In the press talk section on the OS according to a Boro source we want to sign McManus mind you thats hardly a surprise If we could get McManus and Amougou with Wilson and Carey as backups we could try and get rid of Fontaine and Nyatanga unless one of them shows to be good enough as a backup left back. Where is Foster going to play if LB then we only need cover there, if RB we have 0 LB's and 2RB's
I suppose the problem is wages we are not going to want 6 centrebacks on the clubs books or even 7 if Stewart is not out of contract but the players we have in that position are not those who will take us forward and Carey aside none of them are real leaders on the pitch.
Goalkeeping Gerken is not my idea of a keeper who is going to help us move up the table he needs to learn how to dominate his area but to be fair he is not the worst keeper I have seen playing for us at the Gate are we going to be looking for an experienced keeper who could maybe bring Gerken on or a younger more talented keeper my preference would be the latter with someone like Smithies at Huddersfield as my first choice.
Another potential problem is where is Skuse's best position? like many another fan I think it is at Right Back but without Cisse that leaves a massive hole in central midfield if we are going to be playing a 4 man midfield Elliott (as a box to box man) has to be one of the 4 with Adomah and Bolaise on the wings going on the players we have, Pearson would be another option at LM or in the Marvin role if he wasn't fit, but we need someone who can break up attacks and support the attacking players when the opportunity arrises.
Kilkenny will do well in a 5 man midfield behind a single striker or possably in a diamond as the attacking player but can we afford the luxury of someone who can't/won't tackle (Junior for all his faults at least tried to tackle from time to time(OK he was pants at it but he would make an effort)) For all his passing ability etc Kilkenny is more likely to run the opposite way if it meant he wouldn't have to tackle.
Now the perenial thorny problem we seem to have, with the exception of Maynard, we have gone for years without a prolific goal scorer even last season he was our top scorer with 8 goals and that in half a season although if Stead had been fit enough to play more games he could easily have managed more than the 6 he got, Pitman although he was available for the whole season didn't do too well on the scoring front now was that because he was in and out of the team or as I believe just doesn't seem for some reason to have the stamina to play a full 90 mins at championship pace he seems to score more often when comming on as a sub which is why everyone expected so much more of him but it just never materialised.
Do you agree with my assessments or not please discuss
City 2012/13 will Stephen McManus be here?
posted on 11/5/12
Don't you like Fonts Hawk? I think he's probably our most improved player from the season just gone.
I agree about Scuse - he's never done it for me - although he scored a couple of important goals towards the end of the season.
Totally agree about Killa - he is basically a bad-tempered version of LJ. Everyone knows my thoughts on Lee but I wouldn't have him back - he would get crucified for every team mistake.
I like Gerks - and I liked Hendo too (in fact I rated Hendo higher than Gerks) perhaps we could bring Hendo back - I don't think he is still at Pompey is he?
posted on 11/5/12
Think he signed an agreement with West Ham to join them in the next transfer phase. Fonts improved just after he got the captains armband but after 4 or 5 weeks went back to playing much as he had before and he is certainly not captain material. Plus if we sign McManus who is a left sided CB it will mean Fonts playing at RCB if he played and he looks like a fish out of water there, that was one of the major problems we had last year McGivern was caught out of position so often last year that when we were playing Nyatanga and Fontaine together Nyatanga was covering his position plus McGiverns and Fonts was having to play RCB and he kept getting in a tangle trying to tackle because he was having to run around the player to tackle fairly or just go through him. Nyatanga is as bad at RCB but he is just a little quicker than Fonts and a little younger so might be more able to improve.
posted on 13/5/12
I agree with you Hawk but i think a 'mainer' problem is we need someone to score goals and tbh i have no idea who or where from...
posted on 13/5/12
Rhodes, Sandaza, Lita or even Dobbie would get us goals come to that Waghorn might also be available I just hope Del can make some signings sooner rather than later afterall the sooner we get them signed the better chance we have of getting them to gel with the players we already have.