Some Positives?

Quoted from forza ivano

Genuine question.
I'm no tactical genius, but isn't it possible to use this base, which the players are obviously comfortable with (and half of them are contracted next season remember), and tweak or adapt it to make it more pleasing on the eye?

3-5-2 when set up properly with excellent wing backs who are capable of getting up and down the flanks can be a really good formation in a footballing sense. My concern with it though is that you're reliant on just one player each side for your width who has to have the required ability with the ball, stamina and ability to defend at a consistently very high level in order for it to work well. Essentially two of your better players have to be the wing backs e.g Notts County with Jodi Jones or you're always going to be sacrificing some attacking intent from out wide. If we've got a very average budget for the division we're in which is likely, then the chances of finding a suitable player that we can afford for both flanks is probably quite low. Then what happens if one of them gets a long term injury? The chances of us being able to afford four good players capable of playing wing back is virtually nil. So in that situation you're a bit stuck. Do you just persevere and have no width or threat going forward on that side? Or do you change formation? If you change formation what do you change it to? If you're planning on setting up as a 3-5-2 as your main formation then do you sign wingers? Do you sign them if you're often not going to use them more often than not and if you don't sign them then you're very limited to what you can change your formation to?

Equally if you're going to really have the wing backs pushing forward then you'd better hope that your full backs are very good and very mobile. Again, Notts County are a perfect example of the issues with this as their defence is the worst in the league because they're so often over run. This is in spite of having some very good wing backs and central midfielders in front of them.

It's not an easy problem to solve. It's helped to shore us up and ensure our L2 survival but it's a difficult formation to set up perfectly. An easy formation to either become very difficult to break down or to allow lots of players to get forward  (Us as the former, Notts County the latter) but getting the balance right is very hard.

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

To add:  we had to wait until June, when we won the Promotion Final, to know what division we would be in the next season.

We know this 6 weeks earlier, giving more time to plan and look at players.  Knowing the budget as well.

We have a last game without any pressure.  Can say goodbye to some players and/or play some youngsters or fringe players.

that was the season before....

For me the positive is that most of the best players in the squad are contracted to us next season and the ones where there are question marks mainly aren't contracted.  That is a great position for the manager to be in.

Contracted to us and strong contenders to be in a starting 11 next season:

Tharme, Thompson, Rose, Vernam  - only 4 but what a four to have already signed up for next year and to build a team around

Contracted to us and potential contenders to be in a starting 11 next season:

Mullarkey and Rodgers have done well in the final third of the season and could slot back in alongside Tharme, or be strong squad members
Eastwood came back into the team a changed player from the one with his confidence shot - as a minimum, a strong back up
Wilson has done well at times and definitely worthy of a place on the bench

Contracted to us and with question marks:
Hunt, Pyke

Contracted and one for the future
Gardner

If you look down the long list of players who aren't contracted, are there any who we'd be really gutted to lose?  Whilst there are some that it would be good to keep (Ainley probably tops that list) there are no massive losses. Whereas in previous years, we've nearly always lost someone we'd like to keep - Fox, McAtee, Crocombe. I expect Artell to maybe offer half a dozen contracts from this group, leaving space for 6-8 new signings who should all be first team contenders.

The worry is, mullarkey has gone on record as saying he is better as a right sided CB in a three. If we go to a back four where does he fit in?

Quoted from kevikov

The worry is, mullarkey has gone on record as saying he is better as a right sided CB in a three. If we go to a back four where does he fit in?

York.

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

York.

It’s by no means out of the question that Altrincham will be making their first appearance as a football league club next season. Certainly one possible avenue to keep an eye on here if he doesn’t fit next season’s intended template.

It would be nice to have the flexibility to switch between 3-5-2 (or 3-4-1-2) and 4-3-3, but not sure we will have the budget to sign 2 really good FBs to make the latter work. When we played this earlier in the season both FBs were continually exposed, not helped by Eisa’s non track back non tackling playing style.

I will do my player appraisal seeing as it's over now based on what I think will happen rather than what I want myself .

Players under contract
Eastwood - will more than likely be retained as backup
Rodgers- will be retained as either 2nd or 3rd choice CB
Tharme- First choice CB
Mullarkey- Will be retained unless a decent bid comes in , good end to the season in his primary role.

Hunt- more than likely given pre-season within Artell's favoured system to impress
Khouri- on a long term contract , probably given pre-season to see if he can force his way into the reckoning , if not loan to a NL side to further development .
Thompson- 1st choice CM
Vernam- will be retained , need him injury free for a long period .

Rose - 1st choice striker
Pyke- will be retained unless someone is willing to take him on - suspect Artell would be willing to release
Wilson- Doubtful he will stay if he wanted back down south in January , will probably leave for a nominal fee .
Gardner- Given pre-season to impress and then probably loaned out to NLN

Out of contract
Amos- will be released
Glennon- expect to be released
Maher- expect to be released
Hume - will probably be offered a year , but might go out looking for better .
Ainley- expect him to be offered a year
Clifton- think he will be offered 1 year but might look for better/have suitors
Arthur- will be released
Eisa- will be released
Green- depends who the 1 year option favours , suspect will mean a year's extension
Holahan- with a heavy heart will be released
Khan-released

Loans
Cartwright - will leave with best wishes doubt we will see him back next season
Smith- one of the only interesting one's think he might get offered a year .
Andrews- did a job at times but doubt he will be back
Wood- doubt will be back
Obikwu- think he will be back if Coventry will drop him down to league 2 again - Artell rates him no doubt.

Kids
Bramwell- possibly offered another year
Esell- will be released
Tomlinson - likely released
Braithwaite- possibly offered 6 months or a year 50/50

So we will probably start the summer with a minimum of 11 senior players under contract upto a maximum of 14 or 15  so we will probably be looking to recruit a mimimum of 10 with a maximum of 15 i would say .

Will be a busy summer

Quoted from gtfc_chris

Agreed, but we do have to consider the likelihood that DA will abandon the 3-5-2 over the summer and revert to something more in keeping with his philosophies and the 'game model'. The change was needed and provided some much needed improvement to what clearly wasn't working at the time but I'm confident he'll want to get back there with the players he feels can play. In that vein of thinking we have to revert to the context of the Donny game and previous.

For me this is where the biggest improvements within the club are coming from, planning. JS has alluded that the game model they had in mind was knocked back under PH and they obviously gave him time to see if it worked and if our assumptions are correct then they also effectively handed PH the rope with which to hang himself. Continuing some assumptions further, in that DA is in sync with the owners and the game model then you'd like to believe that between DA, Joe and other supporting staff there is a plan in place to bring the 'right' players in to play according to the model.

Time will tell whether it works out but football doesn't work in straight lines and I'm sure there'll be some setbacks, hopefully at least we can see something a little more consistent over the course of the season which hopefully sees us flirting at the play off end rather than the relegation one.

People on this forum quote Game Model as if its some secret formula method of playing. So what is this Game Model that PH didn't want to buy into, and DA has? And how is this Game Model going make Grimsby Town a winner, compared to the other 23 League 2 teams we are competing with.? You write it as if you know what it means, so share your knowledge.

Quoted from kevikov

The worry is, mullarkey has gone on record as saying he is better as a right sided CB in a three. If we go to a back four where does he fit in?

Im sure he could squeeze in on the end of the bench.