2022 V AK squad

[Andy_W]

I was disappointed with downing at the time. But when I watched the highlights of the promotion season I realised I'd been too harsh.

I thought he was very good, but not where he was, he was an England international when we last had him.

Most of the problems he had the second time around were the crap passes being dished to him, it was the best example of great control all season that I've probably seen. He'd lost his pace though, and with that he lost his crossing opportunities (although to be fair, he never had a great deal to aim at and Karanka wasn't known for throwing caution to the wind with bodies in the box).

 

[ForssAwakens]

I think we would have got playoffs if Wilder was here all year, but we were missing a striker and a left-sided creative player. The creative thing is sorted, hopefully, Muniz does the Striker bit, he was good enough to back up Mitrovic last year and even if the other strikers do similar to last years we'll get loads more goals as we'll create loads more chances.

I think we'll walk into the playoffs this year, could even sneak top two, depends how the other teams go.


Tav's better than both individually (he should, he's a premier league player now) but the pair of them offer more cover, plus we're £12m up (which we hopefully spend).

He might well have done, but I’ll reiterate, he would have overachieved. If wilder was manager at the same time as when karanka was, he would have romped the league

 

[Andy_W]

He might well have done, but I’ll reiterate, he would have overachieved. If wilder was manager at the same time as when karanka was, he would have romped the league

I don't think he would have, I think Karanka was well suited to that squad, it's better to have a bricklayer to build you a wall, rather than an electrician etc.

Pulis was more suited to our lump ball team/ recovery job and suppose Warnock tried to play football a bit more, Wilder was an upgrade on this though, with a bit more modern approach. So Wilder would have been more suited to last year's squad (than Karanka), but much, much more suited to this year's squad, as every player is comfortable on the ball.

A lot of people seem to be forming opinions of this year, based on 5 games, only two of those at home, and both of those against expected top 4 sides. We've not had one "easy" game yet, yet we've had far better chances in most of them, without the main striker and with two brand new lads. We've also had 3 very dodgy decisions, and clearly been unlucky with the long-range strikes. It will take time for us to have some easy games, and for luck/ decisions to balance themselves out, but halfway through they should be balanced enough and by the end of the year we should get what we deserve.

 

[Jonny_Rondos_Disco_pants]

We need players do take one for the team like Clayton did. We are too soft. Howson isn’t the defensive hatchet man we need.

 

[Andy_W]

We need players do take one for the team like Clayton did. We are too soft. Howson isn’t the defensive hatchet man we need.

I don't disagree with this, but finding one who can play football/ be composed on the ball/ pass well is not easy, probably one of the hardest things to find.

No point winning the ball 5 times a game, if you're going to give it away 10 times a game, and not see key passes or slow-up play etc, as you would lose more than you gain. It's a critical position to link in an out of with passing, as it's often between the lines, and is also the man in the middle for switching it left/ right.

It's a critical position though, and we need a long-term solution to that, so I expect it's something we're looking for. Clayton wouldn't be good enough on the ball for the role we need though, but I wouldn't expect him to either as he was very cheap. We would probably have to spend a lot of money to get what we want.

A lot of the team could do with being stronger, but you often find that players with more ability are generally weaker, especially in the Championship. Same with the better footballing sides, they're usually not a load of hard cases running around putting in rough tackles.