DotsandCrosses

I did a bit of analysis on tonight's game here, but long story short: A three man defence was an interesting experiment that worked out... ish. Playing three centre-backs against one striker just meant we didn't have enough players in attack. It's nice to know we can successfully play it though. Ashley Westwood is an excellent player, and our most vital midfielder. We still need Ireland to balance the midfield, though. Agbonlahor can't be trusted to defend his full-back. Guzan is a tank, and we're lucky he didn't leave.

Good shout. He played well against us from behind the striker last season.

Gabby is a beast. Evidently been practising his long-range shooting, too.

As ever, match report up here. Dull game, but happy with the point. Given was good though, eh?

Saw a draw a mile off with two good defences and two excellent keepers. Good points and bad points, but the result is a decent one considering we were away against a solid team.

Oh Shay great save!

Well, I think we're doing well anyway. Formation is interesting at the very least.

Gareth Barrth? I'd never heard of him! We let someone with that kind of promise go? **** O'Neill!

Slightly unrelated, but N'Zogbia is retweeting messages from Wigan fans thanking him for his time there and wishing him good luck at Villa. I guess he assumes it's as good as done too...

First of all over the moon that seemingly we have got N'Zogbia However, i still think we are way short of the quality needed to compete in the top half this season. We need to strengthen the spine of the team further by signing at least one new centreback and a quality defensive midfielder along with another striker. At some time or another Bent will need to be rested and i have no faith whatsoever that Gabby will score the goals needed, or indeed any of our younger strikers coming through. What if Bent picks up a long term injury? I'd like us to sign Dann, Parker, Johnson and Sturridge (Loan) if Sturridge doesn't go to Spuds and another FB. Given Young Dann Clarke/Dunne Enrique N'Zogbia Parker Delph Johnson Bent Sturridge To me that would be the team to have us competing in the top six again. It would require the money left over from the sales of Young and Downing plus Randy dipping into his pocket but i believe those players are gettable if we show a little more ambition in the transfer market. Me too. I think we need to have faith in Gabby/the Fonz/Weimann. MON didn't have faith in our youngsters, and we wasted a lot of our young talent that way. MacDonald puts faith in Albrighton, Clark and Bannan, and they're developing into brilliant young talents. Dann and Parker would be excellent signings, and Johnson too so long as he improves his final ball and is happy rotating. Sturridge probably wouldn't be happy behind Bent, and I think Darren works best as a lone striker. Enrique would be a brilliant signing. We'll see how it pans out. Frankly, if we get N'Zogbia, we have the bare bones needed in order to compete at the top half of the table. Any other signings would be an extra bonus.

I did a little bit on how we might play next season here: clicky tl;dr: Given Young - Collins - Dunne - Warnock Petrov - Makoun Albrighton - Ireland - N'Zogbia Bent Pretty bog-standard stuff, but people like the Fonz, Gabby, Clark, Baker, Gardner and other youngsters like Dan Johnson can be swapped in right to their favoured position.

Lichaj did pretty well for the US in the Gold Cup as well, to be fair. Something like three of their goals throughout the tournament originated from Lichaj's right-back zone. Also looked comfortable on the left, so he's excellent backup at very least. One heck of a throw on him too...

Yes, and from what I saw the less said about that experiment the better. :winkold: What formation and style did they play? 4-3-3, usually, with Rodriguez up top, and not too fluid a front three. So a bit unfair on the Fonzmeister really, he was shunted out onto the wing and couldn't come inside too much to offer a proper goal threat.

Yes, and from what I saw the less said about that experiment the better. :winkold:

Me too I comfort myself with the facts that: 1. I assume our medical staff (maybe this will be the newly acquired Dr McGuiness) will be satisfied that Shay's shoulder is now sorted. 2. As such we will get three to four years out of a very good keeper. 3. He will be retiring just as Siegrist will be 22-23 and ready to take over first team duties (at least until Citeh take an interest in him!) How good is Siegrist, alot of people really rate him on here. If he is that good it means Given's age is ok as he is just a stop gap until Siegrist From what I gather, really good. Won the golden gloves at the U-17s World Cup (IIRC) and Switzerland are apparently thinking of giving him a senior call-up soon.