Re: Pre season training discussion

by **villabromsgrove** Mon Jul 25, 2016 11:59 am

With Dr T saying that 3/4 players are going to be told to leave, I'm betting that Hutton, Westwood, Gana etc will not be part of that. They will probably be first team regulars even though we know we can't win matches with the way that these players play. That is a problem, and that's why this cull needs to be applied to 6 or 7 players at least.

We should have no more than one defensive holding midfielder on the pitch at one time, all our other midfielders should be capable of regular accurate supply to our goal scorers, or in fact scoring themselves. Yet we have Sanchez, Gana, Westwood, Veretout, Gardner, Tshibola and Lyden all currently vying for one place! We have Cissokho, Amavi, Bennett and even Toner (although he's a natural competitive midfielder) competing for the left back spot. We have Elphick, Baker, Okore, Clark, Lescott and Richards fighting for Centre Back positions, and yet we have just Hutton and possibly Bacuna as right backs.

We actually need to be ruthless in restructuring our first team / subs bench / and young 'breakthrough' players set up .... and we need to do it now!

It should be obvious to RDM/SC which players can be effective at supplying, assisting and scoring and which players will only fill places without contributing to a win. It should also be obvious which defenders will contribute to regular clean sheets.

Why do I get the impression that this currently isn't the case? Apologies for reiterating what has been said more eloquently by others previously, but I really think that this could be a watershed moment for AVFC if we act now.

by **Sandie** Mon Jul 25, 2016 1:35 pm

You would hope for some natural wastage as well. Clubs have been linked with signing Gueye, Westwood and Richards for example and hopefully that interest will be followed up on. Any ideas on the 3 or 4 for the bin? I think Guzan is a definite, possibly Gabby and maybe Lescott and Bacuna for the other two. I admit three of those are wishful thinking.

by **villabromsgrove** Mon Jul 25, 2016 3:56 pm

Sandie wrote:You would hope for some natural wastage as well. Clubs have been linked with signing Gueye, Westwood and Richards for example and hopefully that interest will be followed up on. Any ideas on the 3 or 4 for the bin? I think Guzan is a definite, possibly Gabby and maybe Lescott and Bacuna for the other two. I admit three of those are wishful thinking.

Sadly I think Kozak might be one of the 3/4 players. Lescott, Sanchez and Gabby might be on that list as well.

by **villabromsgrove** Tue Jul 26, 2016 7:29 pm

I don't think I'll bother watching our reserves tonight. I was expecting to see a representative first team, learning how to play together under RDM's system. There's only one more match before we kick off our season for goodness sake! At least one half should have been given to our strongest eleven.

Only Gollini and possibly Tshibola (if Gueye is sold) will feature against Sheff Wed .... what a waste of an opportunity. Does Di Matteo know that the league starts in a week and a bit?

I'm really frustrated at how amateur our new management team have looked, since they were given the responsibility of returning us to the Premier League.

by **Sandie** Tue Jul 26, 2016 8:08 pm

There's a few in tonight's team like Lyden, Okore, Toner, Bennett, Gardner, Grealish and Hepburn-Murphy who I'd expect to make an impact this season actually. Bacuna might still be in the manager's plans too, unfortunately. Bennett has been given a few tries in pre-season and has impressed, surprisingly, to an extent.

The only area where it is weak is up front. We've seen a lot of players this pre-season who probably don't have much of a future with us.

by **villabromsgrove** Wed Jul 27, 2016 10:28 am

I agree that it wasn't a bad team, but the point I was making was that it's clearly RDM's idea of our reserve team. It's all very well giving these second choice players a run out, but it was a waste of an opportunity for our first eleven to get some invaluable playing time together and build a better understanding. I'm struggling to think of a season where we were so far off being ready for our first match!

Last nights team selection actually told us what nine of the names on the first team sheet are going to be.

Gollini, Hutton, Elphick, Baker, Cissokho, Westwood, Gueye (if he isn't sold), Ayew, Gestede.

Bacuna, Grealish, Sinclair (if he isn't sold) and possibly Green will probably share the other two places, and Tshibola may replace Gueye if he goes.

I think that was how it stood yesterday, but obviously transfers could alter that. In my opinion there are too many defenders in that team. We will not get anywhere need the volume of supply, assists and goals that we need.

by **Sandie** Wed Jul 27, 2016 1:29 pm

I'm not sure RDM knows his team yet, to be honest. I'll be interested to see the side against Boro, and more interested still in the one picked against Wednesday.

by **villabromsgrove** Wed Jul 27, 2016 4:32 pm

Here comes Mr. Negative aka VB.

I believe that RDM thought he knew his best team (on paper) until a few days ago, but I think he's going to have to do some swift revision based on 'key' players performances. I appreciate that he's only been in the job since early June, but I'm surprised that he thinks we can kick off with basically the same team as last season with any hope of success.

He must get into the transfer market big time, and he must do it now!

by **Sandie** Wed Jul 27, 2016 6:50 pm

Yes, we've a lot of work to do between now and 10 days time.

by **villabromsgrove** Thu Jul 28, 2016 6:47 pm

Sandie wrote:Yes, we've a lot of work to do between now and 10 days time.

I wonder whether we have too much work to do?

by **Sandie** Thu Jul 28, 2016 11:36 pm

I think so. I think we have a busy month ahead but the necessary business won't be - even close to - completed by the time we face Sheffield Wednesday.

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