Siegrist, Butcher, Shankland, Appere
A bit of an opinion Thread. What players in the current squad are you confident can deliver for us in the Premiership? I'll start:
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Siegrist: had a great season and looks to be progressing. Just needs to save a pen to get thay monkey off his back.
Smith: maybe suspect defensively one or two times last season but effective enough for me to feel confident he will be a good RB for us up there.
Connolly: prone to an error maybe once in a while but solid and dependable and more comfortable on the ball than most give him credit for imo
Robson: still developing but showed against Hibs he can handle it. Needs to improve his crossing.
Butcher: no brainer. Played there before. More experienced now and an integral part of the team.
Powers: mainly down to his experience/age. His confidence on the ball may come in handy at tough away grounds. Cant see him starting every week though as him and Butcher not required against smaller teams at home.
Clark: clever enough player to make an impact when he finally gets his chance at the top level
Shankland: obviously
Appere: physically and ability-wise I think he'll have another good season up there. Might not start week-in-week-out depending on the signings we make but 20 starts at least for me.
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Jury is out on the rest of the squad. Young players like Freeman, Glass, Mochrie, Neilson, Graham, Davidson may get a chance now and again but wont be expected to deliver consistently.
Reynolds reliable enough as backup imo but not a regular starter. Same goes for Deniz and Pawlett.
Harkes, McMullan, Sporle, Chalmers have to continue to improve and prove they have what it takes to be Prem players. King may struggle to be part of the plans at all.
Siegrist, Butcher, Shankland, Appere
powers and harkes will be fine and smith and robson will be given their chance but then we are down to squad players really. Could be a tough season.
If Connolly/ Reynolds is our central defence next season (example Easter Road last season) that we are going to ship a lot of goals.
McMullan, Shankland, Butcher, Appere.
Letting Watson go made it clear we were looking to strengthen in that area. Neilson also mentioned it on the Arabzone interview that he was looking for defensive cover.
Alex Gogic just left Hamilton. Peter Hartley just left Motherwell. Theres 2 players straight away that could improve the back line. Hartley more of an experienced head but Gogic just turned 26 and was a standout for Hamilton during his time there.
Agree that we need to strengthen in defence , but Watson would have been the last CB I would have let go. Never outstanding, but when he played the results were good. Coincidence maybe, not so sure. Being honest, I don't think we have a centre half that can handle the SPL. Happy to be proved wrong though.
Watson left because connolly and reynolds have longer contracts. Simple as that.
Connolly and Reynolds have proved they can handle the Premiership to be fair. Connolly was a standout and captain of Killie. He'll be fine. Reynolds is getting on a bit now but will be able to play a part. I do hope we see 2 at least 1 new CB though as a minimum.