Thinking that for a lot of last season the midfield three consisted of Burgess/Joyce/Taylor and hopefully Taylor re-signs on loan or perhaps the talented Hurst on the left could be a revelation but consider an equally strong midfield three of Whitehead/Oyeleke/Conlon.

51 minutes ago, JRC said:

Must be honest I agree with philmpv. Fully fit Oyeleke would be my first choice in midfield. He offers some real physicality as well as being a good footballer. IF he's 100% fit its which position you pick for him. Conlon being left footed and not really having a left footed winger means he will probably start. That leaves Joyce, Whitehead and Burgess for one spot.

How nice is it to be having this type of debate! Choices, option, combinations... got to love it!

53 minutes ago, JRC said:

Must be honest I agree with philmpv. Fully fit Oyeleke would be my first choice in midfield. He offers some real physicality as well as being a good footballer. IF he's 100% fit its which position you pick for him. Conlon being left footed and not really having a left footed winger means he will probably start. That leaves Joyce, Whitehead and Burgess for one spot.

Absolutely he would be in my team too. But joyce for me is still the number one choice as holding midfielder. That’s the formation that Askey will stick with.

4 minutes ago, Burslem Academicals said:

Thinking that for a lot of last season the midfield three consisted of Burgess/Joyce/Taylor and hopefully Taylor re-signs on loan or perhaps the talented Hurst on the left could be a revelation but consider an equally strong midfield three of Whitehead/Oyeleke/Conlon.

I’m going. To say something that people may not agree with... I’m not too bothered if Taylor doesn’t re-sign.

He didn’t play much at the back end and that’s when our form kicked on and we started to really gain some momentum.

Burgess has an INCREDIBLE record of not losing whilst playing and... and this is the reason I’m not too bothered if Taylor doesn’t sign... Burgess is ours. 

Another good 6 months for Taylor and he would be off to earn big money somewhere. 

Yes Taylor scores goals, but we didn’t necessarily miss them when he was injured... the System provides the goals and spreads them around.

If we could sign him on a free I would snap their hand off. But loaning him is short term gain, and based on our performances without him, we can still get results and develop our own.

4 hours ago, darren1810 said:

Rekeil Pyke , remember him ?

3 year deal at Shrewsbury, was a victim of the Michael Brown loan glut where we had so many that all couldn't be picked in the squad 

He was the lad who was banging them in for fun in pre-season then did nothing once we started the season, admittedly as others have said we weren't a very good side at the time and he must have been only 18/19.  His loan record aside from a spell at Wrexham in the NL is shocking though(for a striker who is supposed to be young and promising), Huddersfield must have seen something in him to keep him until age 22 though, I'll be interested to see what Shrews get out of him(if anything)

6 minutes ago, PV1973 said:

Absolutely he would be in my team too. But joyce for me is still the number one choice as holding midfielder. That’s the formation that Askey will stick with.

Unless Askey is dumber than I think he hasn't signed Whitehead to compete for a space on the bench with Burgess with Oyeleke as a starter on right midfield. He'll stick with the formation. I think there is a reasonable chance he'll give Oyeleke the central role.

Looks a great signing. Can't say I know alot about him but he definitely appears improves the squad from last year.

To those unhappy with the business so far, If you compare like for like I'd rather have Whitehead coming off the bench to change things over Lloyd and Mills replacing full back injuries over Evans. We are a decent striker away from having one of the best squads in the league.

Iron Curtain interesting thoughts about Taylor and if memory serves when Conlon got back in after injury when Taylor was injured Conlon was getting forward much more and to say again could Hurst perhaps be an option on the left side of the midfield three.

Couldn't agree more. When taylor was signed last season I don't think anybody including JA foresaw burgess coming to the fore like he did and it was only due to mannys and conlons injuries that burgess got the chances that he did. Like you say the second half of the season both burgess and conlon were playing out of their skins so taylor was kept out on merit. Now, manny hopefully being back and Whitehead coming in, signing taylor on loan seems pointless as he's not so much better than what we have.

I’m going. To say something that people may not agree with... I’m not too bothered if Taylor doesn’t re-sign.
He didn’t play much at the back end and that’s when our form kicked on and we started to really gain some momentum.
Burgess has an INCREDIBLE record of not losing whilst playing and... and this is the reason I’m not too bothered if Taylor doesn’t sign... Burgess is ours. 
Another good 6 months for Taylor and he would be off to earn big money somewhere. 
Yes Taylor scores goals, but we didn’t necessarily miss them when he was injured... the System provides the goals and spreads them around.
If we could sign him on a free I would snap their hand off. But loaning him is short term gain, and based on our performances without him, we can still get results and develop our own.

14 minutes ago, JRC said:

Unless Askey is dumber than I think he hasn't signed Whitehead to compete for a space on the bench with Burgess with Oyeleke as a starter on right midfield. He'll stick with the formation. I think there is a reasonable chance he'll give Oyeleke the central role.

Do you mean in place of Joyce?

Look at the signings so far and I’m happy, I would love us now get a good forward in who’s been and done it in this league, a backup keeper to Brown, need a good attacking midfielder unless Taylor signs off course, still think we need a good LB aswell unless we get Clark back on loan.

It has been mentioned before but Askey seems to base his teams around a squad/team where goals can come from a variety of sources and not necessarily 1 or 2 players being prolific.  I think Whitehead probably adds to this whether he is 100% first choice or not.  If we have an injury or 2 in midfield there is someone there who can score goals who will play instead.

Like last season pretty much everyone weighed in with at least 1 goal(oddly Montano aside but we know he has a few in him too).

It's a stretch but if we could add a 15+ a season striker I'd be very confident of us doing well.

5 hours ago, WilliamBriscoe said:

Just look at his stats. History is everything at this level, especially as he is being brought in as experienced player. Look how many games he has played for a player of 26/27. He may have promotions on his CV but he didn’t play for Mac that much and at Salford he was playing in a very good side that would have been promoted without him.

Im honestly no knocking your enthusiasm, but sometimes being realistic is a far better view point. He looks to be a hard working midfielder player, but doesn’t have creativity, isn’t the best passer of the ball, doesn’t have a great deal of pace. You add all that up and you just have another Evans from last season.

Im still positive about the majority of the squad and just hope that we can bring a Taylor type player or Clark back before the transfer window ends in October (I think it’s October now isnt it?)

Bollox He played 35 games in Maccs promotion season under SJA. And through my work I attended every Macc home game that season. He was superb. He is a class player with a " box to box engine". And having met him several times I can tell you he is a great bloke to have around.  He will help to bring us the promotion we deserve.

1 hour ago, PV1973 said:

Do you mean in place of Joyce?

Yep. If he isn't on the right and plays in the centre it has to be instead of Joyce.

As someone mentioned earlier in the thread when Oyeleke won player of the season and got a move to Vale Oyeleke played centre holding midfield having formerly played right back and with Whitehead signing now and Burgess as the right of midfield options it looks like Manny could well compete with Joyce for that position in the centre....now this would also have the bonus perhaps of a reduced risk of injury vis a vis hamstrings...and a fully fit Oyeleke as midfield general would for many get the nod ahead of Joyce even.

Also another thought concerning injury prone players is perhaps if Pope is generally utilised as a kinda talisman super sub coming on with twenty minutes to go or upon the hour say and Cullen were to be a regular starter then is it not said that most injury/burn out/niggle/strain etc occurs in the last 20 minutes and perhaps this could help to keep Cullen available,fit and fresh....both are quality and are very good players at this level but need carefull management.