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+++Conor McGrandles (2024 edit - Rejoins Lincoln page 23)+++
Comments
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Here’s what Holden said in January - he didn’t rule out him coming back next season.Cafc43v3r said:
The Albie Morgan that totally bossed the midfield against Plymouth? 😉Braziliance said:Albie Morgan would not have gone on loan to Cambridge and been as influential as him, can't imagine either of them bossing the midfield against Peterborough.
If McGrandles is here next season, imo, depends on why he went out on loan. Holden not rate him, a bit of a dick head, had to reduce the wage budget, really wanted Kilkenny to have a good look for next season, it could be any number, or combination of reasons.
It doesn't matter if we have, or haven't, written him off prematurely. Holden knows why he went out on loan amd I suspect that will influence what happens in the summer.Manager Dean Holden said: “It’s a good loan for Conor who, through no fault of his own, has had some freak injuries this season. He's had to come back from them and he's had limited game time. He’s told me that when he's played he’s not performed at the level he would like to.
"This move allows him to get game time and hopefully by the end of the season he will have 15-20 League One games under his belt. We'll keep tabs on him and we'll reassess things in the summer."
https://www.charltonafc.com/news/conor-mcgrandles-joins-cambridge-loan
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With the benefit of hindsight, it looks a slightly odd decision to loan out McGrandles after half a season, and to bring in a young loan player as his squad replacement. Even at the time it seemed a bit surprising, as with JFC also departing and 433 being our favoured system, we weren't that stocked with central midfielders.0
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Assume you're joking?Cafc43v3r said:
The Albie Morgan that totally bossed the midfield against Plymouth? 😉Braziliance said:Albie Morgan would not have gone on loan to Cambridge and been as influential as him, can't imagine either of them bossing the midfield against Peterborough.
If McGrandles is here next season, imo, depends on why he went out on loan. Holden not rate him, a bit of a dick head, had to reduce the wage budget, really wanted Kilkenny to have a good look for next season, it could be any number, or combination of reasons.
It doesn't matter if we have, or haven't, written him off prematurely. Holden knows why he went out on loan amd I suspect that will influence what happens in the summer.
Albie didn't play at their place, I'm not fussed about the fake cup game and don't remember if he played either way, and there is no such thing as bossing it Vs a team that's a man down..
Apologies if that's gone over my head0 -
Saved money I assume.killerandflash said:With the benefit of hindsight, it looks a slightly odd decision to loan out McGrandles after half a season, and to bring in a young loan player as his squad replacement. Even at the time it seemed a bit surprising, as with JFC also departing and 433 being our favoured system, we weren't that stocked with central midfielders.2 -
That and Holden rated Kilkenny.North Lower Neil said:
Saved money I assume.killerandflash said:With the benefit of hindsight, it looks a slightly odd decision to loan out McGrandles after half a season, and to bring in a young loan player as his squad replacement. Even at the time it seemed a bit surprising, as with JFC also departing and 433 being our favoured system, we weren't that stocked with central midfielders.0 -
Manager Dean Holden said: “He’s told me that when he's played he’s not performed at the level he would like to."
Good that Conor saw it similar to me , he was poor for us in the limited time he played due to injuries and whatever but he knows he can do better .
Hopefully he can turn in to the player I'd hoped he'd be but that's a promotion winning one for me , no ifs no buts or we can stick him with the rest of the 'will be a good squad player' pot0 -
A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.
Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough.
If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issues0 -
It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6thsam3110 said:A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.
Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough.
If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issues0 -
McGrandles, is probably the only one of the first team loanee's out that I would have back, but we probably need to keep him away from our medical team, who have a reputation up there with Josef Mengele.8
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Happy to have him back and give him a chance after a proper pre-season. He was excellent for Lincoln, poor for us and excellent for Cambridge.He was never fit with us. Came in injured and then got injured twice more. The Cambridge loan has clearly got him back up to speed. My gut feeling is a fit and firing McGrandles is a better bet than Morgan, Payne, Henry or Clare.Cliche I know, but he really will be like a new signing if it works out upon his return.15
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He used to be shite but now he’s alright. Walking in a Macker’s wonderland.2
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I honestly can’t believe Charlton fans have watched a few years of Morgan and yet want more of the same. He has over 100 appearances in four years. He isn’t suddenly going to get better.NabySarr said:
It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6thsam3110 said:A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.
Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough.
If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issuesI really didn’t rate McGrandles in his short spell with us, but in fairness to him he seems to have achieved more in a poor Cambridge team than Albie did in a (relatively) better Charlton team over the intervening period.9 -
With the fear of repeating myself over multiple threads.se9addick said:
I honestly can’t believe Charlton fans have watched a few years of Morgan and yet want more of the same. He has over 100 appearances in four years. He isn’t suddenly going to get better.NabySarr said:
It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6thsam3110 said:A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.
Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough.
If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issuesI really didn’t rate McGrandles in his short spell with us, but in fairness to him he seems to have achieved more in a poor Cambridge team than Albie did in a (relatively) better Charlton team over the intervening period.
Albie, and Connor in some repects in the past, are proved to be good enough as first choice for a top half team. Evidence? The league table.
Does that mean they are good enough to be first choice in a promotion chasing team? No of course it doesn't.
Would Plymouth reserves have finished 10th? I highly doubt it. MK Dons lost 4 or 5 five of their best players and went from 3rd to relegation.
There are plenty of players on our books no where near our first 11 that need "jogging on" to make room for better players. Our current first team, by and large, would all make great over/back ups/squad players. The problem is they play ever week because the alternatives are worse.
I get that people want change but there is enough scope to get enough change without necessarily throwing the baby out with the bath water.
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But McGrandles has been a first choice player in a promotion chasing team (actually three teams but we won’t count Falkirk or MK Dons as they were not league one) when he played 39 games for a Lincoln side who finished 5th with 77 points.Cafc43v3r said:
With the fear of repeating myself over multiple threads.se9addick said:
I honestly can’t believe Charlton fans have watched a few years of Morgan and yet want more of the same. He has over 100 appearances in four years. He isn’t suddenly going to get better.NabySarr said:
It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6thsam3110 said:A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.
Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough.
If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issuesI really didn’t rate McGrandles in his short spell with us, but in fairness to him he seems to have achieved more in a poor Cambridge team than Albie did in a (relatively) better Charlton team over the intervening period.
Albie, and Connor in some repects in the past, are proved to be good enough as first choice for a top half team. Evidence? The league table.
Does that mean they are good enough to be first choice in a promotion chasing team? No of course it doesn't.
Would Plymouth reserves have finished 10th? I highly doubt it. MK Dons lost 4 or 5 five of their best players and went from 3rd to relegation.
There are plenty of players on our books no where near our first 11 that need "jogging on" to make room for better players. Our current first team, by and large, would all make great over/back ups/squad players. The problem is they play ever week because the alternatives are worse.
I get that people want change but there is enough scope to get enough change without necessarily throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Does that mean he will be again, I don’t know - football is not that simple, and lots of external as well as internal factors will affect performances.But at the risk of repeating myself there’s clearly some semblance of quality there. I don’t think Bonner was joking when he called him a ‘top, top player at this level’.0 -
Albie played in a team that finished in a team that finished in the top half, but he certainly wasn’t the reason (or even a reason) the team finished in the top half.Cafc43v3r said:
With the fear of repeating myself over multiple threads.se9addick said:
I honestly can’t believe Charlton fans have watched a few years of Morgan and yet want more of the same. He has over 100 appearances in four years. He isn’t suddenly going to get better.NabySarr said:
It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6thsam3110 said:A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.
Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough.
If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issuesI really didn’t rate McGrandles in his short spell with us, but in fairness to him he seems to have achieved more in a poor Cambridge team than Albie did in a (relatively) better Charlton team over the intervening period.
Albie, and Connor in some repects in the past, are proved to be good enough as first choice for a top half team. Evidence? The league table.
Does that mean they are good enough to be first choice in a promotion chasing team? No of course it doesn't.
Would Plymouth reserves have finished 10th? I highly doubt it. MK Dons lost 4 or 5 five of their best players and went from 3rd to relegation.
There are plenty of players on our books no where near our first 11 that need "jogging on" to make room for better players. Our current first team, by and large, would all make great over/back ups/squad players. The problem is they play ever week because the alternatives are worse.
I get that people want change but there is enough scope to get enough change without necessarily throwing the baby out with the bath water.If we released him I don’t believe another team chasing promotion from L1 would snap him up, even as a squad player. That says to me he should be released.4 -
That's right but, most teams looking for promotion don't need bodies. If we are going to play 433 we need 6 center mids.se9addick said:
Albie played in a team that finished in a team that finished in the top half, but he certainly wasn’t the reason (or even a reason) the team finished in the top half.Cafc43v3r said:
With the fear of repeating myself over multiple threads.se9addick said:
I honestly can’t believe Charlton fans have watched a few years of Morgan and yet want more of the same. He has over 100 appearances in four years. He isn’t suddenly going to get better.NabySarr said:
It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6thsam3110 said:A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.
Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough.
If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issuesI really didn’t rate McGrandles in his short spell with us, but in fairness to him he seems to have achieved more in a poor Cambridge team than Albie did in a (relatively) better Charlton team over the intervening period.
Albie, and Connor in some repects in the past, are proved to be good enough as first choice for a top half team. Evidence? The league table.
Does that mean they are good enough to be first choice in a promotion chasing team? No of course it doesn't.
Would Plymouth reserves have finished 10th? I highly doubt it. MK Dons lost 4 or 5 five of their best players and went from 3rd to relegation.
There are plenty of players on our books no where near our first 11 that need "jogging on" to make room for better players. Our current first team, by and large, would all make great over/back ups/squad players. The problem is they play ever week because the alternatives are worse.
I get that people want change but there is enough scope to get enough change without necessarily throwing the baby out with the bath water.If we released him I don’t believe another team chasing promotion from L1 would snap him up, even as a squad player. That says to me he should be released.
We need two that are better than what we have got, Dobson and Fraser then 2 more. Morgan would fit quite comfortably in the two more.
If we don't get the first two, it doesn't matter if we release Morgan or not, but I would like to know what type of player we should be recruiting to fit that gap?0 -
Easy, one that’s better than Albie Morgan!Cafc43v3r said:
That's right but, most teams looking for promotion don't need bodies. If we are going to play 433 we need 6 center mids.se9addick said:
Albie played in a team that finished in a team that finished in the top half, but he certainly wasn’t the reason (or even a reason) the team finished in the top half.Cafc43v3r said:
With the fear of repeating myself over multiple threads.se9addick said:
I honestly can’t believe Charlton fans have watched a few years of Morgan and yet want more of the same. He has over 100 appearances in four years. He isn’t suddenly going to get better.NabySarr said:
It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6thsam3110 said:A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.
Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough.
If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issuesI really didn’t rate McGrandles in his short spell with us, but in fairness to him he seems to have achieved more in a poor Cambridge team than Albie did in a (relatively) better Charlton team over the intervening period.
Albie, and Connor in some repects in the past, are proved to be good enough as first choice for a top half team. Evidence? The league table.
Does that mean they are good enough to be first choice in a promotion chasing team? No of course it doesn't.
Would Plymouth reserves have finished 10th? I highly doubt it. MK Dons lost 4 or 5 five of their best players and went from 3rd to relegation.
There are plenty of players on our books no where near our first 11 that need "jogging on" to make room for better players. Our current first team, by and large, would all make great over/back ups/squad players. The problem is they play ever week because the alternatives are worse.
I get that people want change but there is enough scope to get enough change without necessarily throwing the baby out with the bath water.If we released him I don’t believe another team chasing promotion from L1 would snap him up, even as a squad player. That says to me he should be released.
We need two that are better than what we have got, Dobson and Fraser then 2 more. Morgan would fit quite comfortably in the two more.
If we don't get the first two, it doesn't matter if we release Morgan or not, but I would like to know what type of player we should be recruiting to fit that gap?
I think McGrandles could be in your “two more” bucket, I know Morgan shouldn’t.0 -
How do we sign someone to be 5th or 6th choice who’s significantly better than Morgan to make it worthwhile yet no more expensive?se9addick said:
Easy, one that’s better than Albie Morgan!Cafc43v3r said:
That's right but, most teams looking for promotion don't need bodies. If we are going to play 433 we need 6 center mids.se9addick said:
Albie played in a team that finished in a team that finished in the top half, but he certainly wasn’t the reason (or even a reason) the team finished in the top half.Cafc43v3r said:
With the fear of repeating myself over multiple threads.se9addick said:
I honestly can’t believe Charlton fans have watched a few years of Morgan and yet want more of the same. He has over 100 appearances in four years. He isn’t suddenly going to get better.NabySarr said:
It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6thsam3110 said:A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.
Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough.
If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issuesI really didn’t rate McGrandles in his short spell with us, but in fairness to him he seems to have achieved more in a poor Cambridge team than Albie did in a (relatively) better Charlton team over the intervening period.
Albie, and Connor in some repects in the past, are proved to be good enough as first choice for a top half team. Evidence? The league table.
Does that mean they are good enough to be first choice in a promotion chasing team? No of course it doesn't.
Would Plymouth reserves have finished 10th? I highly doubt it. MK Dons lost 4 or 5 five of their best players and went from 3rd to relegation.
There are plenty of players on our books no where near our first 11 that need "jogging on" to make room for better players. Our current first team, by and large, would all make great over/back ups/squad players. The problem is they play ever week because the alternatives are worse.
I get that people want change but there is enough scope to get enough change without necessarily throwing the baby out with the bath water.If we released him I don’t believe another team chasing promotion from L1 would snap him up, even as a squad player. That says to me he should be released.
We need two that are better than what we have got, Dobson and Fraser then 2 more. Morgan would fit quite comfortably in the two more.
If we don't get the first two, it doesn't matter if we release Morgan or not, but I would like to know what type of player we should be recruiting to fit that gap?
I think McGrandles could be in your “two more” bucket, I know Morgan shouldn’t.
Correct me if I’m wrong but Plymouth don’t have 6 top end L1 CMs in their squad. Powell and Bowyer didn’t either.2 -
He is getting better though. This season has been his best season for us and he’s still only 23 so still a lot of room for him to improve over his next contractse9addick said:
I honestly can’t believe Charlton fans have watched a few years of Morgan and yet want more of the same. He has over 100 appearances in four years. He isn’t suddenly going to get better.NabySarr said:
It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6thsam3110 said:A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.
Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough.
If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issuesI really didn’t rate McGrandles in his short spell with us, but in fairness to him he seems to have achieved more in a poor Cambridge team than Albie did in a (relatively) better Charlton team over the intervening period.0 -
These are the midfielders that Powell used.Scoham said:
How do we sign someone to be 5th or 6th choice who’s significantly better than Morgan to make it worthwhile yet no more expensive?se9addick said:
Easy, one that’s better than Albie Morgan!Cafc43v3r said:
That's right but, most teams looking for promotion don't need bodies. If we are going to play 433 we need 6 center mids.se9addick said:
Albie played in a team that finished in a team that finished in the top half, but he certainly wasn’t the reason (or even a reason) the team finished in the top half.Cafc43v3r said:
With the fear of repeating myself over multiple threads.se9addick said:
I honestly can’t believe Charlton fans have watched a few years of Morgan and yet want more of the same. He has over 100 appearances in four years. He isn’t suddenly going to get better.NabySarr said:
It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6thsam3110 said:A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.
Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough.
If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issuesI really didn’t rate McGrandles in his short spell with us, but in fairness to him he seems to have achieved more in a poor Cambridge team than Albie did in a (relatively) better Charlton team over the intervening period.
Albie, and Connor in some repects in the past, are proved to be good enough as first choice for a top half team. Evidence? The league table.
Does that mean they are good enough to be first choice in a promotion chasing team? No of course it doesn't.
Would Plymouth reserves have finished 10th? I highly doubt it. MK Dons lost 4 or 5 five of their best players and went from 3rd to relegation.
There are plenty of players on our books no where near our first 11 that need "jogging on" to make room for better players. Our current first team, by and large, would all make great over/back ups/squad players. The problem is they play ever week because the alternatives are worse.
I get that people want change but there is enough scope to get enough change without necessarily throwing the baby out with the bath water.If we released him I don’t believe another team chasing promotion from L1 would snap him up, even as a squad player. That says to me he should be released.
We need two that are better than what we have got, Dobson and Fraser then 2 more. Morgan would fit quite comfortably in the two more.
If we don't get the first two, it doesn't matter if we release Morgan or not, but I would like to know what type of player we should be recruiting to fit that gap?
I think McGrandles could be in your “two more” bucket, I know Morgan shouldn’t.
Correct me if I’m wrong but Plymouth don’t have 6 top end L1 CMs in their squad. Powell and Bowyer didn’t either.4 MF England ENG Johnnie Jackson7 MF England ENG Danny Green8 MF England ENG Dale Stephens
11 MF England ENG Scott Wagstaff18 MF Zimbabwe ZIM Bradley Pritchard21 MF Spain ESP Ruben Bover22 MF England ENG Danny Hollands23 MF Spain ESP Mikel Alonso25 MF England ENG Lee Cook37 MF England ENG Darel Russell
If you take out Green, Wagstaff and Cook as they would be "wingers" now. The 4 in bold would probably be the level we need in the 2+Dobson and Fraser spots. Pritchard only played towards the end of the season.
I am sure Albie could contribute more than the combined efforts of Bover and Alonso.0 - Sponsored links:
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That list of midfielders in the 101-point season is hammering home one thing above all: how much harder League One is now ffs8
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I always felt the midfield was the weakest part of that team (but still very good with plenty of goals in it). I agree the standards have definitely increased since then.Leuth said:That list of midfielders in the 101-point season is hammering home one thing above all: how much harder League One is now ffs
We also used Andy Hughes in midfield but again he was closer to L1 standard than truly being Championship quality.1 -
We were very lucky with injuries that season (although not buying injury prone players etc does tend to help!).Cafc43v3r said:
It also dispells the narrative that Powell had 25 league 1 superstars.Leuth said:That list of midfielders in the 101-point season is hammering home one thing above all: how much harder League One is now ffs
I remember Stephens missing a few games that Hughes stepped in for, but not many other players missing much.
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We signed Danny Haynes, how injury prone do you want!North Lower Neil said:
We were very lucky with injuries that season (although not buying injury prone players etc does tend to help!).Cafc43v3r said:
It also dispells the narrative that Powell had 25 league 1 superstars.Leuth said:That list of midfielders in the 101-point season is hammering home one thing above all: how much harder League One is now ffs
I remember Stephens missing a few games that Hughes stepped in for, but not many other players missing much.
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He came in the following seasonCafc43v3r said:
We signed Danny Haynes, how injury prone do you want!North Lower Neil said:
We were very lucky with injuries that season (although not buying injury prone players etc does tend to help!).Cafc43v3r said:
It also dispells the narrative that Powell had 25 league 1 superstars.Leuth said:That list of midfielders in the 101-point season is hammering home one thing above all: how much harder League One is now ffs
I remember Stephens missing a few games that Hughes stepped in for, but not many other players missing much.0 -
ForeverAddickted said:
He came in the following seasonCafc43v3r said:
We signed Danny Haynes, how injury prone do you want!North Lower Neil said:
We were very lucky with injuries that season (although not buying injury prone players etc does tend to help!).Cafc43v3r said:
It also dispells the narrative that Powell had 25 league 1 superstars.Leuth said:That list of midfielders in the 101-point season is hammering home one thing above all: how much harder League One is now ffs
I remember Stephens missing a few games that Hughes stepped in for, but not many other players missing much.
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Plymouth have something to say about that... Cant see there being many names in that squad that we'd be overly impressed with, had we signed them last summer - Organisation, and Unity in a team (on and off the pitch) is probably just as important, if not more important than having a team of superstars.Leuth said:That list of midfielders in the 101-point season is hammering home one thing above all: how much harder League One is now ffs
I feel its an under-rated reason why we're barely moving forward.
How can we do that, with so much noise as a distraction in the background? - Only a year ago, we had Martin Sandgaard talking to the likes of Washington too much, meaning they basically knew shit before they should have done.4 -
Cafc43v3r said:
These are the midfielders that Powell used.Scoham said:
How do we sign someone to be 5th or 6th choice who’s significantly better than Morgan to make it worthwhile yet no more expensive?se9addick said:
Easy, one that’s better than Albie Morgan!Cafc43v3r said:
That's right but, most teams looking for promotion don't need bodies. If we are going to play 433 we need 6 center mids.se9addick said:
Albie played in a team that finished in a team that finished in the top half, but he certainly wasn’t the reason (or even a reason) the team finished in the top half.Cafc43v3r said:
With the fear of repeating myself over multiple threads.se9addick said:
I honestly can’t believe Charlton fans have watched a few years of Morgan and yet want more of the same. He has over 100 appearances in four years. He isn’t suddenly going to get better.NabySarr said:
It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6thsam3110 said:A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.
Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough.
If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issuesI really didn’t rate McGrandles in his short spell with us, but in fairness to him he seems to have achieved more in a poor Cambridge team than Albie did in a (relatively) better Charlton team over the intervening period.
Albie, and Connor in some repects in the past, are proved to be good enough as first choice for a top half team. Evidence? The league table.
Does that mean they are good enough to be first choice in a promotion chasing team? No of course it doesn't.
Would Plymouth reserves have finished 10th? I highly doubt it. MK Dons lost 4 or 5 five of their best players and went from 3rd to relegation.
There are plenty of players on our books no where near our first 11 that need "jogging on" to make room for better players. Our current first team, by and large, would all make great over/back ups/squad players. The problem is they play ever week because the alternatives are worse.
I get that people want change but there is enough scope to get enough change without necessarily throwing the baby out with the bath water.If we released him I don’t believe another team chasing promotion from L1 would snap him up, even as a squad player. That says to me he should be released.
We need two that are better than what we have got, Dobson and Fraser then 2 more. Morgan would fit quite comfortably in the two more.
If we don't get the first two, it doesn't matter if we release Morgan or not, but I would like to know what type of player we should be recruiting to fit that gap?
I think McGrandles could be in your “two more” bucket, I know Morgan shouldn’t.
Correct me if I’m wrong but Plymouth don’t have 6 top end L1 CMs in their squad. Powell and Bowyer didn’t either.4 MF England ENG Johnnie Jackson7 MF England ENG Danny Green8 MF England ENG Dale Stephens
11 MF England ENG Scott Wagstaff18 MF Zimbabwe ZIM Bradley Pritchard21 MF Spain ESP Ruben Bover22 MF England ENG Danny Hollands23 MF Spain ESP Mikel Alonso25 MF England ENG Lee Cook37 MF England ENG Darel Russell
If you take out Green, Wagstaff and Cook as they would be "wingers" now. The 4 in bold would probably be the level we need in the 2+Dobson and Fraser spots. Pritchard only played towards the end of the season.
I am sure Albie could contribute more than the combined efforts of Bover and Alonso.Missing Andy Hughes from that list, probably listed as a defender on Wikipedia. We were lucky that season that we didn't have too many injuries but the big difference-maker was that short-term loans were still allowed. Hollands and Stephens were a good pairing and Hughes covered until we could get Russell in on loan. We also managed to get Ephraim (also not on the list), Cook and N'Guessan in on the left of midfield to cover Jackson's niggles at various points. I think Euell came on in midfield a few times as well. Squad building was so much easier back then. You built a team for the bulk of the season but you didn't need to plan for every eventuality; we sacrificed some depth in order to get in the players we really wanted. We only really had two first team centre mids than Powell would trust with a long run in the team and we had no squad cover for Jackson at all, we just dipped into the short-term market whenever he wasn't available.Now with that market gone you need to be able to point to 22 players that you will have available from the second the window closes and that affects the level of player you can get at the top end when you have to spread the money out to cover a full squad. You could argue it leads to more opportunities for youth players but imagine how different 20/21 might have been if we'd been able to bring in a centre back as cover when Inniss, Famewo, Oshilaja and Pearce were all out instead of having the Gunter/Pratley axis, or what we might have been able to do at full back to spare Richard Chin the struggles he had this season when Sessegnon was injured.It's such a shame they killed emergency loans. It was great for clubs on a budget and it gave game time to players who were good enough to play but not getting minutes at their current clubs. I truly believe that Rob Hulse coming in when he did with Fuller and Yann variously out saved our season in 12/13. He wasn't a brilliant player but he did his job and those 4 wins in 5 games he was a part of lifted the gloom massively at the time. I think if we hadn't had that turn starting with Cardiff it would have been curtains for Powell and our survival that year.5 -
So if we want 6 midfielders for next season then unless i've read your post wrong you're happy for 5 of them to be:NabySarr said:
It’s probably between Morgan and McGrandles for the 3rd spot. I would go with Morgan as he’s younger but happy to see McGrandles be given another chance. Think 5 options is probably fine with Henry as the 6thsam3110 said:A midfield 6 is needed, if we're to stick with playing 433.
Dobson, Fraser, McGrandles and 3 new, better than the aforementioned will be good enough.
If 2 of the other 3 are Morgan and Payne, we'll have issues
Dobson, Fraser, Morgan, McGrandles and Henry.
Fuck me, unless the 6th midfielder is De Bruyne we'll have serious issues next season.11
