Squad doesn’t look bad for league one! Up and coming head coach and a couple of crowd pleasing signings, couple of youngsters making a step up. Everything will be alright. GK- Adam Davies, Jack Walton RB- Jason McCarthy, Dimitri Cavaré LB- Zeki Fryers, Dani Pinillos CB- Liam Lindsay, Adam Jackson, Ethan Pinnock, Matty Pearson M- Stevie Mallan, George Moncur, Christoph Knasmüllner, Brad Potts, Jared Bird, Alex Mowatt, Cameron McGeehan W- Ryan Hedges, Dylan Mottley-Henry, Lloyd Isgrove, Mamadou Thiam S- Tom Bradshaw, Kieffer Moore, Victor Adeboyejo, Jacob Brown
Very much agree. No massive rebuild required. Just a few quality signings. GK, two defensive minded midfielders, a winger and a striker for me. Got to think one of Mallan, Mcgeehan or Moncur could excel in this league.
I think we’ve got the makings of a good league one squad but central midfield is a problem. We’ve got about 5 attacking midfielders & none of them with the possible exception of Bird can do a job sitting in front of the back 4. Due to the sheer number of them it’d suggest we’ll play with 3 central midfielders to get 2 of them in the team alongside a sitter which will mean Moore as a lone striker. Be interesting to see how we deal with Mowatt, Moncur, Potts, Mallan, McGeehan, I’d imagine all except possibly Mallan are on good money as well. Really need to keep Isgrove & Hedges fit this season, Hedges has the ability to tear teams at league one level apart but he’s got to start delivering when he starts
experienced central defender & defensive midfielder, loan winger & striker would do for me. Isgrove, Bradshaw & Moore could be key players this season, Hedges, Jackson & Lindsay to fufill their potential, maybe Ben Williams & Amir Berkovits to break into the first team
That's already a squad of 25 with U23s that could add to that so if we were to bring in another 5 players at least 5 would need to be sold or free transfer as a squad of 30 plus is a bit much. I think all in the list could do a job in league 1 so which 5 would go and that we could afford to replace them with better?
I count 21 first team players currently on our books (inc walton). So 5 more doesn't seem unrealistic to me. U23s can only add to squad if good enough. I would let Davies and Mowatt leave personally. And realistically another CM will have to go on loan or be sold. Imagine that could be knasmullner.
Looking at that midfield it's not a case of replacing with better it s the fact we have signed about 5 of the same type of midfielder. It boggles the mind why we have done that.
No matter what the squad looks like on paper, it is a squad that has the stench of relegation all over it. It is imperative that the right decisions regarding manager/headcoach and new players are made and we hit the ground running, because if we start poorly with a couple of early defeats it could quickly spiral into another terrible season
I agree, but there is nowt to say that one of those midfielders couldn't assume a different role. Hourihane became more of a complete player when he dropped deep. Maybe McGeehan or Potts could be that kind of player?
What happens if they get us back up? They have already proved they aren't good enough for the level above, so another rebuild would have to be done. If some are good enough next time around, they will only have a year left on their contracts at most and so we will probably have to sell to a bigger club for less than they are worth. The rebuild should be done now, knowing if we go straight back up we will have a group of players used to winning together, who know eachothers strengths and weaknesses and will all have 2 plus years still left on their original contracts.
Disagree. Let's get back up first. A lot of them are very young still. No way were Hourihane, Winnall, Roberts etc remotely ready for the Championship when we first signed them. Some of them were barely ready for League 1. The current squad have still got a lot of improvement in them. Some of them will look excellent next season, but hit a ceiling and probably not shine any higher. Some of them will continue developing further and end up as established Championship players, either with us or somebody else. And some of them will still look completely gash at League 1 level, and get shipped out.
Agreed. Keep these players together, add a few, keep a settled side that's not getting beat week in and out, and some will become better players. Nothing worse than losing every week, manager chopping and changing and the fans on your back. Doesn't breed confidence.
Not really. Most of them are in their early 20’s, if we got promoted they should be a lot better & more prepared for a season in the championship. We signed all these young players on 3 & 4 year contracts for them to develop & improve. I highly doubt anyone at the club is writing them all off after 1 year otherwise why we would we buy any young players?
Maybe so, as is often the case the team that lines up from the first game of the season to that by Christmas will probably be very different as we find our way. One day I look at the squad and think we will be fine another I'm convinced we will struggle.
