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Following the Harford and then Hart debacle I refused to go and watch Rangers until we sorted ourselves out. As a result Saturday was the first time I had been in a while. Overall I thought it was a steady performance that should have been 3 points. Here are my observations of the Warnock effect.
Much tighter defensively as a team. The wide players and midfield are set up generally deeper and more organised. Faurlin won't push on if Legs has gone and vice versa.
Less dangerous going forward. Downside of above point is that the wide men get the ball in deeper positions, usually about the halfway line, and are then unable to get behind the full backs to get dangerous crosses in. Not so much of a problem if your wide men are fast but neither Ephraim or Tarrabt are. Problem is compounded by Simpson and Priskin being unable to hold the ball up to buy time to get the wide men forward.
Players seem to be far happier under Warnock, I loved the way the whole team celebrated Faurlin's goal, says a lot. All players except Priskin are giving 100% which is a vast improvement on where we were.
Downside for me was that once we scored we slowed the game down and generally sat on the 1-0 lead. This was the wrong way to go, especially at home, lets be honest Wednesday are a very, very poor side and I think had we have maintained the same tempo as opening 30 mins we really could have won 3 or 4 nil. With our defence and keeper 1-0 is never a safe scoreline as it proved. In the end we were lucky to escape with a point as they were all over us at the end.
What needs to be done?
As we have all said all season we need at least 2, maybe 3 new forwards, German is nowhere near ready, Agyemang not good enough and likely to go as is Vine, I also think Simpson, Priskin and Bent will go back. Should look to sign 2 of Simpson, Kitson, Ishmael Miller, Nugent or Jason Roberts.
Defence is not good enough. We totally re-jig and get rid of Stewpeas and Ramage. Hill and Borrowdale to go as well. Need an experienced hard organised leader of a centre half, maybe Chris Morgan if he is not past it, to play alongside Connolly with Gorkss as back up. Hopefully Tosic will be decent at left back and look to sign Ryan Bertrand from Chelsea/Reading or Nataniel Clyne with Legs acting as cover.
Sign Darren Ambrose and play him alongside Faurlin in the middle with Rowlands as back up. Buzz on the right and look to sign a new left winger, maybe Halomsi from Hull.
Finally both keepers not good enough. I would buy Lewis from Peterboro and have Cerny as back up.
All in all I think the spend will be less than 10 million and this side would get us up.
Lewis
Bertrand
Morgan
Connolly
Tosic
Buzz
Ambrose
Faurlin
Halmosi
Kitson
Simpson
Rowlands
Legs
Cook
Miller
Cerny
Much tighter defensively as a team. The wide players and midfield are set up generally deeper and more organised. Faurlin won't push on if Legs has gone and vice versa.
Less dangerous going forward. Downside of above point is that the wide men get the ball in deeper positions, usually about the halfway line, and are then unable to get behind the full backs to get dangerous crosses in. Not so much of a problem if your wide men are fast but neither Ephraim or Tarrabt are. Problem is compounded by Simpson and Priskin being unable to hold the ball up to buy time to get the wide men forward.
Players seem to be far happier under Warnock, I loved the way the whole team celebrated Faurlin's goal, says a lot. All players except Priskin are giving 100% which is a vast improvement on where we were.
Downside for me was that once we scored we slowed the game down and generally sat on the 1-0 lead. This was the wrong way to go, especially at home, lets be honest Wednesday are a very, very poor side and I think had we have maintained the same tempo as opening 30 mins we really could have won 3 or 4 nil. With our defence and keeper 1-0 is never a safe scoreline as it proved. In the end we were lucky to escape with a point as they were all over us at the end.
What needs to be done?
As we have all said all season we need at least 2, maybe 3 new forwards, German is nowhere near ready, Agyemang not good enough and likely to go as is Vine, I also think Simpson, Priskin and Bent will go back. Should look to sign 2 of Simpson, Kitson, Ishmael Miller, Nugent or Jason Roberts.
Defence is not good enough. We totally re-jig and get rid of Stewpeas and Ramage. Hill and Borrowdale to go as well. Need an experienced hard organised leader of a centre half, maybe Chris Morgan if he is not past it, to play alongside Connolly with Gorkss as back up. Hopefully Tosic will be decent at left back and look to sign Ryan Bertrand from Chelsea/Reading or Nataniel Clyne with Legs acting as cover.
Sign Darren Ambrose and play him alongside Faurlin in the middle with Rowlands as back up. Buzz on the right and look to sign a new left winger, maybe Halomsi from Hull.
Finally both keepers not good enough. I would buy Lewis from Peterboro and have Cerny as back up.
All in all I think the spend will be less than 10 million and this side would get us up.
Lewis
Bertrand
Morgan
Connolly
Tosic
Buzz
Ambrose
Faurlin
Halmosi
Kitson
Simpson
Rowlands
Legs
Cook
Miller
Cerny