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He shows glimpses but I'd say when O'Connor came on against Coventry he looked like everything Noble was trying to be.
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Say what? Milsom and O'Connor are crocked; and Noble and Husin continually go missing (particularly in the big games).Originally Posted by DelroyFacey22
There's a reason why we hoof the ball from defence to attack...and that reason is because Nolan does not trust the these players to create chances/retain possession.
Replace 'em all, I say (with the exception of Hewitt).
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I just hope that Nolan is a bit more ruthless than last year
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Every duffer we keep means less budget available to spend on some decent players. The 'may as well keep him as a squad player' argument doesn't cut it for me. If a player doesn't play then he shouldn't be here. It's not like any of them are on minimum wage.
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Milsom is very injury prone, yeah, although he seemed to manage ok last season when he won player of the year. O'Connor had one big injury that he seems to have recovered from and says he's in great shape now, not sure you could describe his as "crocked" and I'd like to see him given a chance next season as we play our best football with him in the team.
I think we get unfairly labelled by the way, we are a very direct team no doubt, but most of that is from set pieces, Collin kicks the ball out of his hands very regularly but that's standard, there are very few teams at this level that pass the ball out short often, Luton did it against us most of the game, using Sheehan as a playmaker almost and Keith Curle does it with Carlisle.
Coventry's keeper was kicking the ball from the edge of his 18 yard box to the edge of our 18 yard box all game and they seem to think they play a slick passing game that anyone in League 2 should consider themselves lucky to be alive to witness. Once the ball from the keeper drops we pass it around, just not very well usually
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You'd be surprised... Some of them earn less a month than someone on minimum wage but obviously "work" for a lot less time in the month. Alan Smith was on the minimum pro contract you can offer and Hollis was only on slightly more when he was here.
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He doesn’t have that much room for maneuver. Hardy originally said the squad should be around 20 first team pros. If he sticks to that, we already have Hawkridge, Noble, Husin, Alessandra and Stead who should not be regular starters next year, plus Milsom that Nolan doesn’t seem to rate. That’s 6 of the 9 non-starters gone before you look at the reserve goalkeeper.
I would therefore expect all the out of contract players except O’Connor, Duffy and Tootle to be let go. Their wages may mean not even all those stay. There may be an argument for Forte but clearly Nolan doesn’t rate him.
I think from somewhere clubs have 4 days from the last game to tell the players if they’re leaving.
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I see where you are coming from...Milsom is very injury prone, yeah, although he seemed to manage ok last season when he won player of the year. O'Connor had one big injury that he seems to have recovered from and says he's in great shape now, not sure you could describe his as "crocked" and I'd like to see him given a chance next season as we play our best football with him in the team.
I think we get unfairly labelled by the way, we are a very direct team no doubt, but most of that is from set pieces, Collin kicks the ball out of his hands very regularly but that's standard, there are very few teams at this level that pass the ball out short often, Luton did it against us most of the game, using Sheehan as a playmaker almost and Keith Curle does it with Carlisle.
Coventry's keeper was kicking the ball from the edge of his 18 yard box to the edge of our 18 yard box all game and they seem to think they play a slick passing game that anyone in League 2 should consider themselves lucky to be alive to witness. Once the ball from the keeper drops we pass it around, just not very well usually
In addition to Hewitt, I could be persuaded to retain O'Connor (and thereby gamble on his being fully recovered). However, the rest offer very little IMHO (and even less by way of consistency).
Personally, I don't mind the fact that we are very direct. However, as the last two games have shown, it would be nice to have the option (by which I mean "the players necessary") to play through midfield every once in a while (when the direct approach isn't working).
What we really need is the next Bishop, Davies, Draper, Ritchie, Judge, Jackson... I appreciate that securing such a player will be expensive, but that is all the more reason not to retain half of our existing squad.
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One of these players doesn't really fit in... Bishop was a grafter but he didn't have a creative bone in his body compared to the rest of those players. O'Connor might be the answer, he was spraying the ball around at will when he came on and almost single handedly changed the game for us against Coventry if he can stay fit next season he could be exactly what we need.
Regarding how many players we will retain already being a big number, we finished 5th this season with this squad and Nolan is clearly a believer that you should build a team and it takes time, it's why he's strongly praised Accrington, Wycombe and Luton whenever he's had the chance to and look how much he improved us with pretty much the same squad we had on our 10 game losing streak.
If Crossley's interview a few weeks ago about goalkeepers is to be believed I'd be surprised if we didn't retain all three of our current keepers and I wouldn't be annoyed with that at all, Nolan has said a few times that without his injury he thinks Collin would have been in the League 2 team of the year and he clearly rates him. Fitz is a capable backup thats shown he can step in and Pindroch..? Crossley rates him as a prospect and I'd imagine he will go out on loan next year if we keep him under contract.
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I think Milsom will be released. He worked well with Hewitt and contributed to getting us out of trouble last season. But what is he particularly good at? I saw the game after which he disappeared without trace - away at Barnet. As the experienced pro (he was with Husin) it was disappointing to see him just go through the motions. I don't think he played (started, for sure) after that. With O'Connor, Hewitt, Husin and Noble all ahead of him I think he'll be playing somewhere else next season.
The most interesting for me is Forte, who I also think will probably go. But you never know, at 31 turning 32, he might be about the have his best couple of seasons as a pro. There are still goals in him as we've seen in April and May. If KN thinks he can find the key to motivate him and maintain his form he might end up staying.
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