Independent Leyton Orient Forum

If there were no contractual barriers? Bearing in mind the board want a play-off contending side.

Personally I want to see a return to 4-4-2.
We're fishing around for formations because of the players we have.
We went to 5-3-2 originally because the central midfield was too weak and needed reinforcement, and also that teams were targeting right-back.
We then had to change from 5-3-2 because the wing-backs had no attacking ability.
With nothing changed in the midfielders, we could not go back to 4-4-2 so are pretty much stuck with 4-3-3/4-5-1 for now. This isn't the best either, as we are still stuck with weak midfielders and full-backs, and Angol is isolated upfront.

This needs a lot of changes, I'd go for a squad of 22:

First Team: Sarge/New GK, New LB, Ekpiteta (if signs), Happe, New RB, Dennis, New CM, New CM, JMD, Angol, New CF
Squad: Sarge/New GK, Ogie, Turley, New CB, Judd, Kyprianou, Wright, Brophy, New Winger, Wilkinson, Sotiriou

Not likely as the list of departures is Brill, Ling, Coulson, Dayton, Harrold, McAnuff, Clay, Gorman, Alabi, Widdowson... some under contract still.

Jury still out on Sarge, perhaps we could get a better number 1.

Quite like Dennis and JMD on the wings, a lot of potential quality there, but not much defensive work so the guys in the centre of the pitch and behind them have to be real grafters, better than what we have now. Wilkinson could be unlucky to miss out, has improved after a slow start but not sure him and Angol make a good partnership.

Reasonably fair assessment, I agree with most of that, especially those that are surplus to requirements. But this is all dreamland stuff as Ling has already given most of that lot contract extensions out to June 2021 and none of them are going anywhere.

I could handle Widdowson staying, especially if Ogie is developing as close as everyone makes out. I also think Wilkinson could make a partnership with Angol, they just haven’t had the chance yet.

Interesting comment re the Angol / Wilkinson partnership. Personally I thought Wilkinson looked a far better player when Angol was out injured! Still, given the frequency of their absences it may be some time before we see them in the same team!

eagwgw wrote: ↑Fri Dec 27, 2019 11:22 am If there were no contractual barriers? Bearing in mind the board want a play-off contending side.
.....

If no contractual barriers, I would have the current Liverpool squad

Agree we'd have a lot more options if we could play 4-4-2 effectively. The fact CM has so many "new" speaks volumes. Don't rate either of our RBs as a first choice, in reality Ling won't go anywhere as he's under contract so been pragmatic on that one.

GK - new & Sargeant (Brill revert to coach seems likely)
LB - new & Widdowson
CB - Turley, Happe, Ekpiteta, new
RB - new & Ling

CM - Wright, new, new, new
LW - Brophy, new
RW - JMD, Dennis, new

ST - new, Angol, Wilkinson, new

Youth squad cover: Ogie, Kyprianou, Sotiriou and one or two others

Why do people want to keep Brophy. All fur coat and no knickers. His goal and assist stats are awful.
If no contract barriers I would get rid of Wright as well. He is not a player that will get you promoted. Bang average. Like last time.

Am starting to agree about Brophy.

Personally I want to see a new, strong, and experienced manager installed before thinking about the squad.
It's about time this is sorted out as to what we are doing /thinking about this situation. Are we going in house or not... ??

The Directors need to direct by installing a new manager preferably during January who can assess the squad for next season, players to keep and players to release. Someone with experience who must be allowed to appoint his own coaching staff. No one likes saying it but for the good of the club we have to accept that Justins era has passed but will never be forgotten. For the rest of this season i would like to see the younger players given the opportunity to show whether they have the qualities for first team football. One or two gems could save the club a lot of money in transfer fees plus they could become stars of the future and command large transfer fees. Is their really much difference between current first team regulars and our younger players?

Disoriented wrote: ↑Fri Dec 27, 2019 2:30 pm Am starting to agree about Brophy.

Disagree with both your thinking. He is not being utilised correctly and until we do we will not see the best of him.

Why don't we work on his crossing? If they did that then how many goals could he create? Why doesn't it happen? The same with his finishing, he has the skill in abundance, but it seems our coaching team are not fine tuning two vital aspects of his game. If they are progress is slow.

Brophy shouldn’t be in this years squad let alone next years. Lazy player with no bottle.

Actually, fir coat is a good description for Brophy. He is a fraud of a player. Very good at pointing and passing players on to others.
We are a 10 man team with him in it.

A bit harsh george, but I respect your opinion.

George wrote: ↑Fri Dec 27, 2019 5:23 pm Actually, fir coat is a good description for Brophy. He is a fraud of a player. Very good at pointing and passing players on to others.
We are a 10 man team with him in it.

Watched the game against Colchester. The majority of his crosses found the right Leyton man and for one of them Dayton should've done a lot better. Instead of looking at assists it would be interesting to compare that to his pass completion. I think he is also disadvantaged by the fact he is most often the first choice to drop back into a defensive position which totally nullifies his talents

Beradogs wrote: ↑Fri Dec 27, 2019 2:25 pm Why do people want to keep Brophy. All fur coat and no knickers. His goal and assist stats are awful.
If no contract barriers I would get rid of Wright as well. He is not a player that will get you promoted. Bang average. Like last time.

As a starter yes you make a fair point, very little end product despite getting into dangerous positions. As an impact sub against tiring legs he's ideal, the pace gets us up the pitch and a well placed dive or two (put away your outrage "family club" fans it's all part of the game) wins free kicks in dangerous areas.

Needs another player in front of him to start games with a bit more quality in the delivery, which is what McAnuff was doing before he had to move into CM and picked up that unfortunate injury.

The squad is good enough however, we lack leadership and as it appears RE will get the job, then that issue will remain and we will stay stuck around the bottom half of the league. Unfortunately.

Thor wrote: ↑Sat Dec 28, 2019 8:12 am The squad is good enough however, we lack leadership and as it appears RE will get the job, then that issue will remain and we will stay stuck around the bottom half of the league. Unfortunately.

It’s not good enough, there are still some glaring weaknesses, but yeah they’re better than their current league position.

Beradogs wrote: ↑Fri Dec 27, 2019 2:25 pm Why do people want to keep Brophy. All fur coat and no knickers. His goal and assist stats are awful.
If no contract barriers I would get rid of Wright as well. He is not a player that will get you promoted. Bang average. Like last time.

I know where you're coming from with Brophy, but I do think with appropriate direction he could be a standout player for us. When he's on form, he has that get-you-out-of-your-seat ability that makes watching games exciting. There's precious little of that about at the moment.

Agreed o-no

AckneyAwks wrote: ↑Fri Dec 27, 2019 3:08 pm The Directors need to direct by installing a new manager preferably during January who can assess the squad for next season, players to keep and players to release. Someone with experience who must be allowed to appoint his own coaching staff. No one likes saying it but for the good of the club we have to accept that Justins era has passed but will never be forgotten. For the rest of this season i would like to see the younger players given the opportunity to show whether they have the qualities for first team football. One or two gems could save the club a lot of money in transfer fees plus they could become stars of the future and command large transfer fees. Is their really much difference between current first team regulars and our younger players?

Agree with you entirely but having a new manager in January does not look likely to happen. RE appears to select players who have become stale in this league but can’t change it out of previous respect for what they achieved last season.The likes of Ling Clay Coulson Dayton and to some extent Harrold should not have been given longer extensions to there contracts until this December. Alabi should have been paid off before now. We have a problem that any new manager must take on a coaching staff not of his choosing. The fact this worked under Justin was a one off situation . I totally agree that younger players should now be given their chance