thewelllfan

I can't understand how you can play a 343 with no pace in the team

Think this is what I'd go with V Aberdeen Give Gordon/Halliday the armband Ox Balmer Gordon Casey Kaleta Miller Halliday Thompson Slattery Maswanhise Armstrong

This is the issue tho I'd say about 40% of the goals we've conceded this season can be traced back to SOD or Casey making mistakes before them. The amount of times I've watched the 2 of them get caught under the ball is concerning.

I don't think he's as bad as Mcginley was either I was just likening my reaction to the extension to the way I felt about Mcginley's. Certainly his first 2 seasons with us he was great I just feel he has massive dips in form each year and we can't afford to have players like that in CB and I don't think he has the engine on him to be playing RWB either. I also suspect he'd be one of our top earners considering his International experiences so would be looking to move him on.

Extending SOD feels like when we extended Nathan Mcginley all over again. Slattery's looked good in recent weeks so being able to keep hold of him should soften the blow of when Lennon leaves a bit. Squad under contract for next season currently is Oxborough SOD, Koutrombis, Gordon, Balmer, Wilson Miller, Slattery, Nicholson, Sparrow Stam, Robinson, Maswanhise With Jordan Mcghee agreeing to join on a pre-contract apparently And Stuparevic and Wells returning from loans So 16 under contract for next season would be looking to move 2/3 on

This has to be our last season of SOD don't think i've ever seen a CB give the ball away so much. Few others were poor aswell. Thought Slattery and Gordon played well that's proably about it.

Got to wonder why we didn't see more of Andrews when he first came in the boy absolutley strolled it yesterday.

We're poor due to our lack of control in games imo. We struggle to get hold of the ball and build pressure on our opponents goal. I think personally Davor offers a bit more off the ball to go and press teams. Would be 1 of the 1st you take off but he'll go and run himself into the ground and can recycle the ball well enough to let us get a bit more possesion in games. His issue his he sturggles to break lines with his passes but that's true for basically all of our midfield bar Miller and Slattery.

I'm not his biggest fan either but I think he's a bit better than Halliday. Slattery I quite like as well but I don't think he's ready to start. Also under Kettlewell we treated the ball like a grenade I think any small midfield player would struggle to get themselves into games

That's harsh he's not great but he's fine at recycling the ball and got a decent bit of energy to close players down,

Based on the intensity comments I'll hazard a guess team will be Ward Balmer Gordon Casey SOD Paton Davor Miller Thompson Maswanhise Armstrong

Ward is a free agent we signed on deadine day. Before that he was playing in Finland for AC Oulu. He's only 24 and played about 100 games in the last 3 years so I assume he'd be alright can't say I've ever watched tho.

100% surely we give the Ward boy a chance aswel while he's out as Balcombe has not been great.

100% hoping we get a bit of a new manager bounce and pick up 3/4 wins before the split.

His preffered formation is a 3412 so I do really hope he can coach our midfield and defence how to shut space down properly.

Mcginn is confirmed out for the season by the club. Seddon due back March/April time. Callachan nobody knows but been a really pointless signing. Side note suspect we won't be seeing Jack Vale back if it's an achilies injury he's got.

I think Sparrow has been good in whatever position he gets asked to do a job in. Kaleta been solid enough at LWB when asked to play there. Wilson was brilliant in Cm away at Dundee Utd not a position he should be playing long-term tho. Halliday was ok in the game he had to play LWB and SOD had a good start to the season playing both RWB and Cb. I think in terms of the games they've played out of position they've all done fine. Your not going to get many good utility players in the SPL the last good one we had was Richard Tait and he's been gone what 5/6 years. If we hadn't had so many injuries the squad size would of been 25/26 as it is most seasons.

I found out of the current 33 man squad only 12 have contracts for next season. Aston Oxborough - 2027 Liam Gordon - 2026, Kofi Balmer- 2026, Johnny Koutrombis- 2026, Stephen O'Donnell- 2026, Ewan Wilson- 2027 Lennon Miller- 2026, Tom Sparrow - 2026, Sam Nicholson- 2026, Twanda Maswanhise- 2026, Zach Robinson- 2026, Apostolos Stamatelopolous- 2027 2 of the guys out on loan have deals utill 2026 Dylan Wells and Fillip Stuparevic So 14 under contract for next season and I'd probably be looking at moving 2/3 of them on as well.

we have utility players within the squad. Sparrow, SOD, Halliday, Kaleta, Wilson have all played in minimum 2 different positions for us this season. Our issue is we have around 10-12 players who have been out/will be out for a miminimum of 1-2 months. We've also signed 4 players in the summer that have about 7 apearances between them in Jair, Callahan, Stuperavic, Koutrmombis. Dundee Utd have been pretty lucky with injuries compared to us.

In that case fair enough.

I disagree with this we done exactly what we should of done in this window loans and short-term deals. The St signings with no manager are a bit baffling but I assume the club think we have sufficent depth for who ever we appoint to get a few results and try sneak into the top 6. Based on previous seasons we'll need 4 Wins out of our last 8 to make the top 6.

I'm concerned looking at our midfield and defence but the squad is huge so what can you do. Don't see anyone else coming in with an hour to go.

Right on que we've just announced the signing of goalkeeper Callum Ward

We'll only be signing a Goalkeeper as back up to Balcombe until Ox is back and to allow Connoly to go back to EK and play. Mair broke his finger I believe so he'll be going back to Norwich. Don't see us bringing else in other than that. Can't understand why we've kept Taveres at all.

I still think we probably still need another 4 Another Cm, Cb, Bu Gk, and a winger are needed if we want to stake a claim for top 6. Callahan, Koutrombis, Ebiye, Davor all need sold/loaned out. Taveres needs sent back to his parent club as does Mair who's broke his finger and out for 6/8 weeks. We have Robinson and Mcginn out for the season so that's us down to 31 that can be available for selection anyway. Seddon, Miller, Stam all out for at least another 1-2 months Ox out for 3 months. Current crop available for selection Gk- Balcombe, Connoly Cb- Balmer, Gordon, Casey, Blaney, SOD Rwb- Kaleta, SOD, Koutrombis Lwb- Wilson. Thompson Cm- Halliday, Andrews, Paton, Sparrow, Slattery, Nicholson, Davor Fwds- Dickson, Plange, TJ, Watt, Ebiye, Armstrong, Vale (Once suspension finishes) Those 24 to pick from currently w Vale to add back in. That to me looks weak and forward heavy. Top 6 would be huge for cost off-setting as would getting into Europe. Majority being loans is also ideal as it means we can actually squad build from scratch next season and aren't stuck with players the new manager doesn't want long-term.