Interesting to hear different opinions.
I want to be that optimistic too! :-)
But if we sell Paulsen, Old and Surman I can't imagine us doing as well next year. Those three all had a reasonable amount of first team time before this season and apart from Kelly-Heald and Hughes no other academy players seem ready to replace them.
(yes Conchie could but he plays in a different position).
I want to be that optimistic too! :-)
But if we sell Paulsen, Old and Surman I can't imagine us doing as well next year. Those three all had a reasonable amount of first team time before this season and apart from Kelly-Heald and Hughes no other academy players seem ready to replace them.
(yes Conchie could but he plays in a different position).
Paulsen is unique in temperament and in ability with his feet. And he’s been a ball at feet keeper his whole development I believe.
I think Hughes is ready to play more minutes this season, as is Kelly-Heald.
I wonder about Sutton. He certainly hits power shots, but hasn’t scored much. We need to ask Nick Montgomery what he said to McGarry to get his goal radar on or Popovic to Geria and Traore!
While Old is good, if we don’t attack through him we can attack in another way through different players.
But without Paulsen we’ll be a fundamentally different team. We’ll have to build our attacks differently. It’ll affect our defense as we might start to concede shots from different areas, such as more from high turnovers, than we did before.
I’d also love to see Rufer playing a European Conference league or even Europa Cup semi-final or final. He doesn’t have to for the fans, but for the country and his place in the pantheon I’d love to see him get a chance like that.
We might have to bring in a couple of Australian players or imports if we want to keep our standards up and replace the names you’ve mentioned.
On the other hand maybe there are players such as Sheridan, Supyk and GSR will develop over the preseason.
We’re guna be different and I’m going to be interested with what Chief will do.