Won't be pursuing Bagaykoko?

[Kinky Gerbil]

2003/04 Coppell started by using Jones at left wing back and then when went 4-4-2 Mayo played at left back. Watson played on the right. It changed under McGhee, due to Harding's emergence and the fact Watson was injured and so Virgo was used there. At the beginning of the following season McGhee started with those 2, but then Virgo was move up front and I am struggling to think who played in the full back position, I think it might have been Hinsh (oh another centre back).

The thing is this year we do have Mayo and Rents as left backs and Paul Hinshlewood is a right back and Breach has certainly played there and at present seems to lack a definied position, yet McGhee will as ever shoe horn his favourites in there.

Didnt el abd play at right back untill he did his leg in at Gillingham?

 

[Uncle Buck]

Didnt el abd play at right back untill he did his leg in at Gillingham?

That sounds about right, so another centre back.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Then Hinsh came in the same game following Cullip get a knock.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Always had full backs in the past, Mayo, Watson, Harding, Pethick etc.

We haven't produced many or any through the youth system, apart from Harding and he was sold.

Mayo is better in midfield IMO and we haven't been able to replace Harding for various reasons. In our precarious financial situation is it worth spending money on a player that would be no better than any of our current options?

How much does a decent full back go for and who is available?

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

We haven't produced many or any through the youth system, apart from Harding and he was sold.

Mayo is better in midfield IMO and we haven't been able to replace Harding for various reasons. In our precarious financial situation is it worth spending money on a player that would be no better than any of our current options?

How much does a decent full back go for and who is available?

Depends how early you work the market early enough in the summer.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Depends how early you work the market early enough in the summer.

I didn't think we came up with any credible alternatives (players) when everyone was moaning about no action on the transfer market from Brighton.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

I didn't think we came up with any credible alternatives (players) when everyone was moaning about no action on the transfer market from Brighton.

I think thats because by the time Mcghee was ready (not his fault) all the decent ones had been snapped up.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I'm gutted about this news, I thought Bagayoko looked class.

He had pace and energy, something that Mayo, Reid and Hart don't have.

Personally, I'd settle for signing Bagayoko and Brittain and then see what happens with CKR, Revell, Gatting and Robinson.

 

[Uncle Buck]

We haven't produced many or any through the youth system, apart from Harding and he was sold.

Mayo is better in midfield IMO and we haven't been able to replace Harding for various reasons. In our precarious financial situation is it worth spending money on a player that would be no better than any of our current options?

How much does a decent full back go for and who is available?

Mayo was not good considered good enough to play midfield when we were in Division 3 in 1999 so how come at a higher level he is not thought to be OK? The guy is a left back, we are short in that position, however in midfield we have Carpenter, Oatway (when fit), Hammond, Reid, Fraser and Chamberlain in front of him, not to mention of the wide players, so if he is here as a midfiedler, why have we retained him?

This year we have produced a couple through the youth system in Rents and Hinshlewood and yet all pre-season we have shoe horned others in at right back and played a trialist at left back that we are not now going to sign.

In the last few years a few right backs have come through, Piper and May spring to mind, but as we had Watson, Pethick, Virgo etc we do not keep them on, as we had players there at the time.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Mayo was seemingly kept on as in be wrong to release someone in there tenth year.

 

[Les Biehn]

So we have Reid, Hart, El-Abd, P.Hinsh, A.Hinsh and Elphick can all play RB while Lynch, Rents and Mayo (contentious in my opinion) can play at LB. I think the point is the first 3 RB and first LB can all definately do a job in those positions and the back ups are a bit unknown but could be fine, so its more of a case of finding a settled defence that work well together, that communicate well and know their roles.

 

[Uncle Buck]

So we have Reid, Hart, El-Abd, P.Hinsh, A.Hinsh and Elphick can all play RB while Lynch, Rents and Mayo (contentious in my opinion) can play at LB. I think the point is the first 3 RB and first LB can all definately do a job in those positions and the back ups are a bit unknown but could be fine, so its more of a case of finding a settled defence that work well together, that communicate well and know their roles.

Of those right backs, only one is a right back in Paul Hinshlewood, the others are midfielders or centre backs. Putting a fit Adam Hinshleood in there is a waste of probably our best centre back.

With regards to the left backs Mayo and Rents could be OK, again I think it would be a waste using Lynch there.

However you know at Rotherham that Hart will play at right back and Reid at left back....

 

[Pavilionaire]

It seems strange to rule Bagayoko out within hours of losing a first-choice centre back.

Surely Lynch will move into the centre, freeing up a L-B spot?

 

[London Irish]

It changed under McGhee, due to Harding's emergence and the fact Watson was injured and so Virgo was used there.

And the word you missed out there was successfully - promotion to the Championship.

The thing is this year we do have Mayo and Rents as left backs and Paul Hinshlewood is a right back and Breach has certainly played there and at present seems to lack a definied position, yet McGhee will as ever shoe horn his favourites in there.

Your "favourites" comment is not a serious contribution to the debate.

What we have are two factors at work, are young players like Rents and P Hinsh good enough to start right now in League 1? That's a big question I think. And despite your certainty, the evidence is far from clear. The second question that throws up is, what about the balance of experience and youth in the back 4 - you need a balance and starting with P Hinsh and Rents could leave our back 4 lacking some necessary hard-earned nous.

I personally feel Mayo is not quite up to being our starting left-back as he doesn't cope defensively well with players running at him (Worthing players even) - I think he was the one really questionable contract renewal. OGH is quicker and a better tackler but is still finding his feet positionally. Reid is a good adaptable player but sometimes a bit lightweight.

So all in all, that leaves McGhee with some pretty stark options.

Whatever route McGhee goes down, it is possible for anyone to take a shot at him because none of the options he has are ideal.

 

[Uncle Buck]

So if Mayo is not up to it why was he retained?

 

[Pavilionaire]

LI, McGhee's had 2 summers to find a decent left-back.

And surely McGhee would have asked Bagayoko what sort of package he was after in the first place, rather than waste time playing him and thus depriving someone else of game time?

Our defence is in a perilous state, he is a good defender. I think we need to sign him up, otherwise that left-back spot will be our achilles heel for another season.

 

[London Irish]

So if Mayo is not up to it why was he retained?

Because Dick Knight and Mark McGhee agree with you and not me that he is a credible option at left-back at League 1 level?

I would put forward two other possible reasons:

1) his good performances in midfield last year give him a valuable utility role in a small squad
2) in a squad weighted towards youth, his experience is considered an asset

 

[Pavilionaire]

I would have thought that the kids just given contracts would be earmarked to provide squad cover, while senior pros like Mayo (who usually cost more in salary) would fill 1st XI spots.

Let's remember that McGhee preferred a raw teenager in Dan Harding and then a journeyman midfielder in Paul Reid to Mayo, and now with Frutos on the left I don't really see Mayo's role as being clearly defined.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

The problem I have always had with Mayo is that he has no place and this will always be a weak link

 

[London Irish]

LI, McGhee's had 2 summers to find a decent left-back.

And surely McGhee would have asked Bagayoko what sort of package he was after in the first place, rather than waste time playing him and thus depriving someone else of game time?

Our defence is in a perilous state, he is a good defender. I think we need to sign him up, otherwise that left-back spot will be our achilles heel for another season.

The truth is, no one knows how good a defender Bagoyoko really is - all we saw was a game at Worthing and the Port Le Havre games where he didn't have to defend and the Le Havre game when opinions on him were mixed.

I an not as bleakly pessimistic as you about our defence. We would suffer badly, it is true, if we were still in the Championship. But at League 1 level I am optimistic our players will cope much better and do the job, provided other bits of the team are functioning OK.