Progress from this time last year

Around this time last year (it could even be on this exact date who knows) I placed a few bets on who would win The Open. Turned out I had some money left over so I thought I'd take a look at our odds to win the league. 17 to 1 were the odds I got.

As it happens, the same has happened this year and as I check the odds today we are 16 to 1, which is lower than last year and joint 5th favourites which suggests we are in a better position than this time last year.

So, in your opinion do you think we are in the better position in terms of squad and the teams in the league? I would say that our team is pretty good but our squad is way too small to be competitive. However, the teams in the division are weaker than last season in my opinion which is the reason for the odds.

 

All that suggests is that people have bet differing amounts of money on differing teams than last season.

We appear to be in a considerably worse position than last season to me

 

Our squad this time last year contained only 13 players who had ever played a professional game of which 4 more would leave that window (COG, Steele, Kennedy, Rose). We didn't make another signing until 22nd July.

 

I'd say we are in a much worse position than last year. This can change but I can only go with what we have at the minute.

 

We're in a worse position at the moment but in a month we will have a better idea of how our season may progress.

 

Really? In Davies, Nyatanga, Scowen, Hourihane and Winnall we have the spine of a good team with which we'll probably start the season. I don't think there's any reason to think that Mawson won't step up to the mark, and I'm hopeful about Watkins. We also know that this is probably the year that Smith and Bree will break into the first team properly.

I'd feel more comfortable if we still had Berry and we keeping hold of Lalkovic, but as I see it we're leaps and bounds ahead of last year, when what team we could put together seemed to be built around players that we knew would leave. I'd be genuinely interested as to how you think that we were in a much better position this time last year

 

Valid point you make but let's hope Watkins fairs better than the last Scottish guy we recruited. Hemmings

 

The squad size is almost exactly the same whereas now we have virtually no experience in any position in the team. We had a manager with a proven track record of recruiting and developing players as evidenced by the players you list. We now have a manager who may or may not be any good at this. We also appear to be performing very poorly in the transfer market. Berry being sold without an improved replacement being lined up was poor decision making and with Hourihane's injury seems even worse.

We started last season expecting Bree and Smith to develop and this happened with the bonus of Holgate. There does not immediately appear anyone ready to break through to the first team this season.

Of the signings this summer Mawson seems a stand out the others are all complete gambles. I'd not see Roberts for Cranie as trading up. Watkins was a complete flop last time in England as was Hemmings last season and could work or fail. Wilkinson's goal scoring record s worse than Josh Scowen's...

We already seem to have alienated a relatively high percentage of our remaining players with Bailey, Laikovic and Holgate all banished from the first team so morale can't be that high.

We have a few talented individuals but currently not enough to form a team. I'd expect our current squad, on balance, to be nearer the bottom of the table than the top.

As I said things can change and change quickly. However if we accept 500k for Holgate then we deserve nothing.

 

Fair enough - I can't argue with a lot of that. Particularly agree with your thoughts on Berry and Holgate. I still think that our squad now looks much better than it did last year, though, despite the lack of experience.

 

I can't understand why people think we're worse off this time around. We have the basis of a good squad with around a month before the season starts. Something we didn't have this time last year. Winnall, Scowen, Hourihane, Davies, Nyatanga and I dare say Smith and Bree, are all good enough to be playing in a top team in this division.

We didn't have that this time last season. We're still a few bodies short admittedly, but far fewer than this time last season.

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Nope we're exactly the same as this time last year. Same old people constantly whinging. Or did you mean the team?

 

#gonebycrimbo

 

To be fair there's not much between the two squads. That said this time last year I thought the late and hurried recruitment had pretty much doomed us to a year of failure but I could understand due to the COG issue this year we have no similar reason but again seem to be hamstringing the manager.

 

Better than last year but acute lack of strength in depth. From where we are at the moment, I can't see a sustained promotion challenge so won't be parting with any dosh to the bookies.

 

Groundhog day at Oakwell.

Promise much, deliver little, say words that show learning, deliver actions that prove otherwise.

 

At moment we certainly are no better off than last year & we have a lot of uncertainty in the camp.

LJ has a stern task ahead I reckon. I like the bloke, so I hope he makes a good fist of it & people give him a bit of time.

 

Much better off than last year. We didn't have a squad at this point!

The spine of the team is good, and this time last year we were scrabbling around trying to get rid of our best player.

We need a handful of players, which we could easily have by the end of next week.

I agree that selling Berry and casting Lalkovic into the cold seems to be a dodgy move at this point though - need bodies in soon

 

Mad panic/loan signings to build the sqaud beckons imo. Spent too much on sacking managers buying **** players. Ah well its all good.

 

Squad this time last year:

Luke Steele
Adam Davies
Christian Dibble

James Bree
Jack Cowgill
Martin Cranie
Mason Holgate
Lewin Nyatanga
Jean-Yves M'Voto
George Smith

Jacob Mellis
Reuben Noble Lazarus
Dale Jennings
Conor Hourihane
Brad Abbott
Paul Digby

Dominic McHale
Nana Boakye-Yiadom
George Maris
Chris O'Grady
Danny Rose
Kane Hemmings
Rhys Oates

Squad now:

Ross Turnbull
Adam Davies
Christian Dibble

James Bree
Jack Cowgill
Alfie Mawson
George Williams
Lewin Nyatanga
Marc Roberts
George Smith

Josh Scowen
Conor Hourihane
Brad Abbott
Paul Digby
Marley Watkins

Conor Wilkinson
George Maris
Sam Winnall
Mike Phenix

We've still got Holgate, Bailey and Lalkovic, but you can't include them in the squad because we're not going to play them.

Differences:
I like Turnbull, but Steele is the better keeper, so last season for me.

In defence we've swapped Cranie and M'Voto, two central defenders with plenty of experience, with a non-league player and one with one years experience in League two. We've lost Holgate (or may as well have done) to be replaced by Williams, another non-league player. Last season again for me.

In midfield we've replaced Noble-Lazarus, Mellis and Jennings with Scowen and Watkins. In terms of what we're going to get out of the players, then Scowen is head and shoulders above, but we're still woefully short of players. We've got to hope Watkins is better than Jennings, but we don't know yet. This season, but our midfield is not fit for purpose.

Up front we've lost 4 kids who all looked promising to me, plus O'Grady and Hemmings, and replaced them with Phenix from non-league, Wilkinson on loan and Sam Winnall. Sam Winnall is a great addition, but over a season, with the options we had, last season looks stronger.

 

Got to disagree there as a lot of players that are in both squads have progressed a lot since last season such as Davies, Bree and Smith. We have a better squad this year, just need 4 or 5 more signings.