Messages

We need to enhance the team / squad depending on how much money the yanks are prepared to spend in January. If we go for squad players then we will struggle to get top 4 but if we go for broke and spend 30/40+ then we must buy quality players who can improve the first 11 immediately. Pastore is available from PSG, sneijder possibly and Alonso from RM again. Striker wise we could go for benzema or similar. However, I fear we don't have the money as the latest names rumoured are Ings from Burnley and an Egytian called Salal so no big names there.

Our owners ambitions will come to the fore in next few weeks - are they ambitious for CL or are they hopeful of CL - our targets/spending will answer the question.

Where is Kuyt when we need him - would do a job now and I never rated him !!! And we sold him for 2M .....

We can all talk about adding to the squad with quality players who are for first XI only - as someone said we then use Henderson, Allen, sterling etc as squad players. Reality is that good players want to play in Europe so we find it hard to attract that type of player currently as the summer showed. We were in for Costa (stayed at athletico Madrid for CL), Miktyaran (went to Dortmund for CL), Willian (went to Chelsea for CL) so it is difficult. We won't attract star names until we are in CL. Suarez came from Ajax but they weren't CL regulars. Not many star men available who want to play prem league only especially in a season leading up to World Cup

Yes, that would appear to be correct line out if the rumours are true according to God14.

Have to say I think that is best we can do at the minute. If we play 4,4,2 then we have to accommodate Sterling and I feel he is weak away from home especially against Walker at right back for Spurs who will be bombing forward all day long. 3,5,2 is not the preferred option for most supporters but it maybe a necessity at the minute with the personnel available. Moses and Sterling could come in late on to stretch spurs if game is tight as they will feel that they need a win as they are at home and we could exploit them in last 15.

Spurs will attack from everywhere early doors and try to get ahead early which they against man u. However, I believe a draw is a decent result considering our resources at present but a win would be more than welcome

LeoMc,

It is not only this year that has been the problem - it has been worse this year as many posters have highlighted and you are in agreement with me on the main point of communication. As I stated, this year communication was as big an issue as any - no plans put in place for scenario A or B and everyone waiting until Monday morning to find out if they have a game coming up.  If teams were aware in advance that they possibly will play option A or B then they can plan but there never was any advance notice from CB or CCC of any scenario going forward and this caused ill feeling among the ordinary club player.

However, from memory and without much investigation, ACL game 1 was called off to facilitate NFL semi and then played the Sunday before the NFL final !! - what was the point in calling it off for the semi. We got to game 7 then all of a sudden games are delayed due to county teams for various reasons (13 day rule, 6 day rule, weekend training) In senior league the last 8 games were mostly played out of sequence from the original schedule whereas 1-7 went as planned.

The senior c'ship initially was planned for weekend of August 9-11 but was pulled and not played until early September. I think from mid August to early October some teams only played max 2 games if they lost c'ship 1st round game.

I admit it is a hard problem to solve but no one seems to have a viable solution. I personally think if we went back to 4x12 and played H & A then that is 22 games with NO cancellations but then the question is how can we handle 22 games when we cant handle 15. one solution is to start in early March (lot of Tyrone teams play UL which is in Feb) and play every Sunday. How we accommodate county players and starred games needs to be carefully planned if we went down this route but we have to try other options as the current situation is not working.

Yes, we can say that this year was an exception as minors and seniors doing well caused these issues but we will always do well - we are a top county and should always be hope to be playing in August so we need to plan our schedule around this.

Lads, not once did I say Shane Long was the answer but he would be a good addition for the squad - if Suarez or Sturridge got injured I would rather have Long at 6M as the deputy than either Aspas (6M), Alberto (6M) or Borini (10M). That is what I said and I also considered that we do not have the finances to spend big on 4 players every window. If we had finance then the 4 players we need would of course be top end Euro players but we don't have the cash. We have to buy within our means - therefore the idea of Long is not so bad.

If you say to me that we had 100M to spend then the scenario switches to players like Sneijder, Pedro, Khedira, Pastore, Marchisio, Lewandoski, Diego Costa and the likes but do you think these guys would sign as squad players - somehow I don't think so....

No one is saying Long is a world beater but at 6M surely it is worth a go. Aspas and Alberto cost that each and they haven't hit a barn door never mind the net. Also Long is premier league ready, has the experience of it and can hit the ground running. If he scored 10 goals that would be a bonus but a CD has said it is his all round energy up front that caused problems. He is always on the shoulder of the last defender and they hate that - ask JT at Chelsea - Long cleaned him out a few weeks ago. Plus his record suggest a 1/3 goal ratio which is average but would it improve with better players in his supply line - maybe it would.

For 6M or similar it would be a good deal in my opinion.

LeoMc I hear and understand what you say and we all should give our tuppence worth to a set of fixtures but it is pointless. We could formulate the best scenario possible but then MH and Micky Donnelly will request changes and of course our CB and CCC will bow down to the request. The issue in previous years was not necessarily the fixtures plan - I think it was the point of how it was ambushed by all and sundry to accommodate our county teams. in 2011 it was perfect, games regular, holiday period defined but then the men at the top table thought they could improve on it and put their own stamp on it and bandjaxed the whole thing !!.

If the fixtures are in place then we must stick to them !!. Another issue is that in August there was no notification of what would happen in A) if Tyrone win B) Tyrone lose - this caused uproar and we had to wait until Monday morning to see if there was any football for the upcoming week.

No wonder all lads play other sports during the winter - organised fixtures with no cancellations for stag do's, weddings, flu bugs... or whatever.

Formulate a fixture schedule by all means but it means nothing if we don't stick to it - and that means clubs, county managers, Cb, CCC...

Gerrard out for 6 weeks = minimum 7/8 games. I think he is not the player he was but still crucial to the team in terms of confidence and dead ball plays so will be certainly missed. Maybe we should go with back 3 and stick with it for the period rather than chopping and changing. Back 3 accommodates Sahko and Agger and allows Johnson to bomb forward so maybe a possibility. See somewhere today that Javier Pastore is available on loan in Jan from PSG and needs games to get in Argentina WC squad - he is Champions league tied so not interesting for any qualifier in that so maybe he could come to Anfield for 6 months and show what he has got and force his way into Argie squad. We need strengthening big time if we are to maintain a challenge. Arsenal also welcome back Podolski, Oxlade Chamberlain and Walcott back into their squad which makes them even stronger.

As I said previously Shane Long for 6M would be a start. Someone said Cabaye but he will be 15+ but is a decent player who can play rough or smooth depending on the flow of the game. Need at least 4 new faces in Jan either on loan or a purchase.

Agree totally regarding reserve season. This year we had no games for 7 weeks in September / early October then all reserve players expected to play c'ship on sat followed by ACL game on sunday for 2 weeks in a row - MH wouldn't let Tyrone seniors do that at county level so why expect the club player to do it...?

Club players are disregarded and that is fact....

Calling off ACL game 1 this year due to 7 day rule before NFL semi was crazy and then play it Sunday before the final - what was the sense in that. Could have played games before semi and final and that was an extra game out of the way.

Bingo,

tried your advice on the tighter runners and Vaseline rub on arches but still getting the blisters. Done 10K last night and for last 2 it was sore enough and couldn't have done much more if had to.

Could the asics gel be done - have ran about 1000k in them........

Could there be any other cause ?

A possible reason why so few players left in them first set of years is due to the fact that we had not hit a recession yet and they were prob earning good money at home so why go the states for the summer...plus football in Tyrone in the period 03-08 was like an obsession due to county success and all clubs tried hard to be successful and had the finance to try and push on. That is no longer the case and clubs are finding it hard to keep lads at home nowadays. These figures are for USA but vast numbers go to OZ as well and a lot more have went there full time rather than just go to US for summer months.

Big clubs can suffer losses ( EC with 70+ adult players) and the like but small rural clubs need all men on board therefore from their thinking the August c'ship season is best suited for them - if they lose in May then they will struggle to field a reserve team for remaining games of season.

- Why can we not play reserve c'ship on going in summer time? to delay it due to Tyrone is crazy - name your 12 players who cannot play reserve and keep the thing moving and get it sorted out in June, July and August.
- start senior league a few weeks earlier and do NOT compromise any game for NFL semi or final - ACL go ahead as planned
- Play 1 double week fixture ie; sun, wed, sun wed then 2 week break for Tyrone (at least that is 4 games done in 2 weeks)

Remember 98% of players only play at club level !!!!

Difficult one this to gauge regarding the amount of running done in pre season. Stories abounds this year that Ballinderry changed their whole training philosophy from previous years and really emptied the tank from Feb-April this year even resulting in some players throwing the dummy out of the pram! Heard that they were doing 800m x 10 and 600m x 12  up to 3 times a week then reduced it to 200m x 24 closer to championship time. Not sure if it is correct but maybe someone from within or in the know could enlighten us. I seen them a few times this year in Derry and in Ulster and their fitness showed in a few games when it was needed - late on against Scotstown and the first and last 20 against Kilcoo they were really on fire - sprinting all over the field at great pace and supporting off the shoulder at will.

This would be regarded as speed endurance training I suspect but not comparable with the long slow runs of yesteryear whereby you could have done laps after laps but all one paced.

Maybe a shamrock could give us an insight without revealing too much

Sincerely hope the Henderson injury is not a major issue - he has done well this season and gives the middle sector plenty of energy. Has bags of appetite which makes up for his other minor faults. On Saturday past v the hammers he cleared one out of the 6 yard box and was on the end of the breakaway move if sterling had of lifted his head !!

Need Henderson for next 3 games for sure. Who do we turn to if he is out ....?

Need at least 5 big signings and I mean 10M+ each in next 2 windows to keep the momentum. the mancs are failing, spurs have not much money left for AVB to burn so we need to seize and opportunity.

Rodgers last jan window was major success - Coutinho and Sturridge - lets hope for similar this one

HC shaping up nicely. Imagine if all 4 teams qualified !!

Leinster looking great at the minute, Munster ticking along nicely but big game coming up on weekend. Ulster going ok but not setting world alight but may do when injuries clear up whilst Connacht can beat zebre and Toulouse at home then could qualify but honestly will be unlikely.

For Irish, 3 teams in last 8 will be good and the winner will come from either of the 3 if draw is favourable.

Outside Irish danger is sarries and clermont

9 pts would be acceptable for sure but we can't afford any more injuries. Agger needs games, as does Sahko if we are going to push on. Gerard and sturridge are out for next set of games it appears so squad will be fully tested. What options for midfield now... Lucas, Allen and Henderson are ok but what next if one of them misses out.
Signings needed in Jan for sure - midfielder, left sided man and another striker. Any possible names out there yet..?
Would like to see Shane long for 6M - would give us pace up front, Mulumbu from WBA for defensive role in middle, sniejder would be great but can't see it. Bertrand or ceontrau for the left side role on loan would suffice.

Bigger names mean bigger cost and we don't have the funds unfortunately

Onwards and upwards !!!