It will be interesting to see which players will still be around to fill positions for our first League One clash. We will, of course, lose Wing, Giles, Blackman, Josefzoon and Hirst as they return to their parent clubs. The key question is, which of our own players will still be with us by the start of next season. I fear Matt Crooks will be too hot to hold on to and a sizeable bid from a Championship side will see him move on. Richard Wood may well hang up his boots, as may Joe Mattock. Hopefully, the rumours that Ogbene has a deal lined up with Blackburn are false.
This leaves us with a healthy batch of players who have worked well at the League One level previously. Therefore, I'd be looking for:
Viktor
Olosunde Ikky A MacDonald Harding
Wiles Barlaser Lindsay
Lapado Smith Sadlier
I'm also predicting a 3-0 home win.
I'm now well and truly over the Championship and fully focussed on our League One campaign. Plus, getting a pint before the game in the NY Tavern should be a tad easier with fewer fans around!
I'm certainly looking forward to that first pre-match pint Glenn. I dont think we will see Giles again as Wolves will want to keep him in the Championship. I'd love to think we could sign Wing. He has been excellent. His work rate is phenomenal and he can play a bit too. I just fear that other clubs will have taken notice. The other loanees have struggled to make the same impression. I think we will turn over quite a few of our own players this summer. Ones to keep for me are Viktor, Harding, Ihiekwe, Angus, Lindsay, Barlaser, Wiles, Sadlier, Crooks and Ogbene barring offers for one or two of them. Crooks will almost certainly move on. Wood can't go on forever. Robertson Mattock and Shaun MacDonald are too injury prone. Olosunde doesn't convince me. Clarke hasnt made the grade. You cant fault Smith's honesty and endeavour but he just doesnt hit the target enough with his chances. Ladapo is a good instinctive finisher but his work outside the box is frustratingly poor. I think we need more pace and creativity up front. If I could move either or both of Smith or Ladapo on, I would. I thank all the squad for their efforts - I doubt they could have given any more - but football is a hrarsh business in which players move on regularly, and I think we need quite a few changes this summer to freshen us up. The priority is some balance on the left side, where we have struggled for a couple of seasons now, and that elusive bit of something extra up front. I'm not sure whether Miller will come back or not.
Certainly agree about gong into the N.Y tavern for a pre match pint and watching games live. It looks like we have three players who will be out of contract soon. S.McDonald, Robertson and Olosunde. We cannot give another contract to McDonald. Olosunde was being talked of as a million plus player after his game at Everton. One swallow doesn't make a summer and for me i would look to move him on if a decent fee came our way(min 200k) because i believe he is too inconsistent. Robertson is a hard one. Obviously his fitness is the worry. He is a natural left footed player, lacks pace but would be a great asset in Div 1. Wood has been given an extra year so i think i would tend to gamble on Robertson with Wood as cover. Tilt is contracted till 2023. Now if he wants to play for us ( Lancashire roots) i would pair him up with Robertson in central defence. Wigan fans rate Tilt and they believe he has played a major part in keeping them up. Wigan's last 13 games have seen them let in only 13 goals and a lot of those games have been against top half clubs. We lack a midfield enforcer who can defend in front of a back 3 or 4. Is it time to try Ihiekwe in that role. We did a similar job with Semi and i believe Ihiekwe has ability to fill the role. He needs to stop giving away silly fouls but there is abundant ability to work on. We need a left back money signing. Mattock has a year left on his contract and could be ok as back up left back .
Wiles,Barlaser and Lindsay will be fine in the middle of the park. Miller and Ogbene will be our only wide players so we need to get at least another in. I think Crooks will be sold. Saddlier must be given a chance in the No 10 role because i also thinks he lacks pace to play as an out and out winger. He knows he can do it in this league so i expect a good season from him. I expect one of Ladapo and Smith to leave but Kayode comes back.We need a marquee striker signing like a lot of clubs do. We might sign a goalkeeper but we can go with what we have and extend Vickers contract.
My open day team would be. Ideally we need a left back and a marquee signing forward. I will wait for those though with baited breath. Harsh to leave Wiles out but let us go with two wide players who are naturals in the wide roles and not makeshift.
Vickers
Harding Tilt Robertson
Ogbene Ihiekwe Barlaser Lindsay Miller
Saddlier
Smith.
You don't fancy the Viking for a starting position next season then, Whiston? Some interesting thoughts, and I can go with most. Not sure that some of the players you have talked about will want to remain, and some may be the subject of the post season picking over by the championship clubs looking for "cheap" players.
Imo
Clarke should be given the chance to prove himself ahead of mattock but we all know he wont mattock if fit will be warne first pick no matter how bad he plays.
The players have shown they can be an addition to a new promoted or established championship side. So I think we will also need 3 strikers as i think smudge and ladapo will go.and i will be surprised if we still have crookes.barlaser, olosonde robertson lyndsey at the start of next season.
Serious rebuild in squad and in my opinion change the coaching staff and change recruitment.approach
The formation works, what is needed is PLAN B tactics, varied set plays and defending set plays. Stop the hoofball to easy tonread.
I thank warne and staff but they have not learned from their mistakes. To many matches we lost by fine margins. Down to in some cases bad game management, subs, bkt refognising player fatigue
The cardiff match
Wtf point of bringing ladapo and ogbene on with 1min to play. Sum its up
If we start the season without Barlaser,Crooks,Olosunde,Lyndsay,Robertson,Ladapo and Smith,i predict relegation and Warne and his team no longer at the club as well. You cannot start a season with a clear out like that. Move on Clarke, S.McDonald and try and get money for Crooks, Ladapo and Olsunde. That is a lot to lose but hopefully some of the money will be re invested in a much needed striker and left back. I also think Robertson will want to move and possibly Tilt. The last two have played little part in our last season so not as hard to take. Losing Barlaser and Lyndsay is a step too far imo.
Like i have said on earlier posts, the players excluding mattock and ogbene with the extra sky exposure will have champiosnhip and promoted teams looking. They have no loyalty to us, they have bills and to pay, so if the likes of posh,derby, hull boro, come in for smith, ladapo, Crookes, Wiles, Barlaser, Lindsey, Olosonde with a profitable offer tony will sell. I hope not but he will recoup his outlay somehow
The fowl fans at work were perplexed why he took barlaser off v luton best player?
Recruitment focus needs a rethink
tactics
subs
coaching standards
game management
defensive coach required
If warne does resign I DONT WANT BARKER.
total restructure will be needed
-- Edited by hillsborough miller on Sunday 9th of May 2021 02:12:42 PM
as said on the match thread, going from 62 minutes to 86 mins to do the 2nd substitution and only then due to injury was a costly decision, wiles for Barlaser was the obvious change not mattock what a stupid decision that was, remember Warne said before the game that he didn't even know if mattock was fit enough to play. That 86 min change weakened a midfield that was already shattered, if not Barlaser it should have been S. MacDonald if you wanted experience. It is not the first time Warnes subs have defied belief, as stated his in game management is a weakness and that has nothing to do with refs or money it is down to ability of the management. This is an area that has to improve next year
Totally agree derby, if warne stays he has to make changes to his coaching staff, defensive coach and a another opinion who hasnt got the chumocracy attachment
My starting 11 is
Victor
Harding ikky tilt macdonald clarke
A wiles C
Kayode D
With
Mattock s.macdonald wood E F G vickera
The letters are new.signings to replace
Smith ladapo ogbene barlaser olosonde crookes
Nice one Hillsborough. Keeping S.McDonald and playing Clarke. From what i have seen of Clarke he would struggle to get into the Joker team. All about opinions but i hope you have kept an injury fund for S.McDonald as you might need it. He has to go. Robertson might be worth a gamble but not him imo.
Pmsl inwoudnt keep s macdonald but i bet he stays.
Can you hand on heart say clarke has been given enough chances compared to other off form players. Mattock is the best example warne says he isnt fit then brings him on for wiles. And where i sit in west wing the number of times mattock was caught out of.position. and yes whiston its all about opinions amd respect yours as well
Clarke has not been given many chances i have to admit. However, why do you think that is? Mattock has played 187 times for us, but this season he has had his fair share of injuries. I also sit in the West wing and i have to say i believe he has done well, creates chances from crosses, gets stuck in but like all full backs does get caught out of position on occasions. Clarke has not played because he hasn't made an impact on the few occasions when he has played. Neither did Purrington. We have been crying out for a natural left sided wing back this season so it seems obvious to me the management don't believe he was up to championship standard. They see more of him than us so i trust them to be correct. One last thing on Clarke. Just before the pandemic i was stood behind him in the co-op at Wickersley. I was amazed how small and slight he is. Thin legs and weak upper body. I am not saying that is a total bar to being a good pro as many players have proved. However, you have to be that bit special and imo he is far from it. Hope he proves me wrong and plays 46 games for us next season and wins the player of the year award.
I don't get the logic in the argument that every player has to be given a certain amount of game time to prove himself. The management team see him in training. They see him in behind closed door games. When a player does play they review the footage and look at his performance in detail. They make decisions based on all of that. They surely pick whoever they think gives us the best chance of winning. Why wouldn't they?
Ladapo and Ogbene are both attacking players who don't know how to defend. They were brought on when we were desperate for a goal. I can understand why Warne was reluctant to change it too much. We were hardly under siege, although Cardiff were always going to throw some men forwards, and Blackman wasn't really worked at all. In fact we looked the more likely to score the second goal on the break, and missed a couple of great opportunities to do just that.
At the end of the say when things don't work out the manager (Warne or whoever else) is going to get stick, and everyone (me included) will argue with absolute conviction that if only he had done what they were screaming at him to do things would have worked out better. He is judged every week by thousands of people far less qualified than him. Such is the life of a football manager.
I would not sell or move on; Smith, Wiles, ladapo, ogbene, barlasar, mattock, Wood, S Mcdonald, Victor , Harding, icky, Angus. Sadlier. Flo.
If wing was up for it, and since he's put of contract, and boro , et al, offer him a first team place ( you know what I mean ) we should look at making him our most highly paid player with a very attractive 3 year deal.
Robertson, crooks, et al, can all be sold or not offered new contracts.
Ladapo scores, and he did at L1 level. Smith cannot and should not be asked to do another year on his own and it doesn't work with crooks. Ladapo, has had a rough deal this year.
Ladapo is a great enigma. They say that putting the ball in the net is the hardest thing in football. He has a knack of doing it fairly regularly. I have no doubt that If he started most games for us next season he would get 15 maybe 20 goals. He has also been guilty of some of the most glaring misses I have ever seen. Twice this season he has managed to completely miss the ball when presented with a tap in. I havent checked but I would be surprised if he has a single assist. He is quite greedy. Although he scores some good goals, he seems incapable of doing some very simple things. Several times a game he has opportunities - with the ball under control - to simply lay it off to a better placed team mate and then make a run into the area (where he does his best work) to try and get on the end of a cross, but instead he tries to twist and turn and have too many touches and loses possession. He can be infuriating. But then you know he has goals in him. What do you do with a player like that? It is understandable that he is in and out of the side, because if he isnt scoring he doesnt contribute a great deal. It's commonly said in football that nobody has a great game every week but that as a pro if you arent having a blinder you can still impact the game by working hard and doing the basics. The thing with Freddie is that the simple stuff seems to escape him, yet he can do the hard thing well. Which is at once both a blessing and a frustration.
Totally agree with your post Ian
And the addition of kayode with smith and ladapo just need another striker.
Smiler i agree with you about the training staff seeing more of the players. But what sticks in the mud was the constant starting of vassell ' he trained well ' and on the pitch dire in league 1 and championship.
Sorry HM but in two and a half seasons with us Vassell started 28 games. That works out at one start every fourth game. He was hardly an automatic selection. in fairness to him a significant number of those starts were in an unfamiliar role wide left. He was taken off in 25 of the 28 games he started. He never started more than three games in a row before being left out. Ultimately we loaned him out because he wasnt getting picked. I'm not suggesting he deserved better by the way. He disnt do well enough regularly enough to warrant more starts. I am just saying that if you suggested to Kyle Vassell that he was Warneys blue eyed boy, he would probably look at you slightly oddly or worse.
