Injuries and signings

[Verbal Kint]

A lot of posters are talking about the lack of transfer dealings and saying the squad doesn't have the strength in depth it needs. I think most clubs and managers operate on a 2 players for every position outlook. The spine has been ripped out of our team tonight, and it was a poor performance as a result, but it's not just the spine of the team that is out, the squad as a whole has been savagely hit by injuries and i'm wondering whether you sometimes just have to hold your hands up and admit you've had some bad luck with injuries all coming at the same time. Lambert, Lallana, Chaplow, Richardson, Fonte, Seabourne, Jos, Butterfield, Barnard, De Ridder. That's 10 players either injured or suspended. Can you realistically expect to be without 10 players for a match at some point in the season and be in a position to be able to cope with that?

 

I want us to improve the squad, we all do, but we're in danger of over stretching ourselves financially if we do i think. People mock Pompey and the situation they are in, and then whinge about the lack of transfer activity. There is a fine balancing act between remaining financially solid and having a squad big enough and strong enough to compete. Our squad at the moment now is the following:

 

Davis/Bart

Frazer/Butterfield

Jos/Fonte/Martin/Jaidi/Seabourne

Fox/Harding

 

Iago/De Ridder

Morgan/Cork/Hammond/Chaplow

Lallana/Holmes

 

Lambert/Connolly/Barnard/Guly/Tadanari

 

Clearly from a numbers point of view we are fine, so surely before we bring players in we need to be moving players on who we don't think are up to it? I don't feel comfortable with the idea of simply buying our way out of the slump we are in. It's exactly what gets clubs into financial problems.

 

In an ideal world i'd be looking to replace Bart, Butterfield, Jaidi, Seabourne, Holmes, and Barnard but we aren't going to be able to do anything with them until the end of the season and are we in a position financially (the increase in the wage bill) to replace them before moving them all on?

[Lighthouse]

For me our strongest 11 would be:

 

Davis

 

Richardson - Fonte - Hooiveld - Fox

 

Chaplow - Hammond - Cork - Lallana

 

Lambert - Barnard

 

The players in bold were all missing this evening, which to me would point toward something of an injury crisis. I don't think we should be singing player in such a scenario to cover the cover we have. People are talking about signing 2 centre halves. Seriously? That'd be 7 on the books, a very expensive luxury. A one month loan to get us through should surfice.

[St Marco]

We don't need many signings at all. However i do think De Ridder isn't good enough and would like a proper winger out there that is proven at this level. I can't help but think if we had someone like that out there we would be creating a lot more then we have been. The same problem goes for up front. Connolly is a great player on his day and I think out of Guly and Barnard I'd rather see Connolly as the striker on the bench. But I think we need to splash the cash and bring in a top quality striker. Someone like Rhodes/Hooper would be perfect.

 

I think our team would looklike

 

Davis

Fraizer - Fonte- Jos - Fox

 

New guy--Hammond - Cork-Lallana

 

Lambo - New guy

 

subs - Bart - Morgan - Connolly - Harding/Martin - Guly

 

But the "New guy" slots have to be taken by quality bought with the PL in mind. Players like De Ridder/Iago/Lee etc should only be coming on as subs. You can't afford to give too many un-experienced players a chance if your going for promotion.

[SaintJackoInHurworth]

A lot of posters are talking about the lack of transfer dealings and saying the squad doesn't have the strength in depth it needs. I think most clubs and managers operate on a 2 players for every position outlook. The spine has been ripped out of our team tonight, and it was a poor performance as a result, but it's not just the spine of the team that is out, the squad as a whole has been savagely hit by injuries and i'm wondering whether you sometimes just have to hold your hands up and admit you've had some bad luck with injuries all coming at the same time. Lambert, Lallana, Chaplow, Richardson, Fonte, Seabourne, Jos, Butterfield, Barnard, De Ridder. That's 10 players either injured or suspended. Can you realistically expect to be without 10 players for a match at some point in the season and be in a position to be able to cope with that?

 

I want us to improve the squad, we all do, but we're in danger of over stretching ourselves financially if we do i think. People mock Pompey and the situation they are in, and then whinge about the lack of transfer activity. There is a fine balancing act between remaining financially solid and having a squad big enough and strong enough to compete. Our squad at the moment now is the following:

 

Davis/Bart

Frazer/Butterfield

Jos/Fonte/Martin/Jaidi/Seabourne

Fox/Harding

 

Iago/De Ridder

Morgan/Cork/Hammond/Chaplow

Lallana/Holmes

 

Lambert/Connolly/Barnard/Guly/Tadanari

 

Clearly from a numbers point of view we are fine, so surely before we bring players in we need to be moving players on who we don't think are up to it? I don't feel comfortable with the idea of simply buying our way out of the slump we are in. It's exactly what gets clubs into financial problems.

 

In an ideal world i'd be looking to replace Bart, Butterfield, Jaidi, Seabourne, Holmes, and Barnard but we aren't going to be able to do anything with them until the end of the season and are we in a position financially (the increase in the wage bill) to replace them before moving them all on?

 

You missed a few players out of that 'squad'! We also have: Puncheon, Doble, Dickson, Reeves, Ward-Prowse, Shaw, Hoskins, Forte, Forecast and Stephens. Most of those are youngsters some of whom will develop into first-team players whil others will end up being sold. A few, though are not so young and are seemingly surplus to requirements: Puncheon, Forecast and Dickson. I would think selling Puncheon needs to be our top sale priority.

[toofarnorth]

It's funny how the sensationalist threads get the most posts as happy clappy's and doom mongerers battle it out.

 

However, you have hit the nail on the head. You cant go out buy five players and then have everyone back fit in a months time and have those five players now not even making the bench.

 

I suppose situations like this are what emergency loans are for, but no team will continue to play as well with their best players out injured/suspended.

[Glasgow_Saint]

Guly is ****

[paulsfc]

Injuries (and the odd suspension) have pretty much ruined our good start. Not much can be done about that, sh*t happens. I think we just have to grin and bear it. Buying new players because of injuries would be daft. We could loan players but again you have the problem of integrating players into the side quickly (took Jos a while to settle), whilst the new players are getting used to players around them and our style of play performances and results will probably suffer. It could be that by the time a loanee has settled then the player he was brought in to cover is back fit and the loanee goes back without much benefit to us. Possibly better chancing our arm on some of the squad players or kids

[CanadaSaint]

It's funny how the sensationalist threads get the most posts as happy clappy's and doom mongerers battle it out.

 

However, you have hit the nail on the head. You cant go out buy five players and then have everyone back fit in a months time and have those five players now not even making the bench.

 

I suppose situations like this are what emergency loans are for, but no team will continue to play as well with their best players out injured/suspended.

 

I agree. And I think that there might be an interesting little tactical dilemma within the club right now, one which reflects the outlook differences on here:

 

Group A lean towards spending big money just to secure promotion.

 

Group B feels that the players we acquire now must not only help us this year but also be capable of performing in the Premier league; these players are harder to find and more expensive (fees and wages).

 

I'm in group B because I think we have a finite budget since Markus died, so if we spend it now we can't spend it later. However, there are certainly big risks attached.