There's been a lot on here recently about the heart being pulled out of the promotion squad but I would argue we are stronger than last season. The high profile departures were Adam Davies (can't make the bench), Ethan Pinnock (arse splinters), Liam Lindsay (playing for one of the two teams doing worse than us this season and withdrawn injured yesterday) and Kieffer Moore (regular starter, yet to score). We also lost Jackson, who had provided reliable defensive cover. In came Radlinger, Collins, Diaby, Halme, Andersen, Chaplin and the largely unseen Schmidt. Certainly from a defensive viewpoint, I wouldn't swap back Beyond that, bit part players like Hedges and Fryers have been offloaded and regular starters like Wilks and Thomas brought in. Now most if not all of the fees were undisclosed but we are led to believe we have done this business at a profit. We are not without obvious problems, in that the areas we have arguably strengthened were not the areas of concern - full backs and a first team ready third striker were on everyone bar the board's shopping list and we didn't (unable, unwilling, who knows) invest the supposed profit to bring players in in those key areas. Resultantly, the claims that this was the club's best transfer window ever remain pretty laughable. However, I'd say we are certainly no worse off squad wise and if we've freed up funds to strengthen in January, I think we're only a couple of shrewd signings away. However with only Woodrow left of proven quality up front, we need to scrape enough points before Christmas to give ourselves a chance. Furthermore, unless January sees no first team departures and some quality brought in (ie genuinely the best window in the club's history), we're rubber ducked. We will soon see what our new owners are made of.
I agree, it was always expected that with so many new signings they would take time to gel and I see them improving weekly. I’m worried about the lack of goals but harping on about players that have gone achieves nothing, they have gone and aren’t coming back. I still think at the end of the season we will be somewhere mid table.
Yes worse. Wouldn't mind some of the summer signings in addition to the team we had but our defence and attack have been weakened.
Definitely worse as most of em haven’t played together, that’s probably gunna cost us between 15-20 points on its own. Completely ruined our chances in this league selling half last seasons team before we kicked a ball. Same different owners, load a toss!
I might get some stick here but I think the defenders we have are at least as good as the ones we sold. Halme in particular looks a real class act in the making. Both new keepers are better than Davies too. The problem Is we’ve signed players like Wilks and Chaplin that look like neither wingers or strikers. We needed to keep Moore AND sign another striker to compete at this level. Instead we sold him in the last week of the window and brought in a supposed replacement that looks anything but. We’re also crying out for a bit of Championship nous and experience. Can’t do anything now until January when I fear it’ll be too late. Conway and his ‘best ever window ‘ seems very quiet these days.
The frontline has been weakened with the departure of Moore. Not because he was anything special but because we didn’t replace him. Pinnock was a big loss in defence and we needed to strengthen at full back, so that area was weakened. We are better out wide and in goal. So all in all the squad hasn’t improved to me, it’s just younger and potentially much better. But this division is much harder than the one we played in last year which needs to be taken into account.
Think once we start scoring ( I'm sure we will) there will be a big difference, get a couple of wins (somehow) and get some confidence flowing and we will be fine
Last season's squad was more than capable in the league they were in ......add to that a very good coach, who had us playing some very good football. This team are very much in the making and are not anywhere near capable so far, in this league. Did we have a better squad last season? Yes.
I didn’t mind losing a few players, but I feel we lost too many of the spine of the first team, if we’d just kept Pinnock and Moore, I think I could have said we were stronger, but at the moment I think we are weaker.
Agree with all that RP. The three centre backs collectively are stronger than last term and will provide genuine competion for the two CB places. (I’m now counting Sibbick as a def mid). Collins looks a class act, Radlinger will struggle to get back in when he’s fit again and therefore not missing Davies. Thomas looks promising but needs to gain consistency. You don’t need to be a mystic to see that goal scoring is our big problem. Jacob Brown looks as though he is more than capable of taking the step up the championship and we can but hope that he can add that bit of punch up front as his match sharpness picks up. January then gives us the opportunity to rectify the situation providing it’s not too late by then.
If they were miles better they'd be setting the championship alight with their new teams but they're not. Personally I would have liked to start the season with that established pairing but I think Anderson and Diaby could prove to be just as good, whilst playing more in the Stendel style.
Is it worse now? Yes. But I honestly think it has the potential to be something special. But, in order to get there in January we need to clear out the dead weight, so that's miller, adeboyajo, styles, Thiam (defended him for too long) and bring in a proper target man and a creative midfielder. Stendel also needs to sort out his issue with Cavare or get shut. Defensively I think we're ok and when Kenny is back fit that will be like a new signing.
-I’d say both keepers are an upgrade on Davies. That’s about as much as I’m going to give the recruitment team at the minute.
Would have liked to have held on to Pinnock at least this season. We got good money for Lindsay and Moore but the reinvestment of it needs questioning. This so called plan does not work 100% of the time and so give and take in player signings (experienced players) needs to be seriously considered.
It’s irrelevant how they perform for other clubs. They were a good experienced and highly successful partnership for us. Ronnie Glavin, Ashley Ward, Bree and Winnall all did little after leaving us. We were still worse without them. Andersen and Diaby May in the long term be good players for us but at the moment they operate well below the level we had from Pinnock and Lindsay.
Worse. We miss the big and small striker link. Defending as been better last 2 games as goals have only came against us because we have nothing up top which keeps putting pressure on our defenders. We lack any depth too. Just throw cavare up top with Woodrow lol