Originally Posted by
gazan
In general, I agree with what you're saying. If we accept we are going down (and we will have a
degree of certainty about that if nothing changes before the window opens) then we need to look
ahead to the following season. It would also seem a good idea to return loanees that have not appeared very often
(so keep Robertson). Those who only signed a single year's contract who haven't improved by January should be 'squad memebers', i.e. only used in emergencies. There others like Gomes, who is on a longer contract, where I'm not sure what the best policy is. One note of caution though on the subject of bringing youngsters into a losing team is the idea that it may get those youngsters in the wrong frame of mind in terms of how they approach the following season at a lower level. It may not be good to introduce a losing mentality to a young group.
However, the likes of Lundstram should be playing (did you know he was our leading assist provider?). Might as well play Ainley when he's fit again (draw the line at Finney Snr!). Maybe rather than the youth team we should be employing the first year professionals a bit more. Robbins is good at breaking through the lines. Woodthorpe was confident against Wolves and maybe Tyreece would benefit from a few runs in the team.
However, there would be no point bringing these players into a 'containing' set up. There must be an attacking approach to the tactics to engender some possible positivity. Being where we are, I can't imagine the quality of potential loanees we'd be offered in January. Yet, instead of Premier league youngsters, what we need from the loan market are those, more experienced, players who are on the fringe of Championship teams who may convert their loans into full deals in the future.