Squad Review

[davulsukur]

 

Charlie Olson was voted Young player of the year at Altrincham, so perhaps he'll get a chance over pre-season?

 

[KentExile]

26 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

 

Charlie Olson was voted Young player of the year at Altrincham, so perhaps he'll get a chance over pre-season?

 

Personally still think he is behind Atcheson & Litherland, who are both younger, and also probably have higher ceilings.  A great season for him though 

 

[DutchRover]

Gilsenan must be done with the amount of injuries he has had now, shame as he did seem talented. Won't help his case that we will need/want to fast-track Tyjon into first team opportunities.

Do we know if the club see Montgomery as a CM or a RB? Or has it been a Travis scenario to blood him in the first team at RB.

Edited Tuesday at 19:26 by DutchRover

[KentExile]

2 minutes ago, DutchRover said:

Gilsenan must be done with the amount of injuries he has had now, shame as he did seem talented. Won't help his case that we will need/want to fast-track Tyjon into first team opportunities.

Do we know if the club see Montgomery as a CM or a RB? Or has it been a Travis scenario to blood him in the first team at RB.

Would imagine Montgomery is seen as a younger, cheaper JRC.. utility player

[JCRovers]

If Ismaël wants to play a more expansive/attacking football next season, then he probably needs to break up the double defensive pivot in Tronstad and Travis. Works really good in a mid- to low block system and in trying to keep a clean sheet but the downside is that it doesn't offer enough men going forward centrally during transitions or counter attacks.

Looking at the squad briefly suggests that there's an imbalance with a lack of good, left-footed players across the pitch. Wharton, Pickering/Ribeiro and Hedges are all decent as backups but they're either struggling with injuries or doesn't possess the athletic profile (lack of pace/mobility) that the head coach wants. We can't have slow players at the back if we want to start pressing higher up the pitch.

You might ask: why trying to balance the number of left- and right footed players? The answer is that it enables players to attack space on both sides of the pitch more effectively. I've seen many times this season where our attack breaks down in final third because a player gets "trapped" on the wing with his weaker foot and is forced to stop his run and turn to play a pass backwards instead (e.g. Dolan or Kargbo running all the way to the byline on the left hand side). 

On that basis, I would probably switch formation from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 and go for the following transfer strategy:

Sell (4): Pears, Hyam, JRC, Buckley

Buy/loan (6/4): 

- Experienced goalkeeper as backup to Toth (permanent) and as replacement for Pears

- Athletic left-footed center back (permanent) that goes into starting XI and as replacement for Hyam

- Athletic left back (loan) that preferably goes into starting XI (like Beck did)

- Athletic right back (permanent) as backup to Brittain and as replacement for JRC

- Defensive midfielder as backup to Tronstad (loan)

- Two left-footed central midfielders (one on loan, one permanent). Permanent signing should be good enough for starting XI and act as replacement for Buckley

- Left-footed pacey winger (permanent) that goes into starting XI

- Right-footed pacey winger to compete with Kargbo (loan) and as replacement for Dolan

- Physical & mobile striker with good aerial presence to compete with Gueye (permanent)

Of course everything comes down to money available for the summer so I wouldn't bet on this being probable/realistic given what has happened in previous transfer windows. 

Edited 12 hours ago by JCRovers

[KentExile]

2 hours ago, JCRovers said:

If Ismaël wants to play a more expansive/attacking football next season, then he probably needs to break up the double defensive pivot in Tronstad and Travis. Works really good in a mid- to low block system and in trying to keep a clean sheet but the downside is that it doesn't offer enough men going forward centrally during transitions or counter attacks.

Looking at the squad briefly suggests that there's an imbalance with a lack of good, left-footed players across the pitch. Wharton, Pickering/Ribeiro and Hedges are all decent as backups but they're either struggling with injuries or doesn't possess the athletic profile (lack of pace/mobility) that the head coach wants. We can't have slow players at the back if we want to start pressing higher up the pitch.

You might ask: why trying to balance the number of left- and right footed players? The answer is that it enables players to attack space on both sides of the pitch more effectively. I've seen many times this season where our attack breaks down in final third because a player gets "trapped" on the wing with his weaker foot and is forced to stop his run and turn to play a pass backwards instead (e.g. Dolan or Kargbo running all the way to the byline on the left hand side). 

On that basis, I would probably switch formation from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 and go for the following transfer strategy:

Sell (4): Pears, Hyam, JRC, Buckley

Buy/loan (6/4): 

- Experienced goalkeeper as backup to Toth (permanent) and as replacement for Pears

- Athletic left-footed center back (permanent) that goes into starting XI and as replacement for Hyam

- Athletic left back (loan) that preferably goes into starting XI (like Beck did)

- Athletic right back (permanent) as backup to Brittain and as replacement for JRC

- Defensive midfielder as backup to Tronstad (loan)

- Two left-footed central midfielders (one on loan, one permanent). Permanent signing should be good enough for starting XI and act as replacement for Buckley

- Left-footed pacey winger (permanent) that goes into starting XI

- Right-footed pacey winger to compete with Kargbo (loan) and as replacement for Dolan

- Physical & mobile striker with good aerial presence to compete with Gueye (permanent)

Of course everything comes down to money available for the summer so I wouldn't bet on this being probable/realistic given what has happened in previous transfer windows. 

For a club with funds, that may not be a bad idea.  And it is a very similar system that Ismael tried to implement when at Watford.  Although he preferred his "wingers" on their "wrong foot" (a preference he stresses in the linked article)

However for a club with absent owners who have turned the taps off, it is simply not going to happen. 

Also doesn't leave much room for the apparent 7 or 8 academy players to make up the rest of the squad (as per Gestede)

Personally I do not think Rovers will sign another left back this summer, and I do not think that the overlapping full back role particularly suits either Ribeiro or Pickering.  But I could see him try try transition to a midfield 3, rather than the double pivot with 2 sitting players.  Probably because we lose one or both of Travis & Tronstad during the summer

Edited 9 hours ago by KentExile

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

You been at a pro club since the age of about 8. You’ve had pro coaching for about 20 years. And you still have a “ weaker foot “ ? What do they do at training ?  Practise falling over ?

Edited 10 hours ago by Tyrone Shoelaces