In the latest of his regular Blog's, Kyle Mitchell takes a look at which playing positions he believes Walsall Football Club must recruit into over the summer break in order to make an impact during the upcoming Football League campaign.
Looking over last season and the released list it is obvious we have some gaps in the squad to fill. Gamble and come out and said at the moment we have a strong squad and he is only expecting a few additions to improve the squad with a Right-Back and Striker being the main focus.
With Stefan Gamble already coming out and saying that the budget has been increased due to the JPT money Deano will have the option of looking to sign players on a fee which could see us bring in some extra quality from below. But as he also said, it isn’t just about the money, which I agree with. We have consistently brought in quality first team players on free transfers and will continue to do so. People may want us to spend money but at the end of the day why spend money when you can get quality for free, like we did in Cook, Forde, O’Donnell and Bradshaw.
A Big Defender - Now I’m not sure this is something that is extremely important. A lot of people think we have an “Andy Butler” sized hole in our back 4. Last season we had a good defence, one of the better defences in the league other than the 8 goals conceded in the last game. Looking at our back 4 I think we could bring youngsters through and use them as backup whilst playing whichever pairing out of Downing, Chambers and O’Connor we choose.
We did concede a lot of goals from crosses but that isn’t just down to the defenders. That was also down to O’Donnell, one of his only weaknesses is dealing with crosses and that was picked out on by several teams this season. Maybe finding somebody of a similar style to Butler would be good for us but at the same time I think there are a lot more important things to look at.
Out and out wingers - I personally think at the moment we are well off for wide midfielders with Cook and Forde but we don’t have any out and out wingers other than Morris in my opinion. Last season we lacked the pace down the wings which with the system we are playing makes a big difference and Morris has shown he can fit what we need but we still need another player like him.
A few seasons ago we had Paterson and Brandy backed up by Baxendale and Hemmings. All of them could show pace and all of them could not only score but create chances. This is what we missed last season. I can see Morris scoring 10 goals next season if he is given the chance but we need somebody on the right side as well.
Many people are looking towards Brandy after his release from Rotherham and he could come back in and produce similar results but he has had a couple of slow years and it is whether he will hit form again. Looking at filling the gap he is the perfect candidate but I think there could be better options out there.
Another striker - Now I don’t want another striker to play 4-4-2 because as much as people call for it, when we have played it, it hasn’t always worked. We need another striker who can come in for Bradshaw when he has fitness problems. Bradshaw has been brilliant for us so far and if he stays fit and plays every game next season he will get 20 goals again, maybe more.
But, he has been injured a lot throughout his career. We need to bring in a striker who can slot in and score goals if Bradshaw is out, or just out of form. Not only has he had a lot of injuries, he has had patches throughout this season where he hasn’t scored for a while, which meant we didn’t score many goals.
Bringing in somebody who can continue scoring when others are out is key for us. Bakayoko or Murphy may already be the answer to this but I would bring in another option in case the two highly rated strikers aren’t quite ready.
A right back - This season Chambers, Purkiss, Kinsella and O’Connor played at right back. Out of all of them I think Purkiss was the best option for the position but having just released him we need somebody new. Chambers hasn’t got enough to play the position every game and O’Connor never performed as well as he has at CB.
Kinsella is an interesting option but personally I think he is better suited to a midfield role. He is too small to play as a defender and isn’t strong enough to push players off the ball.
Another option is to move Taylor to right back with Rico Henry likely to take the starting job at left back this season. The question with that is whether Taylor could make that transition after 3 years of being our starting left back.
If none of these are an option we need to go and look for somebody to fill this gap. Deano may have an option already waiting in the youth system but I think we need somebody who can come in a consistently play in the position. Somebody who can play 46 league games with consistent performances is needed after having too much question about the position last season.
A centre midfielder - Finally I think we need a centre midfielder. It was obvious towards the end of the season that Adam Chambers is starting to come towards the end of his playing career. I can still see him playing 20+ games but not every game.
Now Flanagan may be a brilliant player by the end of the upcoming season but at this moment in time I think we should do whatever we can to bring in Cain whether it be back on loan from Leicester or permanently on a free.
For those who read my last column I said that he displayed passion and energy we need in the position and next season I would love to see a pairing of Cain and Mantom in those two central roles. Mantom can pass the ball to anywhere on the pitch and is brilliant in that deep role whilst Cain showed a lot more pressing style and more effort pushing forward.
Looking at next season I think that is exactly what we need in the central midfield roles. I have nothing against Chambers and behind O’Donnell he was my player of the season. Moving through to next season though I think Cain and Mantom would be brilliant for us.
Not a goalkeeper - Even now O’Donnell has announced his departure from the club we still don’t need to sign a goalkeeper. ROD has been brilliant for us over the past two seasons but we don’t need to sign a replacement. There is a reason we signed MacGillivray and people seem to forget that clubs including Newcastle wanted to sign him from Harrogate.
It isn’t every day numerous league clubs including a premiership team and championship teams bid to sign a non-league player, especially a keeper. He was signed for a reason and he was brought in to play for us at some point or another and whether it is earlier than the club planned we are in capable hands.
People seemed to forget about MacGillivray when O’Donnell announced his departure and many also argued against his talent and passion. He has talent, just because he hasn’t had a chance to showcase it in the first team doesn’t mean he doesn’t have talent. He was never going to replace ROD this past season. To those who argued his passion, were you at Bristol City? Not only did he showcase his talent (1 of those goals were his fault and I am convinced that even with O’Donnell in net we would’ve conceded 5+ goals) but after every goal that went past him he screamed at the defence and showed his passion.
MacGillivray is the right man going forward for us in goal, just because people won’t admit it now it doesn’t mean he isn’t the right option or should just be written off before he is given a proper chance to showcase his skills.
By: Kyle Mitchell.