Fire sale

The fact we haven't signed anyone isn't hurting our bargaining position.
It's clear we're not going to splash cash all over the place and won't overpay.
Hopefully we can bring in 1 or 2 players to strengthen the squad. But if no one's available, well, let's keep our money until January.
After all, buying now could be a waste of money if the season gets stopped again.
 
dragonm8 said:
It's probably more about having some depth.

King seems, for one reason or another to be absent.

So if Solanke or Surridge get crocked, who do we use?

Weve lost probably 8 established players from the squad, and promoted the youth.

Do you not genuinely feel we need at least 3 or 4 additions to balance the outgoings?
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Yeah I do think we need a keeper and some forward options. I'd be happy to tread water for a year if it was a season where all these kids progressed but in realistic terms we probably do need to strengthen.
 
sounds like too much reliance on some of these pretty much unproven youngsters. the odd decent appearance in the micky mouse cup doesn;t mean they're ready for a championship promotion campaign (which is what we should be aiming for).
 
For those desperate to bring in 3/4 players, a) how good do they think these players will be if they are willing to sit on the bench waiting for their new mates to get injured or b) if they are good enough to go straight in team then just how good will the team morale be when for example Solanke or Surridge have to wait for an injury to resume their career.

We may have lots of games but there will only be 10 weeks from when window closes until it re-opens. If we get that amount of injuries, 3/4 extra players won't make enough difference as the disruption will likely prevent any challenge for promotion.
 
ChampagneCherry said:
For those desperate to bring in 3/4 players, a) how good do they think these players will be if they are willing to sit on the bench waiting for their new mates to get injured or b) if they are good enough to go straight in team then just how good will the team morale be when for example Solanke or Surridge have to wait for an injury to resume their career.

We may have lots of games but there will only be 10 weeks from when window closes until it re-opens. If we get that amount of injuries, 3/4 extra players won't make enough difference as the disruption will likely prevent any challenge for promotion.
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well thats the managers/head of transfers job to decipher, going by how good the players we have now are, their characters, versatility and a whole spectrum of other criteria to consider and workaround.

Surely those questions could be asked by any club when signing players, not just us and our current situation. Squads should be improved wherever possible, hence why clubs sign new players frequently and don;t just sit there with the same squad in case it upsets the current crop. It's a competitive game.

If Surridge gets a chance and starts banging them in, great. If we sign another striker and he scores frequently, ending in promotion... even better.

Sadly in modern football, managers don't get time and we don't owe the youngsters a run in the first team.

We have sold a lot of quality for a a fair bit of money. The ambition should be playoffs, minimum. If we don;t go up this season, it will only become harder imo.
 
I think we have a good squad . Not as talented as last years but hopefully a few youngsters who are hungry and talented replacing those who have left .
However we are still short .
Central midfield we are a mess .
And up top we are short .
 
MB1980 said:
well thats the managers/head of transfers job to decipher, going by how good the players we have now are, their characters, versatility and a whole spectrum of other criteria to consider and workaround.

Surely those questions could be asked by any club when signing players, not just us and our current situation. Squads should be improved wherever possible, hence why clubs sign new players frequently and don;t just sit there with the same squad in case it upsets the current crop. It's a competitive game.

If Surridge gets a chance and starts banging them in, great. If we sign another striker and he scores frequently, ending in promotion... even better.

Sadly in modern football, managers don't get time and we don't owe the youngsters a run in the first team.

We have sold a lot of quality for a a fair bit of money. The ambition should be playoffs, minimum. If we don;t go up this season, it will only become harder imo.
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With respect, long way of not answering the question. We have dropped a whole division, the youngsters are year old and stronger and I think this new squad already has two in every position, and can also change formation to overcome lots of injuries in any one department.

Yes technically you can pay for better players in every position but this argument for depth is simplistic. Call it what it is, say which starting XI need relegating to the bench and which ones need new understudies.

Personally I think we need new right sided CB with greater pace to upgrade that position and the current incumbent(s) go to the bench. If/when King leaves, maybe bring in junior striker to back up Dom, Sam, And Jaidon. Any more is overload unless players are sold or sent on loan.
 
The recruitment needs ultimately depend on what formation we are going to be using across the season. The systems of choice appear to be 3-4-3 and a 3-6-1 diamond.

Neither of which requires 4 strikers on our books so if King does stay we certainly won’t be needing to bring another in. Naturally if we are going with 3 centre backs then that’s an area we would need more depth. Preferably one with pace and comfortable in possession.

The 3-6-1 we’ve been using in the cup doesn’t require wingers but I suspect we will go with a front 3 more frequently so another wide player would be nice.

Personally I’d like a more attack minded player at left wing back but perhaps Zemura can make the step up. With doubts over both Travers and Begovic I’d also like a new keeper
 
ChampagneCherry said:
For those desperate to bring in 3/4 players, a) how good do they think these players will be if they are willing to sit on the bench waiting for their new mates to get injured or b) if they are good enough to go straight in team then just how good will the team morale be when for example Solanke or Surridge have to wait for an injury to resume their career.

We may have lots of games but there will only be 10 weeks from when window closes until it re-opens. If we get that amount of injuries, 3/4 extra players won't make enough difference as the disruption will likely prevent any challenge for promotion.
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Yep, because signing Callum, Gosling, Stanislas, Smithy and Kenwyne Jones made no difference and really disrupted our bid for promotion from the Championship last time round.

If we bring in new players, then I expect them to challenge for a place rather than be content to sit on the bench. And I expect our existing players to rise to the challenge accordingly. Just like Charlie Daniels did every time we signed a new left back. And Marc Pugh did every time we signed a new winger. And Steve Cook when we signed a new centre back.

Our squad is paper thin. One of the reasons we went down was because Fraser was able to take the piss on a weekly basis knowing we had no back-up to replace him. Competition for places is vital and new signings are a part of that.
 
ChampagneCherry said:
all it what it is, say which starting XI need relegating to the bench and which ones need new understudies.
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This is a good mental exercise.
For me, here's my ideal starting XI, using the 3-4-3 formation, with "backups" in parentheses.

Goal: Travers (Begovic)
Central Defenders: Cook (Ofoborh) Mepham (Simpson) Kelly (Rico)
Wingbacks: Stacey (Smith) Rico (Zemura, Daniels[?])
Midfield 2: Gosling (L Cook, Ofoborh) Lerma (Billing)
Front 3: Brooks (Stanislas) Danjuma (Kilkenny) Solanke (Surridge, Anthony)

If you use "defenders" as wingbacks, then we don't have enough for 2 decent squad players for each of those 5 positions. However, with the central defenders you can kind of mix and match, so an injury to one of the 3 CBs can basically be filled by any of the other CBs.

People are saying we need a "striker" - and I feel similarly, but I'm wondering whether that's maybe a bit old fashioned. If you look at Liverpool's front 3, who is the "striker"? Do you really need one if the front 3 are all capable of scoring and work well together?
 
I think a couple of loans to bulk out the squad is the best thing for now whilst keeping our powder dry.

The longer the lower leagues have no crowds, the more opportunistic buying opportunities will present themselves in the new year. Whilst I don’t want to see clubs struggle like we did in the past, bringing some semblance of normality to the ridiculously inflated transfer fees paid is an overdue correction IMO.
 
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