These players have 12 mths or less on their contracts. Are any worth keeping?
John Marquis, Marcus Harness, Sean Raggett, Lee Brown, Shaun Williams, Jayden Reid, Michael Jacobs, Louis Thompson, Paul Downing, Reeco Hackett, Jay Mingi and Ellis Harrison.
For me it would be Raggett and Thompson, with maybe Brown and Reid ( who hasn’t had a chance to show us otherwise). I’d bin the rest no probs, mediocre at best.
Harness is another tricky one. Has plenty of ability but inconsistent
He’s had 3 years to become consistent, cut our losses, we need a completely new forward line.
I guess we have to assume that it’s The Cowleys next season again so for everyone we let go, Danny will need to recruit a replacement, again from shopping in the bargain basement.
Don’t think many of his summer signings have been particularly worthwhile and some downright useless.
Let go of: Marquis, Williams, Jacobs, Downing, Thompson, Harrison
Keep: Raggett, Brown,
Undecided: Harness, Reid, Mingi, Reeco
I haven’t seen Reid or Mingi to make a decision, if Reeco is prepared to work really hard and effectively on his game I might keep him (only if there is a very visible improvement in the second half of the season) if not add to the Let go List.
Harness has always flattered to deceive but has ability, very much like Reeco, needs to show much greater consistency or add him to the Let go list
My main problem with all this is not so much who we let go, its about who Cowley brings in, I have little faith in his player picking ability thus far for Pompey.
I guess it’s more loans again next season, I just hope that they are infinitely a better crop than this year because, with the exception of the excellent Bazunu and the industrious Romeo there are question marks over the rest ie Hirst…really ?, Ahadme….a waste of a shirt, Azeez….being kept in the nursery it seems when we need him on the pitch (if he is really as good as I am told).
In the end it’s Moneybags Eisner who will call the shots, now there’s something to ponder !
I'd add Morrell & Freeman & Robertson to the list of good Cowley signings and there is not that much wrong with Williams & Tunnicliffe.
Just because two young loanees from the Premiership haven't worked out so far that does not make Cowley a bad signer of players. For me the Bazunu & Azeez & Romeo loans more than make up for Hirst & Ahadme.
It wasn’t a question of who we rate it’s about which players in the last 12 months of their contracts would you keep
worth wondering why we have had so many strikers who we have not done well at fratton Park. Cook commented that it was hard for many lower league players to settle at what is a big club for them, especially when we kept chopping and changing players and managers before he arrived.
Smith is a very obvious example. Ended up looking frightened to play at home. Of course at the time he had a background of several loans. Maybe he is just another Northerner who cannot settle down south?
Looking at the list, Harness and Marquis are decent at this level. But to keep them we probably have to offer a pay rise with contracts and agents as they are.
Looking hard to improve or even stand still.
Well given how poor this team is I wouldn't be giving DC the chance to make those decisions.. or any others.
does make Kenny look rather better than he was given credit for?
Given how long it took the Eisners to get rid of Jackett, I cant see them getting rid of DC sadly
Realistically, only Harness is worth keeping out of that lot. Not seen enough of Thompson to know if he is worth another season.
Raggett and Brown used to be the weakest links in defense. Shows how far we have dropped when they are the better performers these days...
It’s alright getting rid of the high earners but not if you replace them with dustbins.
Deep
Take off those deep blue tinted spectacles and see what’s happening on the pitch, The Cowleys and their picks have actually made Pompey a worse team than Jackett’s and that is quite a feat.
So Deep, who are you going to keep out of the list of contracts expiring ?
(16-10-2021, 03:22 PM)Hammie Wrote: [ -> ]worth wondering why we have had so many strikers who we have not done well at fratton Park. Cook commented that it was hard for many lower league players to settle at what is a big club for them, especially when we kept chopping and changing players and managers before he arrived.
Smith is a very obvious example. Ended up looking frightened to play at home. Of course at the time he had a background of several loans. Maybe he is just another Northerner who cannot settle down south?
Looking at the list, Harness and Marquis are decent at this level. But to keep them we probably have to offer a pay rise with contracts and agents as they are.
Looking hard to improve or even stand still.
Harness is a decent player but Marquis is a joke even at this level! He needs far too many chances to score. No wonder we had No takers for him!
Not sure we were trying to sell him. Just seems like we paid way over his actual value.
I assume the wages for all our big signings are an issue, especially post Covid. So we are stuck with them until their contract is up.
Perhaps we need to set the team up to make sure our best players can play at their best. Jacobs especially seems a stupid decision to not play him at all when we are on such a bad run without him.
(16-10-2021, 03:56 PM)Wightblue Wrote: [ -> ]Deep
Take off those deep blue tinted spectacles and see what’s happening on the pitch, The Cowleys and their picks have actually made Pompey a worse team than Jackett’s and that is quite a feat.
So Deep, who are you going to keep out of the list of contracts expiring ?
I'd agree with you on Raggett. The only definite one apart from Reid who will surely be given a chance (in fact I think I read somewhere he has already been told he will get one).
Of the rest maybe Brown, maybe Thompson but not seen enough of him to be sure.
Harness is worth money with a contract so I'd give him one and try to sell him rather than let him go on a free, and not be too unhappy if we ended up keeping him.
And surely the fact that so few of the players he inherited are worth keeping means it may not be his signings that are the biggest problem at the moment.
Hard to say what the biggest problem is at the moment but if we were to consider which of his signings would be worth keeping if their contracts were up this season it might be a short list. Certainly not Williams, Freeman, Hirst or Ahadme. I'm guessing Ogilvie isn't much better than Brown and Robertson's injury prone. Baz and Morrell good. Tunnicliffe started well but has become a non-entity. I think there might be others but can't even remember who they are!! It doesn't fill me with confidence on DC ability to pick a player.
Cowley couldn’t wait to get Johnson out and bring in Freeman, that’s worked out well hasn’t it !
Freeman was dire today¡m
(16-10-2021, 04:39 PM)Wightblue Wrote: [ -> ]Cowley couldn’t wait to get Johnson out and bring in Freeman, that’s worked out well hasn’t it !
Freeman was dire today¡m
We can recall Johnson in January if we want. But I wouldn't criticise Freeman too much for any performances in a strange postion.
I think we should abandon the back three now until we have three fit centre backs to play there, we are just conceding too mant since the switch.
of course if we still had Johnson, we'd have the option of playing tough away games with Freeman in front of Johnson, freeing up Harness to stay at number ten. Leaving Tunnicliffe a bit deeper where he seems best suited. Keeping a back four and almost certainly not conceding 2 or more a game.
(16-10-2021, 03:22 PM)Hammie Wrote: [ -> ]worth wondering why we have had so many strikers who we have not done well at fratton Park. Cook commented that it was hard for many lower league players to settle at what is a big club for them, especially when we kept chopping and changing players and managers before he arrived.
Smith is a very obvious example. Ended up looking frightened to play at home. Of course at the time he had a background of several loans. Maybe he is just another Northerner who cannot settle down south?
Looking at the list, Harness and Marquis are decent at this level. But to keep them we probably have to offer a pay rise with contracts and agents as they are.
Looking hard to improve or even stand still.
Smith was hounded out of this club by people who made up their mind pretty early in his time that he was krap. Didn't matter how much he tried. Sound familiar?
(16-10-2021, 06:45 PM)Hammie Wrote: [ -> ]of course if we still had Johnson, we'd have the option of playing tough away games with Freeman in front of Johnson, freeing up Harness to stay at number ten. Leaving Tunnicliffe a bit deeper where he seems best suited. Keeping a back four and almost certainly not conceding 2 or more a game.
What is the difference between having Johnson & Freeman to have that capability and having Romeo & Freeman to have the same capability, which we have already used . Except that I would argue that Romeo is better than Freeman at the advanced role, and Freeman marginally better than Johnson as a defender (but not much in it and I'd admit I'd rather have Johnson as an all round fullback).
I suppose that in rating Johnson, we should remember that he had a slow start last season then improved markedly as he settled in.
So perhaps we have yet to see the best from most of the new signings.
But I would still have kept him cos I think a defender's first job is to defend, out of step with modern thinking I guess but its hard to lose if you keep a clean sheet.