Who needs to step up next season? Who is ready?

[rhroyal]

Two entirely different questions in my view.

With doubts over the future of Long, Kebe, McAnuff and Federici there are obvious needs for replacements in the squad. Furthermore, we've let Ivar go. Griffin and Harte are ageing by the week. There are even rumours over Mills (I'd happily recoup the money we paid tbh).

We're not going to look at the transfer market to rebuild the squad entirely. I'm sure there will be a couple of additions no doubt, but we've invested a lot of money in our academy (and in signing a couple of youngsters). The bulk of replacements will be expected to come from here.

Who could need to step up:

The first 2 players who stand out as needing to step up to the plate are Church and Manset. We'll need to replace the goals once Long goes, and proven goalscorers at this level are expensive.

Equally, HRK and Antonio could well find themselves playing a larger role in the team with Kebe leaving; even more if McAnuff goes too.

Cummings needs to be able step up to a right back regular slot.

Williams could step up for Harte?

McCarthy will need to be able to fill Fedders' shoes.

If we go back to 4-5-1, there could be opportunities for D'Ath, Taylor and Obita to play an attacking midfielder role. If Howard goes (as has ben rumoured), even more so.

Who is ready. I have 4 categories?

I've got a first category of players who I'm 99% certain are ready. They're Cummings, HRK and McCarthy. We've seen enough from all of them to suggest they could contribute to a top half/play-off contenders side; they could become even better with regular football. No well run football club would spend money replacing these guys when there are other areas of the squad that could be weaker.

There's a second category, of players who could/should offer something but there are a few doubts:

Church - If he had carried on in 10/11 from where he left in 09/10, I'd have him in with HRK, Cummings and McCarthy. However, there has been no noticeable progress over the past 12 months. He could be suffering from the Long syndrome; he could need regular games. Lets not forget that it took a long time for that to work with Long; McD's gamble came up trumps but he wasn't to know that when he made the call back in January 10. Church is in the catch-22 situation for me. The only way we'll ever know if he's up to it is if he starts week in week out for a few months. I'm not convinced he's ready for that yet; I'm happier to see him remain a squad player and see somebody else become the main man. Which brings me nicely on to....

Manset - Real flashes of ability. Big doubts over fitness. Some shocking performances to go with the good. Unpredictable with decision making; good thing on some occasional but not others. If we're comparing Church to Long, I'd compare Manset more to Kebe. Not because he's black and French speaking. It's because we all saw flashes of ability in Kebe, the potential was there to see. Unfortunately, so was the erratic decision making, so were the poor games where he looked like an amateur. You get the impression with Manset, as you did with Kebe, that we could have a genuinely class player at this level if managed effectively. It's a big risk though.

Morrison makes it into this category. He's experienced in League 1, he's spent a few months at this club now. He should be able to step up, but he's still an unknown quantity.

Category 3; serious doubts. Trust these guys next season at our peril. I'd simply say M. Williams and Antonio without the explanation. We should really look outside the club to fill in these positions.

Category 4; complete unknowns. They deserve a chance to prove themselves, or possibly chances on loan. However we shouldn't be relying upon them if we want to be competitive in this league. That refers to Obita, D'Ath and Taylor. I hope they get chances; they could be a great unexpected bonus like Siggy. Relying upon that would be a stupid decision though.

It's the players in category 2 who could arguable decide whether we're a top half club or a relegation battling club. It could be that they're more ready to step up in 12/13 after a season of 1st team football. As 2 of them are strikers, we definitely need to bring in another striker to challenge and push them. Equally, we've lost Zurab and Ivar. We could do with another centre back.

The good news is Cummings, HRK and McCarthy. They can all start in August and I'm happy with that.

[brendywendy]

agree mostly

except:

Manset - Real flashes of ability. Big doubts over fitness. Some shocking performances to go with the good

i only saw one real poor appearance from manset.

[ZacNaloen]

Adrenaline got him through his first few performances, he went downhill after that.

The sports scientists need to sort him out with a routine to get him ready for next year.

[CayeneMatt]

Completely agree with your comments re: Church.

If Long goes ........ Church becomes massively important IMO.

He's big, strong, quick and with a limited amount of instinct. But the execution is poor more often than not.

His ability to stay onside, and the timing of his runs must surely improve with more starts, but with a quick start to the season of paramount importance, it'll be interesting to see if he gets the chance. I think he will, if you listen to McD on 107 after the game, he's always going on about how much they love Churchy.

[andrew1957]

In the first instance I hope that we give the players we have a chance.

If Long goes we already have Hunt, Church, Manset and Williams - unless we give them a chance we will never know if they can fill the gap left by Long. A year ago the prevailing view on here was that Long was rubbish, so lets at least give the guys a chance to step up.

If Kebe goes the same applies to Taylor, Obita, Walcott and D'Ath. Unless we try them out - we will never know if they can do it or not.

Our main issue seems to be at left back. Is Williams up to it or not? I really think we have to move on from Harte in which case moving him to CB could be a good option. Speed is not so important there and he played there for Carlisle before he came to us. That way we have his ability from free kicks etc but don't suffer so much from his lack of pace (which was painfully evident at Wembley). I would rather see Cummings out of position at left back if Williams is not up to it. Assuming Mills also leaves - a back four of Griffin, Pearce, Harte and Cummings would be ok I think. But we do need cover at full back and centre back which we don’t yet have from the Academy (players like J.Mills and Hector are probably too far away for 2011/12).

[Top Flight]

This line up:

GK: Federici / McCarthy
RB: Griffin / Cummings
LB: Harte / Williams
CB: Mills
CB: Pearce / Morrison
RW: HRK
LW: McAnuff
CM: Karacan
CM: Leigertwood
CF: Church
CF: Hunt

Would be competitive next season. No doubt about that. It could challenge for the play offs, it may even mount a challenge for one of the auto slots. This is assuming we sell just Long and Kebe and manage to hold on to Mills and Mcanuff.

It would be great if we added a striker to that line up like Davies perhaps. A really good left-back that can bomb forward would improve the side greatly if we could find the right player.

With some of the other lads coming through. We still look pretty decent. Pretty strong. We won;t be near the bottom with a line-up like this. Top 2 might be too much to ask, but another play-off challenge should be possible.

If we can add a couple of good lads to this, then anything can happen. McDermott being the chief scout should hopefully prove his ability at signing good players and add the quality to get us up even despite losing other quality players at the same time.

[West Stand Man]

agree mostly

except:

Manset - Real flashes of ability. Big doubts over fitness. Some shocking performances to go with the good

i only saw one real poor appearance from manset.

Isn't football a wonderful game. I'd differ insofar as I haven't yet seen Manset play a game that I would class as up to Championship standard. He looks to me to be all bluff and bluster and, while he scored against Cardiff, I don't think I ever get the feeling that he is going a real goal threat. That said, he must have something and maybe we are going to see that in more doses next season (I do hope so).

[brendywendy]

i think he only had two starts, and one of those was awful
and i agree on the bluff and bluster. i just saw enough in all his other sub appearances to say hes got something special, and could be very good for us.
its all guesswork though really!

[Lydia Dustbin]

I think we will have a good season from Mathieu Manset, Simon Church and Hal Robson-Kanu. I cetainly hope we do otherwise we will be up that creek without a paddle!

[sandman]

You know what homophobia really means don't you?

[Big McC]

You know what homophobia really means don't you?

yes i do fella

1TeaminBerksRFC, please, please, please stop tour idiotic, inane, unstructured, barely intelligible, often contradictory and frequently abusive posts. Like everyone you are entitled to your view and all views are welcomed but you seem to have no understanding of forum etiquette or how to present your views. Your tone and absuive attitude are to be utterly deplored. You are absolutely ruining every thread by showering them with your pointless posts. So, I say again, please desist; in your case practice does not make perfect. Thank you.

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

Two entirely different questions in my view.

With doubts over the future of Long, Kebe, McAnuff and Federici there are obvious needs for replacements in the squad. Furthermore, we've let Ivar go. Griffin and Harte are ageing by the week. There are even rumours over Mills (I'd happily recoup the money we paid tbh).

We're not going to look at the transfer market to rebuild the squad entirely. I'm sure there will be a couple of additions no doubt, but we've invested a lot of money in our academy (and in signing a couple of youngsters). The bulk of replacements will be expected to come from here.

Who could need to step up:

The first 2 players who stand out as needing to step up to the plate are Church and Manset. We'll need to replace the goals once Long goes, and proven goalscorers at this level are expensive.

Equally, HRK and Antonio could well find themselves playing a larger role in the team with Kebe leaving; even more if McAnuff goes too.

Cummings needs to be able step up to a right back regular slot.

Williams could step up for Harte?

McCarthy will need to be able to fill Fedders' shoes.
If we go back to 4-5-1, there could be opportunities for D'Ath, Taylor and Obita to play an attacking midfielder role. If Howard goes (as has ben rumoured), even more so.

Who is ready. I have 4 categories?

I've got a first category of players who I'm 99% certain are ready. They're Cummings, HRK and McCarthy. We've seen enough from all of them to suggest they could contribute to a top half/play-off contenders side; they could become even better with regular football. No well run football club would spend money replacing these guys when there are other areas of the squad that could be weaker.

There's a second category, of players who could/should offer something but there are a few doubts:

Church - If he had carried on in 10/11 from where he left in 09/10, I'd have him in with HRK, Cummings and McCarthy. However, there has been no noticeable progress over the past 12 months. He could be suffering from the Long syndrome; he could need regular games. Lets not forget that it took a long time for that to work with Long; McD's gamble came up trumps but he wasn't to know that when he made the call back in January 10. Church is in the catch-22 situation for me. The only way we'll ever know if he's up to it is if he starts week in week out for a few months. I'm not convinced he's ready for that yet; I'm happier to see him remain a squad player and see somebody else become the main man. Which brings me nicely on to....

Manset - Real flashes of ability. Big doubts over fitness. Some shocking performances to go with the good. Unpredictable with decision making; good thing on some occasional but not others. If we're comparing Church to Long, I'd compare Manset more to Kebe. Not because he's black and French speaking. It's because we all saw flashes of ability in Kebe, the potential was there to see. Unfortunately, so was the erratic decision making, so were the poor games where he looked like an amateur. You get the impression with Manset, as you did with Kebe, that we could have a genuinely class player at this level if managed effectively. It's a big risk though.

Morrison makes it into this category. He's experienced in League 1, he's spent a few months at this club now. He should be able to step up, but he's still an unknown quantity.

Category 3; serious doubts. Trust these guys next season at our peril. I'd simply say M. Williams and Antonio without the explanation. We should really look outside the club to fill in these positions.

Category 4; complete unknowns. They deserve a chance to prove themselves, or possibly chances on loan. However we shouldn't be relying upon them if we want to be competitive in this league. That refers to Obita, D'Ath and Taylor. I hope they get chances; they could be a great unexpected bonus like Siggy. Relying upon that would be a stupid decision though.

It's the players in category 2 who could arguable decide whether we're a top half club or a relegation battling club. It could be that they're more ready to step up in 12/13 after a season of 1st team football. As 2 of them are strikers, we definitely need to bring in another striker to challenge and push them. Equally, we've lost Zurab and Ivar. We could do with another centre back.

The good news is Cummings, HRK and McCarthy. They can all start in August and I'm happy with that.

Think McCarthy has proved that he can than fill Ozzies boots...more than adequately

[sandman]

You know what homophobia really means don't you?

yes i do fella

Whoosh.

[Terminal Boardom]

Whoosh.

haha fella im no whoosh.

[YateleyRoyal]

You know what homophobia really means don't you?

yes i do fella

1TeaminBerksRFC, please, please, please stop tour idiotic, inane, unstructured, barely intelligible, often contradictory and frequently abusive posts. Like everyone you are entitled to your view and all views are welcomed but you seem to have no understanding of forum etiquette or how to present your views. Your tone and absuive attitude are to be utterly deplored. You are absolutely ruining every thread by showering them with your pointless posts. So, I say again, please desist; in your case practice does not make perfect. Thank you.

Post of the century

[Terminal Boardom]

Earlier in the season, talk was that Feds was off to Spurs. Now that Spurs have Friedel, that looks like one place Feds won't be going.

Does anyone really know who will leave the club this summer? Does the club HAVE to sell one of the star names? The one thing that has shone through has been the team spirit. Will the likes of Long, MacAnuff, Kebe or Mills experience anything better anywhere else? I cant see MacAnuff leaving - not now that his best mate Legs has signed permanently.

As for players to step up to the mark, I would like to see 2 or 3 of the pups push really hard. Pre season for the likes of Manset, Morrison and Brett Williams will be the making or breaking of them. Next season will also be make or break for HRK, Church and Antonio. Now, if these 6 plus the likes of Obita, D'Ath, Taylor and others kick on then next season could be really interesting.

[andrew1957]

Earlier in the season, talk was that Feds was off to Spurs. Now that Spurs have Friedel, that looks like one place Feds won't be going.

Does anyone really know who will leave the club this summer? Does the club HAVE to sell one of the star names? The one thing that has shone through has been the team spirit. Will the likes of Long, MacAnuff, Kebe or Mills experience anything better anywhere else? I cant see MacAnuff leaving - not now that his best mate Legs has signed permanently.

As for players to step up to the mark, I would like to see 2 or 3 of the pups push really hard. Pre season for the likes of Manset, Morrison and Brett Williams will be the making or breaking of them. Next season will also be make or break for HRK, Church and Antonio. Now, if these 6 plus the likes of Obita, D'Ath, Taylor and others kick on then next season could be really interesting.

I don't think RFC will "have" to sell players this summer but the likes of Long, Mills and Kebe are getting to an age where they will want to play at a higher level if they get the opportunity. If they had a guarantee we would be promoted at the end of next season I am sure they would stay, but as there are no guarantees in a difficult division you cannot blame them for wanting to move up if the chance arises.

If the club stops them, not only could they walk on a free next summer, but would they have the same level of motivation. Above all we need players who want to be here and will give 100% - a player who has been prevented from a move to the PL would not be an asset IMO.

Agree we should be safe with McAnuff now which is good news and like you I am excited about some of the young players coming through. I have seen both of Taylor's cameos and he looks a real talent for example.

[Terminal Boardom]

Well put. It is in no-ones interests to keep players who want away to try and make it with the big boys. My least favourite player of recent years proved that.

[CayeneMatt]

I can fully recommend the 'Add Foe' facility for this cock '1TeamInBerksRFC'. 560 posts of pure shit in a little over 2 weeks. I assumed he was a simple wind-up merchant, but the twat can't spell so hasn't the brains to wind up a clock. Illiterate pratt.

Thats better, Back on topic ..... we need goals next year, someone who can do a Longy and get 20 odd. Hunt will get a few, McAnuff too maybe, Mills will get a couple of headers, Harte will be good for 10 or more as long he gets his radar back in check, and so on. But I can't see Manset being a prolific scorer, nor Churchy for that matter. Take Long's goals and divide then up over the rest of the team and it starts looking a little unrealistic ... worryingly.

[andrew1957]

I can fully recommend the 'Add Foe' facility for this cock '1TeamInBerksRFC'. 560 posts of pure shit in a little over 2 weeks. I assumed he was a simple wind-up merchant, but the twat can't spell so hasn't the brains to wind up a clock. Illiterate pratt.

Thats better, Back on topic ..... we need goals next year, someone who can do a Longy and get 20 odd. Hunt will get a few, McAnuff too maybe, Mills will get a couple of headers, Harte will be good for 10 or more as long he gets his radar back in check, and so on. But I can't see Manset being a prolific scorer, nor Churchy for that matter. Take Long's goals and divide then up over the rest of the team and it starts looking a little unrealistic ... worryingly.

Not sure that I agree. The strikers scored 37 this season (Long 21, Hunt 10, Church 4 and Manset 2). Church scored 9 the previous season so if played regularly should score at least 10. Don't see why Hunt could not manage 15 and Manset 10 as well - which is 35. We don't necessarily need someone to score 20 (that only happens once every ten seasons or so) - we just need all three to step up and contribute.

Long only scored 6 in the previous season and was being written off by many 12 months ago - so if the other three get more games in 2011/12 I am confident that like Long they can have a better year this time.