin has to clean up a mess, although I don't just mean literally on his own, but the mess is very real. In reality, barring us getting that late run & grabbing a play off spot, then it's been a bad year really, for the club.

As fans we usually just tend to see what's on the pitch & the last result but there's a lot more to a football club than that & certainly in a lot of areas there's been a greater need for communication (Ironically with the fans too) & a vast improvement in quality & performance.

I've mentioned bad recruitment, & lack of planning & the various impacts that can have, but we've also been lacking in the coaching department for me, as well.

I mentioned with Carvalho that I hoped we're working with him on the training ground because I don't think we've done that much with him yet & he's still quite a raw talent that needs help, especially under these circumstances & coming to the championship when so green.

The drop in form & slight burn out says it all, no one's worked with him on conditioning & getting him prepared for the physicality & nobody seems to have taught him "Englishism's" that crop up on the pitch, or how to overcome them, he seem's to have been left to puzzle them out for himself when & where they arise.

It's been noticeable with all 4 Portuguese players, Tobias included, that nobody schooled them on the differences in discipline between Portuguese football & Championship football, what's yellow here isn't always a yellow here & what's a yellow there isn't always a yellow here.

Incisive point, NG3.  The Championship is very different to the continent.  How you integrate that 'culture shock' should be part of the plan.  Not just dropping them into the deep end and hoping they swim.

Getting him to 'bulk up a bit' so he he's not pushed off the ball so easy as an example.

SA.

[the jock]

got an update today.

obviously early days but MON and Keane settling in very well and are getting on very well with the hierarchy. lets hope it stays that way. everybody enjoying working together presently.

[McDurban]

got an update today.

obviously early days but MON and Keane settling in very well and are getting on very well with the hierarchy. lets hope it stays that way. everybody enjoying working together presently.

Well I'm loving the pre & post match interviews.
I love the passion and determination MoN displays.

[Duncan Mckenzie]

got an update today.

obviously early days but MON and Keane settling in very well and are getting on very well with the hierarchy. lets hope it stays that way. everybody enjoying working together presently.

Music to my ears Jock  :angel:

[TheGreenMan]

Rather O’Neill went then Carvalho.

While I'm sure it's not what you mean I hope it never comes to a "political" either/or scenario as that would 100% mean the end of Carvalho here & I'd much rather his future was determined based on football reasons.

Just frustrated he’s not in the team. If he needed a little break then yeah fair enough, I really haven’t got a problem with that with it being his first season in English football. But we’re hardly pulling up any trees without him and we’re desperately lacking that creative spark. 
Been out the starting line up for 6 matches now, how long a break does he need?

[PsychoStooge]

...how long a break does he need?

I wish I had an answer for you.

A lot of that will depend on his physio stats & what's happening in training.

I'm disappointed that it got to this stage, whether it's a manager, coach, physio, analyst etc., someone should have acted sooner to avoid this situation.

I've mentioned the Millwall game a few times, but here's his heat map from the game



37 touches & virtually nothing where it mattered. It was already clear he was struggling. Someone should have exercised a duty of care.

Those heat maps are interesting. Looking at the teams overall from the WBA and Brentford games and there's a massive Carvalho shaped gap in both, not that I'm saying he should've started but can certainly see a spot for him, perhaps in games we're more comfortable in once things are a bit more settled under MON. Hopefully he'll be given a shot soon.

[PsychoStooge]

Those heat maps are interesting. Looking at the teams overall from the WBA and Brentford games and there's a massive Carvalho shaped gap in both, not that I'm saying he should've started but can certainly see a spot for him, perhaps in games we're more comfortable in once things are a bit more settled under MON. Hopefully he'll be given a shot soon.

Providing all things are good I really so no reason why not, for all the talk some people have come out with Martin has shown throughout his career that he's happy & willing to work with both skilful players & players who aren't always 7 foot giants, Henrik Larsson instantly jumps to mind, & Ashley young can't be more than a few centimetres taller.

This talk of "hoof-ball in the land of giants" that some have trotted out is pure fiction & not borne out by any facts.

I won't lie I don't find the football we've been playing over the last few weeks particularly entertaining. I'm hoping it develops a bit further than what it is at the moment.

[PsychoStooge]

I won't lie I don't find the football we've been playing over the last few weeks particularly entertaining. I'm hoping it develops a bit further than what it is at the moment.

I'm 100% sure it will, although it's hardly "hoof-ball" now (we played less long balls above ground v Brentford in our recent win than in the defeat to them at the start of the season).

One of the first things Martin said here was that, after consulting with the players themselves, one of our prime issues has been getting bodies in the box & scoring goals, the more physical & direct approach was an obvious quick fix while he builds the team from the back.

He has done similar at a couple of clubs before, he got absolute pelters for it at Leicester, but on both previous occasions the football has developed, the results followed & so did success & fan appreciation.

Leicester approached him to come back a few years ago (yes, an EPL club wanting our "dinosaur") & fans were very receptive to his return, but due to commitments with the Irish team nothing came of it.

Eventually we'll probably settle on a mixed approach, some physical & direct, some good counter attacking football & maybe a little champagne football when opportunities permit, sort of like Clough, Clark & most successful managers at clubs our size.

Like I say I'll wait with hope rather than expectation. I'm not arsed about us retaining a load of possession and having 800 passes per game or any of that stuff, just want to see something exciting and fun to watch and hopefully Carvalho fits in there somewhere.

[Strawberry Avenger]

Like I say I'll wait with hope rather than expectation. I'm not arsed about us retaining a load of possession and having 800 passes per game or any of that stuff, just want to see something exciting and fun to watch and hopefully Carvalho fits in there somewhere.

O'Neill's Aston Villa 08/09

Long balls, short balls, through balls, crosses, corners, free kicks, long shots, tap in's, headers, volleys & all goals.

The mixed game, out play them when you can, but out think them, or out muscle them when you can't.

Edit: worth mentioning Gabriel Agbonlahor from those clips, he got 3 England caps while playing for Martin O'Neill, & people raved about him, but no other managers ever got so much out of him, or made him look so good. That's man management for you.

Amen.  ...love it.   Mixed approach.  The hats historically what we had under Brian.  Disciplined approach.

And good man management.

SA.

[PsychoStooge]

Like I say I'll wait with hope rather than expectation. I'm not arsed about us retaining a load of possession and having 800 passes per game or any of that stuff, just want to see something exciting and fun to watch and hopefully Carvalho fits in there somewhere.

O'Neill's Aston Villa 08/09

Long balls, short balls, through balls, crosses, corners, free kicks, long shots, tap in's, headers, volleys & all goals.

The mixed game, out play them when you can, but out think them, or out muscle them when you can't.

Edit: worth mentioning Gabriel Agbonlahor from those clips, he got 3 England caps while playing for Martin O'Neill, & people raved about him, but no other managers ever got so much out of him, or made him look so good. That's man management for you.

I'm not disputing he was a great manager, same at Leicester and Celtic. All I'm saying is I hope he will be here too, I hope the football gets more entertaining, I hope his man management works on Carvalho and I hope the owner gives him time, but I don't expect any of it because if I start expecting I'll end up disappointed.  :D

[Strawberry Avenger]

Well... that I understand...

We all live in hope...

SA.

[Mad Mel]

With MoN thus far favouring 4-1-4-1 or 4-5-1, I do not see a future for Carvalho unless he can adapt to a deeper role.
So for this reason I've added him to the sell/loan/retire list.

GK
TBA
Costel Pantilimon

RB
TBA
Tendayi Darikwa

LB
Jack Robinson
TBA

CB
Tobias Figueiredo
Joe Worrall
Alexander Milosevic
Yohan Benalouane
Michael Hefele
TBA

WIDE
TBA
Joe Lolley
TBA
Matty Cash
Arvin Appiah


CM
Ryan Yates
TBA (Colback)
TBA
Claudio Yacob
TBA

ST
Lewis Grabban
TBA
TBA
Daryl Murphy (I like him)


SELL/LOAN/RETIRE
Luke Steele (not bothered if he stays or goes)
Jordan Smith (not good enough)
Michael Dawson  (time to hang up the boots)
Liam Bridcutt (lost his way)
Adlène Guédioura (will decline considerably)
Ben Watson (will decline considerably)
Panagiotis Tachtsidis (unless MoN fancies him in a 4-1-4-1/4-5-1)
João Carvalho (formation problem)
Zach Clough (lost his way)
El Arbi Hillel Soudani (sick note)
Gboly Ariyibi (not good enough)
Ben Osborn (he isn't running the show)
Jorge Grant (not good enough)
Apostolos Vellios (terminal decline)
Jason Cummings (nutcase)
Karim Ansarifard (will never settle)

Well we will certainly need more than one window to achieve that, I would imagine at least two if not three.

This just shows how much work there is to do over the summer!

MON and Keano have a huge job on their hands but I have total trust and faith in them.

The problem is that they need TIME...