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Squad depth & fringe players exposed again in the Cup

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sedgwick__7

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Jan 17, 2015
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Think we can all see that Alex Neil doesn’t care at all about any cups. Even against Man City last season, he made changes in order to rest players for a league game.

We’ve been dreadful now 3 times on the spin in the 3rd round of the FA Cup when a plethora of changes are made. After Doncaster a couple of years ago, we never saw Burke or Crowe play for the club again. Last season against Norwich, it became clear just how poor Ripley was.

These games often seem to be a watershed moment for certain fringe players and how they are viewed by the manager and fans, and it just shows people how weakened we are when we do make quite a few changes.

Personally I think today has to be the final straw for a few of the players selected. Stockley was atrocious, as he has been all season. He offers nothing and needs to be offloaded this month. Rafferty and Storey look way out of their depth almost every time they play at the moment. The squad players in general at the back are really poor defensively and if we have to rely on any of them for an extended period in the league it will represent a major problem. This needs work during the window this month.

I don’t think anyone expects us to be able to field 2 really strong Championship XIs, but some of these squad men are way off the pace at this level and it needs addressing.
 
sedgwick__7 said:
Personally I think today has to be the final straw for a few of the players selected. Stockley was atrocious, as he has been all season. He offers nothing and needs to be offloaded this month. Rafferty and Storey look way out of their depth almost every time they play at the moment. The squad players in general at the back are really poor defensively and if we have to rely on any of them for an extended period in the league it will represent a major problem. This needs work during the window this month.

I don’t think anyone expects us to be able to field 2 really strong Championship XIs, but some of these squad men are way off the pace at this level and it needs addressing.
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These are all ANs signings are they not, as was Ripley if i'm not mistaken? Would you trust him to get it right next time
 
Agreed. We simply cannot be starting games with Jayden Stockley up front. Earl isn't ready to be a Championship left back. If we're gonna have comparatively poor centre halves, we need three of them to make up for it.
 
Aitch said:
These are all ANs signings are they not, as was Ripley if i'm not mistaken? Would you trust him to get it right next time
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If he'd got the players he actually wanted rather than cheapo 4th choice options, we'd be in a better state. Sinclair, Ledson, Potts and Riis have all looked like good signings, the former 2 we know took some time both to get and to integrate.

Debate has been done to death though.
 
I just don’t get why given he hates the cup so much he doesn’t let some of the youngsters have a go

We know ripley Stockley Rafferty are crap, would the likes of O’Reilly and Walker have performed any worse?
 
I don't think it is a case of Neil not wanting to progress in the cup. He was right to play a weakened side today but our squad is shite with players who are league 1 at best (Earl, Rafferty, Storey, Stockley, Ripley, Bayliss)
 
The fact AN seems to use these games to prove a point that his fringe players aren’t good enough shows the absolute contempt he has for the cups. He’ll still get his wage in full this week after that cop out of a performance. It’s unacceptable why the club turn their nose up at the FA cup given our total lack of success over the last few decades.
 
jamesOB said:
I just don’t get why given he hates the cup so much he doesn’t let some of the youngsters have a go

We know ripley Stockley Rafferty are crap, would the likes of O’Reilly and Walker have performed any worse?
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Because this is their platform. Like we have to have them as options or ship them out, right? This is supposed to be their opportunity to show what they can do.

All they've done is that they can't do it against the weakest club in the division and need replacing.
 
I don't blame him for concentrating on the league, my problem is that he is now sending a clear message to the youth players that he isn't going to develop them. That is shit and you all know I am an AN fan.

Stockley needs to fuck off this window. Riis need to play in his proper position. Ledson needs to not be an option if he isn't going to contribute anything. Baxter and O'Neill should be given a run out. 90 mins for Stockley? AN has given everyone a rod to beat him with on that shit.
 
Aitch said:
These are all ANs signings are they not, as was Ripley if i'm not mistaken? Would you trust him to get it right next time
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We all know that a) it has been savage recruiting and b) he has done well with 40p and a multi pack of walkers crisps as the 'kitty'.

Some aren't good enough for sure but you can't build a team on this amount, simple as. Hard fucking season next year with the likes of Ledson starting for Pearson.
 
Durutti said:
We all know that a) it has been savage recruiting and b) he has done well with 40p and a multi pack of walkers crisps as the 'kitty'.

Some aren't good enough for sure but you can't build a team on this amount, simple as. Hard fucking season next year with the likes of Ledson starting for Pearson.
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That was the Iversen fee.
 
Busy January needed
Bauer injured Davies leaving(?) Huntington getting on a bit - back up not good enough Storey
Fisher leaving(?) - back up not good enough Rafferty
Pearson leaving(?) DJ leaving(?) Browne(?) - back up not good enough Molumby (we'll see) Ledson?
Stockley and Maguire not good enough - no back up (Evans??????)
The back up/fringe/second eleven players showed today what we face unless new players are brought in. Shudder!
 
In a season where there’s a back log of fixtures, going out in the third round isn’t the worst thing in the world.
 
I have nothing against them but Stockley, Rafferty, Hughes & Ripley are just not good enough to be playing in the Championship.

I don't think Maguire is good enough to be anything more than backup.

Storey, Earl and Bayliss need to go out on loan to league 1. They aren't ready.
 
Southcoastwhite said:
Busy January needed
Bauer injured Davies leaving(?) Huntington getting on a bit - back up not good enough Storey
Fisher leaving(?) - back up not good enough Rafferty
Pearson leaving(?) DJ leaving(?) Browne(?) - back up not good enough Molumby (we'll see) Ledson?
Stockley and Maguire not good enough - no back up (Evans??????)
The back up/fringe/second eleven players showed today what we face unless new players are brought in. Shudder!
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League one probably beckons if we lose the main 4 or 5 ( Pearo, DJ, Browne, Davies and Fisher )
 
NG White said:
I have nothing against them but Stockley, Rafferty, Hughes & Ripley are just not good enough to be playing in the Championship.

I don't think Maguire is good enough to be anything more than backup.

Storey, Earl and Bayliss need to go out on loan to league 1. They aren't ready.
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How long is Bayliss going to be given? He cost a lot of money and if he's still not ready to play one tier higher than the one we signed him from in nigh on three years who on earth is coaching him?
 
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