As Benjy so aptly put it in his article, we had arguably the best collection of 'squad players' in the league, with no real standouts, and that's been one of our biggest fallbacks as a team. Shinnie is another one people saying we could've kept as a squad player, but that's just feeding the problem into next year.
He definitely has the kind of footballing ability we need. He's a possession player and calm on the ball. But that's all he has. And he's 32 in what I presume is already one of the oldest squads in English football. We need to rebuild this team inside and out and it doesn't start by giving the likes of Shinnie another year, just because he's alright.
Even forgetting the football for a moment. If we're going to be sustainable as a club and maybe even make some money to buy even better players, we need to be investing in up-and-coming twenty-somethings who we can sell on for a higher fee. Not filling our squad with players like Shinnie who have no resale value and no prospects.
I don't know if it's a pick between two players in similar positions. Personally none of the below are really good enough but if it is about choosing between two players then so far Adkins has got both of them wrong imo.
Pratley or Watson - Maybe its all to do with that year extension but i would of kept Pratley over Watson.
Shinnie or Gilbey - Gilbey has got better but still not up to Shinnies level, so i would of kept Shins but Adkins loves Gilbey so he would of always have won this battle.
Funny how he says he wanted the FK he scored and Bogle had had a few in previous games where he hit the wall... which he preceeded to do on the next FK in a good position.
Would love to know what was going through Shinnie's head when Bogle did that
Do like how he was referring to Omar as the big man though
People making Shinnie out to be the new Dale Stephens, jeez. He's a good squad player, but Gilbey offers more to me, and suits the high energy way that Adkins teams play
I don't know if it's a pick between two players in similar positions. Personally none of the below are really good enough but if it is about choosing between two players then so far Adkins has got both of them wrong imo.
Pratley or Watson - Maybe its all to do with that year extension but i would of kept Pratley over Watson.
Shinnie or Gilbey - Gilbey has got better but still not up to Shinnies level, so i would of kept Shins but Adkins loves Gilbey so he would of always have won this battle.
Gilbey has different skills to Shinnie, he's far more athletic and can burst into the box. Shinnie sits deeper.
People making Shinnie out to be the new Dale Stephens, jeez. He's a good squad player, but Gilbey offers more to me, and suits the high energy way that Adkins teams play
I don't rate Shins that highly but to be fair Stephens really took me by surprise with his career after he left us. Couldn't see him playing in the top division. over 100 game there so far. shows what i know.
Imo you’ve got to have a balanced midfield that’s why I would have loved to see the four in midfield as Shinnie just behind stockley and Aneke or Washington jf-c in a semi holding behind Shinnie and morgan and gilbey with their superb engines running the flanks.that way you have the best of everything. Shinnie to put his foot on the ball to dictate play and opening up defences with his defence splitting passes. Jf-c playing behind him in a semi holding role someone who can win the ball and spray passes around the pitch then Morgan and gilbey running the flanks both could run all day albie strikes a lovely ball and gilbey makes some lovely late runs in to the box, and I feel given a longer run in side is capable of scoring 10 plus goals in a season. I just wonder why Adkins and staff didn’t give this option a go
Imo you’ve got to have a balanced midfield that’s why I would have loved to see the four in midfield as Shinnie just behind stockley and Aneke or Washington jf-c in a semi holding behind Shinnie and morgan and gilbey with their superb engines running the flanks.that way you have the best of everything. Shinnie to put his foot on the ball to dictate play and opening up defences with his defence splitting passes. Jf-c playing behind him in a semi holding role someone who can win the ball and spray passes around the pitch then Morgan and gilbey running the flanks both could run all day albie strikes a lovely ball and gilbey makes some lovely late runs in to the box, and I feel given a longer run in side is capable of scoring 10 plus goals in a season. I just wonder why Adkins and staff didn’t give this option a go
I don’t think a midfield consisting of only cms is balanced.
Good luck shins in your next move, you was a class act mate, for some reason I don’t understand with this modern day football is energy levels take preference over skill ???
Good luck shins in your next move, you was a class act mate, for some reason I don’t understand with this modern day football is energy levels take preference over skill ???
I think those games at The Valley where the opposition broke away at speed, scoring 2,3,4 goals a game, whilst our players were left for dead, shows the importance of energy and speed in the modern game. Shinnie was one of many who couldn't get up and down the pitch all game, despite being a skilful player.
Worse of course were Pearce, Watson, Pratley, Gunter.
Fair point arny23394 but if you put Watson and pratley in the mix we have 6 cms what I’m trying to get across is that out of them 6 only Morgan and gilbey could realistically play wide as part of the midfield 4.
Fair point as well covered end but you have a choice do you play a destroyer in midfield Watson or pratley who most people said their to slow.but them run of bad results you mention as I’m sure you’ll agree was down to some diabolical defending.our problem this coming season is finding a midfield player with high energy levels, can win the ball and score goals which is a very tall order especially for league 1 so good luck to Adkins and staff on that one.
The bad results were down to a whole host of things including injuries, bad defending, little protection from midfield, the team set up poorly as a unit, attacking gung ho, making so many team changes ...
The bad results were down to a whole host of things including injuries, bad defending, little protection from midfield, the team set up poorly as a unit, attacking gung ho, making so many team changes ...
He is a player I thought got a tough deal from us. For me he was one of our better players last season and then seemed to get ignored. It is all about opinions.
He is a player I thought got a tough deal from us. For me he was one of our better players last season and then seemed to get ignored. It is all about opinions.
He is a player I thought got a tough deal from us. For me he was one of our better players last season and then seemed to get ignored. It is all about opinions.
Yeah I really rated him. Seemed he didn't fit into the way Adkins wants to play, which is a shame as he is a real nice player.
So the first team squad gets thinner with the season less than 3 weeks away. It would seem the owner has realized he cannot afford to spend big on the squad and keep losses down. so will we be looking at a load of loan players from youth squads and crocks let go by other clubs.
So the first team squad gets thinner with the season less than 3 weeks away. It would seem the owner has realized he cannot afford to spend big on the squad and keep losses down. so will we be looking at a load of loan players from youth squads and crocks let go by other clubs.
So the first team squad gets thinner with the season less than 3 weeks away. It would seem the owner has realized he cannot afford to spend big on the squad and keep losses down. so will we be looking at a load of loan players from youth squads and crocks let go by other clubs.
FYI - We released Shinnie back in May
It's funny isn't it, talk of the squad getting thinner. I actually can't look at any player under contract with us currently that I can imagine being sold before the end of the window for a fee. We don't need the money from player sales, and there's no name there that I see being a player that another club would want to pay money to prise him away from us.
We've always had a Doughty, an Aribo, a Holmes etc etc but this season I don't look at the squad right now and go "hope someone doesn't put in a bid for ******"
Shinnie will always be, to me, the poster boy for everything that was wrong with our squad last season.
Really nice tidy player but where to you play him? More importantly who do you play him with and in what system?
Despite having what felt like dozens of midfielders over the season it was impossible to ever perm the right 3 or 4 for any period of time because they were all pretty good but all so one dimensional.
He is a player I thought got a tough deal from us. For me he was one of our better players last season and then seemed to get ignored. It is all about opinions.
So the first team squad gets thinner with the season less than 3 weeks away. It would seem the owner has realized he cannot afford to spend big on the squad and keep losses down. so will we be looking at a load of loan players from youth squads and crocks let go by other clubs.
FYI - We released Shinnie back in May
It's funny isn't it, talk of the squad getting thinner. I actually can't look at any player under contract with us currently that I can imagine being sold before the end of the window for a fee. We don't need the money from player sales, and there's no name there that I see being a player that another club would want to pay money to prise him away from us.
We've always had a Doughty, an Aribo, a Holmes etc etc but this season I don't look at the squad right now and go "hope someone doesn't put in a bid for ******"
Stockley would be one seeing as we paid a fee for him and Portsmouth were willing to also. DJ possibly another, but you do make a good point.
Comments
Good luck Shinniesta
He definitely has the kind of footballing ability we need. He's a possession player and calm on the ball. But that's all he has. And he's 32 in what I presume is already one of the oldest squads in English football. We need to rebuild this team inside and out and it doesn't start by giving the likes of Shinnie another year, just because he's alright.
Even forgetting the football for a moment. If we're going to be sustainable as a club and maybe even make some money to buy even better players, we need to be investing in up-and-coming twenty-somethings who we can sell on for a higher fee. Not filling our squad with players like Shinnie who have no resale value and no prospects.
I liked him a lot, but the right decision.
Pratley or Watson - Maybe its all to do with that year extension but i would of kept Pratley over Watson.
Shinnie or Gilbey - Gilbey has got better but still not up to Shinnies level, so i would of kept Shins but Adkins loves Gilbey so he would of always have won this battle.
Shinnie was one of many who couldn't get up and down the pitch all game, despite being a skilful player.
Worse of course were Pearce, Watson, Pratley, Gunter.
We've always had a Doughty, an Aribo, a Holmes etc etc but this season I don't look at the squad right now and go "hope someone doesn't put in a bid for ******"
Really nice tidy player but where to you play him? More importantly who do you play him with and in what system?
Despite having what felt like dozens of midfielders over the season it was impossible to ever perm the right 3 or 4 for any period of time because they were all pretty good but all so one dimensional.