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Quote from: pib on July 31, 2018, 11:17:52 pmIt’s not a bad point to be fair. We might have lost quite a few players, but aside from Baudry you can probably count on one hand the number of starts made by the other three last season.Take away them and Houghton on loan which many say wasn't good last year and we have the same squad.We have added a quality attacking midfielder, a fast strong forward and have Andrew back who is quality.Combine that with a new formation which is more attacking and a manager who can get the best out of the players and we are far better than last year.Add to that a risky player who if comes off will be quality if not will no doubt cost us peanuts at having a go.Add to that we have budget left over for the rest of the season to add quality either permenant or loan.Geez it's there for all too see, we are far better off.
It’s not a bad point to be fair. We might have lost quite a few players, but aside from Baudry you can probably count on one hand the number of starts made by the other three last season.
May I recommend you see a better optician for your rose tinted glasses
People point to Baudry being injured a lot / Alcock not being in the first 11. But maybe it’s worth looking at how many games they did feature in. They were still called upon to do a job. If we get just one injury to a central defender now then we are paper thin - there is no back up. People say McCullough can do a job there but he is the only defensively minded midfield player in the squad. Mason can do a job there but we’re heavily reliant on him at right back. The youngsters have gone - Fielding has been released, Garratt shipped out on loan. They may not have been good enough but they were back up and now there’s no back up at all. People question whether Houghton offered enough last season. I rated him, but irrespective of that just look at how many games he played. It’s not like we’ve gone out and got someone better in. We simply haven’t replaced him. We haven’t replaced Williams who was an experienced option as back up for Marquis. Okay we probably needed someone better, but we haven’t got them. We haven’t got anyone! I’ll get slated for being negative here but I’m not. I’ll be behind the club, the manager and the team right from kick off on Saturday. I’m just being realistic. As it stands I think this is a weaker squad than last season without any doubt. Yes you can argue some of the retained players may have improved, but we just do not have the options we need at this stage. There’s still time for that to change before the window shuts. But that opportunity is rapidly diminishing.
MPC, no blind panic here, absolutely. We’re on the same page with some of your comments, but not all - but that’s fair enough.
Hallelujah Jonathan, at last an intelligent report on where we are and I totally agree - but, then, I am, apparently, incessantly negative.One thing I have noticed about people who knock one for being (seemingly) negative, they completely avoid giving us their view/opinion on this current team's chances.
Quote from: dickos1 on July 31, 2018, 10:21:37 pmQuote from: big fat yorkshire pudding on July 31, 2018, 10:08:24 pmThe point everyone is missing is improvement. Many say the squads weaker but I disagree. By that I say the best majority should be improved on last year through experience at this level. A young squad should keep improving as many of our better players under sod did. We should not forget that and with the make-up of this squad that's an important fact. I would say the one weaker area is potentially up front. The lack of Andy Williams is a weakness for me, though many will disagree on that point too.Sod always improved our squad with players he knew would be suited to the way he wanted to play. He also signed experience like wellens, oster, mcgammon, stock. The squad never stood still with him and we certainly didn’t get rid of experienced players and replace them with inexperienced ones Williams - too slow , constantly injuredBaudry - always injuredEvina - always out on loan as couldn't defendAlcock - not in first 11They are your experienced players we got rid of who you want replacing lol, and you keep moaning about that, time and time and time and time again, the same things
Quote from: big fat yorkshire pudding on July 31, 2018, 10:08:24 pmThe point everyone is missing is improvement. Many say the squads weaker but I disagree. By that I say the best majority should be improved on last year through experience at this level. A young squad should keep improving as many of our better players under sod did. We should not forget that and with the make-up of this squad that's an important fact. I would say the one weaker area is potentially up front. The lack of Andy Williams is a weakness for me, though many will disagree on that point too.Sod always improved our squad with players he knew would be suited to the way he wanted to play. He also signed experience like wellens, oster, mcgammon, stock. The squad never stood still with him and we certainly didn’t get rid of experienced players and replace them with inexperienced ones
The point everyone is missing is improvement. Many say the squads weaker but I disagree. By that I say the best majority should be improved on last year through experience at this level. A young squad should keep improving as many of our better players under sod did. We should not forget that and with the make-up of this squad that's an important fact. I would say the one weaker area is potentially up front. The lack of Andy Williams is a weakness for me, though many will disagree on that point too.
I’m certainly not trying to be negative either Alan. I’ve never mentioned the budget as the finance is none of my business. I can understand why people can be hyper-sensitive about perceived criticism of the board because there’s a lot of shit thrown about. But that’s absolutely not my intention and I’m not pointing fingers at anyone. As a supporter my main concern is what I watch on the pitch. Not the finance or the decision making. And as I see it we are significantly weaker than last season so I think there are things to address if we truly expect to do better.
Quote from: mpc123 on July 31, 2018, 10:50:43 pmQuote from: dickos1 on July 31, 2018, 10:21:37 pmQuote from: big fat yorkshire pudding on July 31, 2018, 10:08:24 pmThe point everyone is missing is improvement. Many say the squads weaker but I disagree. By that I say the best majority should be improved on last year through experience at this level. A young squad should keep improving as many of our better players under sod did. We should not forget that and with the make-up of this squad that's an important fact. I would say the one weaker area is potentially up front. The lack of Andy Williams is a weakness for me, though many will disagree on that point too.Sod always improved our squad with players he knew would be suited to the way he wanted to play. He also signed experience like wellens, oster, mcgammon, stock. The squad never stood still with him and we certainly didn’t get rid of experienced players and replace them with inexperienced ones Williams - too slow , constantly injuredBaudry - always injuredEvina - always out on loan as couldn't defendAlcock - not in first 11They are your experienced players we got rid of who you want replacing lol, and you keep moaning about that, time and time and time and time again, the same thingsDear me, Regardless of your opinion of them we’ve replaced them with two much cheaper players. Yet the budget/wage bill has increased!What’s going to happen is mcann is going to start the season with his squad, we will then struggle and then all these defending the budget are going to say well he had the money to spend but chose not to and blame him.
Just don’t believe a new manager would enter a season with a lightweight squad when he has money to spend.We’ve saved a lot of money with the players leaving so in my opinion he’d be using those funds Tmyou might think different but that’s upto you
Just don’t believe a new manager would enter a season with a lightweight squad when he has money to spend.We’ve saved a lot of money with the players leaving so in my opinion he’d be using those funds
Not suggesting he spend it all but look at the players who have left and look at what we’ve brought in, it doesn’t add up financially or quality wise or numbers wise.
Quote from: dickos1 on August 01, 2018, 12:59:04 pmJust don’t believe a new manager would enter a season with a lightweight squad when he has money to spend.We’ve saved a lot of money with the players leaving so in my opinion he’d be using those funds Tmyou might think different but that’s upto you Crikey, you and your blinkers!GM doesn't believe he has a lightweight squad, he compares this squad with the one he had at Peterborough and thinks he's in a better position. That's his choice.And we had this discussion yesterday, you are confusing the wage bill with the budget despite your protestations to the contrary.
Quote from: dickos1 on August 01, 2018, 01:17:25 pmNot suggesting he spend it all but look at the players who have left and look at what we’ve brought in, it doesn’t add up financially or quality wise or numbers wise. In your opinion not Grant McCann's.
Quote from: DearneValleyRover on August 01, 2018, 01:21:50 pmQuote from: dickos1 on August 01, 2018, 01:17:25 pmNot suggesting he spend it all but look at the players who have left and look at what we’ve brought in, it doesn’t add up financially or quality wise or numbers wise. In your opinion not Grant McCann's.If you think mcann is gonna come out and say I’ve not got the money to spend I thought I had and it’s gonna be a rough season then you’re not thinking it through
Liam Hoden confirms on Twitter that the two new signings will be Taylor and Veria... so 1 for the development squad and another who is a few weeks away from being for and is a loose cannon..... I don’t get McCanns reluctance to spend some of this increased budget on players who can go straight into our first 11.
Quote from: silent majority on August 01, 2018, 01:03:43 pmQuote from: dickos1 on August 01, 2018, 12:59:04 pmJust don’t believe a new manager would enter a season with a lightweight squad when he has money to spend.We’ve saved a lot of money with the players leaving so in my opinion he’d be using those funds Tmyou might think different but that’s upto you Crikey, you and your blinkers!GM doesn't believe he has a lightweight squad, he compares this squad with the one he had at Peterborough and thinks he's in a better position. That's his choice.And we had this discussion yesterday, you are confusing the wage bill with the budget despite your protestations to the contrary.My blinkers 😂I’m not confusing anything, the wage bill is less now than at any point of last season we’ve lost houghton, baudry, Williams, Alcock and not re spent this money. A few weeks again you told us that everything would be fine and we should just wait and see what happens the board wouldn’t let us down.Well we’re waiting
Spending money doesn't equate to quality as a rule. Andy Williams was one of our highest earners yet one of our most inconsistent players. He didn't score a goal last season did he?My point is...so what if Wilks is cheaper? If he is better then it's a great move by McCann to get more for less.Evina has gone but his spot was already filled, by Danny Amos coming through the ranks. Amos costs us less in wages but in my opinion will go on to be far better player than Evina.Baudry has gone, Anderson has come in. If he stays fit he's already more worthwhile than Baudry in one respect because he won't be on the treatment table.Alcock has gone but Lund has come back. Okay, I won't try and argue Lund is better than Alcock but Alcock was not very good at the best of times and was barely used anyway. If Mason stays fit Lund will only be a back up this season.Houghton is gone but we have signed Crawford. Two players in different midfield roles but we have changed our midfield shape entirely and I expect money-wise these two will cost a similar amount.Kongolo has gone and not been replaced. That's an improvement straight away because poor Rodders was worse than having thin air on the pitch a lot of the time.Williams has gone and Wilks has come in. Cheaper yes but a lot younger, faster, more dynamic on the ball and better suited to our new playing style. Williams had become a non-entity in terms of contribution by last year.We have also added Max Watters and it looks like Romario Vieira as young back-up players, along with senior moves for the likes of Fletcher, Prior and Morris. We may also sign a new attacking midfielder in Paul Taylor and have clearly been pursuing another striker at the very least.So having looked at it all, I fail to see why our squad is suddenly lightweight, or any worse. I think we do need another holding midfielder but aside from that I am happy with Grant McCann's assessment of the squad and confident he knows what he's doing on this front.