Squad for next season

Quoted from Poojah

Different level, but Obikwu reminds me of a young Luke Cornwall. Scorer of some important goals in the midst of a relegation battle, without looking overly impressive in his all round game.

For now, I’m just grateful for the 4 points his goals against Sutton and BFS have earned us. Things might look a bit different without them.

The kid is raw; he’s only just turned 20 and this is his first taste of men’s senior football. I certainly wouldn’t rule out the possibility of him having a decent career in the game.

I wouldn’t, but he’s not what we need as a first choice starter, and next season will he be better than Cam?


We’ve had 2 seasons at this level without ever fielding a front as good as Taylor and McAtee were at Wrexham in the semi, and I’m not in any way being disparaging about Danny Rose. For me, this is the source of the most intense frustration about Paul Hurst. He did a lot of good for this club but in both spells once we got back into the EFL he left us in the same position up top.

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

He doesn't beat defenders with skill or speed, he doesn't dominate in the air, his close control is generally poor. He is also not scoring enough to be the classic 'does f*ck all for 88 minutes but always scores' and I could live with that!

Goal every 249 minutes on the pitch.  Wilson and Pyke both on a goal every 185 minutes.  Rose, who we certainly have to look at the other things he contributes, is only just better than Obikwu with a goal every 241 minutes.

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

I don't understand how he gets in the team ahead of Wilson who has pace, is muscular and and forces defenders to do things - I thought he was excellent at Wimbledon, a proper handful for a half decent defence.

I agree, but I think that sums up where Wilson is in Artell's thoughts.  Whatever it is, just doesn't seem to rate or trust him.  It dips into a thread from last week about playing our own players over young loanees and there's plenty of times this season where I've thought Obikwu getting game time was bizarre when Wilson and/or Pyke sat on the bench.  But perhaps Artell really sees the potential in Obikwu and a budding relationship with Coventry, be it for him or future players.

Wouldn't be surprised if we got a player or 2 from abroad, think I heard that Joe Hutchinson had a flight cancelled the other week, suggested he was going to maybe talk to a player.

Quoted from diehardmariner

Goal every 249 minutes on the pitch.  Wilson and Pyke both on a goal every 185 minutes.  Rose, who we certainly have to look at the other things he contributes, is only just better than Obikwu with a goal every 241 minutes.

I agree, but I think that sums up where Wilson is in Artell's thoughts.  Whatever it is, just doesn't seem to rate or trust him.  It dips into a thread from last week about playing our own players over young loanees and there's plenty of times this season where I've thought Obikwu getting game time was bizarre when Wilson and/or Pyke sat on the bench.  But perhaps Artell really sees the potential in Obikwu and a budding relationship with Coventry, be it for him or future players.

Really interesting the comparison in goals per minute with Wilson and Pyke. A little unfair to do the same with Rose who does more work in the warm up than Obikwu does over 90 minutes!  

I hope you're wrong about Wilson (I'm not bothered about Pyke) but the fact that he was on the verge of gone during the transfer window before a last minute reprieve and his appearances since suggests that Artell is not enamoured.

[quote=372]Wouldn't be surprised if we got a player or 2 from abroad, think I heard that Joe Hutchinson had a flight cancelled the other week, suggested he was going to maybe talk to a player. [/quot


I agree - Artell has mentioned foreign signings on 2 occasions, apart from the above comment.
Scandinavia would be my guess or maybe Poland or the Baltics?

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

Ah football, a game of opinions and perspectives. It genuinely feels like you've watched a different game to me at Harrogate. I am a massive fan of Harry and get a bit dewy eyed over 'one of our own' but I thought he was awful at Harrogate, he looked all at sea.

His defensive positioning is poor, he couldn't trap a bag of cement, he was incapable of passing to another bloke in a striped shirt and was 'the player in his specialist position' that he outperformed the same bloke who constantly found space behind him and forced him time and again into a race?

Harry's only saving grace at Harrogate was that Obikwu made him look like Lionel Messi.

No sorry you're misunderstanding me - the player he outperformed in his specialist position was Hume. Just to be clear I thought Clifton had a poor game too, albeit playing on his weaker side, UNTIL Hume came on, in his specialist position and was promptly given a far more torrid time by their very tricky wide player. I thought Hume would give us more going forward than Harry had (not hard) but actually he did nothing as he was so much on the back foot defensively, and in fact he should have been sent off. He actually was noticeably worse than Clifton and I think their lad was v good indeed, but at least Clifton didn't get tonked like Glennon and Mullarkey were earlier in the season letting cross after cross in or getting on the wrong side of players etc. If Hume had been on from the start against their lad, instead of just having the final 20 against him when he was tiring a little, that is exactly what we would have got I reckon. At least Clifton was able to do enough to keep his head above water against their guy, and not sink like some of our FBs have this year!

And yet hume has spent his entire career above league 2 and played that position all his career. Harry has probably had less than 20 games at LB/LWB.