Despite recently adding Danny Swansea to the squad Robbie Neilson has confirmed he wants to add another midfielder to act as competition, and cover, for Morgaro Gomis, Miguel Pallardo – who both missed the last defeat, youngster Sean McKirdy and Prince Buaben.
Neilson has so far signed six players, bringing in Blazej Augustyn, Gavin Reilly, Juanma Delgado, Igor Rossi, Juwon Oshaniwa and of course Swanson, but he’s told the Edinburgh News he feels there’s still room in his squad, and the budget, to add to this.
Following the arrival, after his successful trial, of former Dundee United, Peterborough and Coventry midfielder Swanson, Neilson is targeting the addition of a ‘versatile central midfielder’ if possible.
The Head Coach has been busy assessing the market and is hopeful of finding the player he’s looking for, however they’ve got to be the right option of he’ll simply wait until January as he said he’s not going to add to the squad for the sake of doing this.
‘I do think we need to add one more to the squad. I’m looking for somebody in the midfield area, a bit of a utility player who can cover several positions. That would give us some cover because we don’t have a huge squad. We’ve picked up a few injuries recently and we don’t have the same size of squad as some of the other clubs in the league. We have to make sure that the players we sign can cover different positions.
‘We’ve got an eye on a couple of players but it’s getting them in that’s the problem. I’ve spoken to a few but I don’t want to just jump in and take anybody. There are players out there who we could sign today but it has to be the right one. We aren’t going to waste money. I’d rather wait and, if one comes up, great. If not, we’ll just wait until the January transfer window opens up.
‘I’ve been looking for the last month, really. I had a little bit of money to use and we brought Swanson in. I always hoped to get another one in as well but it’s just getting the right player. I don’t want to waste money because it`s important we don’t make the wrong decision. Whoever comes in has to give us good value.’
Swanson being added means we got ‘something different’ and some experience that is lacking a little in the squad with Neilson adding this lack of this (experience) was exposed, despite the performance 17-year-old McKirdy put on in his full debut, when he and Buaben former the central midfield pairing with Gomis, family bereavement, and Pallardo, just back from an Achilles injury, sitting out.
Neilson also spoke about the ‘silly’ sending off of Oshaniwa, adding he’s been ‘dealt with internally.’
‘It’s been dealt with internally. Juwon understands what’s happened and we move on now.
‘I spoke to him about it. He’s just been silly and he knows it’s something you just can’t do. He’s learned his lesson because he’s going to miss out on two big games.
‘We play Aberdeen on Sunday in a massive league game, so he`s punished himself. Every player wants to play in big games that are on TV. Juwon is trying to get himself into the Nigerian national team and his national coach will be watching the game, but he`s not involved. That`s probably the biggest punishment he can get.’
On the topic of punishment, Neilson looks like he’ll be punished for his comments about referee Willie Collum following the Hamilton defeat.
Not, as he told Sky Sports, he regrets what he said.
‘I stand by everything I said. I chose my words, I felt, well.
‘I wanted to get a point across that I wanted to say. The red card has been rescinded, which highlights that, as I said at the time, it shouldn’t have been a red card.
‘But it’s an active case so I don’t want to say too much about it. But hopefully when we go up to speak to them they will see sense.’
He also feels, as much as he understands you’ve got to mind what you say ‘there should be some freedom of speech on it.’
Also adding that he felt ‘it would be a good thing’ if more officials spoke after a game to explain their decisions as it would ‘always makes it easier to accept a decision if they give their point of view.’
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