28-07-2016, 18:45
But we look potentially weak in every department ..... young loanee keeper, relying on an old-ish central defender and younger ?non-progressive? partner, a defensive midfield of an unimpressive captain and an untried youngster, an advanced midfield that could go missing entirely and a striker coming back from four years out ........ It isn't your obvious recipe for success, but I agree it is looking like our starting eleven. To be honest it looks rather like England at the Euros - only the full backs turning up.
Simons does have one great asset, he's young and can improve. It doesn't sound as though SEB can ever recapture anything like his Wolves or Plymouth form. So if I was looking for a sub who might go on and shake a few people up ..... well SEB would never be in the running. I reckon SEB either starts now, or you leave him on the red button with Gaby Logan. A young lad with a poor first touch? It's at least a maybe as a sub.
I'd like to see us stepping Dennis up to the plate in our remaining friendlies. Known goalscorers like Evans and Dennis paired would at least keep an opposing back four honest. If Simons is as poor as SEB and they played together, imagine the chaos the opposition back four would create when they realised we carried no threat at all.
In clips I've seen of our Juniors, Ricky German looks to be exactly what the first team needs up front. He gives the play shape, he scores goals, he's a handful for his marker/s AND when you watch the lads play without him the difference shouts at you. He needs another year, we haven't even assigned him a squad number ..... but Kevin Davies was younger when he started and it very quickly made a man of him.
My preference would be a signing. If Danny Mills is still languishing at Whitehawk I'd gamble on him. Either Evans or Dennis alongside would score plenty and Danny himself gets 20+ a season at that level. Toothless teams rarely win and I don't think we can afford to wait until Jay decides it's time to chip in with a couple of 30-yard stunners.
I'm not convinced our current first eleven would actually beat a team made up from those injured or left out:-
Keeper (Ginger or not)
Graham
Hird
Maguire
Donohue
Nolan
Angel
O'Neil
Mitchell
Dennis
Simons
and that leaves out the Hump who deserves at least a half and SEB, just because I want runners to create a bit of chaos for Dennis to take advantage of the first team centre backs.
My worry would be that Gboly might rip us apart, but I'd also think that if he was up against our first choice defence.
Simons does have one great asset, he's young and can improve. It doesn't sound as though SEB can ever recapture anything like his Wolves or Plymouth form. So if I was looking for a sub who might go on and shake a few people up ..... well SEB would never be in the running. I reckon SEB either starts now, or you leave him on the red button with Gaby Logan. A young lad with a poor first touch? It's at least a maybe as a sub.
I'd like to see us stepping Dennis up to the plate in our remaining friendlies. Known goalscorers like Evans and Dennis paired would at least keep an opposing back four honest. If Simons is as poor as SEB and they played together, imagine the chaos the opposition back four would create when they realised we carried no threat at all.
In clips I've seen of our Juniors, Ricky German looks to be exactly what the first team needs up front. He gives the play shape, he scores goals, he's a handful for his marker/s AND when you watch the lads play without him the difference shouts at you. He needs another year, we haven't even assigned him a squad number ..... but Kevin Davies was younger when he started and it very quickly made a man of him.
My preference would be a signing. If Danny Mills is still languishing at Whitehawk I'd gamble on him. Either Evans or Dennis alongside would score plenty and Danny himself gets 20+ a season at that level. Toothless teams rarely win and I don't think we can afford to wait until Jay decides it's time to chip in with a couple of 30-yard stunners.
I'm not convinced our current first eleven would actually beat a team made up from those injured or left out:-
Keeper (Ginger or not)
Graham
Hird
Maguire
Donohue
Nolan
Angel
O'Neil
Mitchell
Dennis
Simons
and that leaves out the Hump who deserves at least a half and SEB, just because I want runners to create a bit of chaos for Dennis to take advantage of the first team centre backs.
My worry would be that Gboly might rip us apart, but I'd also think that if he was up against our first choice defence.