Possible Replacements for Long?

[pea]

Hume, Cox or Varney

[SCIAG]

The club has already replaced Shane Long. We have Mathieu Manset, Brett Williams and Simon Church (not this season's version, the REAL SImon Church who must surely come back next year or will be gone frmop RFC).

The club has already replaced Jimmy Kebe. We have Hal Robson-Kanu and Michael Antonio.

The club has already replaced Matt Mills. We have Sean Morrison.

The club has already replaced Adam Federici. We have Alex McCarthy.

The club has already made 3 new sihnings for the 1st XI squad next season. We have Jake Taylor, Jordan Obita and Lawson De'ath.

Hope this is of use to the fans who have been asleep all last season! Goodness me.

(BTW I am not suggesting that these players are as good as those they are replacing, merely that the squad numbers and make-up is sorted for next season. Any other signings in the close-season must be considered a Brucy Bonus. Unless we get shed loads for Long/Kebe/Mills/Federic, say £10M, we cannot expect anything in the way of a significant signing. That's just the way it is at RFC).

This.

If we must replace externally, I'd like Rhodes. Cox and Ebanks-Blake aren't especially realistic targets, both would be good though.

[royalsroyalsroyals92]

i seem to remember a time when everyone was writing off Shane and saying we needed to give Churchy a try. Its aggravating from a pure excitement and interest point of view that we probably wont sign any new decent striker this summer... but realistically i think we saw in 09/10 that Church does have decent potential and if we can nurture that a bit more, i reckon he could "come good" (to quote BR). I am also a fan of Manset, but he needs to get fitness and consistency.
I can probably see us signing one of the cheaper or decent prospects from the lower leagues, or an underwhelming free transfer to get a decent squad player who will pop up with goals off the bench, just nothing more than that

[Agent Balti]

The problem with replacing the likes of Long, Kebe and Federici with the likes of Church/Manset, HRK (Sorry, in no way can I endorse Antonio as a replacement), and McCarthy is that you lose a ton of experience. Well, Federici can sod off, I don't care for him at all. But the other two and more if you include Bryn and Ingi who are likely to leave too, well, suddenly we have a very young average age squad. Sure, we have Harte and Griffin, but we've seen happens to them when exposed...but we do have the ever evolving (and versatile) Cummings.

Only this season did it click for Shane where he actually used what he's learned. His positional strength and belief in himself only shone through this season - all thru experience. We all have our concerns about Church who seems to be the epitome of a confidence player. HRK has shown glimpses of real progress this season, especially latterly. Manset reminds me of when Kebe first arrived, so hopefully we can mould him into a player that's more Drogba and less Bambi.

I still believe that we'll bring in 3, maybe 4 at absolute tops, in the summer. They won't be uber-purchases in the main, but Brian will know where he needs to strengthen/replace/add.

[The Rouge]

Sadly, I believe there is a lot of truth in Strap's post.

I would love to see Cox come back, I think he is a cracking player. I actually think 2011/12 could be a big season for Jake Taylor.

[Mr Angry]

Le Fondre?

He's done it at league 2 level but whether he could manage it at Championship level is a different matter. Would be quite expensive as well (at least £1M i should imagine). However, BMcD signed Manset who was playing in League 2 so maybe he'd be willing to take a risk

I wouldn't be surprised to see Le Fondre heading towards Peterboro as Mackail-Smith's replacement.

[Mr Angry]

The club has already replaced Shane Long. We have Mathieu Manset, Brett Williams and Simon Church (not this season's version, the REAL SImon Church who must surely come back next year or will be gone frmop RFC).

The club has already replaced Jimmy Kebe. We have Hal Robson-Kanu and Michael Antonio.

The club has already replaced Matt Mills. We have Sean Morrison.

The club has already replaced Adam Federici. We have Alex McCarthy.

The club has already made 3 new sihnings for the 1st XI squad next season. We have Jake Taylor, Jordan Obita and Lawson De'ath.

Hope this is of use to the fans who have been asleep all last season! Goodness me.

(BTW I am not suggesting that these players are as good as those they are replacing, merely that the squad numbers and make-up is sorted for next season. Any other signings in the close-season must be considered a Brucy Bonus. Unless we get shed loads for Long/Kebe/Mills/Federic, say £10M, we cannot expect anything in the way of a significant signing. That's just the way it is at RFC).

100% accurate assessment imho. The only thing I would add is that we may look to the loan system to strengthen the team/squad far more in the next season than we have done in previous seasons.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

We had 2 on loan this season.

JM will not piss money up the wall, we might invest in a player that will increase, but would need to get them on the cheap.

Wages are likely to be a bit lower as well.

You only have to look how well we have just done to see tha we can do it on the budget set by the club.

[Dennis the Butler]

Has to be La Fondre for me .. maybe Church as well ..

[TBM]

Church/Hunt and Manset - i am actually confident this will work next season

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

Church/Hunt and Manset - i am actually confident this will work next season

And there you have it, we have to look at what we have, why would we sign Manset if he was not going to be a part of the team soonish. And there is also Williams, whom we have no idea about. Plus a couple of our own youngsters trying to come through.

[PEARCEY]

The one thing a lot of us (including myself) have been guilty of at the end of each season is under-estimating the abilities of those players at the club who are not yet established first team players. This time last year everyone was talking about how desperately we needed defensive reinforcements. You would have been laughed at by suggesting the likes of Pearce and Cummings would be good enough....but they were.
I'm confident that provided we keep the likes of Mills and Karacan we will do very well next season....some of the less established players will come through next season.

[Hoop Blah]

If Church is the replacement for Long and so we're effectively going into the season with Church and Hunt as a front pairing then we're going to have to make a few changes to the way we play.

Church just doesn't play in the same way as Long and needs quite different service to be effective, and even then he's got to improve a fair bit to be good enough to lead our attack (a scary thought to be honest).

If we're counting on Hunt being able to lead the line for Church to play off then we're making a a big mistake too. He just hasn't got the resilliance to play enough minutes or games to have that responsibility.

[TBM]

If Church is the replacement for Long and so we're effectively going into the season with Church and Hunt as a front pairing then we're going to have to make a few changes to the way we play.

Church just doesn't play in the same way as Long and needs quite different service to be effective, and even then he's got to improve a fair bit to be good enough to lead our attack (a scary thought to be honest).

If we're counting on Hunt being able to lead the line for Church to play off then we're making a a big mistake too. He just hasn't got the resilliance to play enough minutes or games to have that responsibility.

and Manset?

[brendywendy]

Manset reminds me of when Kebe first arrived, so hopefully we can mould him into a player that's more Drogba and less Bambi.

bambi is from the phrase "bambi on ice"- from the scene in the disney film when bambi slides around on the ice with his lanky legs going in all directions etc.and therefore descriptive of someone doing similar
kebe is often like "bambi on ice" cos he often falls over, and has lanky legs that have a life of their own.
i have never seen a less bambi like player than mathieu manset.

HTH

[super darren caskey]

I have a feeling simon church could come good with an extended run in the team.He hasnt been getting much game time recentley but i feel with a bit of faith in him from brian(just like with shane long)he could be our 20+ goal striker

[TBM]

Manset reminds me of when Kebe first arrived, so hopefully we can mould him into a player that's more Drogba and less Bambi.

bambi is from the phrase "bambi on ice"- from the scene in the disney film when bambi slides around on the ice with his lanky legs going in all directions etc.and therefore descriptive of someone doing similar
kebe is often like "bambi on ice" cos he often falls over, and has lanky legs that have a life of their own.
i have never seen a less bambi like player that mathieu manset

HTH

'greed

Was Manset on the bench, on Monday? - i would have got him on with 20mins to go.....he is so difficult to get the ball off, so defenders foul him.....with Harte in the side we just didn't draw them into committing any fouls on the edge of the box.

[chilipepper91]

Manset reminds me of when Kebe first arrived, so hopefully we can mould him into a player that's more Drogba and less Bambi.

bambi is from the phrase "bambi on ice"- from the scene in the disney film when bambi slides around on the ice with his lanky legs going in all directions etc.and therefore descriptive of someone doing similar
kebe is often like "bambi on ice" cos he often falls over, and has lanky legs that have a life of their own.
i have never seen a less bambi like player that mathieu manset

HTH

'greed

Was Manset on the bench, on Monday? - i would have got him on with 20mins to go.....he is so difficult to get the ball off, so defenders foul him.....with Harte in the side we just didn't draw them into committing any fouls on the edge of the box.

Nope, Brian put Cummings on the bench presumably for if Kebe couldn't make it through 90. Full bench: McCarthy, Pearce, Howard, Tabb, Cummings, Robson-Kanu, Church.

[Hoop Blah]

If Church is the replacement for Long and so we're effectively going into the season with Church and Hunt as a front pairing then we're going to have to make a few changes to the way we play.

Church just doesn't play in the same way as Long and needs quite different service to be effective, and even then he's got to improve a fair bit to be good enough to lead our attack (a scary thought to be honest).

If we're counting on Hunt being able to lead the line for Church to play off then we're making a a big mistake too. He just hasn't got the resilliance to play enough minutes or games to have that responsibility.

and Manset?

Well I'd imagine he'll be behind the pair of them in the pecking order.

If he's starting week-in week-out then it's a similar story as both of the Church and Hunt really. Not only is he very raw and a little out of his depth at this level (so far at least) but he obviously struggles with getting through 90 minutes.

He's a different option and has a lot to learn about when to get into the box and attack the ball, when to hold on to it and when to take a gamble of beating a player. I can't see him coming out of pre-season as a player ready to replace Hunt or Church let alone Long.

[Svlad Cjelli]

Brett Williams will be the new Kevin Doyle. Dirt cheap but setting the world alight.










(or maybe the new Dave Mooney!)