So having taken time to digest the result from Sunday, which was essentially a snap shot of our season as a whole of players going through the motions, same mistakes being made, and a severe lack of the basics for going to Pittodrie where the players should be prepared to go to war, we didn’t even look like we were prepared engage in the battle. So, for season 2023 – 24 is it a refresh or a rebuild?
For me it’s a unanimous rebuild.
I will exempt only 4 players that took the field on Sunday – Raskin, who looks like he has the necessary swagger and guile to fill our proud jersey likewise Cantwell, and from what I can see Souttar is a better defender than Davies. The other exception would be Tav who I know divides opinion from our fanbase. Of the players that didn’t take the field Goldson and Lawrence I am fine with being part of the rebuild
Goalkeeper – Its been the case for 18 months or more that our legendary goalkeeper has seen the sands of time catch up with him and now with the damming stats namely the 39% shot success rate making him the 2nd worst in the league. It’s a position that has cost us dearly not just this season but last as well so if the rumours about Butland are true then that would be a good base to start from 6ft 5in and will come for crosses ticks a lot of boxes for me.
Defence – Tavernier would remain for me alongside Goldson and Souttar, but left back is a massive question mark if Ridvan is unable to replace Borna then we have to take the money for him which could surely be recouped from Turkey and invest in a new left back. I would let Borna run down his contract for the money we paid for him we have more than had our money’s worth. Davies I would see if we could do a quick turnaround on a decent player good on the ball but lacks the aggression to be a top defender in our league, he would probably be useful in a more European-style game. I think we will need to invest in at least one more centre back.
Midfield – As mentioned above Raskin and Cantwell are talented hungry players and that can only be a good base to build on. Throw in the goals and assists from Tom Lawrence that would surely have continued had he not been injured and that is a decent midfield trio. Jack I would keep would be good for 20 games a season or more and provides some continuity in the dressing room.
Lundstrum I would look for offers he will be on a good wage and frankly apart from the 6 months at the end of last season he is a decent player but not as progressive as we need in the middle of the park the continued slowing of the pace disrupts our rhythm and all-too-often allows our opposition at domestic level to retreat into the low block. Kamara can go would be happy to take 3-4m he checked out 12months ago anyway.
Arfield I am a big fan, but we have to move on and Lowry should be taking that squad place now. Tillman is the 5m question if you asked me last week I would have said 100% sign but I now am not so sure. He has all the talent in the world and if the funds have been ringfenced from last season to secure the deal then yes I probably would sign him. He is going to be named our player of the year I would imagine and for his first senior season that is impressive but he needs reminders of the tempo expected when playing in the higher profile games. Hagi is a strange one, we gave him a new deal but essentially he has been fit since late January and has hardly been used, another one I think we could perhaps trade for a more robust player. I think we need to sign another central midfielder that can dominate the play and I know they are hard to come by but we have missed one for so long if this can be financed by trading some of the current midfield I would be happy with that.
Attack – Morelos has been one of my favourite players of recent times, but he knows he is going, and you can see the drop off not specifically from his play but more the commitment and aggression in his play which you need to see the best of Alfie. Kent like Tillman If you asked me previously, I would have been behind a re-sign now I am not sure at the end of the day we are not going to win the league with the level of output we are getting from our attackers and Kent is part of that.
Matondo I would like to see get a run on the left-hand side and see what he can do there is an argument that you may have got bigger numbers from Matondo on the left than we have seen from Kent. Sakala yes, he has his faults, and you cannot hang your hat on him making the right decisions at the right time but he has qualities as well and I would keep him. Colak this is a difficult on he scores goals if chances are presented to him other than that he is limited and going into our more difficult games I would be concerned by Collak starting so if we could perhaps get 2-3m for him I would take it and reinvest.
Our manager stated that he would be looking at 4 or 5 new players I would argue that number did not include Kent and Morelos leaving so that pushes that number up to 6 or 7 and I would be willing to trade with some of the players who are not essential starters to perhaps bring in players that are in the squad pushing for a first-team berth for too long now we have had a certain level of player in the squad who is ok but would be a massive drop off from the starting eleven and that’s not good enough especially with the 5 sub rule where we could be refreshing 50% of the outfield players with 25mins to go allowing us to steam roller the opposition.
In summary it’s a massive rebuild and I think we have to trade a little on top of our yearly transfer budget and use the market much better than previously to get back into contention for the league.
Not much to ask, is it?