Gary the Plumber wrote: ↑Sun Jul 10, 2022 7:15 am
The only other player to include is Smyth who could play the CAM role again this season. Obviously expect Moncur to start most games there and Smyth out on the wing, but Moncur won’t play 46 games. We have no other creativity in midfield so will have to be Smyth filling in. Obviously counts as ‘strong’ as well, when not injured….
We still need a first choice CDM to start ahead of Coleman and Brown.
Smyth is a funny one as he was initially seen as a CAM, did his best work out wide and counted by some as a striker. Granted that does give some decent options to change things up in an attacking sense with Georgiou featuring out wide too.
The key weak spot upfront is if Drinan is out for any length of time we haven't got a like for like replacement, some may say Sotiriou but not entirely convinced. Hopefully this Prem loan comes through as that would be ideal.
Midfield is really still the problem area. Heavily reliant on Moncur and still expecting a lot from Pratley.
3 signings would set us up perfectly for a shot at the auto promo spots. We missed an opportunity last season by starting off too thin, don't let it happen again please O's
Bluecap wrote: ↑Sat Jul 09, 2022 12:55 pm
That we havent any fit forwards and a very weak midfield.
Asking for a friend.
Very weak midfield? Really? Not the strongest but still not bad.
Moncur - strong
Pratley - strong but old, still doubt how many games he'll manage
Clay - mediocre and recovering from serious injury
Brown - poor
Coleman - poor
I was no fan of his and not upset to see him go but we haven't replaced Kyprianou. If one of Colebrown ends up filling that spot it becomes even weaker than last season.
Long slender neck wrote: ↑Sat Jul 09, 2022 2:40 pm
We also won the league
Those two players hardly contributed to it .We won the league because we had Bonne and Korma up front and Clay was carrying out midfield virtually single handedly .
Plus when we ran out of midfield options due to messing up the Adams signing McAnuff dug us out of a hole by moving into CM and pushing himself above and beyond to get us over the line.
Disagree Clay is not mediocre. Neither is Brown poor
Bluecap wrote: ↑Sat Jul 09, 2022 12:55 pm
That we havent any fit forwards and a very weak midfield.
Asking for a friend.
Very weak midfield? Really? Not the strongest but still not bad.
Moncur - strong
Pratley - strong but old, still doubt how many games he'll manage
Clay - mediocre and recovering from serious injury
Brown - poor
Coleman - poor
I was no fan of his and not upset to see him go but we haven't replaced Kyprianou. If one of Colebrown ends up filling that spot it becomes even weaker than last season.
Long slender neck wrote: ↑Sat Jul 09, 2022 2:40 pm
We also won the league
Those two players hardly contributed to it .We won the league because we had Bonne and Korma up front and Clay was carrying out midfield virtually single handedly .
Plus when we ran out of midfield options due to messing up the Adams signing McAnuff dug us out of a hole by moving into CM and pushing himself above and beyond to get us over the line.
Disagree Clay is not mediocre. Neither is Brown poor
Anthem of Hope wrote: ↑Sun Jul 10, 2022 12:05 pm
When “supporters” on this forum make statements about how poor they think a player is - is that a correct remark to make
- as none of us our pro footballers or ex pro footballers ( apart from Thor maybe) and I personally don’t like describing some one as poor when actually as a pro footballer they may be adequate / above adequate.
Does poor mean that the remarking supporter is comparing a player with a like type of player in this division at this lofc club or a general comparison of a typical player in the similar position at any club at this level.
Lifelongfan wrote: ↑Sun Jul 10, 2022 11:26 am
Disagree Clay is not mediocre. Neither is Brown poor
When you watch him against our old pal Ebou Adams the difference between a mid table CM and a title winning one is clear to see. Honest hard working pro to be part of the squad but we need more quality to improve an area that's been so weak for a long time now.
As for Brown were you a fan of our January transfer window and impact those players had on the squad? Wellens was hardly complementary of his performances even in dead rubber games at the end of the season. As a 4th choice backup for cup games fair enough but as a starting XI player we need players who are ready to challenge for the top, right now not once they've had 20+ games to get to grips with L2 men's football.
Anthem of Hope wrote: ↑Sun Jul 10, 2022 12:05 pm
When “supporters” on this forum make statements about how poor they think a player is - is that a correct remark to make
- as none of us our pro footballers or ex pro footballers ( apart from Thor maybe) and I personally don’t like describing some one as poor when actually as a pro footballer they may be adequate / above adequate.
Does poor mean that the remarking supporter is comparing a player with a like type of player in this division at this lofc club or a general comparison of a typical player in the similar position at any club at this level.
Yes because we're watching the games every week and seeing where the side ends up. It's another flavour of the "are you a manager" argument that was levelled at anyone who disagreed with Embleton's 0 shots football tactics.
Also even with pro managers there's variations of opinion. Fletcher got slated by the owners, Ling and many fans for saying our players at the time weren't good enough or fit enough to play high tempo pressing football. Sure enough having gone the long way round we're now looking at that type of football again under Wellens.
