I'm afraid we have a number of players who aren't Championship standard. I would include Vyner , Wood (now), Taylor and Forde on that list. The jury is out for me on Proctor (not seen enough post-injury), Vassell (not played in favoured position enough), Raggett (not played much), Manning and Palmer. Williams does well in patches as does Towell. Newell has the ability to do it but needs to add consistency to his game. I would suggest that Rodak, Ajayi, Robertson, Mattock (improved this season), Vaulks (also improved) and Smith (a revelation) have been the outstanding performers/so far. None of the players can be faulted for their commitment but it is clear enough to see that even the teams around us near the bottom have players who have that bit of extra quality that we haven't got. Warne is doing remarkable work with this excellemy group to keep us above the bottom three. The Board should strive to do whatever they can in January to improve the quality we have in key areas even if it means moving others on. I think a right back, wide player, and natural finisher are the obvious places we need to add. With changes coming at the end of the season to how clubs are rewarded for their finishes, we are unlikely to have a better chance than this to cement ourselves as a championship club. We need to give ourselves the best chance possible.

I basically agree with smiler. Go with Rodak Ajayi Robertson Mattock Williams Vaulks Towell Newell Smith. Hopefully Wiles & Hinds will come through. Not sure about Raggett Vassell or Proctor. Dom Ball is the only player we have out on loan who could possibly do a job for us. We are stuck with 2 Right backs not good enough while January. Manning we need a midfielder who is good enough to be in the side now. Vyner Palmer Forde Taylor can go in January. Wood his playing days at this level have ended. Can't fault him for what he has done for this club, it comes to every player. You can't go on forever.

-- Edited by gwru on Monday 17th of December 2018 08:45:06 AM

Exeter. Keep hearing rumours (admittedly from the same source) that we are trying to buy Chuks Aneke. He could be that attacking midfielder/striker we need. Would assume he's a Richie Barker recommendation (from his MK days).

I hope we are looking Splinter cos we've never really replaced Frecks, hell even Ben Pringle could score once in a while

Got 4 games before we can change personal. We know we don't create much from open play, just make us hard to beat. Don't know state of play with Raggett, that's one way moving Ajayi into midfield. Other option is bringing Manning back in midfield. 4-5-1 with Williams & Newell the wide men.

I think there are strong similarities between how we play now and how Warnock set us up. Warnock played a flat back four, three in central midfield (usually Halford, Frecks and Smallwood) with one of them (Halford) holding, and two wide midfielders who tried to get forward and support a lone striker as often as possible. It was often Derbyshire left side (putting in a shift out of position) and Ward on the right supporting Best. We got everyone behind the ball, were well organised, were hard to beat and got the ball into the opposition area as quickly as we could at every opportunity. That to me is a description of how we were under Warnock but it could easily be us this season. If you haven't got the budget to get the players who can go toe to toe playing open, attractive, passing football it makes perfect sense to play that way. Warnock is having a fair go at keeping Cardiff in the Premier League doing something very similar against all odds. Both Warnock and Warne have their teams above where they were expected to be, and both deserve enormous credit for the jobs they are doing.  The difficulty with changing it by adding players is that you can't necessarily change the style that suits a team best by adding one or two players, and those one or two players might come at a premium that upsets the existing applecart.  Its a really hard thing to do mid season.  What we need I think is people who can fit into the way we play only do it a bit better than the players we already have.  I don't expect we will be playing Barca style come February - just Millers style but a bit  more effectively than we do it now.

-- Edited by smiler on Monday 17th of December 2018 10:19:48 PM

-- Edited by smiler on Monday 17th of December 2018 10:22:36 PM

I am certainly out of my depth in comparison to Smiler and Ian's understanding of the finer parts of tactics etc. Thanks for the posts and i will digest what you are both saying. I take on board Smilers comment about adding one or two players but cannot change the style. i do believe the style we play is built around Smith.

The system, whatever system it is rarely matters, it's only the media who need to fill column inches and unfortunately fans swallow it a lot of the time. If you have 11 players who all know what they're doing, what they're role is, what each other's role is - it really doesn't matter.

whiston01 wrote:

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I am certainly out of my depth in comparison to Smiler and Ian's understanding of the finer parts of tactics etc. Thanks for the posts and i will digest what you are both saying. I take on board Smilers comment about adding one or two players but cannot change the style. i do believe the style we play is built around Smith.

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 I'm not sure if that was tongue in cheek Whiston but rest assured I don't claim to know any more than anyone else about tactics etc.  My thoughts are my own and are no more valid than the next person.  I think I am usually right or I wouldn't express an opinion, but I am very open to the idea that others might be more right than me.  By the by, I would pick exactly the eleven against WBA that you suggested earlier in the thread and I agree with you that our game is built around Michael Smith who has been immense so far.  Personally I don't think we can play 442 against many teams in this division with any confidence of success, but it is inescapable that when we have been forced to chase games and have gone 442 for short spells we have looked more threatening in some games.  The counter to that would be that I think our best performance of the season by far was against the Blades and we played 451 for 80 minutes. Then again Taylor was the main man that day, and I don't particularly rate him.  All things considered, I probably know next to nothing!  I genuinely think that formations etc are over-analysed.  I remember hearing Terry Venables say that his team at Euro '96 his team might be a 352, then a 442, then a 451 all in the space of a minute.  At the end of the day, well motivated players with ability will win you football matches.  Or maybe not.