CONFIMRED: Stephen Quinn to sign

[Snowball]

Currently his options look more like 4-4-3 or 4-5-2 , but hopefully that will change.....

Great if we can get away with it

[Ian Royal]

We know the keeper and centre back are in hand (Myhill and McShane maybe)

I don't think he sees LW as a priority as we have Fosu, McLeary, Obita, HRK and Blackman who can all play out there so unless someone buys a couple of those I can't see us do anything there.

Left back is another concern though, I think we should bring in someone who can play in that position as a specialist as I am not entirely convinced by Obita and if Kelly gets another club we'll lose what little flexibility we have - which reminds me if that happens we also might have a problem at right back.

How good are the youngsters in those positions?

Plenty of time yet. But for left wing I wouldn't agree with your assessment.

Fosu - I'd be very surprised if he gets more than a handful of starts. If we weren't so short there I'd say he'd be better off out on loan. I think people may be getting carried away with an excellent debut.
McCleary - right winger and desperately needed to perform there, can't play in two positions at once
Obita - our only senior left back at present, can't play in two positions at once.
HRK - completely failed to deliver these last two seasons
Blackman - not really a left winger, been most effective as a right forward
Taylor - (I'll add him in as he played there last year) not a left winger and not quite good enough, but at least a steady eddy.

I agree we could do with shifting HRK and Blackman to make room, I just think it's a massive glaring weakness even with all those options. Obita hasn't been great at left back all the time, but he's still performed ok most of it. Which is better than can be said for anyone at left wing last season.

Griffin and Long haven't impressed me overly, but I've not seen a lot of them. Keown seems to have been alright, but maybe more fo a CB. Stacey can play right back at a push and is quality. I quite like the look of Watson and Owusu, but they're probably still a year or so away.

[Nameless]

Currently his options look more like 4-4-3 or 4-5-2 , but hopefully that will change.....

Great if we can get away with it

Might make for some high scoring games, but I suspect teams would suss us out pretty quickly.
Worth a try though, not sure anyone had ever gone for it at the highest level of the game, perhaps it's the next tactical innovation. not having a centre forward (or any forward) seemed to work for Barca for a while....

[Ian Royal]

I think we could have played 4-5-5 last season and still wouldn't have got many more goals.

[Snowball]

Fosu - I'd be very surprised if he gets more than a handful of starts. If we weren't so short there I'd say he'd be better off out on loan. I think people may be getting carried away with an excellent debut.

Obviously, if he gets time he's going to get kicked a bit, but having watched all the you-tube stuff on him, I'd say he's destined for stardom.

I would (at the minimum) have him on the bench at the start of the season, in the hope he could get plenty of 20-25 minute run-outs. If he's tough enough, and sensible in his off-pitch life, I think he'll be a regular in 2016-17 (if we hang on to him) and, indeed may have made it before the end of this season.

In particular, in the You-Tube shots, I lost count of the times he won 40/60 balls that looked EASILY the opposition's.

He's special.

[John Smith]

Hmm, I usually reserve judgement on new posters but the majority of your 117 posts have marked you out as a bit of a confused and objectionable nob. I do wonder who's alter ego you are.

I apologise for having an opinion. Let's discuss it on my next milestone review shall we?

I was only disagreeing with Ian Royal's opinion on Alex Pearce.

Stephen Quinn: great signing, hope he can forge a partnership with Williams in the middle or be deployed out wide right. I wouldn't mind seeing Obita pushed up to left wing and Kelly in at left back. Whatever the choice I think both HRK and Blackman have to go, but this is progress.

[maffff]

Fosu - I'd be very surprised if he gets more than a handful of starts. If we weren't so short there I'd say he'd be better off out on loan. I think people may be getting carried away with an excellent debut.

Obviously, if he gets time he's going to get kicked a bit, but having watched all the you-tube stuff on him, I'd say he's destined for stardom.

I would (at the minimum) have him on the bench at the start of the season, in the hope he could get plenty of 20-25 minute run-outs. If he's tough enough, and sensible in his off-pitch life, I think he'll be a regular in 2016-17 (if we hang on to him) and, indeed may have made it before the end of this season.

In particular, in the You-Tube shots, I lost count of the times he won 40/60 balls that looked EASILY the opposition's.

He's special.

I think I'm with Ian Royal. I've seen a lot of players that burst onto the scene, have confidence and a raw edge that gives them something else. Players will have read up about him next time, where he repeated the same thing over and over it would work against opposition that haven't done their research but once he comes up about that we'll have to see if he's intelligent enough to adapt his game, whilst retaining that edge and directness we will probably coach out of him. He looked strong and in no way out of depth at that level but don't read too much on that one game. With the u21s he was probably out most frustrating player.

Also, winning 40/60 when the others heads are down and only 30% in it isn't the same as a normal battle.

[Hoop Blah]

He's special.

I do hope you're right Snowball but I have to agree that you're getting a little carried away.

He looks a decent prospect, obviously, but if he was that much of a gem with the potential to be something special then I'd hazard a guess that we'd have seen a bit more of him in and around the first team and that perhaps England or Ghana might've had him playing in their age group sides at some point (I'm pretty sure they haven't but open to be corrected on that).

He can bring that bit of flair and trickery to a side though, and god knows we missed that kind of player last season, so hopefully he'll get a good chance this season and we'll see plenty of him beating fullbacks and laying on chance after chance for Sa & Co.

[Sutekh]

McShane should be confirmed today or tomorrow, just need that 2nd striker and keeper now (can't help also thinking a left back might also be useful).