Your question, I thought my statement was pretty clear cut. If the window closes with this squad then Duxbury's statement above can immediately go in the bin.
Ah gotcha, "support" has to mean buy lots more new players rather than "give him time" or any other form of "support"?
If our squad stays in its current state, Scott has given Rob Edwards the strongest squad in the Championship, and probably one of the strongest the league has ever seen. Even with the areas where improvements could be made. Obviously that changes very quickly if either of Dennis/Sarr are sold, but as it stands, Rob has been dealt a very nice hand.
Just to add to this, as it seems some (quietly - not willing to challenge?) disagree, I did a bit of basic digging on Championship teams of the last 30 years or so. We're comparing to our current squad, which has 2 international keepers 4 international CBs, who recently set a Championship defensive record A wing back with 500 apps for a top side in Spain, including UCL and UEL apps An international wing back with over 100 top flight apps 2 (aging) CMs with over 400 PL apps between them An international with over 70 top flights apps at the age of 23 A striker who most recently started regularly in Serie A A front line worth between £50m-£80m Talented players such as TDB, Asprilla, Quina, Hungbo Unexciting but decent-at-an-average level players like Kayembe, Bayo, Sema As much as we're currently in a state of dislike (unhealthy hatred?) of our current side, it's a damn good Championship outfit. How many squads can you really name at this level over the years that better the above? Reading's record breakers had an average side, bolstered by players too good for this level (Sidwell, Kitson, Doyle) Newcastle when they went down and managed to keep the bulk of their squad were ridiculous. Coloccini, Enrique, Nolan, Simpson, Gutierrez, Carroll. Too good. Wolves when they decided to Portuguese their way out the league had a bloody good squad. Doherty, Coady, Jota, Ruddy, Neves, Bonatini. But even then the majority hadn't done an awful amount prior to the season, but many went on to bigger and better things. QPR's 2011 title winners were tasty, but mostly filled with solid/good Championship players. Hall, Kenny, Helguson, Taarabt, Hill, Routledge. Leicester 2013/14 again had a very decent side but again most of the player's success came after the Championship season, when they went on to prove themselves at the top level (Mahrez, Schmeichal, Vardy, Morgan, Drinkwater, Wood). I got bored after this, but would be surprised if our current crop isn't up there. Interesting to hear others' thoughts though.
We also have Louza to come back too, which is a positive, albeit I'm not sure if any combination of our current midfielders will really fit to make a truly satisfactory combination in the midfield. There is a big 'square peg/round hole' look to the squad at the moment, as our midfield (already our weakest area, especially without Louza) is greatly weakened by picking Sarr, plus no real wide centre-backs (maybe Gaspar?), and arguably no truly suitable RWB (can Gaspar maraud up and down?) as of now. We saw this under Ivic, where we were horrendously disjointed (perhaps understandably so), but we did improve once key players came back to fitness under Xisco, although a) I think we're still a few signings from making a truly coherent squad, and b) I seriously think that season was the absolute nadir of the Championship, I think there are far more threats now from the likes of Boro, WBA, Sheffield United in addition to the teams we were relegated with
So to summarise the state of play. We have failed to secure s single home grown player. We have spent our entire £5m budget to sign a player as a favour to the Bayat brothers and he isn’t deemed good enough for the bench. We have also signed an expensive non HG keeper who the new coach deems inferior to last year’s backup. We’ve also appointed Cleverley captain despite his woeful performances last season, and now are seemingly obliged to play him for the full 90 mins. Our potential star left back is forced to play out of position because we have failed to bring in a high intensity right back. And Cathcart continues to play week in week out as he always does. I think we are one forward departure away from being in a poor spot. What a complete mess.
It's not just about personnel though, it's about the balance of a squad. Ours is currently a mishmash of players, as it has been for the last few years. It's irrelevant looking at individual players' ability if you can't knit them together into a coherent team or they don't fit what the coach wants to do. The danger is we are, yet again, less than the sum of our parts.
Exactly this. Our squad was far too good on paper to get relegated in the 2019/20 season, but off-field issues and horrible deficiencies in just one or two key areas spelled disaster. We’ve been limping on since then, trying to fix problems with sticking plasters. It all stems from a lack of vision at the top. It takes years to build a really good squad. If in the space of three years you’ve had 8 head coaches, played 5 different formations, varied styles in terms of build-up etc, then you’re never going to be able to create a functional, efficient squad.
Hard to make a proper comparison as our teams under Ivic and Xisco were so different, but are we stronger than 2 years ago? Stronger than the teams Ivic put out, probably, but the teams Xisco put out on a regular basis while they didn't have as much star power, were also very solid and didn't have any major weak links
On paper maybe but then I'd strongly disagree with your statement. A completely unbalanced defence and the weakest midfield I've seen in some while.
I think the balance is mostly fine, and we've got good options in most areas now. Midfield is clearly an issue until Louza gets back though, and I'd like a CB not scared of the football. Can only really judge them on paper for now though, too early to tell at this stage.
Is it unbalanced now we have Gaspar. We do need a left footed CB though. Weakest compared to what, though? Very weak at PL level, but Louza will be up there with the best in the league, and Kayembe, Gosling, Cleverley would get into most sides in the division. Would like a Number 8-type to add to it.
I think you’re vastly overstating the abilities of our midfielders personally but respect your opinion. I don’t think the midfield issue is suddenly solved by Louza. We need a proper ball winner who can screen the defence. We don’t have anyone on the books who is good at that.
And why didn't Gaspar start then or be introduced at HT? Wallace absolutely owned Sema all match and should of been up against last season's player of the season. Weakest compared to any of the midfield since Pozzo has owned the club. I hope you're right about Louza we just need to assess that once he's fit and ready. Disagree with Kayembe. Cleverly and Gosling getting in most starting line-ups. But Gosling should again been introduced early or at HT. The worrying thing is Edwards couldn't or wouldn't change it.
I’d also suggest Asprilla is a total waste of a squad place at WBA away and maybe Bayo should have been there instead. From the clips we have seen of Asprilla in pre-season, he would have been ideal for last night as he’s a player who likes to hold on to the ball and progress it up the pitch. Something we dealt lacked last night - so we can only conclude it was age and inexperience which meant he wasn’t used. So why include him at all.
I think you're maybe overestimating the ability of most Championship midfielders. Outside of those at a handful of clubs, they're mostly crap. But yep, agree to disagree. I think purely by having a midfielder comfortable showing for an receiving the ball, it negates some of the other issues with the midfield, and the team in general.
I really don't think it is balanced for what we're trying to do. We don't have a passing centre back, we don't have two high energy wing backs that play on the correct sides, we don't have a single naturally defensive midfielder in the squad, we don't have a box to box midfielder that can stop attacks, run past people and also pop up in the opposition box with the odd goal, we don't have a set piece taker. Granted ticking every one of those boxes is probably being a bit greedy but that's a lot of gaps.
Watford should be looking to finish in the top two, or at the very least a play off place. With that in mind, this is what we should be judging the squad against. The current front three are probably the best in the league. But that's where it ends in terms of being a front runner. The midfield players would probably get into many Championship sides, but that's not really what we should be judging ourselves against. Would Cleverley, Gosling, Kayembe get into West Brom's first team? Would they get into Norwich or Burnley or Boro's or Sheff Utd's team? I don't think they would. Would Kabasele, Cathcart, WTE be regular starters for a top 6 six? Again no. Would Sema be a regular starter? Nope. So this is where we are. We have 5 top players of EPL ability (Sarr, Dennis, Pedro, Kamara, Louza). A couple could be considered top six Championship level players (Bachmann, Sierralta....and probably Gaspar). But the rest are comfortable mid-table Championship squad players, (Cleverley, Gosling, Sema, WTE, Cathcart, Kabasele). We have a few young players who might step up, such as Asprilla, but the writing seems to be on the wall for Quina, TDB and Ngakia. Bayo.....what has happened to him? Why did we spend £5m of our precious money on him? Manaj could be a decent squad player, but I need to see more of him at Championship level to decide. So it's a solid mid-table squad with I'd say 8 players who are top six Championship/Premier League. The squad is not as good as many think...IMO.
If we had players in every single position that were comfortably better than those playing for the current top 6 favourites, we'd win the league by 20 points. Our attack is the best in the league, by far. Our midfield is average, and our defence/GK's record in the Championship speaks for itself. Unmatched. That makes us, imo, the strongest squad in the division. Some decent midfields in the league, but our top 6 rivals also regularly play some pretty average players like Howson, McLean, Sorensen, Fleck
Over two weeks since it broke that Samir was leaving, I'm sure the club knew well before that though. What have they done about it since? Not a sniff of any player links except an article from Leventhal that seemed to be based on players suggested on this forum.
Been mentioned a few times on here I think but Ethan Ampadu is out of the picture at Chelsea and would be perfect on loan. Versatile, would improve us at RCB and in midfield, and English football-hardened (if that matters). Needs games before the World Cup, too. Last night was a scare but Ampadu, Clarke and Laird - all of whom are there and available - turns this into a strong window and leaves us with an excellent squad, even if it takes the sale of Dennis to get it done. It will be very frustrating if those areas aren't sufficiently upgraded.
Rodrigo Becao is one we need to be after. They can have Samir and WTE back. Wallace I believe still hasn't moved. We need Udi to do us a favour.
I'd love Ampadu to come, but given that he's already had 2 full seasons in the top flight of England and Italy, would Chelsea be interested in loaning him out to a Championship club?
Is he a key player for them? The only players they seem to loan/sell to us are those who are not interested in playing for Udinese anymore and/or those who aren't needed
But not a sniff of where he might go to, so presumably he may be staying due to a total lack of interest in him.
Was recently linked with Everton and Napoli for fee's of 15m+ so I can't see why they'd give him to us and why he'd be happy to play in the Championship. Never say never with Gino, Giaretta and Mogi but we'd be idiots to bring in more non-HG players too.
There's been mentions of Monza, Salernitana and various Brazilian clubs. The hold-up could well be Mogi negotiating his cut.
They quoted some Turkish team 10m€. Happily give them Kabs, Samir and Kalu for him and wave the costs of Pussetto or whatever his name is.
Okay, fair enough. I’ve seen plenty of reports saying they wanted £17m (£16.9m to be exact) and that’s Spurs, Everton, Torino and Napoli all keen. I don’t see how any of our tat comes close to that amount even if you put 3, 4 or 5 of them in. And that’s all before you get to the sticky point of trying to persuade a first team regular Serie A player with big suitors to ignore all that and join a Championship team. No offence but it’s just not happening.
Chelsea are preparing to let Ethan Ampadu out on loan again - sadly seems PL and Serie A clubs are in the driving seat for a deal.
