Very good window, would say 2 signings away from excellent, 3 from perfect.
There is a limit on squad size.
How many spaces do we have?
If it’s true that we’re after two free agents they’ll presumably be two of a GK, LB and striker.
Clubs in League One are permitted to name up to a maximum 22 Players, of which a minimum of 8 must be a Home Grown Player. Under 21 players do not need to be named on the Squad List to be eligible to participate in a League Match.
After last night's performance and the arrivals I see no need for a GK (Harness looked solid) or striker (Davison looked sharp and ran strongly for 90 minutes).
The choice of available left backs is very limited and you can see why nobody got signed.
Not an expert on who was available but can't believe that's accurate. Joe Bennett was available until he signed for Wigan yesterday. Looking at squad numbers it's a surprise we couldn't get one on loan from the Prem who was U21.
Very good window, would say 2 signings away from excellent, 3 from perfect.
There is a limit on squad size.
How many spaces do we have?
If it’s true that we’re after two free agents they’ll presumably be two of a GK, LB and striker.
Clubs in League One are permitted to name up to a maximum 22 Players, of which a minimum of 8 must be a Home Grown Player. Under 21 players do not need to be named on the Squad List to be eligible to participate in a League Match.
After last night's performance and the arrivals I see no need for a GK (Harness looked solid) or striker (Davison looked sharp and ran strongly for 90 minutes).
The choice of available left backs is very limited and you can see why nobody got signed.
Not an expert on who was available but can't believe that's accurate. Joe Bennett was available until he signed for Wigan yesterday. Looking at squad numbers it's a surprise we couldn't get one on loan from the Prem who was U21.
Which is probably who we were in for as Cawley confirmed we were trying for one. We also had previously been in for Maatsen.
I'd guess after our targets were exhausted they just concluded our best option was sticking with Purrington. To be fair it's probably the least influential position on the pitch and we do have a solid one when fit and a passable backup in Gunter. It's not a disaster.
Positives 1) Younger players signed on decent contracts - Kirk and Lavelle stand out 2) MacG looks a decent keeper 3) Getting the likes of Stockley and Famewo back, meaning some continuity from last season 4) Lee looks a very good player at this level 5) Plenty of wide attacking options now
Negatives 1) The lack of action early in the window. I'm still baffled how we signed so few free agents back on July 1st - MacG was the only one 2) The lateness of much of our activity - 4 players out of the 11 arriving right at the end of the window is surely not what was planned, and other L1 clubs haven't left it so late (and no I don't count Ipswich as they had already done loads of business) 3) Lack of LB cover and to a lesser extent cover for Stockley 4) Going over the squad limit, despite the lack of LB cover. Things could have been easier if we had signed a couple of under 21s or maybe one less midfielder. We have 23 players, one over the limit.
At least one will have to be left out, with Dempsey, JFC and Schwartz the obvious candidates, but we will have to leave out more if we want to sign free agents aged over 21
Very good window, would say 2 signings away from excellent, 3 from perfect.
There is a limit on squad size.
How many spaces do we have?
If it’s true that we’re after two free agents they’ll presumably be two of a GK, LB and striker.
Clubs in League One are permitted to name up to a maximum 22 Players, of which a minimum of 8 must be a Home Grown Player. Under 21 players do not need to be named on the Squad List to be eligible to participate in a League Match.
After last night's performance and the arrivals I see no need for a GK (Harness looked solid) or striker (Davison looked sharp and ran strongly for 90 minutes).
The choice of available left backs is very limited and you can see why nobody got signed.
That last line is bullshit though isn't it? Plenty of under 21 premier League left backs, players like Ogilvie went in the window, and you can actually pay for a player like we did with Lavelle
I think you have to judge the window as a whole and compare it to the squad that finished last season. Which in my opinion should have got in the play offs. If we had stopped the rot at the start of February, not March, we would have done. In that time we beat Hull, Sunderland and Lincoln and drew with Oxford. So there would have been a chance we could have won the play offs.
Dobson and Clare are good replacements for Pratley and Shinnie, what they aren't is replacements for JFC and Gilbey. We have now addressed that with Arter and Lee. Better late than never.
Millar has been replaced by Kirk, very different type of player and time will tell of its an up grade or not but he is our player on a long contract.
Smith never played and has been replaced by Leko, in a different role but one we needed.
Deji mk1 has been replaced by a younger player on a long term contract. Looks like a significant upgrade.
Maatsen replaced by CBT, who obviously can't play left back but as IM was nearly always played as a winger under Adkins it's not a massive down grade.
Amos and Mcgivilray toss a coin and take your pick. Very different types of keepers but probably only a fag paper between them.
How the hell do you replace Aneke? I have no idea. Probably the truth is you can't.
The big criticism from me isn't the lack of left back now, nor that extra striker or even no back up keeper. It's JFC got injured in April and we only replaced him on deadline day. Gilbey has been out since the start of preseason and we didn't replace him until about 5 days ago. Purrington is/was injured before the season stated and that could have been a quick, cheap fix.
I'll give it a 9 for were we ended up but a 6 for how we got there.
Pretty much this.
Would liked to have seen the "spine" built in this window, and really it's 3/4's done, the missing part is that League 1 and beyond Midfielder - Lowery.
Stockley Kirk CM
Lavelle McGillivray
All on perms, all for 2+ years. That's a very decent spine for league 1 that COULD step up to lower championship which is where we need to be looking to establish ourselves over the next 2/3 seasons.
The Dobson/ Clare signings make sense as young potential but with the JFC/ Gilbey situation think it should have been a case of picking up one of them and using that extra cash to go out for Lowery, if either one of them had been fit then think that's how it would have gone anyway.
I was hoping for new LB that would be first choice ahead of Purrington, however, I think NA rates him and is confident in his ability at this level.
People keep saying we need a new Striker to back-up Stockley, but realistically who were we going to get to sit in the bench and only play if Stockley gets injured? I doubt they would be any better than Davison. Note - we didn’t let Aneke go, he chose to leave!
Lavelle was a must as Inniss is so fragile and Deji needs more game time with the 23’s or preferably out on loan.
Arter and Lee provide us with some bite, creativity and much needed experience.
Leko is exciting, similar to Aneke in that you don’t know what you’re going to get but can turn a game in a minute.
Some people questioning Purrington's ability at LB.
Sure, he's not the marauding attacking full back/wingback that perhaps is missing as an option from the squad.
But he's very good at keeping the shape of the defence.
Remember back in 2018/19 after Page was injured, our defence was being pulled all over the place and it was costing us plenty of points?
After Purrington was signed, the defence settled down and was a major factor as we found form to push for promotion.
He may have his limitations, but Purrington's own strength is that he's a very decent defensive fullback at League One level - as he proved in our 2018/19 promotion team.
Not one desperate loan for a premier league kid, all of our loans are experienced players. That to me is a really positive sign
Wouldn’t say a positive sign, just a clear change in strategy.
The one benefit is we have taken in players on loan that other clubs simply want off their books, or out the building. There will be less pressure / agreement from their host club to get them game time than there would from clubs shipping out their youngsters for experience. So Adkins hasn’t just brought in experience, he has control on how and how frequent they are played.
Reasonably happy with how things have turned out……I think the 7.5 score that has been banded around is about right. It’s so hard to take that we aren’t as much of an attraction to the next level of player up the scale that we might otherwise have gone after. I have a feeling that it was largely due to personal terms that we weren’t able to bring in some on our wish list, although that’s rather stating the obvious. Very interesting times ahead, true we’ve already put ourselves on the back foot as far as automatic promotion is concerned but I am confident that (initially anyway), the playoffs are well within our reach. The question of the left back situation has hung around repeatedly over the last month or so but I think in Purrington we have a very able ‘go to’ player, who is now back in full training and should be ready to go quite soon. Personally I have always liked him and look forward to his return. Sit back and watch the fun!
Some people questioning Purrington's ability at LB.
Sure, he's not the marauding attacking full back/wingback that perhaps is missing as an option from the squad.
But he's very good at keeping the shape of the defence.
Remember back in 2018/19 after Page was injured, our defence was being pulled all over the place and it was costing us plenty of points?
After Purrington was signed, the defence settled down and was a major factor as we found form to push for promotion.
He may have his limitations, but Purrington's own strength is that he's a very decent defensive fullback at League One level - as he proved in our 2018/19 promotion team.
Granted, but we signed Kirk who is proven to be much more effective/productive when he has an attacking/overlapping FB behind him.
For me it's not a question of Purrington's ability but his suitability for the system/team as a whole. There's a time and place for steady Eddie solid defending full backs for sure, I'm just not sure this is either.
Mixed feelings from me. Problem is that I really thought we would see a major rebuild along the lines of the Varney/Powell 2011 extravaganza. Then I really thought it was going to be dreadful. So it’s much worse than I’d originally hoped but much better than I had subsequently feared.
I'm feeling positive overall with how the window has turned out.
Lavelle is a great signing and will give us some protection with Innis being just a little bit fragile. We all know that the extended sidelining of Innis and Famewo last season cost us a quaranteed play-off place and possibly an outright.
With Lee, Kirk and Leko we have a far more potent attacking threat to support Stockley. Add a fit Purrington and a healthy Gilbey and it looks promising. There is also the chance of a breakthrough from the under 23s Deji, Davison (looked good last night) and possibly Burstow who looks a real talent.
With a fair wind, more than our usual luck with injuries, and a canny January window could see us right up there challenging for promotion. NA looks like being in a strong position with a lot of competition for places.
Mixed feelings from me. Problem is that I really thought we would see a major rebuild along the lines of the Varney/Powell 2011 extravaganza. Then I really thought it was going to be dreadful. So it’s much worse than I’d originally hoped but much better than I had subsequently feared.
Didn’t someone once say something along the lines of not getting too high with the highs or too low with the lows…
Not one desperate loan for a premier league kid, all of our loans are experienced players. That to me is a really positive sign
Wouldn’t say a positive sign, just a clear change in strategy.
The one benefit is we have taken in players on loan that other clubs simply want off their books, or out the building. There will be less pressure / agreement from their host club to get them game time than there would from clubs shipping out their youngsters for experience. So Adkins hasn’t just brought in experience, he has control on how and how frequent they are played.
Agreed, and not all the previous FAPL kid loans were “desperate”, going back from Maatsen, who in context was excellent, we’ve had Gallagher, Bielik, Cullen and Jay da Silva. Chelsea have about 200 players out on loan, it’s a good idea to tap into that opportunity as much as possible, none of them let us down so far. I seem to remember some Man City loan kids causing us grief with some north west clubs last season too.
Some people questioning Purrington's ability at LB.
Sure, he's not the marauding attacking full back/wingback that perhaps is missing as an option from the squad.
But he's very good at keeping the shape of the defence.
Remember back in 2018/19 after Page was injured, our defence was being pulled all over the place and it was costing us plenty of points?
After Purrington was signed, the defence settled down and was a major factor as we found form to push for promotion.
He may have his limitations, but Purrington's own strength is that he's a very decent defensive fullback at League One level - as he proved in our 2018/19 promotion team.
I frequently see things like "He plays simple passes to the winger... He keeps the shape... He defends his post..." But those are the minimum you would expect out of a competent full-back.
The frequent criticism is that he is very basic. But that's also the praise given in his defense... That he does the basics. So I think we're all in agreement somewhere. He doesn't have anything else to his game and does the basics to a decent enough level.
I would just hope that we could have good players and not ones that are "decent enough."
In my opinion... Great window. Strong team. Spent well over £1,000,000 signing young, talented, motivated players on long term contracts. Also signed players with links to CAFC (Lee, Arter, Leko & Clare) and signed natural leaders and players of the season (Lavelle Kirk & MacG). I also think the temperament of the players we've brought in has been well thought through.
Whats not to like? Yes, we might be a LB or a ST short, but I reckon we might dip into the free transfer market to plug whatever minute holes there might be.
Finally, a sensible window, not one where our sole target is to bring In 'bodies.'
Wow we spent a million. I will go Charlton and support the team as Always but I'm not expecting us to be anywhere near the play-offs. I think this is a below average squad. I hope I am wrong I honestly do. Playing some youngsters through the season will keep me interested and then mount a challenge next season. I'm not in a rush for promotion like others
I agree re. not rushing - however would you not agree this window is a step in the right direction though, a solid base on which to build?
Yes I'd agree we are building. I've no problem with that. But this squad compared to Sheff Wd, Sunderland,Ipswich even Oxford, we won't be challenging
Way too early to make that prediction. We don't know enough about Lavelle. Dobson and Clare need to improve, but made that first step tonight. We don't know what Leko or Arter we're getting either. I'd also predict few people know much about other League 1 squads in too much depth. Oxford look to have a very decent side but a lot of unknowns beyond that.
2 injuries and we are screwed mate
I think that puts us in the same position as 90% of the teams in the division though. In terms of pure numbers, most teams seem to have made roughly the same amount of signings as we have so I can't imagine that it's only Charlton facing potential injury crises.
We're coming out of a pandemic which as badly affected football clubs everywhere. Barcelona were holding a fire sale today! With this and the squad cap, like you say a lot of clubs in exactly the same position. We'll need a bit of luck but we added players today, it's slightly unbalanced but could have been a lot worse.
I am.not so sure we are out of this pandemic with 33,000 a day infected and 100 deaths a day and a lot of resistance to vaccine in some sections plus people so untiring to wear masks on public transport.
I didn't say we were out of it. But with fans allowed back in the ground, then it is getting back to normal for football clubs with increased revenue. Of course another lockdown changes that. However, despite this being the thread to discuss almost everything, it's definitively not to discuss Covid and restrictions.
It has to be seen if we are coming out of it and the reasons are as I said. You mentioned the pandemic first and now you want it not discussed. Why is that 🤔. It a forum after all.
there is a separate thread for all things covid related.
In my opinion... Great window. Strong team. Spent well over £1,000,000 signing young, talented, motivated players on long term contracts. Also signed players with links to CAFC (Lee, Arter, Leko & Clare) and signed natural leaders and players of the season (Lavelle Kirk & MacG). I also think the temperament of the players we've brought in has been well thought through.
Whats not to like? Yes, we might be a LB or a ST short, but I reckon we might dip into the free transfer market to plug whatever minute holes there might be.
Finally, a sensible window, not one where our sole target is to bring In 'bodies.'
Wow we spent a million. I will go Charlton and support the team as Always but I'm not expecting us to be anywhere near the play-offs. I think this is a below average squad. I hope I am wrong I honestly do. Playing some youngsters through the season will keep me interested and then mount a challenge next season. I'm not in a rush for promotion like others
I agree re. not rushing - however would you not agree this window is a step in the right direction though, a solid base on which to build?
Yes I'd agree we are building. I've no problem with that. But this squad compared to Sheff Wd, Sunderland,Ipswich even Oxford, we won't be challenging
Way too early to make that prediction. We don't know enough about Lavelle. Dobson and Clare need to improve, but made that first step tonight. We don't know what Leko or Arter we're getting either. I'd also predict few people know much about other League 1 squads in too much depth. Oxford look to have a very decent side but a lot of unknowns beyond that.
2 injuries and we are screwed mate
I think that puts us in the same position as 90% of the teams in the division though. In terms of pure numbers, most teams seem to have made roughly the same amount of signings as we have so I can't imagine that it's only Charlton facing potential injury crises.
We're coming out of a pandemic which as badly affected football clubs everywhere. Barcelona were holding a fire sale today! With this and the squad cap, like you say a lot of clubs in exactly the same position. We'll need a bit of luck but we added players today, it's slightly unbalanced but could have been a lot worse.
I am.not so sure we are out of this pandemic with 33,000 a day infected and 100 deaths a day and a lot of resistance to vaccine in some sections plus people so untiring to wear masks on public transport.
I didn't say we were out of it. But with fans allowed back in the ground, then it is getting back to normal for football clubs with increased revenue. Of course another lockdown changes that. However, despite this being the thread to discuss almost everything, it's definitively not to discuss Covid and restrictions.
It has to be seen if we are coming out of it and the reasons are as I said. You mentioned the pandemic first and now you want it not discussed. Why is that 🤔. It a forum after all.
I never said it shouldn't be discussed on the forum did I? I said this isn't the thread to do so. There's a whole thread for it so if you want to discuss people wearing masks, not wearing masks or using them to hold their alcoholic beverages then that's the place to do it. I mentioned the pandemic in relation to football clubs and the impact it's had on revenue and consequently budgets for clubs around the world. Dave from Number 42 refusing to have the vaccine doesn't need to come into the conversation.
Some people questioning Purrington's ability at LB.
Sure, he's not the marauding attacking full back/wingback that perhaps is missing as an option from the squad.
But he's very good at keeping the shape of the defence.
Remember back in 2018/19 after Page was injured, our defence was being pulled all over the place and it was costing us plenty of points?
After Purrington was signed, the defence settled down and was a major factor as we found form to push for promotion.
He may have his limitations, but Purrington's own strength is that he's a very decent defensive fullback at League One level - as he proved in our 2018/19 promotion team.
Granted, but we signed Kirk who is proven to be much more effective/productive when he has an attacking/overlapping FB behind him.
For me it's not a question of Purrington's ability but his suitability for the system/team as a whole. There's a time and place for steady Eddie solid defending full backs for sure, I'm just not sure this is either.
I wouldn't argue against what you say here. Maybe Kirk could be more effective with an overlapping full back ...... but that's not Purrington's fault.
That's down to the manager to either bring in an attacking fullback. Or change the system to get the best out of the players he does have.
Purrington is nowhere near bad as such. In many games his caution or instructions have been to pass back or square for safety when on the ball. But he is capable of overlapping or advancing, can put a ball in, and has been known to appear at the far post and score a goal. Defending per se I am not able to analyse that well. Against a super right winger he is probably less capable than Matthews on the other side. He is young enough to learn from experience and be guided by good management and coaching, and he doesn’t seem too dim to learn team play or shape. His throw ins are better than Gunter’s.
As an aside, we have a veritable smorgasbord of midfielders now, I wonder where or if a fit again Gilby would fit in, let alone Aaron Henry or @Leuth’s mate Vennings.
Comments
I'd guess after our targets were exhausted they just concluded our best option was sticking with Purrington. To be fair it's probably the least influential position on the pitch and we do have a solid one when fit and a passable backup in Gunter. It's not a disaster.
Positives
1) Younger players signed on decent contracts - Kirk and Lavelle stand out
2) MacG looks a decent keeper
3) Getting the likes of Stockley and Famewo back, meaning some continuity from last season
4) Lee looks a very good player at this level
5) Plenty of wide attacking options now
Negatives
1) The lack of action early in the window. I'm still baffled how we signed so few free agents back on July 1st - MacG was the only one
2) The lateness of much of our activity - 4 players out of the 11 arriving right at the end of the window is surely not what was planned, and other L1 clubs haven't left it so late (and no I don't count Ipswich as they had already done loads of business)
3) Lack of LB cover and to a lesser extent cover for Stockley
4) Going over the squad limit, despite the lack of LB cover. Things could have been easier if we had signed a couple of under 21s or maybe one less midfielder. We have 23 players, one over the limit.
At least one will have to be left out, with Dempsey, JFC and Schwartz the obvious candidates, but we will have to leave out more if we want to sign free agents aged over 21
It's to take us through the first half of the season and see where we are then. Remember, there will be another window in January.
I like the fact that some players have been signed for the future.
And some players for what's needed right now.
Pretty much this.
Would liked to have seen the "spine" built in this window, and really it's 3/4's done, the missing part is that League 1 and beyond Midfielder - Lowery.
Stockley
Kirk
CM
McGillivray
All on perms, all for 2+ years. That's a very decent spine for league 1 that COULD step up to lower championship which is where we need to be looking to establish ourselves over the next 2/3 seasons.
The Dobson/ Clare signings make sense as young potential but with the JFC/ Gilbey situation think it should have been a case of picking up one of them and using that extra cash to go out for Lowery, if either one of them had been fit then think that's how it would have gone anyway.
Arter and Lee provide us with some bite, creativity and much needed experience.
Leko is exciting, similar to Aneke in that you don’t know what you’re going to get but can turn a game in a minute.
Well done TS, SG, GR and NA!
I would have been quite happy signing the Arsenal Smith on a perm for this season but certainly not on loan.
Sure, he's not the marauding attacking full back/wingback that perhaps is missing as an option from the squad.
But he's very good at keeping the shape of the defence.
Remember back in 2018/19 after Page was injured, our defence was being pulled all over the place and it was costing us plenty of points?
After Purrington was signed, the defence settled down and was a major factor as we found form to push for promotion.
He may have his limitations, but Purrington's own strength is that he's a very decent defensive fullback at League One level - as he proved in our 2018/19 promotion team.
The one benefit is we have taken in players on loan that other clubs simply want off their books, or out the building. There will be less pressure / agreement from their host club to get them game time than there would from clubs shipping out their youngsters for experience. So Adkins hasn’t just brought in experience, he has control on how and how frequent they are played.
It’s so hard to take that we aren’t as much of an attraction to the next level of player up the scale that we might otherwise have gone after. I have a feeling that it was largely due to personal terms that we weren’t able to bring in some on our wish list, although that’s rather stating the obvious.
Very interesting times ahead, true we’ve already put ourselves on the back foot as far as automatic promotion is concerned but I am confident that (initially anyway), the playoffs are well within our reach.
The question of the left back situation has hung around repeatedly over the last month or so but I think in Purrington we have a very able ‘go to’ player, who is now back in full training and should be ready to go quite soon. Personally I have always liked him and look forward to his return.
Sit back and watch the fun!
For me it's not a question of Purrington's ability but his suitability for the system/team as a whole. There's a time and place for steady Eddie solid defending full backs for sure, I'm just not sure this is either.
The frequent criticism is that he is very basic. But that's also the praise given in his defense... That he does the basics. So I think we're all in agreement somewhere. He doesn't have anything else to his game and does the basics to a decent enough level.
I would just hope that we could have good players and not ones that are "decent enough."
That's down to the manager to either bring in an attacking fullback.
Or change the system to get the best out of the players he does have.
In many games his caution or instructions have been to pass back or square for safety when on the ball. But he is capable of overlapping or advancing, can put a ball in, and has been known to appear at the far post and score a goal. Defending per se I am not able to analyse that well. Against a super right winger he is probably less capable than Matthews on the other side.
He is young enough to learn from experience and be guided by good management and coaching, and he doesn’t seem too dim to learn team play or shape.
His throw ins are better than Gunter’s.
As an aside, we have a veritable smorgasbord of midfielders now, I wonder where or if a fit again Gilby would fit in, let alone Aaron Henry or @Leuth’s mate Vennings.