Aidan White

[Ambitious]

We need a striker above all else.

Having someone or 2 or 3 who can finish is the difference between mid table and being in the top 3.

I wish we'd stop signing midfielders and defenders.

'http://www.dcfcfans.co.uk/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/huh' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':huh:' />

Since we lost both our centre backs, I would hope a centre back would be first on the list. Also our left back is 35, had a blinder last season but these 2 positions are key for the minute, next we move on to a striker.

We could still line up with Theo-Ward ... Theo-Davies.... Ward-Davies... Ward-Ball.... Theo-Ball and so on.

centre back - definite priority

left back and striker - joint priority.

another centre back - not very likely.

a brute of a DM - not very likely.

for me anyway, until Savies leaves at least.

[DcFc Dyycheee]

Aidy White and Keogh would be two cracking players, all the Shackell stuff would be forgotten for me if we sign them two, and a striker. Fingers crossed we'll get em!

[Albert]

Edit: Already posted...

Its looking more likely now isn't it?

[bucktwo]

with White, Coutts, Keogh and Salmon into the squad, im off down the ticket office to demand i pay more for my season ticket!!

that'll teach them for testing my patience with their lack of promises and false gloomyness.

[jagerbob]

I still dont think Tyson and Ward are any good down the middle.

Which is why i want a decent target man until Ball comes good.

Tyson and Ward are really only good out wide.

[duncanjwitham]

I still dont think Tyson and Ward are any good down the middle.

Which is why i want a decent target man until Ball comes good.

Tyson and Ward are really only good out wide.

I think they'll both be fine centrally, provided the are played alongside the right type of player. Unfotunately I don't think Theo is it. We need some one that can hold the ball up and get it into the likes of Theo/Ward/Tyson's feet, or play little balls into the channels for them to run onto. We did neither of those things anywhere near enough last season.

[jg96ram]

I know this will be controversial, but I think Tyson has had to adapt his game as he has got older, so he has bulked up and I reckon he could work as a hold up man if he was given time. Love theo (as you can guess from the avatar) but think he needs someone playing him off, he didn't work well on his own last season unless he had a targetman with him. Back to topic, White would be an excellent signing, I would say our defence would sound even better with him and keogh. Know this is a bit early but with a decent striker I think we could really push for playoffs.

[jezram]

if we get white he has got to be first choice, roberts would be an excellent back up, i still think with barker out for the season, we do need another cb as well as keogh (hopefully kenneth on full deal or fryers on loan (just my opinion))

if we get sammon as well i will be very happy with the squad

[Albert]

if we get white he has got to be first choice, roberts would be an excellent back up, i still think with barker out for the season, we do need another cb as well as keogh (hopefully kenneth on full deal or fryers on loan (just my opinion))

if we get sammon as well i will be very happy with the squad

I'd want another young defender with some experience at League One level or so, the only name like that I've heard being suggested so far is Krystian Pearce, who if we were actually after, was surely always going to be that second central defensive signing.

[Leicester Ram]

I'd want another young defender with some experience at League One level or so, the only name like that I've heard being suggested so far is Krystian Pearce, who if we were actually after, was surely always going to be that second central defensive signing.

You're kidding! You want to ignore our problems throughout the rest of the squad and get ANOTHER cb! We have OB to develop in CB not to mention Gallinski if we have an injury. Wether Naylor is going to be back up RB or CB I don't know, he's versatile enough to do both. So a striker is far more important.

[Albert]

You're kidding! You want to ignore our problems throughout the rest of the squad and get ANOTHER cb! We have OB to develop in CB not to mention Gallinski if we have an injury. Wether Naylor is going to be back up RB or CB I don't know, he's versatile enough to do both. So a striker is far more important.

As it currently stands we have the following central defenders who have played professional football before:

Jake Buxton

Mark O'Brien

Tom Naylor

Now, generally I'd think, you know, with Keogh on board we'd have 4 defenders, and that's all well and good, but whilst I don't doubt their ability, O'Brien and Buxton have had serious injury troubles in the last few seasons, and the idea that losing both would leave us with Naylor joining Keogh (if he signs) leaving no cover for the centrehalf or rightback positions, that's just horrifying. Sure, we've got some youngsters, but they haven't played yet and I don't really think we should be giving them their first taste of the game at this level by being thrown into the deep end with no cover. That is a terrible position to be in! We need to make sure we have some level of depth, not just hope that two players with injury problems make it through okay.

How bad have the injury problems been you ask? Buxton has only managed 22 league appearances in the last 2 years, although 21 of those were last season. O'Brien of course only managed 20 last season himself. This would leave us with Naylor and his whole 8 Championship appearances to partner Keogh (if he signs) with no backup, leaving Brayford without backup.

So yeah, in total for our defence, should we sign White and Keogh, we'd have:

Brayford

Keogh

White

Buxton

Roberts

O'Brien

Naylor

Or 7 players for the 4 positions, one of whom can only play one of those positions and may cover for another non defensive position. With 3 of those players having serious injury issues last season and in previous seasons, that isn't a good look. This is of course not mentioning that Roberts is going to be 35 in February.

But no, you're mentioning the other positions. We constantly mention the strikers, and we are after a striker, but the point remains that we have strikers and any move on a replacement for Davies will be made once a deal for him to deal is actually happening. Apart from him though, we have Tyson, Robinson, Ward, Ball, Bennett and Doyle, a whole 6 players apart from Davies. Sure, Ward is used out wide and not too many are happy with Ball, but we aren't going to be in a position of handing a kid a debut after a third injury and this is before we've even reinforced the position. We have the numbers up front, we just are missing a certain type of player, which is what we're after.

There is no way around it, we need another body at the back, but as mentioned, a younger player who would not cost the world, someone to bring through, but we still need someone with more than just youth level experience. Let's hope we can get Keogh and White first though.

[duncanjwitham]

7 players to cover 4 positions is plenty as a starting point. If anybody picks a serious injury, we can get someone in on loan to cover, otherwise we are effectively paying someone to not even make the match day squad.

And it's okay having 6 strikers, but we don't have anyone that can hold the ball up and we don't have anyone that can reliably put the ball in the net. A striker signing that solves those issues would make a clear improvement to the team. A 4th backup defender wouldn't.

[PBW Ram]

So yeah, in total for our defence, should we sign White and Keogh, we'd have:

Brayford (RB+CH)

Keogh (CH+RB)

White (LB + LM)

Buxton (CH - and many of us believe GK,RB>LB<CH<CM< DCM< CF)

Roberts (LB)

O'Brien (CH)

Naylor (RB + CH)

Within those 7 players though Albert, we've got 5 who can play centre half, 3 who can play right back and two left backs.

We can only play four of them. Assuming those two are in and you've got a straight choice, would you spend money on another centre half or put it towards a striker?

I'd say if we get Keogh and White that would be enough. I'd hope Pearce from Notts was a back up choice in case we missed out on Keogh.

[cheron85]

Dear Albert,

I feel that you have many valid points on injury situations...

HOWEVER if we were to start every season saying "If we get 3 injury's a CB we won't have any defenders" you'll end up with a squad of 50...

Of the forward you have listed only 1 of them is a proven goalscorer... and that's Theo who we didn;t think that would be the case with... plus Bennett who has very little experience and is 16, Doyle who is rubbish and Ward and Tyson who are really wide attacking Mids... so let's say we have 2 and 2 half strikers...

That is all.

Yours,

Cheron85

[Stedcfc]

I'd definately prefer money on a striker if Keogh and white go through. As people have said the loan market could be used easily enough if we got a couple of injuries.

[Martyn]

If you are going to post photos Ambitious, at least have the common decency to use the original, un-doctored version....

http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq208/Capester/BILLYDAVIES

That's what all their scarves say isn't it?

[Albert]

Firstly, Ward and Tyson are forwards by trade who have been used as wingers, they never have been and never will be attacking midfielders.

Again, I thought I stated fairly quickly that the issue with our forward line is that we are missing a particular type of striker and the club have stated they are looking into players. I also thought it was clearly stated that I thought we'd see more movement if or really when Davies leaves.

As for the defenders, in truth we will only have 3 centrehalves, then cover, that isn't a great position to be in. Sure, Brayford and Naylor can play there, in fact I think Naylor is meant to be a centrehalf who can play rightback, but we can't be listing them as centrehalves directly when we know all too well how our injuries turn out. After recent years we should know all to well how badly things can go with injuries, especially when 3 of the players in question have had a rough time with them. I'm not talking about some airy fairly idea when I say we could possibly see Buxton and O'Brien out at once again, its actually quite possible, if that happens we will have zero cover at the back for either the rightback or centrehalf positions. That is a situation that must be avoided and if it were to actually happen, I'm sure those who have replied to me directly would be the first complaining that we should have seen the possibility of players with injury troubles getting injured. I don't know, I've always thought that the centre of defence should always be a top priority, the one place you have to make sure if covered.

As for would I spend money on a centrehalf or a striker, as things stand its a poorly formed question. Its clear that we are after a striker and its more than possible (for reasons stated above) that we are also after another centrehalf too, although that's not really the point. If it was one or the other, I'd go for the striker, but we aren't playing some gameshow here, we're talking about what the club is doing with the squad. I'd honestly want to bring in a striker directly with the Davies money, a big centreforward type, and use whatever (if any) money we have left elsewhere (or from the sale of Bailey perhaps) to get a young (20-23) centrehalf to bring through and I have a suspicion we might go down that road. At the end of the day, if the club decide we have plenty of depth at the back, then that's fine, but even if we get Keogh and White, I'm fairly sure we'll see at least an attempt at signing a youngish defender with some experience from the lower leagues.

Who knows though.

[PBW Ram]

It seems as if you are looking for us to bring in cover for the cover Albert. I agree with almost everything else you've posted but it's not right to say we'll have no cover. With the exception or Roberts, all of those players can switch. Brayford plays very well as a centre half but preferes right back, Keogh started out as a right back but prefers centre half, we signed Naylor as a centre half and we've already seen him play very consistently in 7 of his 8 starts at right back.

We've got cover, we've signed versatile and consistent players exactly for that, we cant have a masive squad and we've got to rely on the 18 or so.

I think that is the reason we always seem to sign player of the seasons. POS's have usually performed very well over 40 odd games and not just turned it on 1 game out of 4. We need to sign players who will play games. If Bucko and OB have got another 20 games each in them, then that's one of the centre half positions filled all season. We've already seen they can do it for that number of games.

The two brought in in midfield POS's in Coutts and Jacobs have both missed less than a handful of games in the last two seasons.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see Pearce come in as well, I've read some very positive things about him. I just think now we need to switch to the missing link in our search for another 30 goals on last season.

[Albert]

For the vast majority of the squad I agree with all that, I'm just saying what I think about the injury records of Buxton and O'Brien. I honestly don't mind either way, I just think that we'll see the club more for a youngish centrehalf before the transfer window closes, maybe I'm wrong, probably am, it just seems to make sense in this case.

[cheron85]

For the vast majority of the squad I agree with all that, I'm just saying what I think about the injury records of Buxton and O'Brien. I honestly don't mind either way, I just think that we'll see the club more for a youngish centrehalf before the transfer window closes, maybe I'm wrong, probably am, it just seems to make sense in this case.

so do we need another CM in case Hendrick gets injured again? Cos he did last season... and then we'd only have Bryson and Coutts in the middle and NO cover...