O'Neill's stated twin aims.....

[sonson]

Originally Posted by Lord Alfred

Agree to an extent but i still think we lack someone to compliment Colback.....imo none of Gardner, Cattermole or Meyler are the right type.

Cattermole will do fine if he can keep his temper. Well, even. If not someone like Etuhu who can break things up and pass to his own players will suffice. Meyler can do that, but he isn't getting a look in just now for some reason, despite looking good enough whenever he played last season.

[Lord Alfred]

Originally Posted by sonson

Cattermole will do fine if he can keep his temper. Well, even. If not someone like Etuhu who can break things up and pass to his own players will suffice. Meyler can do that, but he isn't getting a look in just now for some reason, despite looking good enough whenever he played last season.

I like Cattermole but apart from the lapses in discipline he also doesn't help on those two fronts of scoring more goals or retaining possession.

[Midday Sun Englishman]

Originally Posted by Cats

Larsson won't be replaced, MoN loves him.

He'd be great with a courageous big man to aim at. By-line from McClean, deep crosses from Larsson. It would be good.

[Pepe]

[QUOTE=Lord Alfred;12629803]Improving our goal tally and retaining possession better. Going to be difficult as i reckon our two leading scorers (the ones we actually own) and players most comfortable on the ball may well be either sold (Sess) or replaced (Larsson). If this was the case how would you go about improving those two areas given that although we are fairly sound defensively our defenders are hardly comfortable in possession nor can they pass very well.

If Sess is sold (along with the other obvious ones) you can have a budget of £40m.......how would you spend it?[/QUOTE]

To late, Dangly Ham has spent it three times over and we are not even out of May.

[DaveyLad]

Originally Posted by SurreyMackem

Who ever is in the squad there is always room for improvement, shirley.

While I agree that we need to strenghten in certain areas buying players is only a short term fix and is not a subsitute for good coaching and teamwork.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A5t5_O8hdA

[Hugo Z]

The game that exposed our problems most emphatically for me was the replay versus Everton. They'd had a good look at us and knew exactly what to do. We were weak in the middle and Fellaini dominated us. But we also had weaknesses at left back and centre half which were exposed by a little movement of their forward and Cahill. Martin has his work cut out.

We need a least one new full back, a new centre half, 2-3 in the midfield and a new strike force. All better than Richardson, Bridge, Vaughan, Gardner,Cattemole, Bramble, The Greek, Campbell and Bentner if we are to improve.

[Perryqhill]

Originally Posted by keithmoon66

I don't think MON is interested in keeping possession better. He likes his counterattack style.

And selling larsson and sess is tripe. Why bother if we sell our best players. One in the hand is worth two in the proverbial.

He does like the counter attack style, but keeping possesion better is a must even for a counter attack side as you can't always rely on breakaways and surrendering possesion too easily allows for too much pressure.

Originally Posted by Hugo Z

The game that exposed our problems most emphatically for me was the replay versus Everton. They'd had a good look at us and knew exactly what to do. We were weak in the middle and Fellaini dominated us. But we also had weaknesses at left back and centre half which were exposed by a little movement of their forward and Cahill. Martin has his work cut out.

We need a least one new full back, a new centre half, 2-3 in the midfield and a new strike force. All better than Richardson, Bridge, Vaughan, Gardner,Cattemole, Bramble, The Greek, Campbell and Bentner if we are to improve.

The Everton game did expose our problems and whilst we do need several players in key areas. I would suggest though it merely looked so bad as we met a side who play in a similar way, but actually have the players, the physical and mental strength and the experience to pull it off.

A more imposing/physically strong central midfielder is a must, as is a focal point for the attack who can actually work defenders and play with his back to goal, without always surrendering his position like NB. A pacy right sider would be good too and from somewhere a strong dominant centre half.

[nz joe]

My biggest gripe with our play at the moment is Mig booting a long ball to no one. We surrender possession immediately.
A quick throw to either the fullback or a deep lying winger , was how I used to like to clear the ball.
Why do we never do this ?
We booted it under Bruce and it hasn't changed under MON.

[Zelo]

Deleted - rubbish (sorry)

[andy78]

Originally Posted by nz joe

My biggest gripe with our play at the moment is Mig booting a long ball to no one. We surrender possession immediately.
A quick throw to either the fullback or a deep lying winger , was how I used to like to clear the ball.
Why do we never do this ?
We booted it under Bruce and it hasn't changed under MON.

Look at the fullbacks we ended the season with, Bardsley and O'Shea, if Mignolet passed to them, they'd hoof it anyway.

As for the OP, I would try and sign Tom Huddlestone, he's been injured awhile but he's a great passer of the football and would play well alongside either Colback, Vaughan or Cattermole. Then we'd need to sign fullbacks who can help retain possession and won't look to hoof it aimlessly forward.

I'd do everything possible to keep Sessegnon though and I'd want us to sign a striker that would suit playing with Sessegnon just behind him.