Pat Sappleton

[Cookie]

Don't think its been mentioned anywhere yet & if it has I apologise for bringing it up again,but I heard a whisper this morning that Pat Sappleton WONT be re-signing. Whether thats true or not remains to be seen but if true it will be a sad thing to lose him. He did us proud & good luck to him if indeed this is the case.

All the more reason to find that replacement central defender now then.

[Hornet]

Not surprised and impossible to replace with the same quality. Defence is looking decidedly weak. Bad move to let Oates, Donovan, Protheroe and Wild go. The manager needs to start managing and pronto.

[BlueGate Alan]

Shame if that's the case Tony, but can fully understand if he wants to better himself. Good luck Pat, you will be sorely missed.

[Cookie]

Maybe Trotty is going to rely on Smith to take that position this season.I have my doubts about him despite his improvement last season.Heading ability is a major asset to have as a central defender & I am concerned about the strength of Smiths heading abilty. Still,we shall see. Maybe with more improvement,especially in that area of his game he could come good in that position & make it his own.

[BlueGate Alan]

I reckon he will play Jay there too for most of the season, to be fair they kept Danny from scoring last night, no mean feat!

[michael]

But even if Smith does play there, who plays alongside him.

 

As you say, it could be Jay, but does Jay want to play there.

 

We need central defender and another midfield player a bit urgent imo.

 

Agree that defence looks weak, and if we get an injury to a central midfield player, we are well snookered.

 

Central midfield is the key to a winning team, and as far as i can see we have Mckimm-good but injury prone and not that youg, and possibly Dean.

 

[BlueGate Alan]

Well lets see what friendlies bring ehh!

[Coffin Ender]

Taffy, DH did score last night (a pen)! Plenty of time before the start of the season. How often does the line-up in the first friendly bear any resemblance to the team that plays in the first league game?

 

 

 

 

 

[michael]

I think the favoured idea of experienced managers is to get your team sorted beforethe friendlies so they gel in the friendlies.

 

Not use the friendlies to try and find new players,and then start the season with a side that has some experience of playing together.

 

Having said that, you have to say it was a reasonable performance by the guys last night; bu we do remain short of midfield players and defenders

 

[BlueGate Alan]

Ah sorry CE, nobody mentioned that so I was guessing he didn't.

[styx45]

dont forget trott will still be playing himself when needed

[Pagey]

is that supposed to make us feel good

 

Always a good fall back though

[Hornet]

Is he a good fall back? I thought he was an average centre back.

[bigtw]

Smith is not a center half and he doe'nt like playing there. Throughout his football development he has always played right back.

[michael]

Interesting; especially as our manager said last season that Smith will become a great centre back.

 

Like Cookie, i have my doubts about his heading ability in that role;if as it seems, he is destined to be at the hub of our defence mmmmmmm

[Wellsie]

To be honest, he didn't look bad whether he played right back, left back or in the middle to me. I thought though, that he loked most commanding at the centre of the Margate defence towards the end of the season when Robin wasn't playing. He seemed to rise to the challenge of the extra responsibility. And at his age, he may well still be transitioning to the position that he will play in for the majority of his career. I do know that he is highly rated by everyone at the club. This coming season should see him improve even more.

[P.W.]

Which ever way you look at it, behind SCS he (Louis Smith) was definitely the second best find of the season for last term. I hope this season he can continue to be such a asset to the squad.

[michael]

Agree again.(too much agreeing here )

 

I reckon MFC could well get £15K for SCS in January from a league club and £5k for Smith from a conference club next summer.(only problem there is that if Smith is rated so highly, why is he only on a 12 month contract )

 

Can the club unearth one or two talented players this season

[blueblood]

we already have them "IF" they are given games.

[MargateFan]

I would hope for the time being that MFC do not think of flogging anyone.