Way I see it, if you’ve two in each position you’ve got a strong squad, most in this league will have kids as back up. We’ve only got that in two positions and one of them is being sorted via free agents (GK).
Even if the ones you’d expect picked up injuries/suspensions all at the same time, Inniss, Watson, Famewo, Gilbey, JFC, Leko, Washington we could still turn up with a decent league one XI.
Much happier than this time last week. Still some worries, 1. Goals, not enough in the team, (unless ronnie surprises us!) 2. Very reliant on Stockley 3. Left back 4. Goalkeeper cover
Fair assessment, i am happy with the business we have done but agree completely with each point raised. Potentially goals we might be ok, or we might have to tighten up at the back.
Definitely would lean towards a 442 possibly diamond with the current set of players or playing Leko/Washington off Stockley. As brilliant as Stockley has done and will score goals i do think we need someone close to help him and to press from the front, Stockley shouldn't have to chase people and when he does he just looks too slow so keep him up there let others do the donkey work and run off him.
All depends on how many goals everyone except Stockley will get. Stockley will easily get 15+. It depends if Washington, Kirk, DJ, Leko and Gilbey can get enough between them.
They've all done it at this level before so no reason they shouldn't tbf
Have they? Leko has 5 goals in career. DJ most is 4 at this level in a season. Kirk is 6. Gilbey 5.
I think we will get goals now but let's not rewrite history.
I'm not rewriting anything. Taking Washington out, if we average it out as 3 each this season that's 12 goals, 4 each makes it 16. Probably some will get more and some less but that's about what Aneke bought last season (his own personal best at this level.) Washington alone got double figures last season, and there's also Lee to consider.
I aint looking for an arguement as I have enough of them in real like but you said- they have all done it at this level - which is not true.
And if it was in the context of replacing Anekes goals then yes I think they will but you would need to add more on top as 1 player vs about 5 who would be taking spots up on team where other goals could have come from if that makes sense. Not sure it does haha.
All depends on how many goals everyone except Stockley will get. Stockley will easily get 15+. It depends if Washington, Kirk, DJ, Leko and Gilbey can get enough between them.
They've all done it at this level before so no reason they shouldn't tbf
Have they? Leko has 5 goals in career. DJ most is 4 at this level in a season. Kirk is 6. Gilbey 5.
I think we will get goals now but let's not rewrite history.
I'm not rewriting anything. Taking Washington out, if we average it out as 3 each this season that's 12 goals, 4 each makes it 16. Probably some will get more and some less but that's about what Aneke bought last season (his own personal best at this level.) Washington alone got double figures last season, and there's also Lee to consider.
I aint looking for an arguement as I have enough of them in real like but you said- they have all done it at this level - which is not true.
And if it was in the context of replacing Anekes goals then yes I think they will but you would need to add more on top as 1 player vs about 5 who would be taking spots up on team where other goals could have come from if that makes sense. Not sure it does haha.
I think I see what your saying but we just see it differently. I don't care about how many each player scores as long as we get enough goals overall. Five players scoring two goals is exactly the same as one player scoring ten.
Mmm an okay window we won’t set the league alight but Think we should nick a playoff spot although there are 6 teams better than us, I would personally find it hilarious is Ipswich and Wigan both have shockers, as I know Wigan have an Arab owner and it’s not a footballing town so makes 0 sense, Ipswich are owned by a fireman’s pension fund from the states I believe spending big to try and get to champ and sell I would imagine.
Who? Now we've made those signings (especially the front 4) i don't think there's 6 better teams at all. That front 4 is as good on paper as any team in the division with the probable exception of Ipswich. Gilbey and Purrington will both be back soon as well.
Mmm an okay window we won’t set the league alight but Think we should nick a playoff spot although there are 6 teams better than us, I would personally find it hilarious is Ipswich and Wigan both have shockers, as I know Wigan have an Arab owner and it’s not a footballing town so makes 0 sense, Ipswich are owned by a fireman’s pension fund from the states I believe spending big to try and get to champ and sell I would imagine.
Who? Now we've made those signings (especially the front 4) i don't think there's 6 better teams at all. That front 4 is as good on paper as any team in the division with the probable exception of Ipswich. Gilbey and Purrington will both be back soon as well.
“Nick” being the word there on paper there probably are 6 teams better than us - it’s my opinion I’m entitled to it and we will see what happens.
I think we've clarified the goalkeeper position although if something long-term happened to MacGillivray in the next few weeks I'd expect us to sign someone like Henderson to come in and be No1. If it's a short-term thing we can borrow one. Yes it's a risk but it's also the only position in the side you don't have to worry about bringing on as a sub or starting the odd game because your first teamer needs a rest.
I'm hopeful we're still looking at a left-back although it means two players missing out on the squad, presumably JFC and Dempsey.
Looking at last season, 9 players scored more than once for us in the league. 52 goals between them.
I’d like to think our replacements for Williams, Millar and Shinnie can match and exceed there goals.
Purrington hopefully pops up with 2 goals again.
Once Gilbey returns, you’d hope he can manage 3 again.
Forster-Caskey difficult to estimate how many he’ll get this time without knowing how many games he’s actually going to play.
If Washington can get double figures again and Stockley matches Aneke tally, then major absence would be someone to get Stockley’s 8 goals.
Easily. I'd add Stockley and JFC's goals to that 7 too. It will be a disappointing season if Kirk, DJ, Leko, Lee and CBT can't get 20+ goals between them.
From a manager perspective I don’t think he can have too many complaints. There’s definitely enough there to work with.
Now a job of finding the right, fit, tactics etc
I much preferred the formation used v Crewe more than the ones seen in previous games. One way or another, keeping all the players happy is oing to be a more difficult job than it was a week ago
I agree with most of what you say, but I just wanted to pick up on that last point. In terms of average game time per player, that's obviously been knocked back. That will mean that some are more restricted in the games they'll get, and that give Nige a little plate spinning act to think about. I think it's important to balance that though against the fact that it gives us a better chance of winning, which will be a major factor in keeping players happy. It's one thing being kept out of a winning team, quite another struggling to get time in a losing one.
From a manager perspective I don’t think he can have too many complaints. There’s definitely enough there to work with.
Now a job of finding the right, fit, tactics etc
I much preferred the formation used v Crewe more than the ones seen in previous games. One way or another, keeping all the players happy is oing to be a more difficult job than it was a week ago
I honestly don't know how to judge this window. The only incoming players I've heard of before are Leko and Arter and both come with mixed reviews from their current clubs. If I was to speculate I would guess that in general terms we are much better off in midfield, and slightly worse off in defence and attack than last year. Taken in the round, that would hopefully be enough to deliver an improvement on last season's outcome, but I think it is premature to say that success or failure is now down to the manager.
I also think the players we brought in are representative of how things play out versus a plan. I do think that we went slightly awry in the earlier weeks of the window, which caused us to change it up in the way we have, bringing in Lee, Arter, Lavelle and Leko, but I do believe it’s not as simple as securing your 1st, 2nd and maybe 3rd choices.
Things are constantly moving. Us being in for one player and not getting him because we don’t want to spend more than X amount in wages, probably has a knock on effect in securing a back up, because by the time negotiations are over, the second choice may have moved on and so forth. It must be a nightmare to traverse
I think this whole summer has been an iterative process of learning for us, for TS and the management. I’m quietly excited about the rest of the season. Why not
I must confess to be very pleasantly surprised by the late late signings. The newcomers have considerably strengthened the squad which is now good enough to put in a real promotion push. I have had (and still have t b h) doubts about Adkins' suitability for the job. I hope that he proves me to be a right know nothing and gets his teams playing great attacking football and a spot in next season's Championship
I also think the players we brought in are representative of how things play out versus a plan. I do think that we went slightly awry in the earlier weeks of the window, which caused us to change it up in the way we have, bringing in Lee, Arter, Lavelle and Leko, but I do believe it’s not as simple as securing your 1st, 2nd and maybe 3rd choices.
Things are constantly moving. Us being in for one player and not getting him because we don’t want to spend more than X amount in wages, probably has a knock on effect in securing a back up, because by the time negotiations are over, the second choice may have moved on and so forth. It must be a nightmare to traverse
I think this whole summer has been an iterative process of learning for us, for TS and the management. I’m quietly excited about the rest of the season. Why not
I think the manner of the Wigan defeat caused us to change it up. The fact we could've easily lost 5-0 coming off the back of 2 miserable away defeats i think made TS and his team sit up and realise we need to change the approach.
If we'd snuck a 1-0 win who knows what would've happened in the rest of the window. We didn't know it at the time but that game could well be the game that changed our season.
At times the lines were absolutely perfect with four at the back and two banks of three all in perfect lines.
Really nice to see the passing and moving tonight and some fringe players took the opportunity to get some minutes with both hands
I’m a 442 man mainly. Not saying 352 doesn’t work but I’d use it for specific games against specific opposition rather than as a rule. there are too many potential things with 352 I don’t particularly like, easy isolation of the striker, lack of runs in behind their centre halves, encouragement to play two deep sitting centre mids, encouraging the opposition further up the pitch etc. Also Kirk from what I’ve seen is definitely a 442 player.
We’ll see how it goes and hopefully Nigel will get it right, just that formation we had v Wigan, MKD, Oxford etc isn’t my preference.
3-5-2? Do you mean 4-3-3? No chance we play 3 at the back when we don’t have any wing backs.
As we have 4 wingers, we won't play 3-5-2 even if we had natural wing backs.
4-3-3 will be the preferred choice of Nigel but he will also go 4-2-3-1 with Lee playing just behind and around Stockley as the attacking midfielder with perm any two from DJ, Leko, Gilbert and CBT as the wide men in the 3. I could really see those four rotating. You heard it here first !
Stockley won't play 90 minutes every game as 3 games in a week will see him battered. Davidson and Washington are road runners and will chip in with goals when they get a chance.
We were woeful in our first 4 games and I realised he might try 4-4-2 when he sent Washington on to play alongside Jayden against Wigan. Even though it didn't work against a strong side like Wigan it did work against a weaker side like Crewe.
At times the lines were absolutely perfect with four at the back and two banks of three all in perfect lines.
Really nice to see the passing and moving tonight and some fringe players took the opportunity to get some minutes with both hands
I’m a 442 man mainly. Not saying 352 doesn’t work but I’d use it for specific games against specific opposition rather than as a rule. there are too many potential things with 352 I don’t particularly like, easy isolation of the striker, lack of runs in behind their centre halves, encouragement to play two deep sitting centre mids, encouraging the opposition further up the pitch etc. Also Kirk from what I’ve seen is definitely a 442 player.
We’ll see how it goes and hopefully Nigel will get it right, just that formation we had v Wigan, MKD, Oxford etc isn’t my preference.
3-5-2? Do you mean 4-3-3? No chance we play 3 at the back when we don’t have any wing backs.
As we have 4 wingers, we won't play 3-5-2 even if we had natural wing backs.
4-3-3 will be the preferred choice of Nigel but he will also go 4-2-3-1 with Lee playing just behind and around Stockley as the attacking midfielder with perm any two from DJ, Leko, Gilbert and CBT as the wide men in the 3. I could really see those four rotating. You heard it here first !
Stockley won't play 90 minutes every game as 3 games in a week will see him battered. Davidson and Washington are road runners and will chip in with goals when they get a chance.
We were woeful in our first 4 games and I realised he might try 4-4-2 when he sent Washington on to play alongside Jayden against Wigan. Even though it didn't work against a strong side like Wigan it did work against a weaker side like Crewe.
I think it's only place I'd hear it as well. As you forgot Kirk and CBT will be lucky to make the bench now.
I just want a season where the injuries are kind to us.
Things will surely improve as apart from Arter we've generally signed younger players, Dobson 23, Clare 24, Kirk 23, Lavelle 24, CBT 23, Leko 22, Famewo 22. Lee and Stockley are only 26 and 27.
Obviously any player can pick up an injury but we're going in the right direction now instead of signing injury prone players that no one else wants.
Mmm an okay window we won’t set the league alight but Think we should nick a playoff spot although there are 6 teams better than us, I would personally find it hilarious is Ipswich and Wigan both have shockers, as I know Wigan have an Arab owner and it’s not a footballing town so makes 0 sense, Ipswich are owned by a fireman’s pension fund from the states I believe spending big to try and get to champ and sell I would imagine.
Who? Now we've made those signings (especially the front 4) i don't think there's 6 better teams at all. That front 4 is as good on paper as any team in the division with the probable exception of Ipswich. Gilbey and Purrington will both be back soon as well.
At the moment there are 18 teams better than us as we are 19th in the league. Only time, and of course results will tell if the transfer policy has been a success.
Mmm an okay window we won’t set the league alight but Think we should nick a playoff spot although there are 6 teams better than us, I would personally find it hilarious is Ipswich and Wigan both have shockers, as I know Wigan have an Arab owner and it’s not a footballing town so makes 0 sense, Ipswich are owned by a fireman’s pension fund from the states I believe spending big to try and get to champ and sell I would imagine.
Who? Now we've made those signings (especially the front 4) i don't think there's 6 better teams at all. That front 4 is as good on paper as any team in the division with the probable exception of Ipswich. Gilbey and Purrington will both be back soon as well.
At the moment there are 18 teams better than us as we are 19th in the league. Only time, and of course results will tell if the transfer policy has been a success.
That would be true if we had all played the same 5 teams, which we haven't.
Comments
Even if the ones you’d expect picked up injuries/suspensions all at the same time, Inniss, Watson, Famewo, Gilbey, JFC, Leko, Washington we could still turn up with a decent league one XI.
Definitely would lean towards a 442 possibly diamond with the current set of players or playing Leko/Washington off Stockley. As brilliant as Stockley has done and will score goals i do think we need someone close to help him and to press from the front, Stockley shouldn't have to chase people and when he does he just looks too slow so keep him up there let others do the donkey work and run off him.
And if it was in the context of replacing Anekes goals then yes I think they will but you would need to add more on top as 1 player vs about 5 who would be taking spots up on team where other goals could have come from if that makes sense. Not sure it does haha.
I'm hopeful we're still looking at a left-back although it means two players missing out on the squad, presumably JFC and Dempsey.
I think this whole summer has been an iterative process of learning for us, for TS and the management. I’m quietly excited about the rest of the season. Why not
I have had (and still have t b h) doubts about Adkins' suitability for the job. I hope that he proves me to be a right know nothing and gets his teams playing great attacking football and a spot in next season's Championship
If we'd snuck a 1-0 win who knows what would've happened in the rest of the window. We didn't know it at the time but that game could well be the game that changed our season.
Inniss Famewo
Matthews Gunter
Arter
Lee Gilbey
DJ Leko
Stockley
How does that look.
As we have 4 wingers, we won't play 3-5-2 even if we had natural wing backs.
4-3-3 will be the preferred choice of Nigel but he will also go 4-2-3-1 with Lee playing just behind and around Stockley as the attacking midfielder with perm any two from DJ, Leko, Gilbert and CBT as the wide men in the 3. I could really see those four rotating. You heard it here first !
Stockley won't play 90 minutes every game as 3 games in a week will see him battered.
Davidson and Washington are road runners and will chip in with goals when they get a chance.
We were woeful in our first 4 games and I realised he might try 4-4-2 when he sent Washington on to play alongside Jayden against Wigan. Even though it didn't work against a strong side like Wigan it did work against a weaker side like Crewe.
Obviously any player can pick up an injury but we're going in the right direction now instead of signing injury prone players that no one else wants.
The CMs sometimes switch with two holding and one AM.