Investment & Philopsphy

[maidstone_hoop]

Realistically we all know we need experienced players in the window but just how many and how much do we need to spend?

Just been listening to Talk Sport this morning and we are being ripped by the presenters. All saying we are still a basket case club and Les doesn't have the credentials to take us forward as a DOF.
They eluded to the fact that we have gone from one extreme to the other with investment and that nobody knows half the players in our first 11 and our front 3 yesterday are something from a scrabble game rather than players who can effect a game in this league.

The club need to seriously pull their finger out in January and spend a few quid on championship ready and proven players. If we don't then we could easily be heading to league 1.

Imo we need 5 players minimum who know this league. Dont all have to be superstars but know what it takes to grind results out. We need a couple of leaders and what I call real men who will put their bodies on the line!!

Apparently Swansea want to buy Caulker and if we can offload Sandro, Ned and one of Polter or Washington then we can raise a decent amount of money that can be reinvested. I think we need to spend 8 - 12 mill to bring our squad in line with other championship teams. Most of that money going on a championship quality striker which are not cheap nowadays!!

The 6 game losing run is shocking and the 3 games against Rotherham, Wolves and Ipswich are the ones that need to be scrutinized imo. I do think as fans we need to take into consideration the last 3 games were against top teams in this league in Brighton who are top, Derby who have won 7 on the bounce and also a resurgent Villa. 3 of the best teams in the league of which against Derby and Villa we held our own and untill Mas's dumb challenge yesterday we were ok against Brighton.

The next two games against Wolves and Ipswich are the ones I will start to really judge Holloway. 4 points minimum will be needed. I also think this philosophy of attacking football which is why he was appointed has hampered us the last few games!!
We just dont have the players to excute this style of football presently and defensively we have now become far more open. If we buy adequately in Jan I think we will be fine and finish mid table.

However if the club don't invest and rely on loans or bargains from league 1 then I think we might end up playing football there next year.

[nasser95]

Realistically we all know we need experienced players in the window but just how many and how much do we need to spend?

Just been listening to Talk Sport this morning and we are being ripped by the presenters. All saying we are still a basket case club and Les doesn't have the credentials to take us forward as a DOF.
They eluded to the fact that we have gone from one extreme to the other with investment and that nobody knows half the players in our first 11 and our front 3 yesterday are something from a scrabble game rather than players who can effect a game in this league.

The club need to seriously pull their finger out in January and spend a few quid on championship ready and proven players. If we don't then we could easily be heading to league 1.

Imo we need 5 players minimum who know this league. Dont all have to be superstars but know what it takes to grind results out. We need a couple of leaders and what I call real men who will put their bodies on the line!!

Apparently Swansea want to buy Caulker and if we can offload Sandro, Ned and one of Polter or Washington then we can raise a decent amount of money that can be reinvested. I think we need to spend 8 - 12 mill to bring our squad in line with other championship teams. Most of that money going on a championship quality striker which are not cheap nowadays!!

The 6 game losing run is shocking and the 3 games against Rotherham, Wolves and Ipswich are the ones that need to be scrutinized imo. I do think as fans we need to take into consideration the last 3 games were against top teams in this league in Brighton who are top, Derby who have won 7 on the bounce and also a resurgent Villa. 3 of the best teams in the league of which against Derby and Villa we held our own and untill Mas's dumb challenge yesterday we were ok against Brighton.

The next two games against Wolves and Ipswich are the ones I will start to really judge Holloway. 4 points minimum will be needed. I also think this philosophy of attacking football which is why he was appointed has hampered us the last few games!!
We just dont have the players to excute this style of football presently and defensively we have now become far more open. If we buy adequately in Jan I think we will be fine and finish mid table.

However if the club don't invest and rely on loans or bargains from league 1 then I think we might end up playing football there next year.

This is why Talksh*te will never be taken seriously. Utter dross on their part and ludicriously.

Also, We currently have Smithies, Lynch, Hall, Bidwell, Perch, Henry and Cousins who are regularly in and around the first team who all have decent experience in this league. 5 Players needed is too much, we probably need 2 outfield players extra (if one of these guys goes then replace them) who know the league. We need a goalscorer and we need a ball player in centre mid in the style of Faurlin who can spread the play and more importantly than all of that, we need full backs with pace. I can't stress enough how important pacy full backs are to any successful team at this level, they're the guys who drag the ball from defence into attack. We need to sell CW for as much as we can, sell caulker if we're not gonna play him, sell sandro at any price possible.

We were doing absolutely fine under JFH because he was aware of the difficulty to bring in a top championship striker when so much of the squad needed galvanising. To be where we were and going where we were headed under JFH was a very impressive feat looking back and right now, if we're going with this attacking style, we have to buy again for different needs.

[corbray]

Very good and well thought out post rather than "F TONY, LES, HOOS AND WARRINGTON BANK QUAY F IT ALL" like most posts atm lmao.

Agree with all of the above though. I can't see us getting relegated come the end of the season but its been a bit of a disaster season already and imo our worst start to the season since john gregory was here and got the sack.

It just feels like we (the fans) are in limbo atm with no idea whats going on at the club and a dof who can't hold his hands up to his mistakes. I am a les supporter but atm my support feels like its on a bit of a tightrope as fair enough we need to transition the squad to survive but i didnt expet it to be a transition into a top 4 league 1 side

[hal9thou]

They eluded to the fact that we have gone from one extreme to the other with investment

They got that bit spot on. Many of us kept saying that boom / bust was suicide, no sane median.

The problems are down to the way the club is run as a business: i.e. dysfunctionally. We are not a sane project, and until someone at LR finally grasps how to run a football club nothing will change. They were also spot on about Les.

[Timmy the Doc]

Just 3 months ago we had a squad with young, hungry and promising players. Now we need 5 experienced players. What about next summer?
10 French-Africans?

[maidstone_hoop]

This is why Talksh*te will never be taken seriously. Utter dross on their part and ludicriously.

Also, We currently have Smithies, Lynch, Hall, Bidwell, Perch, Henry and Cousins who are regularly in and around the first team who all have decent experience in this league. 5 Players needed is too much, we probably need 2 outfield players extra (if one of these guys goes then replace them) who know the league. We need a goalscorer and we need a ball player in centre mid in the style of Faurlin who can spread the play and more importantly than all of that, we need full backs with pace. I can't stress enough how important pacy full backs are to any successful team at this level, they're the guys who drag the ball from defence into attack. We need to sell CW for as much as we can, sell caulker if we're not gonna play him, sell sandro at any price possible.

We were doing absolutely fine under JFH because he was aware of the difficulty to bring in a top championship striker when so much of the squad needed galvanising. To be where we were and going where we were headed under JFH was a very impressive feat looking back and right now, if we're going with this attacking style, we have to buy again for different needs.

I thought they made some very good points tbh and found myself agreeing with them!

- Les is out of his depth and never had the credentials necessarily to warrant DOF
- No ones heard of half our first 11 and the squad is not championship savy
- no leaders on the pitch
- mismanagement of funds

Also the 5 or 6 players you mentioned are all defense minded championship players! Our attacking options lack any real experience of any quality at this level and thats where we are struggling!!

[Hitman34]

Finally, everyone including the media are cranking up the pressure on mighty Les.

Its been a long time coming.

get that bellend out of our club, along with his PE teacher bumchum

[West Acton]

Just 3 months ago we had a squad with young, hungry and promising players. Now we need 5 experienced players. What about next summer?
10 French-Africans?

And a partridge in a pear tree

[topperharley]

Say what i said on another thread as it relates.

I don't think we should be moving on anybody that we can use. Sure if a bid comes in for Sandro maybe it's time. But guys like Caulker could be a great asset going forward, i'd personally have him and Hall start every game as the back two. Sandro only really as he has failed to deliver anything like the form of his Spurs days, he should really be gone by now.

But i think we need to hang on to any quality we have, as we don't have much. We will not be able to use the funds to buy top quality players. Our new 'financial philosophy and our current league form/position, means it's going to be very hard no?

We should loan the #### out of the market, get some guaranteed quality in, at minimal risk, rather than panic buy. Otherwise the cycle of mediocre players continues.

[Martinmalta]

I said this some weeks ago. Its the attacking philosophy that Ollie adopted that has bring this situation. Its not his fault. The fans wanted attacking football; young English players; got rid of the prima donnas we have had......and this is the result. I think the club tried to revert to the good old habits of the club. But again, we repeated the mistakes we did when we won promotion. Then, we tried to bring superstars on huge salaries to put the club among the elite....but we failed miserably. We tried to make this transition in one summer window under MH. Now again we repeated the same mistake, that is, changing nearly all the squad with unproven DIV 1 and foreign players that are still to adapt. It seems that this club cannot learn how to make a transition and build slowly. There's so many examples we should emulate, however, we always do it our way...that is, the wrong way. And the fans do play a part in all this. If we know that the club changed the policy (which by the way, everyone was in favor of doing) then we have to be patient. Personally, JFH was building a good team, however knowing the pressure put on him by the fans, he adopted a more defense minded approach to avoid defeats. How I like to watch the R's gain points right now....even from a draw!