Positions

[Chris]

So then, looking at the new league what areas of the picth are we going to need working on?

 

This league is ganna be damn difficult. Honestly believe that some of the teams in the Conference South will be less stong than some of the new names in our league.

 

Dover and Chelmsford will be tough, Billericay are going full-time and Braintree have just appointed Borg, so no doubt will be thowing money at it.

 

As for positions I think we need another keeper to challenge Fozzy, a right-wing-back, two central midfielders, a right winger and two strikers with a few of the fringe players needing to leave as they will not be up to this level i'm sad to say!

[Dominic]

So lets be honest, which players are not gonna make the cut??

 

 

 

 

[GarySTFC]

We will definitely need an injection of pure pace into the side, especially down the wings, and perhaps upfront. A pacy, yet tall, defender would also be welcomed, although the moajority of the current squad will have played at this 'level' (same as last year in writing) or higher, so are more than capable of playing to this standard.

 

As I said on another thread, there's a lot of twists and turns to come as yet with our squad and many others, so let's start looking a bit more closely towards the end of July so we can have a better idea of what sort of squad we have...

[Chris]

OK and this is just my opinion and if I offend any players i'm sorry!

 

- Bartley

- Riddell

- Barras

- Hyatt

- Browne

 

Hate in particular saying Barras as he'll been so outstanding for us, but just can't help but feel his legs have gone, especially if were still at Stag Meadow next season on that wide pitch which I think did not help him.

[GarySTFC]

I would keep Riddell as he could be a useful asset upfront, and perhaps move Freddie into a coaching role with the club.

 

It would be a shame to lose Barras after all the service he's provided with the club, but Steer deserves a chance at left back and has the legs over Barras these days. Will be interesting to see what happens. Given the chance I'd like to have kept all the players to have a crack at it this season with a few additions, but it's not to be.

[Dominic]

I think Danny will shine next season and he is deffinately one of the players with the most potential.

[Radders]

Bartley, Brown and Hyatt are surely not going to be in the plans next year, although I wouldn't object to Freddie moving into a coaching role. Barras will be a useful asset to the club maybe as a part time player and as a coach as well. I agree with Gary and would definately keep Riddell. Having spoken to him on the boat he would 100% rather be up front and, although I don't remember him, he has played at a higher level with Farnborough and Hampton, both of whom he was a regular with until bad injuries. What about Deaner? I presume he will hang around for the obvious reasons but he is never going to hack it at that level.

 

In terms of new players, we definately need another keeper, if only to pressurise Foster, we need a right back, a quick centre back, a centre midfielder and 2 strikers preferably. Obviously these requirements may differ if other players leave.

[Martin]

From your list Chris, I would definately keep Riddell as he clearly is a versatile player!

 

The others if pressed could be allowed to leave but in an ideal world we would definately keep the whole remaining squad with one or two additions.

 

We need in my view; two strikers (if Hodges does leave), a quick centre half to partner Smurf and Daly and a right wing back.

 

I am not sure we need any midfielders, if we have Chopper, Spence, Hakki, Wilko, Haddow and Williams I am happy.

[Barry Scott]

we need to keep the Milfer, as he got us promotion this season, and can do it next!

[Guest]

as someone close to some of the players, i find it very harsh that you all seem to agree that Adrian Browne and mark Barley should be released this summer, Adi in particular played some very good games for us over the last two seasons and he and mark were played out of position at the start of the season, after speaking to adi i think he realised he has not had the best of seasons and wrote off the last few months with the form the team was showing, but i still think he has all the attributes to be a decent centre back for us in the future, but it cant help the confidence of the fringe players with some of the people on this site continually showing them no support.

[Guest]

Also i belive there def seems to be a good team spirit at the club under eddie that there matbe wasn't under brown, so if we can keep most of the squad together we may be able to 'punch above our weight' and do well next season.

[Radders]

By saying who we want here next year, it is in no way meant to offend the players, just a feeling of who can cope at this level. My honest opinion is that I don't believe Brown and Bartley will be able to hack it at the level we will be playing next year.

[BFR]

Adrian and Mark are good lads, but I think that if we are to do well next season we require strong competition for places. Unfortunately, whether we are playing two or three at the back, you would have to place Daly, Murphy, Moller and Gyoury ahead of Brown in the pecking order. That would leave Adi in the reserves and for him to improve as a player he needs regular football. I've nothing against Mark Bartley as an individual but as a player he has never impressed - though his goal in the Doxhill Cup final was top notch.

[Martin]

The thing is Girl-fan we are now playing within a limited and highly sensible budget. The only way the squad will improve is by bringing in new players. For new players to come in that means some of the current squad will go. We know that boot has already gone so we have room to bring in one more player. To progress we may need a few more players. Nothing against Ad or Mark just they appear to be the most obvious options as they were barely involved during the last three months of the season. As some of have said in an ideal world we would have kept the entire squad intact and had a crack at the new division. Unfortunatley it was not to be.

[Chris]

I've nothing against anyone on that list. Just thinking aloud and did not mean to upset anyone.

 

Thing is with Adie Brown is that last year around the Canvey, Harrogate matches he was in the side when Steve Daly was injured and played fantastically well and looked to have as much right as starting alongside Steve as Gyoury and the other centre-backs, but he has not really progressed as you would have liked...

[Burnham Lad]

Given some of the comments on this thread, there is an interesting warning on the Salisbury FC Forum, protecting players:

 

"Just a reminder to all. Please keep all comments on the forum sensible and do not make them personal. If there are any personal attacks on players, the person in question will be warned once and then banned for a re-occurance. Remember this is our club and our team and although we may not agree with some decisions we all want what is best for the club and personal attacks will only effect a players confidence and is this is not good for the team. Any such comment are unwelcome on this forum."

 

Heavy handed or not? Discuss!

[GarySTFC]

No, I think that is a very fair statement. At the end of the day, we do want the best for our team and our players, so perhaps we should think about what we write before we write it.

 

As we've seen, players do have access to this site, and perhaps with some of the younger players, comments on this forum about how many mistakes they've made or how bad they are can be very detrimental to them.

 

We'll see how it goes after the summer months as it'll be quieter over the summer anyway....

[PJ-STFC]

I wonder what caused Salisbury FC to make such a statement?

 

Surely they cannot be suggesting that there should be no discussions concerning the players' performances? If that were the case, the forum would be rather quiet!

 

It must be considered reasonable to comment on a player's performance in a match, for which you would need to identify the player - and hence the comments become 'personal' (they would be meaningless otherwise). The comments could be positive, or negative, depending on the performance being analysed. If the player reads the comments then, in the same way as an actor reading a review, they need to develop a strategy for coping with adverse criticism - possibly using it as a basis for identifying weaknesses or areas needing training. (Or alternatively, stop reading the comments!).

 

So I think the significant phrase is 'personal attack'. At what point does 'fair criticism' become a 'personal attack'?

 

As an example, I would say that the attitude shown to Foster by certain posters, earlier in the year, has bordered on 'personal attack'. According to their posts, Foster could do nothing right, however good the scoreline. Indeed, there were often times when I wondered what he would have thought had he read the messages - and in many cases I decided that his response would have been "OK, if that's what you think of me, you can s*d your team and find yourself a new keeper. I'm going somewhere that I'll be appreciated".

 

I re-read this thread before posting, and I would hope that any of the players concerned would not take the comments as personal attacks. They are the opinions of the posters, and these suggest that the players might not meet a particular standard. In this instance, the player can take a number of actions, but mainly either:

(1) agree with the poster and look to leave the team

or

(2) agree with the poster and look at ways of improving his game

or

(3) just disagree with the poster and have done with it!

 

Maybe the answer is for everyone to ensure that their criticism is fair and balanced, and then 'accentuate the positive' so that the confidence and morale of the players (and hence the team's performance) is boosted.

 

I am sure that it would be better to say "X's tackling is red-hot - always gets stuck in and usually wins the ball cleanly, but his passing upfield is a bit inaccurate at times", than "X is cr@p at passing and should be in a pub team". Which of these would be more likely to encourage 'X' to work on the accuracy of his passing?

 

Should Eddie ban the players from reading the Forum?

 

Discuss...

 

PJ <img src="/images/graemlins/chat.gif" alt="" />