exactly, in addition the fact that naughton is our only 'EXPERIENCED' cover for walker i dont see how letting him go helps anyway, which leads me to the conclusion that the piece is rubbish or hat adam smith is getting a shot. But i have to say that i have had the privelege of seeing adam smith live before...and i rate him to no end. I've never understand te selection process at he highest parts of football and i've never understood how people get assesed....i can only put it down to character maybe that adam smith hasnt been given a shot at the big time..or maybe a deficiency in his defensive skills somewhere..but from what i have seen ..both he and ryan mason appear very capable of playing premiership football.
though i dont agree 'as much' that dawson would be the guy to leave. he's clearly a better reader than kaboul for me but his pace will always be an issue...however should we want dogged defending then he is the guy we want.....
RE Dawson, I would be happy enough if we kept them all. I was thinking more with regards "If one was to leave". Of the lot I think he is the worse fit to the system and doesnt have redeeming traits like the others of being versatile enough to cover FB positions.
One thing has been in my mind all summer. Especially when people draw lists up of 8-10 players to leave and 8-10 to join with it neatly coming in at a net spend of 50p... Its just not possible. So what is?
IMO its more likely we will ship pure dead wood/unwanteds/wont fits to raise some cash. We will fous our efforts on a few KEY first team moves, and then we will "make do" with the remainder of the squad - try and shape it more over time than immediately.
So in my mind that would account to Adebayor, Sigurdsson, Vertonghen and another forward in. The likes of Corluka, Kranjcar, Pienaar (+ a couple more) out, and then perhaps people like Bentley, Jenas and Bassong actually sticking around as squad units.
Yes, ideally it would be out with the old and in with the new, but practically I think compromise is necessary.
In addition to that all the press release around AVB coming in made a point of saying we would focus on youth. Hence Carroll and the like playing a big part of pre season - and someone like Naughton being ideal for the squad this season.