We may well need other signings. I am sure LB and SG are working towards just that as they have stated as much many times recently.
Gunter is still a great signing for us and we should allow ourselves a few hours of happiness over the news before reverting to panic and frustration. An extra reason to watch the England-Wales game tonight.
Even the superpower teams don't get to dictate the exact order the signings arrive.
Great signing. Throughout all this, I just really want to see Bowyer get the players that he could reasonably want, to be given the chance that he deserves to succeed. It seems very apparent that Gunter is someone that he has wanted for some time, so I am all for it.
Washington is another player he wanted last year, while Maddison is someone we wanted in January! A bit of a trend here
No doubt Bowyer and Gallen are working through their wish list.
One thing though, it seems to be last season's Championship wish list - trying to build a team that not only can challenge for promotion in L1 ...... but with sufficient quality to be the nucleus of a side in the Championship next season.
Great signing. Throughout all this, I just really want to see Bowyer get the players that he could reasonably want, to be given the chance that he deserves to succeed. It seems very apparent that Gunter is someone that he has wanted for some time, so I am all for it.
Washington is another player he wanted last year, while Maddison is someone we wanted in January! A bit of a trend here
I think we need a striker and a RCB as a priority. If we can bring in a good striker then we've got Aneke as back up to come on as needed, but I think we should be looking to do better than Deji at CH so I'd like to see us fill that ahead of getting a second striker. From there we still need a winger and preferably another LB, though Purrington is good at this level
I thought Purrington did a good job last week at CB before he was moved to LB, perhaps Bowyer sees that as his better position and brings in Koikai as natural LB?
Purrington played CB or sweeper first 30 minutes against Sunderland bowyer might see this as a new position for him.so koikai new left back.
Depends on the gameplan, with attacking fullbacks/wingbacks ....... it could work.
I always think a central defender needs to be a strong header of the ball. Purrington has decent enough ability on the ground, but weak in the air. But then you could say the same thing about Bobby Moore and Franz Beckenbauer!
Koiki - competition for Purrington Right Sided CB Striker
I was gonna add in another midfielder but if its more of a wide attacker, that could be done in exchange for letting someone like Lapslie of JFC go on loan. As we have enough of these relatively vanilla CMs. And I think it would benefit them both.
So that would leave:
GK - Amos / AMB RB - Gunter / Oshilaja LB - Purrington / Koiki RCB - NEW / Oshilaja (frankly Pratley is an option here at L1 level) LCB - Pearce / Famewo DM - Watson / Pratley CM - Levitt / Gilbey / Morgan / JFC AM - Williams / Oztumer / Maddison / Doughty ST - NEW / Washington / Aneke / Davison
EDIT - Looking at that we may see 4 or 5 in - but Lapslie / JFC going out on loan. JFC in particular needs a loan to have any hope of getting back to what he was pre injury.
EDIT 2 - Forgot Doughty! In that case defo see Lapslie and JFC on loan, and with wages being an issue - need to go all in on just the RCB and ST now really.
We can probably get away with a minimum of 1 defensive player. Either a second RB and have Deji purely as our main centre half, or a centre half only and can use Deji as back up right up.
Doesn’t sound like Peace will be back for a month or so. Personally, would priorities the budget on the two up front as think Pratley, Barker etc will be sufficient cover if we end up with some injuries or suspensions.
Koiki - competition for Purrington Right Sided CB Striker
I was gonna add in another midfielder but if its more of a wide attacker, that could be done in exchange for letting someone like Lapslie of JFC go on loan. As we have enough of these relatively vanilla CMs. And I think it would benefit them both.
So that would leave:
GK - Amos / AMB RB - Gunter / Oshilaja LB - Purrington / Koiki RCB - NEW / Oshilaja (frankly Pratley is an option here at L1 level) LCB - Pearce / Famewo DM - Watson / Pratley CM - Levitt / Gilbey / JFC AM - Williams / Oztumer / Maddison ST - NEW / Washington / Aneke / Davison
Be nice if we can get a second Striker so Davison can go on loan, I think thats the thinking behind Bowyer wanting a second one in
Davison as showing this season with the U23s really will benefit more from a League Two loan rather than getting a handful of first team games here and there
It really does depend on how Bowyer intends to play as well. If we're sticking with the 4-3-3 then we have Doughty, Washington and Maddison and need another. I'm always nervous of listing players twice when we talk about squad depth, as that only works if you have hardly any injuries, which is never the case with us, so there's a lack of cover at the back. We're a bit better set up to stick with the diamond, but I get the feeling Bowyer wants to move past that a bit
I'm always nervous of listing players twice when we talk about squad depth, as that only works if you have hardly any injuries, which is never the case with us, so there's a lack of cover at the back.
Agree with this, it's an important point.
If a player can play 2 positions well, it's a useful feature during the game for tactical reasons.
But if a player is consistently playing well in his own specialist position, then you don't really want to take him out of that to put him elsewhere in the team. That can cause disruption to his own game and those who normally play along side him, especially in defence.
We've also seen with Pratley playing CB ....... he's done well enough there in the circumstances, but he's not a specialist CB. And we've missed his bite, determination and ball winning energy in midfield.
Far better to have a utility man who can step in and plug various positions, if you're short of a specialist back up player for a particular position, rather than upset the rhythm and consistency of the team.
Comments
Gunter is still a great signing for us and we should allow ourselves a few hours of happiness over the news before reverting to panic and frustration. An extra reason to watch the England-Wales game tonight.
Even the superpower teams don't get to dictate the exact order the signings arrive.
My wish list
LB
RCB
MC
F
F
One thing though, it seems to be last season's Championship wish list - trying to build a team that not only can challenge for promotion in L1 ...... but with sufficient quality to be the nucleus of a side in the Championship next season.
Can you see what I did there?
Now the two real key areas to get sorted.
A CB
A CF
CB, CF
Ideally:
CB, LB, CM, CF, CF
I always think a central defender needs to be a strong header of the ball. Purrington has decent enough ability on the ground, but weak in the air.
But then you could say the same thing about Bobby Moore and Franz Beckenbauer!
Koiki - competition for Purrington
Right Sided CB
Striker
I was gonna add in another midfielder but if its more of a wide attacker, that could be done in exchange for letting someone like Lapslie of JFC go on loan. As we have enough of these relatively vanilla CMs. And I think it would benefit them both.
So that would leave:
GK - Amos / AMB
RB - Gunter / Oshilaja
LB - Purrington / Koiki
RCB - NEW / Oshilaja (frankly Pratley is an option here at L1 level)
LCB - Pearce / Famewo
DM - Watson / Pratley
CM - Levitt / Gilbey / Morgan / JFC
AM - Williams / Oztumer / Maddison / Doughty
ST - NEW / Washington / Aneke / Davison
EDIT - Looking at that we may see 4 or 5 in - but Lapslie / JFC going out on loan. JFC in particular needs a loan to have any hope of getting back to what he was pre injury.
EDIT 2 - Forgot Doughty! In that case defo see Lapslie and JFC on loan, and with wages being an issue - need to go all in on just the RCB and ST now really.
We can probably get away with a minimum of 1 defensive player. Either a second RB and have Deji purely as our main centre half, or a centre half only and can use Deji as back up right up.
Doesn’t sound like Peace will be back for a month or so. Personally, would priorities the budget on the two up front as think Pratley, Barker etc will be sufficient cover if we end up with some injuries or suspensions.
Davison as showing this season with the U23s really will benefit more from a League Two loan rather than getting a handful of first team games here and there
Ben Watson
Marcus Maddison
Chris Gunter
Not forgetting Famewo, you won't see many league one clubs signing three players of that pedigree.
If a player can play 2 positions well, it's a useful feature during the game for tactical reasons.
But if a player is consistently playing well in his own specialist position, then you don't really want to take him out of that to put him elsewhere in the team.
That can cause disruption to his own game and those who normally play along side him, especially in defence.
We've also seen with Pratley playing CB ....... he's done well enough there in the circumstances, but he's not a specialist CB.
And we've missed his bite, determination and ball winning energy in midfield.
Far better to have a utility man who can step in and plug various positions, if you're short of a specialist back up player for a particular position, rather than upset the rhythm and consistency of the team.