Originally Posted by
JuliquE
Agreed.
We also saw, I think, six or seven new starters come into the side, this year (Gilberto/Moore, Defoe, Bradley, Morrow, Jackson, Oduro/Lovitz, and sometimes Hagglund/Creavalle), with one or two of the advertised remaining "core" of players not quite 100% ready for prime-time, on a seriously contending side (or, at least, question-marks on how they will respond to serious starting responsibilities over the likes of Henry, Oso/Bekker, and Bloom)—hardly a solid foundation on which to shift the culture.
The problem isn't necessarily the amount of new faces in the starting line-up, per se, as, presumably, that could be a good thing, if there were many bad-apples or, quite simply, a lack in quality, that needed addressing. The problem is that, if you add so many new starters, the remaining core has to not only be the absolute cream of the crop in terms of attitude (bleeding.. well.. red.. lool), but also far more reliable/influential, quality-wise.. else, there's not enough strong personalities to guide the newcomers, impressing the values of what it means to be a Red (or what we'd like it to mean, going forward).
I think that, this time around, there is far more quality to work with, and the likes of Caldwell, Bradley, Gilberto, Morrow, a more seasoned/hungry (after an injury-plagued year) Oso, and one or two others that will particularly drive the culture in a positive direction, along with a number of other starters perhaps not quite as "rah-rah," but lending to the cohesion/consistency, all the same. 2015, for me, feels like the first time we could really have a shot at putting it all together, properly, and it's refreshing to see someone like Vanney setting very specific and detailed targets.
At the minute, we need two new CB's (one stud, one not-quite, to challenge for back-up mins.), proper, stud DM (freeing Bradley to play box-to-box, a la Yaya Toure), a proper, bona fide AM (stopping the over-reliance on Bradley to create), a solid back-up at striker, and a back-up/starting, left-sided winger—that's four to five potential new starters.. so, an improvement, to be sure, with the remaining "core" FAR more worthy of the moniker.
It's not perfect, but could be something special, next season. =)