https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/manchester-city-ace-fabian-delph-12540946 If theres any truth in this, then Gareth Southgate is an even bigger fool than I thought. To have Jake Livermore anywhere near the squad is a joke, the only reason Wilshires absence can be justified is injury, which not only would be false as he has played pkenty in the second half of the season, but hes picking a player in Delph who is injured even more and when he does play, its at left back! Dier, Loftus-Cheek and Welbeck are all lucky to be in too. Hopefully thats a false squad and the real one has Wilshire in, and Livermore nowhere near, for a start. The choices in central midfield are frightening.

Take on board your point about set pieces, although I would be really reluctant to break up Mulgrew and Lenihan as I feel they make a really good pairing and we look far more secure with them in the side.

I think our main targets need to be in attack, we need id say 4 attacking players, a central midfielder and then maybe a right back. @Stuart is right in that, in the main, they need to be players who should be improving us rather than adding depth. We need at least 2 out and out wingers, they need to be of the calibre to be starting games from game 1, not ones who can come on when Conway/Bennett or a striker playing out of position gets tired. We need a striker, yes we might struggle to get one of the quality of Graham but we need to aim to solely based on Grahams age. Then maybe another attacking midfielder who can push Dack, ideally with the versatility to also play wide/elsewhere. We need a central midfielder who can play alongside and compliment Smallwood or Evans, not one to cover them, and a right back who can come in and at least equal Nyambe, not another Caddis. Dont understand the clamour for a big thug at centre back, Mulgrew and Lenihan are a quality partnership.

Agree with the notion of ensuring we sign players to play in their correct positions. We need a couple of actual wingers, there are benefits of playing maybe 1 striker wide, it can be a shrewd way to add enough goals, but for me its by far our weakest area. Agreed on all 5 of them players, I do think wed struggle to offload them though; that said I feel like signing Conway on for another year is adding to the aforementioned deadwood around the fringes. Whilst I agree that we do need to add, I feel like your comparison to Bolton is slightly misleading in that we achieved considerably more points than them, and they not only didnt really strengthen, in selling their top scorer mid season they actually weakened in comparison to their League 1 season. We do need to strive to look to improve, not just add depth, that said I feel we have a good spine that can make the step up, Mulgrew, Lenihan, Bennett, Smallwood (maybe), Dack and Graham.

Any wage is too much for a player who isnt good enough for the division. Wingers need to offer at least some modicum of an attacking threat, and Conway doesnt do that any more. If we had released him you would have said that it was the correct decision anyway.

We arent a charity though. His legs have gone, he keeps getting injured, hes got 0 assists in a League 1 seasons, for me its a needless waste of a wage based on sentimentality.

I think QPR, Reading and a Mick McCarthy-less Ipswich may struggle next season, based on current personnel. Bolton for sure too. Hard to judge I suppose pre-summer transfer window.

I feel like your doom mongering is quite baseless to be honest. For one, Bolton got 10 less points than we did, none of their players got into double figures in league goals, unlike Dack, Graham and Mulgrew, who along with Lenihan, Smallwood and Bennett make a core of players that I feel can definitely make the step up. (most of whom have proved they can in the past) Bolton sold their best player and main striker mid way through the season and still stayed up to be fair. If we sell Dack and bring in a 38 year old replacement then maybe youll have a point. There is also no basis for Dack leaving, albeit im not as naive as chaddy in thinking hes unsellable, but im sure it would take a much bigger bid than you are suggesting and I also dont get the impression that hes got itchy feet to leave as you seem to be insistent on implying. I also think he has the make up to be far more productive Championship player than you give him credit for. Yes hes not the quickest, plenty of top Championship players arent, Cairney, Snodgrass, Neves, Maddison to name a few. Dack can beat players with ease due to his close control and the way that he puts his body between man and ball, hes an intelligent player, can I say he will definitely stay or that he will definitely make the step up? No but I feel like you are writing him off already to provoke a reaction, rather than based on anything tangible. Cant see us being near the play offs or anything silly, and we may be in trouble if we dont add a few, but theres no need for the doom/winding people up just yet.

England squad named next week, very early. Think mine would be: Pickford, Pope, Butland. Maguire, Jones, Stones, Tarkowski, Rose, Young, Walker, Trippier Henderson, Wilshire, Milner, Dier, Lingard, Alli Kane, Vardy, Sterling, Rashford 2 places left, a centre back and a midfielder, would probably go for Dunk and Lallana. That said, maybe with Walker and Dier in the squad, we can pick an extra midfielder, but bar maybe Delph whose not played there recently anyway, who do you pick? Hoping that Livermore, Welbeck and Hart are nowhere near the squad. Need Milner to come back, as consistent as anyone, Henderson and him have to be miles ahead of the ineffectual Dier. Pickford Maguire Stones Jones Walker Alli Henderson Wilshire Rose Sterling Kane Would be the team for the first game.

Far from ideal, too similar to Smallwood. Hes been at Sunderland, Leeds and now Forest and not convincingly become a regular at any club, the latter of which has a poor squad. Not denying that Mowbray strives to keep transfer dealings as quiet as possible, as any manager would, but main reason is that the journalists at the Lancashire Telegraph dont seem to know their arse from their elbow in that regards anyway. Even when transfers have been leaked, the Lancashire Telegraph always lags behind nowadays and just repeats information a day or 2 after it breaks.

Think the Lancashire Telegraph dont really know what they are talking about. Dont think anyone seems to have good links any more really, signings tend to go undetected.

Bridcutt would just be an inferior version of Smallwood on higher wages whose struggled at Championship level for a bit now.

Good point. Id still prefer them to have just left the Darwen End open to be honest, but your alternative shows some proactivity the club seemingly lacks.

That bottom suggestion is good in that it does allow more away fans or whatever they want to suggest closing the Darwen End does, whilst allowing that unreserved seating that appeals to many and also leaves more fans in the one stand. Then again, it is again moving even more fans against their will.

I find the Holloway/QPR thing strange, dont rate him at all as a manager but from the outside hes done a decent job with no money and a poor squad. If they get McLaren or similar recycled rubbish then its an odd move. Both the Ipswich and QPR jobs are not attractive ones, would be surprised if they upgraded.

Aye, may aswell sign square pegs to play in the square holes that hopefully make up a 4-2-3-1 formation judging by its success this year.

Too late to be telling fans after the event and the resulting backlash. As many have pointed out, most of the teams mentioned wont need a full stand so the rationale is nonsensical.

Maddison can also play wide just as easily so would be a great signing but probably too expensive. Oztumer seems to be only able to play as a 10, so would be back up and lack the flexibility of a Maddison, his numbers are good and he is free so plenty of plusses but im not even sure if hes guaranteed a game at Walsall.

Whilst that is true, a large enough proportion of football supporters, especially away fans, would prefer to stand at football matches, that is clear. A bit of common sense needs to prevail at times, im all for promoting safe standing wherever possible too, hats off to Shrewsbury there. One of the plus points of the Darwen End was being able to go to the back, unreserved, and stand up. Affecting no one else at all. Everyone sat down usually puts a dampner on the atmosphere, therefore if you can seperate those who want to stand and those who want to sit, I dont see why its an issue.

Exactly. Lets not pretend that he had nothing to play with either, he had half a season, including over 10m i think spent in January, hes got Butland, Zouma, Shawcross, Martins Indi, Peiters, Shaqiri, Sobhi, Allen, Crouch, enough to at least win 2 or 3 games. Surely if Hughes wasnt doing enough to stay, Lambert with a worse record has even less of a right to stay. All of these disciplinary issues seem to have got worse under him too. Lambert has hid behind a few excuses at a few clubs in a row now, Villa, Rovers, Wolves and now Stoke, different excuses, same manager.

I've found that when weve gone to a 3, Williams left, Lenihan right, that has left Mulgrew in the middle unable to bring the ball out anyway, such is his position. It looked better when we improved towards the end of the last Championship campaign but Mulgrew was on the left, however Williams and Nyambe at the time were at wing back and not fit for purpose there due to their defensive tendencies.

Whilst you may have a point in terms of needing a missing piece in the jigsaw, surely you could then argue that the same player added to what is already a proven successful structure and tactic with the rest of our players, the 4-2-3-1, would become even more efficient.

Get rid of him because his legs have gone, hes continuously injured, hes not assisted a goal all season and hes struggled even in League 1 sadly. If he gets released, youll be insistent that it was the right thing to do anyway. It suits some but not all. Went back to 4-2-3-1 v Oxford and looked far better as a result. It suits our best players. Mulgrew plays centrally in the 3 to fit Williams in, meaning that he cannot bring the ball out, whereas Williams and Lenihan are not good enough on the ball to play out from the back. Nyambe and Williams are quite defensive full backs, therefore they are made redundant by the formation. The focus on keeping the ball means that we play a lot slower and struggle to create chances. Dack can become sidelined and it can affect his link up with Graham when hes having to move wide to find any space in the formation. Stick to whats got us here in my opinion, 4-2-3-1 suits our spine down the ground. As you touch on itll only get harder to implement, maybe a formation that plays better on paper for our squad, and is best staying on paper.

So you are saying that his tactics have impressed you, yet you would play a totally different formation? Im not saying the recruitment has been good, but that then brings you back to another point weve previously discussed, that Hughes did a poor job towards the end at Stoke and thus was very lucky to instantly stumble into another Premier League job! That said, id rather have Hughes over Lambert any day. I also think that Lambert got his priorities all wrong in January, signing a left back and a holding midfielder, as touched on in a different thread, we can all say "the players werent available," as we all know Lambert isnt hard pushed to hide behind excuses, his CV is littered with him shirking responsibility. You're straying away from the main lack of accountability that you are putting on Lambert for what is a horrendous run of results under his watch, dress it up how you want, give me all the reasons you want, all the excuses, but hes been lucky to get the job, as @FGS5635 mentions hes been living off one good job for far too long, and his record since is, no matter how you dress it up, terrible.

I think, and Saturday was a good example, that Nyambe offers nothing going forward. That said, hes come on leaps and bounds as a defensive full back. As much as like any team we have a few star players, to imply that it was anything but a team effort to get such a high points total is naive in the extreme.