The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

As our first team squad is now down to 15 players (I have not included keeper Broad, Key or King yet) and Huke is out for a while, who are we going to sign? and I am not sure we will keep Spence much longer.

The wage bill has now been reduced so hopefully Justin has some leeway to bring in a couple of quality loans (any good players are not going to be available to sign permanently).

As Stimson has left Barnet will Byrne ask to return to Diamonds? I suppose it depends on the terms of his loan at Barnet.

Shopping list for me is:

A new Gk - Sorry Joe has come on leaps and bounds since getting in the team, but hes kicking isnt good enough and generally isnt good enough for me

Striker - With Howe going back to boro when really do need another striker, Smith for me proved at Luton that hes not going to make it at this level on a consistant basic and wouldnt be heartbroken if him and Farrell were offloaded to make way for 1 or 2 decent big target men to help O'conner out a little

Maybe another winger and a Wide defence player!

I forgot about Smith!!, but yes I agree he has had long enough now and the time is right for him to move on.

I think mark byrne would be a quality signing and a midfield of porter power and byrne would be great. Also I think we need a striker as Howe is gone and a spare centre back

Centre back - we need someone to cover for Huke, Miller isn't a CB and that leaves us playing three full backs when Huke's out.

Striker - Rene's gone back and it showed yesterday. So many fantastic balls into the box and no matter how many headers outside the box he won it showed that Gash couldn't get to any of the great balls. O'Connor is never going to be prolific, he's a provider with his pace and work, same with Faz and Charles. Desperately need someone to slot them in.

I'd like to see something like this:

........................Day

Osano.......New CB.......Stuart........Day

..............Corcoran........Power

Charles..............Porter..........O'Connor

...................New Striker.


Formation allows us to have two players who can act as a holding player to protect what looks a very leaky defence. It also allows Porter to dictate the pace while O'Connor and Charles get forward and do what they do best, being rapid wingers. Up top needs a tallish striker who will work, Gash could work but I'm not so sure he's the solution.

wewantourdarbyback wrote:Centre back - we need someone to cover for Huke, Miller isn't a CB and that leaves us playing three full backs when Huke's out.

Striker - Rene's gone back and it showed yesterday. So many fantastic balls into the box and no matter how many headers outside the box he won it showed that Gash couldn't get to any of the great balls. O'Connor is never going to be prolific, he's a provider with his pace and work, same with Faz and Charles. Desperately need someone to slot them in.

I'd like to see something like this:

........................Day

Osano.......New CB.......Stuart........Day

..............Corcoran........Power

Charles..............Porter..........O'Connor

...................New Striker.


Formation allows us to have two players who can act as a holding player to protect what looks a very leaky defence. It also allows Porter to dictate the pace while O'Connor and Charles get forward and do what they do best, being rapid wingers. Up top needs a tallish striker who will work, Gash could work but I'm not so sure he's the solution.

I would like to see Power play higher up the pitch, at the start of the season he was average when he played in a defensive role, since playing in a more attacking role he has been a revelation, it may leave us more exposed at the back but we need some creativity in the middle.
In terms of new signigs, i think we need a centre back who has a bit of height, i do think we are vulnerable at set pieces. We also need a poacher infront of goal, Gash is good at holding the ball up but if we do not buy a striker i do not see where the goals are going to come from as Gash's goal scoring record is pretty dire.

I think a centre mid with a bit of height is required, to win some of those over the top balls if that whats Stuart's gunna do all day. A lack of height was a problem with defending and attacking set pieces yesterday.

I would put miller on for osano, recently osano has been going down hill. A new defender CB would be nice as well as a CAM and a striker to help our aaron.

I'll play at Centre Back.

Stuart

4-4-2. The 4-3-3 formation we play suited P*** T**** and Lee Tomlin - and neither player is at the club any more!

GK- NEW SIGNING
RB - Osano
CB - NEW SIGNING
CB - Stuart
LB - Day
RW - NEW SIGNING
CM - Porter
CM - Power
LM - NEW SIGNING
CF - O'Connor
CF - NEW SIGNING

I honestly think we're currently a 12th-16th place side currently, 5 players would be ideal as Corcs, Charles etc are far better squad players IMO, rather than starters.