… but to replace whom? Cork? Westwood, Player of the Year? McNeil/Brady? Johan/Lennon/Hendrick? We already have Hendrick/Defour (if fit).

So is it personnel, or is it shape? Is the suggestion to go 451 or 352?

If we can find better that we can afford then all of them. Not saying it is possible but you have to always be looking to improve if the opportunity arises.

I will be amazed if Lennon or Defour play for us again.

I'll be amazed if neither of them plays another game for us - not necessarily both but 1 of them, at least, will still be in the squad for next season.

Cork can be replaced
JBG can be replaced
Lennon wont play again
Defour wont play again

Lennon is gash, Cork has been poor, Dyche doesn't fancy Hendrick in central midfield. Defour can't stay fit. Johann and Brady offer very very little in comparison to young Dwight. The only deserving starters for next season are Westwood and Dwight, the other 2 spots need an upgrade.

Cork. We need better to evolve. We also need backup for injuries. Defour is injured more than he plays.

And Lennon if we are looking at wide positions. Also not a fan of Brady although others are.

Aaron Lennon for Burnley,
37 appearances(31 PL), 1 goal, 3 assists.

shocking return..... for reference,

Young Dwights stats this season:
20 apps(PL), 3 goals, 5 assists.

I dont know what has happened to Cork, he did well last season, but hes looked very slow and weak this season, certainly a weak link in MF, we need to get rid of the dead wood [no i dont mean Chris] thats been sitting on the bench or in the treatment room all or most of this campaign and bring in quality players if SD gets the funds to do so.

NRC wrote:… but to replace whom? Cork? Westwood, Player of the Year? McNeil/Brady? Johan/Lennon/Hendrick? We already have Hendrick/Defour (if fit).

So is it personnel, or is it shape? Is the suggestion to go 451 or 352?

Nope. One game we can play 4-4-2. The next, 4-5-1 might be better. It depends on several things such as who we have available, who the opposition is, are we home, are we away etc.

I think the 3-5-2 has been and gone - can't see us trying that again anytime soon.

Simply Cork has been poor all season by his standards. He looks knackered. It may be simply because we don't have any cm subs to bring on after 6o mins unlike i imagine every other professional football club in existence. No wonder we concede so many late goals.

He too often gets out muscled thesedays. However if he was in the Alexander role in front of the back 4 in a 4141 he would be fine.

moaninclaret wrote:I dont know what has happened to Cork, he did well last season

He did well until he got his cap. One of the reasons we tailed off after New Year.

We do need a strong combative CM. We don't have that right now. Westy has proper come on in leaps and bounds and has to be the first name on the team sheet when naming midfielders, but he needs help. He doesn't always get that from JC.

JC would be adequate cover, as is JBG for Hendrick on the right, bur imho we need that one big strong quality centre midfielder to join everything up. Trouble is, if we go for someone who IS that person, we cant afford the fee OR the wages.

He will have to be an unknown from league 1. Or maybe from the foreign leagues, but we all know we struggle with that sort of recruitment. All the PL clubs, plus Norwich and the one remaining promoted place will all be able to out recruit us i'm afraid - not a complaint, just what I see as a fact. We MAY be able to see off Sheff Utd for a signature or two, but I wouldn't bet on that either.

There's always someone better, no matter who you are!

You need to improve the squad with quality each year to complement what we have. Stand still and we will go down.

Steve-Harpers-perm wrote:You need to improve the squad with quality each year to complement what we have. Stand still and we will go down.

Yeah, I mean look at how bad a season Spurs are having after not adding to their squad all season. Their fans must be livid

I get your point though and for a club like us we will need a couple of upgrades to keep where we are push on for a top 10 finish.

Our ball retention and game management has been poor for a long while now. This is normally down to the midfield : if it were possible, I would be delighted to see better players replacing Cork, Hendrick and even Westwood, who has improved greatly this season. Will it happen? I doubt it, but I am convinced with a better, stronger, more skilful midfield , we would have no relegation worries and would be looking upwards, not downwards.

NEW NEW Westwood NEW

We need pace on the wings. We have a very poor midfield. Goodjob we have a great defence and keeper.

KRBFC wrote:Lennon is gash, Cork has been poor, Dyche doesn't fancy Hendrick in central midfield. Defour can't stay fit. Johann and Brady offer very very little in comparison to young Dwight. The only deserving starters for next season are Westwood and Dwight, the other 2 spots need an upgrade.

Overreaction!.....Brady and Gudmundsson have been injured, both will be hard to replace, I think Dyche will get them fit for the new season & who knows maybe even Defour. Lennon can go for me. Cork is the one i'd try to replace!

JimMcDonald wrote:NEW NEW Westwood NEW

We need pace on the wings. We have a very poor midfield. Goodjob we have a great defence and keeper.

So you don’t want Mc Neil then?

bobinho wrote:So you don’t want Mc Neil then?

No hes too slow and lightweight.

NRC wrote:… but to replace whom? Cork? Westwood, Player of the Year? McNeil/Brady? Johan/Lennon/Hendrick? We already have Hendrick/Defour (if fit).

So is it personnel, or is it shape? Is the suggestion to go 451 or 352?

have you watched us this season ? it's clear who needs to fight for his place and up his game

JimMcDonald wrote:No hes too slow and lightweight.

Let's buy Mbappe instead.

We deffo need to strengthen in mf, we are nowhere near physical enough in that area, we get knocked off the ball too easily and we are forever giving it away in these areas, we need at least one big, strong midfielder, who can throw a bit of weight around, but with some pace as well.

Aaron Gunarsson?

Woodleyclaret wrote:Aaron Gunarsson?

No thanks.

JimMcDonald wrote:No hes too slow and lightweight.

Taffy on the wing wrote:Overreaction!.....Brady and Gudmundsson have been injured, both will be hard to replace, I think Dyche will get them fit for the new season & who knows maybe even Defour. Lennon can go for me. Cork is the one i'd try to replace!

Agree with Taffy. Although if Lennon and Defour aren't going to feature they will both need replacing....as well as an upgrade for Cork.

For those mentioning Aron Gunnarsson - he is joining Al-Arabi at the end of the season when his contract expires.

McNeill has been a breath of fresh air at LW, but isn't he actually a AM?

If I was to Football Manager this I would do the following.

3-5-2
Heaton / Pope - Lindegarrd

CB: Tarks / Mee / Gibson / Long / Dunne / NEW

RWB: Lowton - NEW
CM: Westood / Cork / Hendrick / NEW
LWB: Taylor / Ward

AM: McNeill / Vydra

ST: Barnes / Wood / Crouch / NEW

Squad Players,
Defour (Doubt we could sell him anyway),
JBG, Could play CM, AM, or even on of the wingbacks.
Crouch, keep, For the Meme's if nothing else.
Long
New Young BC

Leaving
Brady - Judgement call on this one. He's been injured, tough on a player, but he looked uninterested when he came back. and that worries me.
Lennon - Not been good enough.
Bardsley - Up to Dyche But could get a

Ideas
That leaves potentially 3 First teamers and maybe one young CB, although we've already got Dunne, so maybe Cahill on a pay as you play wouldn't be a terrible idea.
Adams is a possibility upfront
Obviously Trippier at RWB Would be a dream. But he's a champion league finalist, so really unlikely.
And all the world and his Aunt are looking for that big powerful central midfielder. So your guess is as good as mine.

Its easy this Football Manager lark.

In a squad like ours anyone can be replaced , they’ve nearly all played their parts but with a couple of exceptions pretty much any position is up for grabs if we can afford to replace . Lennon was a massive disappointment but he hardly ever played that wide and the service he got was gash tbf. Not sure about Brady but be nice to field a team with someone , anyone who can take a proper free kick

Cork has been the weak link in midfield this season
He has very little pace, to drive on past opposing players,little strength in tackles, no height for the ariel battles and has been caught in possession far too many times this season
He may cover a lot of ground but, unfortunately, the fruits of his obvious endeavours have not been forthcoming this season
It also says much about the strength in depth of our midfield, that he still remains a regular starter
We have to improve the starting eleven next season and central midfield is key to that
The likes of McNeil, JBG, Hendrick and Brady are maybe ok but, again, all lack any pace
The service to our front men invariably comes with their backs to the goal as we can't seem to get around other defences crossing from the goal line
Given the above Barnes and Wood have done well to score their goals and there is likely to be more from them if they were actually facing the goals when they had a chance to receive the ball

Just about Mcniel, it's not all about blistering pace, Beckham never had it, use what you have to create half a yard a whip a ball in.

Dwight has done that amazingly and long may it continue, despite some of this lacks pace ballhooks