Bloated Squad

[Dannyboz1884]

4 hours ago, Saul Pimpson said:

No!!!!!!! I meant it would leave a squad of 23 including Hanson, Lowe & Elsnik... IE not bloated

Oh right sorry I misunderstood. Yeah 23 man squad sounds good

[Van der MoodHoover]

I have consistently believed - and I think have consistently said - that I couldn't see Gary achieving all his desires in terms of squad personnel this window. 

I still think that next summer will see the emerging rowett squad and this year is transition. 

[Dannyboz1884]

2 hours ago, Rample said:

Thorne, Forsyth and Russell into the last year of their contracts too this season.  Hope all can push on and earn new deals, but expect Russell to go for a cut price by January and I do fear for George. 

The bloated squad will be probably be largely sorted out in 2019 when a lot of contracts run out, older players and squad players let go and decisions to be taken on big earners.

Yeah totally agree I want them all to stay but feel Russell may be sold, he's not looked great so far in Pre-Season. Hopefully he kicks on when the season starts and proves people wrong, he just looks like he has no confidence at the minute. I know he won the peno other night but some of the shots he's had have been wild. Hopefull they are just being extra careful with Thorne and he will be back in a few weeks.

I hope it's sorted out before 2019 mate it's too big now

[EnigmaRam]

Anya, shackell, bent, Bryson, butters, Olson can all leave for me and it would probably strengthen us as we don't have to play them.

bring in a CM and outside forward with some technical ability to find another player, not just run and run with their head down with no end product. If your playing a 433, all 3 forward players need to be able to both score and assist. Anya certainly doesn't score and doesn't assist much either.

2/3 players probably needed. Brannigan or James for CM. Lawrence or Jota for the more technical assist outside forward. Kent or Ojo as the more winger orientated player.

[Warren Hobhead]

I may have given an answer to this particular topic in one of the other 18,596 iterations.

[EnigmaRam]

42 minutes ago, Warren Hobhead said:

I may have given an answer to this particular topic in one of the other 18,596 iterations.

There's another thread on this topic?! Damn I missed it! ?

[sage]

She When I saw the thread title I thought @Ninos was talking about Martin's weight again. 

[Ninos]

3 hours ago, sage said:

She When I saw the thread title I thought @Ninos was talking about Martin's weight again. 

Meh. We've got far bigger fish to fry, sage. I was talking about the oversized disaster squad plus the blocking of our academy players on here long before it became a fashionable thing - before Rowett was openly talking about it. What had got me thinking about that was the obvious lack of team cohesion and the constant bottling. And each manager doghousing different players. An interview with Eddie Howe and his firm philosophy of a tight knit squad that brought the point home for me, plus just the obvious point that players want to play and at Derby few have, regularly.

Problem now is we are a week away and we've done close to nothing about it ... even worse, we've kept all the worst and sold three of our best. Martin is looking like one of our best now just by default as he's surrounded by low confidence no confidence or little ability forward players.

I'm very very concerned about this season but hopefully Martin et al can save Us. 

[Van der MoodHoover]

All very well GR saying he wants to trim the squad and form a tight knit group but his room for manoeuvre is limited by market forces.

As far as we know the only proactive action the club has taken so far was to agree a termination with Abdoul Camara.

Given the approach taken to pre season so far of giving everyone who is fit a go, I'm none the wiser as to which players GR views as surplus to requirements. But given the lack of rumours that surround the squad it seems that they are not attractive propositions for other clubs and so the only way of moving players on will be to pay up contracts.

And that brings us full circle to FFP as we do not know how much of a financial hit dcfc can afford to take. 

Appreciate GR trying to be open with communications but he needs to be a bit more circumspect when he cannot fully control the outcome which seems to be the case here. 

[RamNut]

 

This is yet another transitional season due to all the change.

GR has started rebuilding from the back with wisdom and davies

the holding midfield position is addressed with huddlestone in.

we have a surfeit of strikers

now the last area to address is attacking midfield. So currently all of the rumours feature wingers and central attacking midfielders.

johnson, butterfield, weimann, russell seem to be the preferred four until any new players arrive.

alot of players are probably available for minimal fees and there could yet be plenty of action right up to deadline day.

the current concern is the apparent lack of quality, cutting edge and the generally scrappy play.

We will miss hughes, but only for the next ten years.

[GboroRam]

Have we tried Activia?

[Van der MoodHoover]

Just now, GboroRam said:

Have we tried Activia?

What position does he play?  

[SaintRam]

I will say, if we are waiting on "3 or 4" targets (I imagine a couple of those are Plan Bs to the others) then we're obviously waiting on signing them before getting rid, but with the window about to enter its last month you have to assume some outline deals for our players are already there.

[Van der MoodHoover]

Just now, SaintRam said:

I will say, if we are waiting on "3 or 4" targets (I imagine a couple of those are Plan Bs to the others) then we're obviously waiting on signing them before getting rid, but with the window about to enter its last month you have to assume some outline deals for our players are already there.

I would then expect those individuals not to be featuring in preseason selection. 

So far I can't detect any being left out. Unless vydra has a phantom injury! 

[RamNut]

2 hours ago, GboroRam said:

Have we tried Activia?

A finger up the @rse might shift one or two.

[Dannyboz1884]

19 minutes ago, SaintRam said:

I will say, if we are waiting on "3 or 4" targets (I imagine a couple of those are Plan Bs to the others) then we're obviously waiting on signing them before getting rid, but with the window about to enter its last month you have to assume some outline deals for our players are already there.

I personally think we will buy before we sell and make some of the players at our club think I'm not going to get a game here I need to move. Maybe we will force a few players out by just signing new players, they will be asking there agents to get them a new club. Plus other clubs can see who you are buying and will know certain areas of your team are full and will start to inquire about the availability. For example we bought Wisdom and have Baird for back up so Middlesbrough thought lets see how much Christie will cost us. If we sign Lawrence next that leaves us with Russell, Anya, Weimann, Bennett, and maybe Blackman who play in the same position so some players will know they won't get a game. 

[Sparkle]

Basic outs 

Roos, Rawson, Hanson, Anya, Blackman, Butterfield or Bryson and eventually Ollson when Forsyth and Lowe are actually match fit.

we take a big hit on Anya, Blackman, Butterfield, so moving them on would be very difficult 

contracts to expire with no extension at the end of the season  - Bent, Baird 

Hanson hopfully would be just a loan

[Van der MoodHoover]

1 hour ago, Sparkle said:

Basic outs 

Roos, Rawson, Hanson, Anya, Blackman, Butterfield or Bryson and eventually Ollson when Forsyth and Lowe are actually match fit.

we take a big hit on Anya, Blackman, Butterfield, so moving them on would be very difficult 

contracts to expire with no extension at the end of the season  - Bent, Baird 

Hanson hopfully would be just a loan

butterfield might not be too big a hit as we've had him for a couple of seasons so we should have depreciated him a bit (think he was signed on a 3 or 4 year deal?) So if we got  £1m for him say (which sounds peanuts in todays market) then we might only take a £1m or so hit.

all idle speculation of course as you can't see individual player values in the accounts, just an aggregate number.

 

[cheron85]

Think I mat have done this already somewhere but going to have another go - I assume we'll play 4-3-3 and/or 4-2-3-1 over the course of the season so would have:

Carson, Mitchell, Roos

Wisdom, Baird, Keogh, Davies, Pearce, Shackell, Fozzy, Olsson

Tommy H, Thorne, Johnson, Bryson, Butters

Russell, Anya, Weimann, Vydra, NEW

Martin, Nugent, Bent

That's 24 - But Bent obviously out until xmas I imagine changes the shape of what we'd be doing squad-wise - Plus Thorne is an inmjury liability and we'd need a couple of extra CMs if we want to be able to switch between formations - If we just go with 4-2-3-1 all season then can get rid of Butters

So I guess Blackman is out of my squad - But only because Anya has versatility to cover the full-back positions if needed

[Dannyboz1884]

21 minutes ago, cheron85 said:

Think I mat have done this already somewhere but going to have another go - I assume we'll play 4-3-3 and/or 4-2-3-1 over the course of the season so would have:

Carson, Mitchell, Roos

Wisdom, Baird, Keogh, Davies, Pearce, Shackell, Fozzy, Olsson

Tommy H, Thorne, Johnson, Bryson, Butters

Russell, Anya, Weimann, Vydra, NEW

Martin, Nugent, Bent

That's 24 - But Bent obviously out until xmas I imagine changes the shape of what we'd be doing squad-wise - Plus Thorne is an inmjury liability and we'd need a couple of extra CMs if we want to be able to switch between formations - If we just go with 4-2-3-1 all season then can get rid of Butters

So I guess Blackman is out of my squad - But only because Anya has versatility to cover the full-back positions if needed

Yeah I get it's done before but what I'm trying to say is who do you leave out. You have picked 24, a good 24 at that pretty much what I picked but the way I laid it out with first 11 plus subs plus the two new players if we get two we still have too many to even put on the bench.
 You have picked 8 defenders, lets say we play a back 4 which we probably will we won't stick 4 defenders on the bench at most 2. So who are the two you leave out of the 8 you picked? Who will be happy at not even getting picked and live with it through the season. This was my point of the topic. Defence will probably be Wisdom, Keogh, Davies, Fozzy. That leaves you with Baird Pearce Shackell and Olsson, which is another complete back 4. It's nice to have 2 players in every position but first team players won't accept not being in the squad on match day. Maybe be have two first team defenders and then the other two defenders mix it up between under 23s and first team duty's. This means we must sell two first team defenders maybe Shackell and Olsson? Shackell is still recovering and hasn't played any pre season so not sure someone would gamble on him. 

Midfield area if we play 2 midfielders lets say Hudds and Johnson, that will leave Bryson, Butters and Thorne in reserve. Again at most you will probs put 2 midfielders on the bench. If we play three midfielders then we would probably be okay. 

Then for attacking spots whether that be 3 behind the 1 or a 3 up top you have selected 8 players. Lets say we go with the three that would leave you putting 5 attacking players on the bench, there just isn't any room. 

By the way this isn't me having a go at your side I'm just saying the squad is far too big and people won't accept not being in the match day squad. I would personally pick who you have apart from swapping Lowe for Olsson but then I wouldn't know who to leave out lol. We have signed 3 and shipped out 4, I would just feel better with a couple more going now. Like I said in a previous post I think we will buy first then people will know where they stand and ask to leave.