Looking ahead?

[fredheim_holm]

According to the Donny fan Heffernan will come. First I've heard of it though.

 

[HudsonNo1]

Barnards bound to get injured at some point next season, he seems injury prone so we could be left without our main striker for atleast 1/4 of the season. That alone means we need to bring in a goal scorer. Theres just not enough to go around and anyone who is avaliable will be being hunted by clubs in a better position then us.

 

[TBV_Dan]

Also, we do need another center-back because even though they are great players, they are not the tallest players in the world, not saying we don't need them, but we could do with another one for cover if one of the other players gets injured, gets suspended or leaves the club.

 

[northyorkshiresufc]

werent we interested in him last christmas ? and he's benn injured quite a bit hasnt he or am i just making that up? :)

 

[shrimper4life]

1. We are currently building a 22,000 seater stadium, attracting a good calibre of players to our club.

Building work hasnt started though yet? There seems to be a new barrier everytime we clear one on the new stadium. Until the diggers start i wont believe we'll have a new stadium.

 

[fredheim_holm]

Tilson has stated he has previously been after the Heff. I don't know about his injuries, but according to the Donny fan regardless of whether they go up or not, he will not be staying. He didn't say it was set in stone but he seemed to say that it's not dependant on the playoff final.

I haven't seen enough of him to judge, I'll check out his soccerbase profile.

EDIT: 147 (62) appearances 65 goals for Donny.
Which converts to: 0.31 goals per game, a reasonable ratio if available at a reasonable price.

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

I think we need:

A keeper
A left back
A centre Back
A utility defender
A right winger
Striker

This is providing we dont lose anyone (i.e. Bailey, Gower)

 

[northyorkshiresufc]

my brother says he was just injured this seasonso it was me just making it up i think

 

[TBV_Dan]

Building work hasnt started though yet? There seems to be a new barrier everytime we clear one on the new stadium. Until the diggers start i wont believe we'll have a new stadium.

You have a point, but I do think that we will bypass all problems and I am 100% sure that work on our new stadium will start during the summer/beggining of next season. That should be ready for 2010.

 

[Beefy]

Ok then let's put it another way.

Do you think that our current group of signed out & out strikers which I believe number 4 i.e. Barnard, MacDonald, Harrold & Ademeno plus wide men who can play up front, or the other way round, namely Hooper & Foran, are capable of scoring goals at L1 level. Obviously Barnard is, but the rest? :thumbdown:

Revell is signed too. I don't hold out much hope for MacDonald, Ademeno or Harrold for various reasons, but I think Revell has enough about him to do a job for us. He's hard-working, good in the air and brings many of the positive attributes that Matt Harrold does have without Matt's blatant inability to get within 20 yards of goal.

Hooper has proven himself to be an enigma. He's got something about him as a player and has looked the part when he's gone out on loan. Can he score goals? Certainly. Will he score goals for Southend? The jury is still out.

Presuming we sign Walker I think we'll have two 8-12 a season strikers in him and Revell. If Barnard stays fit then he'll score goals at this level, I think we know that, but if he doesn't then we'll need to rely on goals from midfield as we have done this season.

Once again though, we're in the same position we were last summer where most of our issues have been shown to be at the back and yet we're all so preoccupied with who plays up front.

 

[Harold Bishop Killer]

I say get rid of the whole bloody lot. Obviously cant do the job after that dismal showing Friday night.

:whistling:

Think there will be a bit of wheeling and dealing in the Summer again. We have a great core and backbone to the side and I feel Barney can be our 20+ goal a season man. But I do feel we need more pace upfront. Think Walker could be the man but it seems his a bad lack of composure (not good for a striker).

But personally rather than worry about who we get in mayeb we should be worrying who could leave? e.g Bailey,Macca?

 

[haveaguiness]

new keeper is in order.
If heard has signed a pro contract surely he is going to be good enough to play at left back, heard really good things about him aswell.
A real winger! one with a hell of a lot of pace skill and crossing. We have the slower one in gower who is a class act but we don't have the pace like we did when jcr was here. How about jobi macanuff from watford (was on loan at swindon and looked there only dangerous player when we played them, set up everyone of there chances) and surely if he was on loan this season then try and get him on loan next season?
we need a trundel type player up front i think. Someone with skill that can just hold the ball up by running with it and can be a playmaker but still ship in with goals. Walker has shown this on a few occasions but is far too inconsitant and i can't even see him chipping in with 10 goals a season tbh.
I think kanu would be a great bet if we can get him back next season to play this role but i dont see it happening.
Its all well and good us saying who we want though, there aren't many decent strikers out there at this level and the ones that are, are on buckets of money, and i think thats the only way we are going to sign someone of the calibur to fire us into the automatic spots next year, by taking a risk. I still think we should have tried to sign sheringham at the start of the season just gone.

 

[turkishm]

Def a centre back, if Mulgrew goes then a left back as well. Been a big fan of Flavs, but its time for a change of keeper as well imo. I think its another 60 goals conceded this season, after 80 the season before. Our goals for is one of the best in the div,to me our problems on the pitch have been staring the mangement in the face for quite some time now.

 

[* ORM *]

The clamour for more forwards amazes me. We have enough quality on the books and haven't yet seen a fully settled Walker or fully fit Revell. Scoring goals wasn't a problem this season. Bailey is the biggest worry for me as his all round contribution, apart from the last few games, would be sorely missed.

As others have alluded to we need to concentrate on the goals conceded column and surely it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work this out. A new back four spearheaded by Clarke at CB with a new LB, experienced CB and a box dominatiing keeper that isn't afraid to get someone to cover the posts when necessary..

 

[steveo]

1. We are currently building a 22,000 seater stadium, attracting a good calibre of players to our club.

2. A striker/player loves to play for a well supported club, and judging by the dedication and effort on Friday night against Donny when we were 5-0 down, I think that that more than proves that we are a well supported club!

Combined these reasons and a striker will have more of a chance of signing for us!!!

Forget the new ground. A player might sign for 2 years and we wont be in it so it wont make any difference to him.

Dont forget how our "well supported Club" treats our strikers if they dont make an instant impresion. e.g. Harrold, Hooper and next season Revell.

 

[shrimpingbythesea]

I think there is a definate need for changes to take the team to the next level. We have some very good players and regardless of what people have said they got us too the play offs are a long unbeaten run but just choked and didnt turn up in the crunch game.

In goal we have Flav, Collis and Masters. Both Flav and Collis are out on contract this summer. I personally think that Flav is fine for league one. Yes he may not have presence and lack height to command his area but he is a fantastic shot stopper and could do nothing about the goals on Fri. Yes we concede alot but alot of that comes down to the team defending as a whole. I think Collis will then go. I have not seen Masters play but i assume that Tilly thinks he could be a back up.

Our defence had a season of two halfs. They started the season leakier than the Titantic and couldnt kept a clean sheet to save their lives. However in the 2nd half of the season things have improved and we look alot more solid. Alot has been said about Barrett and Clarke not being able to play with each other. I think Franco is fine at right back. I think Hunt will go but reports are that Grant will be signed as the Utility player. At Centre Half we have Barrett, Clarke and Liptak. I dont know what the plan is for Zolton. I think he needs to be loaned out again. That means we need a centre half. I would agree experience and presence are what is wanted. Gary Breen would be a fantastic signing but somebody along those lines. If Mulgrew goes we need a left back. Yes we have Herd but he is very young. i would love Charlie to stay but if not its vital we sign someone else.

We have some very good midfielders at Southend but they all want to play in the same postion and as seen against Donny we struggle against a 5 man packed midfield. On the right we seem to have Black or Moose. This means we need someone else as Black is not good enough and seems not to get on with the other players and Moose is a centre mid. Its worked with Petts and Bentley but it wont work with Moose. In the centre were fine with Bailey, Macca, Moose and Maher. I hope Maher stays for his 10th year and his experience is key that is if he wants to stay. Moose is the future and if we can keep Bailey were be fine here. If he goes which is a possablility then he will need to be replaced. Left Mid we have Gower. He is fine for the team next year. There are rumours he may be off to Forest as his contract is up. If he goes he again will need to be replaced. We then have players like Scannell who will be more experienced and even Peggy to come into the frame.

Up front we have Barney, Walker (I think we will sign him), Rev Rum, Hooper, Macdonald and Harrold. We have a lot of strikers here and some arent good enough. Harrold and Macdonald I think should go which leaves us with 4. Barney is a goalscorer but how many games will he play. Walker has potentia but is inconsistent. Revell is just getting games but has height. Hooper can score for everyone bar Southend. I think we should add to this 1 more striker. Whether he is brought or on loan to add more firepower to the club.

My shopping list:

Centre Back
Left Back
Right Midfielder
Striker

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Goodbyes

flavs
Collis
Hunt
Che
Black
Foran
Harrold
Mac D

Hellos

new Keeper
Grant
Left back (hopefully Mulgrew)
Centre back
Right winger
2 strikers

 

[Hooly]

For all those clamouring for a new winger, don't forget we've already got Damian Scannell!

After my horrible negativity about the strikers & I'm sorry Revell just looks like Billy van Painter revisited, I've only seen Scannell a couple of times in the reserves but he does look to have something about him. I've heard from within the club that his level of fitness coming here was miles away from a professional level, which is why we've seen so little of him. We can hope that with a good pre-season behind him he will make an impact. From what I've seen he can't half run at people & also cross a decent ball.

Regarding Herd, again on only a couple of viewings, he does look an excellent prospect but from what I recall is quite small. He also looked like he could run at people & cross a ball at will so I'm wondering, if he doesn't fill out a bit, whether using him as a left winger might be an idea in a few reserve games & see if he might not have more chance there in the pro game.

As for those who say we need to sort out the back rather than strikers I'd say 2 things
- Attack is the best form of defence
- We scored a huge amount of our goals from midfield this season & the chances of repeating that next year are slim. So where will the goals come from?

 

[steveo]

From what I've seen he can't half run at people & also cross a decent ball.

From what Ive seen of him he does exactly that. Run AT people. If they stand still he runs into them, but not round them. However, that sort of thing can hopefully be coached, at least he has the physical capabilites to be a good player.

 

[les@donr]

Hefferman does seem to be injury prone, if he wasn't he'd be a CCC player, but needs a system where the ball is played off another forward into his feet in the penalty box, more to your system than the current Rovers one. As said before he would make a good partner to Barnard and he is only 26.