Leyton Orient confirmed former captain Ian Hendon as their
new head coach on the 28th May. Here is my bucket list for what the
new man has to do in the coming months.
Get rid of the deadwood
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| Dossena showing some skill. |
One problem last season was the amount of overpaid players
that weren’t delivering. The likes of Darius Henderson, Jobi McAnuff, Andrea
Dossena and Gianvito Plasmati often left O’s fans grumbling (well, even more
than they already were). That, combined with some of the players that were an
important part of the playoff final squad, inexplicably transforming into
players who were unable to make much useful contribution to the team at all
within a matter of months, led to the eventual relegation from League 1. The
new man must eradicate the problem players if he wants to succeed with the
club.
Use the loan market wisely
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| Hedges showed passion when he played |
Ryan Hedges and Alex Cisak did make very useful contributions
in the second half of last season and they were borrowed from Swansea and
Burnley respectively. Players like this pair can be valuable in a battle for promotion
or relegation as they want to impress those watching from their parent clubs.
Added to this is the fact that players like Hedges are young and hungry, and
have a bit of pace about them. With Hendon’s knowledge of the West Ham academy
we might possibly see some young, hungry talent coming to Brisbane Road.
Bring stability to the club
The club has been about as stable as a badly constructed bouncy
castle over the past twelve months, so Hendon will need to do more than just paint
over the cracks. A stable starting XI is a must, as well as capable first team
coaches and backroom staff that would contribute ably to the cause. As long as
this happens the club will be in a much stronger position than it is at the
moment.
Play the younger players
There is a core of about 5 or 6 young players that are on the
fringes of the first team and some (e.g. Charlie Grainger and Harry Lee) have
been around for what feels like ages. So this is now a better opportunity than
ever to actually give these promising players some actual game time. If these
players are good enough for the bench they are surely good enough to be given
some opportunities in the first team, right?
Keep the better players
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| Super Kev will always be remembered |
With Orient having already lost two of their best players in Scott
Cuthbert and Kevin Lisbie, Hendon needs to do everything in his power to keep the
remaining talismanic figures (the likes of Dean Cox and Romain Vincelot). A
team with a younger average age than last season would show more passion and
hang on every word that the new manager says and with the guidance of players
like Vincelot it could be a recipe for success.
So those are the main things I would like Ian Hendon to do.
Did I miss anything? Tweet me @David12Lloyd or leave a comment below and I will
be more than happy to discuss with you.
