January priorities

[Padge_DRFC]

Let's hope the recent black Friday ST offer was for some cash in January.

New CB needed. Our best CB at the club currently was signed as a midfielder. Wood and Anderson aren't the answer.

GK that comes off his line would do nicely as well.

[bpoolrover]

2 new centre halves, jones yes should come off His line but makes some very good saves

[Jersey Rover]

Lawlor must be crap in training if Jones is the best keeper we have geez so poor

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

I'm not sure with bailey in the back four that the defence has enough protection from midfield.  Look at the midfield:

Close, Westbrooke tidy footballers but not great in the tackle.

Rowe, box to box but doesn't have the legs each week.

Broadbent, jury out completely on whether he's up to league 2, work to do yet but he's also not a defensive midfielder.

Biggins, box to box for me but he doesn't do enough in the midfield, his strongest attribute is runs in to the box and long shots.

My question, out of all them who's holding it together in the whiteman, stock, doolan, Keegan role?

[swain_drfc]

2 new centre halves, jones yes should come off His line but makes some very good saves

Never going to be good enough for a team that wants to play league 1 football.

Anderson needs to be shipped out and Olowu ain’t much better if we are honest. These lads that were here before McCann will get him the sack if he is not careful.

[RoversInSpain]

2 Quality central defenders end of. Anderson and Oluwu shipped out on loan.

[scawsby steve]

GM has stated clearly that the first priority is a striker, and I've heard from a good source that one is in the pipeline, and no, it's not Wilks unfortunately.

[mrfrostsdad]

1)  A keeper
2) a complete new defence that can actually defend
3) a midfielder

[selby]

We need two brutes good in the air and no nonsense, in Faulkner and Wood we have them here already.  I just cannot understand the reluctance to play them when the others are the same people making the same mistakes in mid field and central defence they were making two years ago.
  When Faulkner is fit he needs to come straight in.

[Nudga]

We need money to bring in any of the above. Question is, is there anything left from the summers war chest?

[GazLaz]

Jones was good today. He’s better than Lawlor and Mitchell.

[Nudga]

Jones was good today. He’s better than Lawlor and Mitchell.

Is he good enough to be a top end league 2 and league 1 keeper though?

[GazLaz]

Jones was good today. He’s better than Lawlor and Mitchell.

Is he good enough to be a top end league 2 and league 1 keeper though?

He’s a better than average league 2 keeper with loads of improvement still in him.

[Padge_DRFC]

Jones was good today. He’s better than Lawlor and Mitchell.

Is he good enough to be a top end league 2 and league 1 keeper though?

No he isn't. Okay shot stopper. Nothing today where I thought wow. The one time he came off his line he was far too weak and they should have then lobbed him and scored.

He's in the team as he can knock it about with his feet better than Lawlor.

[GazLaz]

Jones was good today. He’s better than Lawlor and Mitchell.

Is he good enough to be a top end league 2 and league 1 keeper though?

No he isn't. Okay shot stopper. Nothing today where I thought wow. The one time he came off his line he was far too weak and they should have then lobbed him and scored.

He's in the team as he can knock it about with his feet better than Lawlor.

He made a couple of very good saves today. He’s in ahead of Lawlor because he’s a better keeper and he’s better with his feet.

[vaya]

Let's hope the recent black Friday ST offer was for some cash in January.

New CB needed. Our best CB at the club currently was signed as a midfielder. Wood and Anderson aren't the answer.

GK that comes off his line would do nicely as well.

The club's been offering adult tickets for £200. I don't think there will be much in the way of revenue raised.

[Padge_DRFC]

Let's hope the recent black Friday ST offer was for some cash in January.

New CB needed. Our best CB at the club currently was signed as a midfielder. Wood and Anderson aren't the answer.

GK that comes off his line would do nicely as well.

The club's been offering adult tickets for £200. I don't think there will be much in the way of revenue raised.

£100k then equals 2 decent league 2 players wages.

[normal rules]

Mcann has already said his priority is another goalscorer. Pointless if we can’t keep them out at the other end

[StocksArmy]

Jones is better than Lawlor yet we still need a keeper. Thats saying something. Priority has to be 2 centre halves and a midfielder. And then in the summer another 2 midfielders a wide player and definitely a keeper. Thats when we can look to compete at the top end. GM not speaking about how easily we are to score against is starting to grind on me. How can he expect us to be hard to beat with a gung ho strategy and no solid base at the back or in midfield?

[Nudga]

Jones is better than Lawlor yet we still need a keeper. Thats saying something. Priority has to be 2 centre halves and a midfielder. And then in the summer another 2 midfielders a wide player and definitely a keeper. Thats when we can look to compete at the top end. GM not speaking about how easily we are to score against is starting to grind on me. How can he expect us to be hard to beat with a gung ho strategy and no solid base at the back or in midfield?

Why would he criticise his players in the media, you can be too honest sometimes.
He'll definitely tell them in the changing room but you wouldn't make it public.
I remember Darren Ferguson often did that when results went against us, deflecting any blame from himself.

[RugbyRover]

Jones was good today. He’s better than Lawlor and Mitchell.

hurrah

[RugbyRover]

Jones was good today. He’s better than Lawlor and Mitchell.

Is he good enough to be a top end league 2 and league 1 keeper though?

He’s a better than average league 2 keeper with loads of improvement still in him.

hurrah 

[Chris Black come back]

People do realise the season tickets sold today are to fund the club next season? No CFO in their right mind is going to allow future revenue to fund current spending. Total madness.

[danumdon]

For the three good saves that Junes made he was very poor for the three goals, when balls are fired straight at a keeper from an acute angle you would favour the keeper 8 times out of 10, should of done much better for all.

But then again when you have a central defence that has the constituent strength of gnats piss then you will always be on edge, A goalie that very rarely comes and a defence that cant protect him, the perfect storm.

If we don't address this glaring issue then we will will struggle infinitely

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Well, it's probably not going to happen, but my priority would be a keeper. Such a key position for affecting the whole defence, not only one who commands his box, but also commands his co defenders, keeping them more switched on. A keeper with the ability to take crosses and relieve pressure, means our centre halves can save their energy and mental capacity for better concentration levels at key stages of games. I think we'd see such a difference in our centre halves when backed by a really good keeper. 

Jones is a competent keeper and has done well making good saves BUT, we all know where both he and Lawlor fall short (scuse the pun!)

I just don't think McCann, having said he chose Lawlor, will now back track and dump him so soon, eventhough Jones has deservedly kept the shirt after Lawlors injury.

The other question is ofcourse, is there a good keeper available who'd come in a January window? Loan maybe for someone currently getting splinters every week?

Midfield. Whilst Biggins might describe himself as a box to box player, he's often in a different time zone to everyone else and whilst he does provide a goal threat, I think he and Broadbent are the weakest links in there, so would like to augment the midfield with a true nitty, gritty anchor man to compete with Bailey in support of Close and Westbrooke. 

Striker. McCann already aiming to strengthen.

[DonnyOsmond]

Unless Marsh and Miller are out for even longer then I wouldn't waste money on a striker. Defence is average but create f all chances.

[Colin C No.3]

1)  A keeper
2) a complete new defence that can actually defend
3) a midfielder

Well our budget should accommodate all of that easily.

Get real.

[ncRover]

The immediate question for me is -

Why did McCann change a fully rested winning team?

Especially when Wood was the star performer v Accrington.

[NickDRFC]

The immediate question for me is -

Why did McCann change a fully rested winning team?

Especially when Wood was the star performer v Accrington.

I’m aware it’s an unpopular opinion, but I’ve never agreed with the cliche “you should never change a winning team”. You should pick the team that you believe has the best chance of winning the game that you’re currently playing, and if that means changes from a team which won the last game then so be it. There’s so much more nuance to the game than just picking a team that won last time out.

That said, if Wood was as impressive as reported and Anderson has not been playing particularly well for most of the season then it’s a fair question why that particular change was made.

[Chris Black come back]

With the majority of our earlier season injury crisis now over (for the time being) we have a full squad, or will before the January window if we avoid more longer term injuries.

We can’t keep throwing yet more money at the problem, especially given the challenges of the January window.

Personally the only change I would make is replace Marsh as a loanee if he is going to be out for several months, with another loan striker given Miller looks a long term doubt now.

We have a litany of central defenders and players like Bailey and Senior who can play central defence. McCann should be getting a tune out of a least some combination of Anderson, Wood, Olowu, Long, Faulkner, Senior and Bailey. That should be the aim, not spending more money.