Do you think Aidy will do a total squad revamp and get rid of all the deadwood and bring in some new "hungry" players for the championship push? I can see the squad being: GKs: Lee *New Keeper* Loach Defenders: Chambers Mariappa Stewart Shittu Demerit *New Centreback cover* *New Leftback cover* Midfielders: Bouazza McNamee Mahon Williamson Williams *New Right Mid* Cavalli Diagouraga Bangura Smith Strikers: King Henderson Kabba Priskin Hoskins With Mackay (coaching), Carlisle, Powell (coaching), Francis, Foster obviously, Chamberlain (coaching), Doyley, Blizzard, Ashikodi (Loan) out. I know Francis has been decent recently but I can't see him putting in the effort we need to challenge next year.
Yep he'll have a mass clear out in the summer...no doubt about it! I'd like to see: Mackay Mariappa Demerit Powell Smith McNamee Francis Henderson Priskin (loan) Ashikodi (loan) all gone in the summer! *Cue abuse for saying Mariappa and Demerit should be sold*
It does but with less of the players we don't need. And instead of having some of the worse players as backup we will have some players that are hopefully actually decent. It will also give us a more youthful squad with Munchkin, Mackay and Chamberlain all going into coaching. This may leave us a bit inexperienced so bring in someone tried and tested in at centreback who is about 30-32. But who has the pace to cut it still. A quick right winger who can cause havoc is needed as Smith doesn't have the pace. But keep Smith as backup because otherwise we have no other natural right mid.
Don't forget we have Jordan Parkes and Theo Robinson signed up as pro's now aswell! Perhaps with Parkes coming on leaps and bounds we don't need a left back in the summer? Stewart and Parkes can do this job surely?
Well we would have 3 goalkeepers which is the right amount. Two rightbacks, two left backs and 3 centre backs. Two right mids, two left mids, and admittedly 6 centre mids is a bit much. I don't think we should get rid of Mahon though, Williamson, Williams and Cavalli are untried so this is on the assumption that they are decent. Diagouraga is a decent talent who I would like to see given a chance after coming through the youth and Bangura is another very good talent who I don't want to lose. Then 5 strikers to make sure they are always on their toes.
Or perhaps keep Powell for the first 6 months of the season as back-up to Stewart and send Parkes out on loan for 6 months to a league one side? Robinson and Parkes are both going to be quality! Have no fear of that!
Wow Bubble! In the main I agree with you with the following exceptions: Smith, I think we are stuck with him having signed him so recently. Unless of course an offer we cant refuse comes in. Mariappa~ I think you're being a bit harsh on the boy. Henderson ~ I think he has paid the penalty for us playing too deep, he has had no support, I'd keep him & support him more. I'd add Blizzard Carlisle Jarret
I don't think you should be writing off Mariappa quite yet. If anything it should be Lloyd Doyley on his way - 100 appearances and very little improvement. Mariappa has a way to go yet and this year has been a bit of a baptism of fire for the lad. I think he'll do a good job in the Championship and then it's all about the step up again. If he can't do it *then* say goodbye. Demerit has to get his act together sharpish I agree, and if his comments last week were true then frankly he should be out the door.
I think the bulk of the squad will stay. My views for what they are worth. Malkay : Backup with more of a coaching role. Chamberlain : Hangs up the gloves or maybe just one last year benching. Carlisle : Gets fit and proves his worth or he's gone, I really think he can do a job for us if fit. McNamee : Heading the same way as Rod Thomas really. Could end up going or just becoming a bench player at best. Jarrett : We were warned about before he came, sounds like he's been putting in good shifts on the wing in the stiffs but is he going to break into the team? Blizzard : Aidy seemed like a fan but I don't think we've ever been overly impressed with him have we? Loan or perhaps leave? Toumani : Would like to see him do a Bouazza and come back stronger and compete for a place. Priskin : Out on loan Loach : Out on loan if we get a 3rd keeper or Foster back. Smith & Francis : If offers come in to rtecoup the bulk of the money spent then take it, neither have impressed me much and I was actually quite excited by both coming in this year
The thing is - quite a few of the players not up for PrL footie are quite capable of playing CCC footie. Take Chambers eg. Not good enough in the big league but was very good for us and for Cardiff recently. I think the majority of players will stay. Alec, Malky and possibly Powell will all go. Some midfielders will go either on loan or for good. If we look at our current squad we have 3 to each position except strikers where we have 8 to cover 2 positions and defensive mids where we have 4 to cover 1 spot. My theory is that Aidy wants 3 to each position - 2 for each 1st team spot and 1 for each reserve spot. So - the ones that will leave are Seanla and Blizzard for sure. As for the rest - some of the youngsters may go out on loan and some players may need replacing because they are sold. But I don't think Aidy will get rid of any of our 1st team players if he can avoid it.
We've only just stopped talking about the january sales and already talking about summer sales. Are we that bored already. come on, theres a lot of football to be played yet.
We need to keep most of the squad together, too many changes wont get us anywhere (look at how Southampton suffered when they revamped the squad!), however I agree we might as well get rid of the reserve (fringe players) though it looks like that has already started. By the way, i've not been online much recently what comments has Jay said? I think he's very down to earth and a hardworker always doing his best. I'd keep him, even if he was just cover. At the end of the day most of our players are young and will only get better. Aidy is still going to be a top-class manager and this is hopefully just a blip, sometimes when we play 'badly' we need to remember the opposition.
Well to be honest, we're going down so the footballing side won't get much more interesting until next season when we rip up the championship and **** all over the league.
Malky has been offered another playing contract for next year so he will provide cover in case of an injury crisis. I agree with the players mentioned to leave, but I can't see Doris leaving.
i think he wants a big squad as he has learnt that injuries can be costly e.g king and when mackay shittu carlisle were out for man u game.
OUr squad is weaker now than when we came up. Only a busy summer with some real decent signings will change that. Unfortunately I can envisage us signing a bunch of released 18 year olds and a couple of mediocre bottom half championship and below nonentities. Henderson must be got shot of. He is not good enough for either of the top two divisions. He did get a decent return last season, but in a team which was scoring for fun as whole. He can't perform when the chips are down and has no obvious qualities as a footballer. Plus he is a lazy so and so. Marriappa has only just broken into the team. I think he deserves a chance to prove himself. Most of the rest of the chaff that has been mentioned should be shipped.
I completely agree with Moog.... we're signing IMO second rate Champ players at best. What really really worries me is that it feels like we're starting all over again as a side when really we should simply be adding quality where neccessary. We've torn apart a play off winning side and we're bringing in players who've never even played in the Champ before... I will say it again... are we preparing for the drop or League 2 footie in a couple of years?
I disagree, we've only sold spring and ash from that 'play-off winning side'. Also certain players proved they were not good enough for the Prem. We've signed lots of players in Jan because we did not have enough depth. I believe that Williams, Williamson and Hoskin's will all do well once they settle, which must be hard to do considering our position and pressure that comes with it. Also on the same point, how can the team be worse? Maybe in terms of moral, but not quality which is about the same imo. We've obviously signed some random players, but as we are not a fashionable club we have to take small, less costly risks. I like Aidy's policy of young unknown players. Who had heard of Bangaura or Bouazza before they joined our academy? We are bottom of the Premiership, I thought we were going to stay up, but this season has been an eye opener on how under prepared we were - the other promoted sides in recent years have spent years getting the infrastructure in place.
Henderson a lazy so and so? Glad to see that urban myth still being pedalled about... And you complain that our squad is too weak - well how on earth is shipping out most of the "chaff" mentioned in Bubble's clear-out list (most of which is ridiculous anyway) without obvious replacements lined up going to solve that??
Because they're all poor, not good enough etc! I include both Demerit and Mariappa in that aswell! Not good enough! I go to most of the away games and everytime i've seen Mariappa he has been very poor! Only decent game he's had for us was first half against Arsenal on boxing day! Demerit gives away too many penalties because his thought process is appauling! Shittu has done this once and LEARNT FROM IT! Demerit hasn't - fact! Then there are the quotes from the newspaper aswell (whether they're true or not he shouldn't be commenting on next season until this one is out the way)! He'll be gone in the summer because he'll spit his dummy! I know you're in love with Tommy Smith, but the simple facts are this....he shouldn't even be here after what he said when he left, he isn't fit to wear the shirt, he's a poor excuse for a footballer and he's a horrible little oik! Seen in the Clarendon Arms laughing and joking with friends 20 minutes after the defeat against Sheff utd (a complete abject performance that probably cost us our Prem status)! Shows how much it means to him! Henderson is another one that should be shot of as Moog said! He's not good enough, he was lucky he was playing with quality players like King, Young and Spring last season...
I'm not in love with Tommy Smith, I just think he's been unfairly criticised. It's his performance on the pitch that counts and he's been no worse or better than most of our players this season (especially this calendar year). What he did/said four years is irrelevant now and Derby fans will tell you that his all-round game has improved a lot since, best judge him when he has a full season in the Championship as getting rid of him so soon after signing will be an admission of failure on Aidy's part and that's not the kind of manager he is.
Yes he was a panic buy and to be honest that doesn't justify your constant barrage of personal attacks on him. As NWhornet said, all the hoohaa when he left is completely irrelevant now and very few actually care as they are prepared to give people a 2nd chance. There's too many fringe players like Jarrett who should be leaving this summer.
Chewy, it matters to me! He should never have come back! Would you take back an ex girlfriend that has cheated on you in the past? I agree players like Jarrett should be going!
- Depends on various things - I didn't like what he said but he's back and we're going to have to live with that so i can forget about what he said and give him a 2nd chance. Not prem standard i know but is a good championship squad player.
It's interesting this view of Smith being a "panic buy" - depends really on how you define the term... To me, a panic buy is more something you do when your team is already deep in the sh1t in a desperate bid to improve the team sooner rather than later, often involving signing a "big-name" player on expensive wages - Bradford signing Stan Collymore being a prime example, or even West Ham's recent acquisitions of Lucas Neill and Boa Morte (who was woeful against us at Upton Park). I don't believe that Aidy viewed Smith as a panic 11th hour signing because he couldn't get the players he wanted - don't forget we were only 3 games into the season and were looking like a team capable of competing at this level. Rather he saw him as one that would genuinely improve the squad both in quantity and quality and be good competition with Young either up front or on the wing. Don't forget also that (as he himself has admitted) Aidy's knowledge of the foreign transfer market is limited - something that will improve with time and more experience - and I imagine he saw Smith as the kind of player that would fit in well with the Aidy philosophy, the emphasis being on a good team spirit, no prima donnas (although Francis is looking like an exception), just good honest mostly British players working hard for each other. Clearly Smith wanting to return showed he does care for the club, being a Watford lad (well near enough - ten miles from Watford) and having come through the ranks, and he seemed to adapt well at Premiership level last time round (certainly better than Anthony "John Barnes MK II" McNamee has seemed to do!). Also without ever being a prolific scorer he has been in the top 2 most seasons since our last Premiership campaign, was instrumental in helping Derby get to the play-offs and was player of the season in an otherwise woefully underperforming team under a crap manager. All of these would have been legitimate reasons for signing him, not one borne out of desperation and signing a player just for the sake of it. I'm not saying he's been the answer to our problems - you only have to look at the league table to work that out, although I think that has more to do with King being out and not being able to get a proven striker as back-up than Smith not being good enough - but at £500,000 I don't think he was a bad buy, and may yet turn out to be an astute purchase in the long run.
My version of a panic buy is when you can't get who you initially wanted (Edwards & McAnuff) and you resort to signing someone 3rd on your 'wish list', that clearly isn't as good as your first 2 choices! If Boothroyd had offered Scum an extra 500k on top of the 750k we offered then we would have had Edwards on board, rather than Noddy...someone that can't control a ball, can't tackle, can't beat his man, can't cross and can shoot! Edwards impressed me in both games last season when we played sh*t town...as did McAnuff! Smith didn't impress me at all when he was here originally or any time he's come back to play us!
