Starting Xl first game.

[Captain Cunno]

If we get the players in we are after we will have some side next year...

Who would your realistic first Xl and formation be come August if all are fit obviously

4-4-2 Diamond

Pym

C Johnson Alfie Naylor Brough

Reed

Clarke Quinn

DKD

Akins Swan

Reserves

Flinders
Mason
Macca
Anderson
Earl
JJ
Maris
Boateng
Hartigan
Gale
Oates

[Ralphy]

Would be some side that

[HitchcocksShins]

Would be some side that

Calm down, Yoda

[Rob]

If we get the players in we are after we will have some side next year...

Who would your realistic first Xl and formation be come August if all are fit obviously

4-4-2 Diamond

Pym

C Johnson Alfie Naylor Brough

Reed

Clarke Quinn

DKD

Akins Swan

Reserves

Flinders
Mason
Macca
Anderson
Earl
JJ
Maris
Boateng
Hartigan
Gale
Oates

Other than not picking who I think is our best player that side looks strong. Maris is first choice midfielder for me every time, he makes us tick.

[Captain Cunno]

So who's place would he take for you Rob.?
Maris is excellent I agree but I think Reed is better at the base of the diamond , Clarke and Quinns energy and DKDs goal threat just keeps him out for me

[PEAR CIDER]

I'd be starting a fit macca personally.
Bowery would 100% be in the squad, unfortunately doesn't quite make the team for me, unless he is forward left of a 3.

[Rob]

So who's place would he take for you Rob.?
Maris is excellent I agree but I think Reed is better at the base of the diamond , Clarke and Quinns energy and DKDs goal threat just keeps him out for me

DKD probably, it's a nice problem to have but I would pick him ahead of all 4, as good as they all are. I would like to see Maris further up the pitch. I also doubt all 5 will be fit at the same time and Quinn may be used more off the bench. Whichever 4 we pick of those, it's very strong. It's the defence that needs sorting.

[Showaddywaddy]

If we get the players in we are after we will have some side next year...

Who would your realistic first Xl and formation be come August if all are fit obviously

4-4-2 Diamond

Pym

C Johnson Alfie Naylor Brough

Reed

Clarke Quinn

DKD

Akins Swan

Reserves

Flinders
Mason
Macca
Anderson
Earl
JJ
Maris
Boateng
Hartigan
Gale
Oates

I’d agree with that side. A very close call between Maris and Reed, the strength of our forward line and midfield is incredibly impressive. If Pym comes back then it I just the defence that needs sorting. Am I missing something, who is Earl?

[PEAR CIDER]

If we get the players in we are after we will have some side next year...

Who would your realistic first Xl and formation be come August if all are fit obviously

4-4-2 Diamond

Pym

C Johnson Alfie Naylor Brough

Reed

Clarke Quinn

DKD

Akins Swan

Reserves

Flinders
Mason
Macca
Anderson
Earl
JJ
Maris
Boateng
Hartigan
Gale
Oates

I’d agree with that side. A very close call between Maris and Reed, the strength of our forward line and midfield is incredibly impressive. If Pym comes back then it I just the defence that needs sorting. Am I missing something, who is Earl?

Its a rumour of a player potentially coming in, Centre half

[BH_Stag]

If we managed to Sign Naylor & Earl we’ll have done a really good job at CB so fingers crossed the signings are of that calibre - Earl is under contract though. We’d just need one more in my opinion on top of that as you should always have 4 proper CB’s. Maybe a young lad on loan who knows that they are going to be back up but the parent club are happy for him to be around a first team environment.

Would do what we can to move JJ out on loan (we’ll still have to cover most of his wages) and obviously that’s not taking Perch in to account.

[Captain Cunno]

JJ when fully fit will be involved next year.
Nobody's taking them NFL wages on

[MTFCMusings]

Assuming Earl is Josh Earl, isn’t he a left back?

[PEAR CIDER]

Assuming Earl is Josh Earl, isn’t he a left back?

playing LCH

[MTFCMusings]

Would be good to have a left footer who can do both.

[BH_Stag]

JJ when fully fit will be involved next year.
Nobody's taking them NFL wages on

He looked a carthorse last season and became a real liability, so dread to think what he’d be like after the best part of a year out.

To be fair to him, I think the formation change killed him. He’s never been blessed with pace and when moved to right of the back 3 he found himself getting dragged in to wider areas that he simply didn’t have the pace to cover. He may be better in a 4 but it’s fair to say I’d be a bit nervous about his involvement. I’m sceptical he can return to anywhere near the level he once was.

I think teams would have a look at him on loan, probably in non league and they would just pay a low percentage of his wage. For me that would be a better option as it will free a space up in the squad for somebody else. Financially it’s still a nightmare but that’s the position we are in now.

I’m also keen for us to move on from certain players in defence now. The back line wasn’t good enough as we know, JJ wasn’t good at the start of last season and was part of the problem. Perch slowing down and shouldn’t be in the side now. If we want to improve the defence we’ve got to move on from these players and not keep going down the same road expecting different results

[Beyond The Pale]

If we get the players in we are after we will have some side next year...

Who would your realistic first Xl and formation be come August if all are fit obviously

4-4-2 Diamond

Pym

C Johnson Alfie Naylor Brough

Reed

Clarke Quinn

DKD

Akins Swan

Reserves

Flinders
Mason
Macca
Anderson
Earl
JJ
Maris
Boateng
Hartigan
Gale
Oates

I’d agree with that side. A very close call between Maris and Reed, the strength of our forward line and midfield is incredibly impressive. If Pym comes back then it I just the defence that needs sorting. Am I missing something, who is Earl?

My Name Is Earl?

[Showaddywaddy]

If we get the players in we are after we will have some side next year...

Who would your realistic first Xl and formation be come August if all are fit obviously

4-4-2 Diamond

Pym

C Johnson Alfie Naylor Brough

Reed

Clarke Quinn

DKD

Akins Swan

Reserves

Flinders
Mason
Macca
Anderson
Earl
JJ
Maris
Boateng
Hartigan
Gale
Oates

I’d agree with that side. A very close call between Maris and Reed, the strength of our forward line and midfield is incredibly impressive. If Pym comes back then it I just the defence that needs sorting. Am I missing something, who is Earl?

My Name Is Earl?

Beyond The PaEarl?

[broomo]

Naylor won't be in it.

[lifestags]

This team is coming along really nicely.


Pym??
Johnson Kilgour Cargill Macdonald
Reed
Boeteng Quinn
DKD
Oates Akins

It probably won’t be the diamond tho so more like,

Pym??
Johnson Kilgour Cargill Macdonald
Boeteng Reed Quinn
Oates Akins DKD

Bench:
Flinders, new defender, Clarke, Swan, Maris, Bowery, Hartigan.

Leaves Otoole, Gale out the squad with Macca to come back.

[Ralphy]

Leave out Swan????? No chance imo

Think it will be

Pym
Johnson Kilgour Cargill McDonald
Reed
Clarke Quinn
DKD
Akins Swan

Either way looks a strong 11 and bench

[BH_Stag]

Squad is shaping up. We could field an outfield right now that we’d all be happy with, it’s just getting that bit extra depth in key areas they will pay dividends over the course of the season.

Swan simply has to start though, he has more goalscoring prowess then any of our other forwards and he is only going to improve with more game time and experience. Think he could get towards 20 goals if we can get 40 games out of him.

At least one of Clarke or Maris would be in the side for me as well, but fair to stay we are stacked with options in midfield but again fitness is the key.

[lifestags]

I think it’s who has the better pre season out of Swan and Oates, Swan seemed a lot more effective off the bench for me.

[MTFCMusings]

Swan scored 4 in 12 starts, no pens.
Oates scored 4 in 18 starts, one pen.

[stagsfan6493]

Any prediction in the diamond formation will be wrong, Clough will stick with the 433 we played the majority of the second half of the season with.

[MTFCMusings]

I wish we would refresh the attack with one more signing. I know we scored plenty of goals last season but I don’t think it would do any harm.