And recruitment to make up for those deficiencies gets a whole lot more expensive as the selling Clubs realise we made a few bob out of the John Stones transfer.
I know, it's a difficult balancing act between having a competitive squad and not breaking the bank. I'm glad I don't have to do the job.
But on the other hand it makes our players more expensive because we are not desperate for the money.
The most accurate summary I've read. Just worry though that in his absence Isgrove is becoming seen as a far, far better player than he ever actually was imho having seen every game he played for us. Gave the ball away, regularly out of position, weak in the tackle, ran down blind alleys, virtually no assists and no goal until the play-offs. I'm not saying Kent is any better on the thin evidence thus far but we certainly haven't lost the two games due to the absence of a right winger who was non-threatening a league below. Fletcher, yes, is a huge miss as he had talent in spades and qualities to stretch a defence that we no longer have. I also think Brownhill was very underestimated, particularly given the amount of times he had to cover Isgrove and stand-in right backs, albeit I don't think Scowen is losing much in comparison so far. Agree that we're staring at an abyss if Josh or Conor are injured/suspended. At the risk of crying over spilt milk, I've yet to see any of our full backs perform anywhere near George Williams standard defensively. And a fit Sam Winnall was a huge miss last night.
I have to agree with your comments re Isgrove, apart from the last few games, when he was outstanding, especially at Wigan. For those who exaggerate his abilities, he has been at Southampton since he was 9 years old and had a professional contract with them since 2012. He will be 24 next January and, despite his very long stay at Southampton, he has appeared only once in their first team. It is pretty clear they do not rate him all that highly, though they presumably did once, given that he is allegedly earning good money there.
I'm nowhere near as concerned as some of you. We played a lot of good football. Good link up play with Hourihane, Moncur, Scowen & the wingers at times. The standout players for me were Scowen, Hourihane, Bree & Watkins (until extra time where he seemed to lose confidence after missing that great chance). It's no coincidence that the two players who looked slightly off the pace were Moncur & Bradshaw who aren't used to playing with the rest of the side. They'll come good. I remember it taking a while for Isgrove & Fletcher to show there best form. Hecky's on the hunt for another striker anyway & Winnall will be back in around a months time so I'm not worried about whether Payne is ready or not yet as we aren't reliant on him. Let's see what the team looks like in a month when the teams gelled & the window's closed. I'm not going to start panicking just because we didn't take our chances in our second game of the season in a game we on the whole dominated
that's the worrying sentence for me. 'Trying' is what pre-seasons should be for. Fair enough, we can fine tune in the early season games but that is really all it should be. LJ fell into the trap last year - we were still 'trying things' 15 games into the season. Hopefully Hecky will keep it real.
Now this is nearer the mark^^^^^^^ Whether PC, Hecky or anybody else for that matter thinks we can get away without signing at least 2-3 experienced players then they are deluded, remember there's no loan window to bail us out this autumn. So 2 and half weeks left to improve our squad, do I think we'll get em.... nope We'll see what folk think after Derby on setdi..... but as others have pointed out, that team is not as good as the one that got promoted, we'll need better players to survive this season..