Feel free to merge Mods if this belongs somewhere else. Looking at our squad now and I feel a lot more confident of finishing in the top half than I did at the end of last season. GK: Bachmann, Bond RCB: Pollock, Keben CB: Sierralta, Porteous LCB: Ogbonna, Kayky RWB: Ngakia, Andrews LWB: Larouci, Sema CM: Sissoko, Dwomoh, TDB, Louza AM: Kayembe, Chakvetadze, Ince, Vata ST: Jebbison, Rajovic Starting 11 for me (when all fit) Bachmann Pollock Sierralta Ogbonna Ngakia Sissoko Dwomoh Larouci Kayembe Chakvetadze Jebbison Second 11 Bond Keben Porteous Kayky Andrews TDB Louza Sema Ince Vata Rajovic Still have Morris, Tikvic, Baah, Doumbia and Bayo. As far as squad depth goes, we look pretty solid for the season.
That looks good but I do worry about our RWB situation. I know Andrews is good and Ngakia looks like a new player at times this season but he's already crocked after two league games so we're already a man down in that position. I hope he's not out for long and we have players who can cover for now but it's never been a serious concern for a backup and with Ngakia's injury record it's concerning why this has never been addressed.
Agree, if we were going to make anymore signings I would hope it would be for that position, but I doubt we do any more incoming business. We gave Ngakia a new deal, so I doubt we sign another RWB.
All in all it has been a decent window. Sissoko looks to be an excellent signing, as do Vatta and Larouci. Some fringe players have got off to a decent start (Pollock, Morris), a new striker coming next week. And the thick end of £40m for Kone and Asprilla is incredible money. Losing Hoedt is a loss but neither he nor the club can be blamed for that. Cut through the hysteria that seems to increase every summer and the squad is taking shape quite nicely, TC is a good appointment and we are off to a great start.
If Louza leaves, that would leave us a bit short in centre midfield unless Kayembe plays there of course.
Wonder why Ferreira has been deemed surplus. At RWB he'd be ok and we all know that Ngakia is Janmaat in disguise.
Janmaat was bloody excellent but injured all the time. Ngakia is useless and injured all the time. But 10 years younger than Janmaat. There is no comparison.
I'm pleasantly surprised at how well we've filled in the gaps, generally. We're a little too lean but the squad is balanced. My only true remaining concern is we're light in CM if Louza leaves. We addressed immediate needs and replacements at LWB (Larouci), CB (Ogbonna, Keben), CM (Dwomoh), RW (Vata) and ST (Jebbison, Doumbia) while following through with a pressing need to develop within with Baah becoming a surprise force (While Shaq Forde surprisingly hasn't) to provide another option out wide we would have had to recruit otherwise as well as James Morris making a surprise step up to LCB to good effect and both Adu-Poku and Ramirez-Espain able to be considered an emergency options. Although I'm not sold on Tikvic, Almeida is one who should be expected to play a role as the season wears on as well.
Is this like the ‘if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it does it make a sound?’ riddle?
Yes. When they are around is the only sound that you hear that of waves gently lapping on a tropical beach until their contracts expire?
I'm very happy with the balance of this team. It has two viable options for each position and has a decent blend of youth and experience.
Amazing work as always! Didn’t realise Baah was U21 (looking at his birthday I think he made the cut by less than a month!), forgot Larouci was HG
I'd agree. Striker could be the big weakness, we're rather depending on Jebbison being good or one of the others making a sudden and sustained step up.
Really think this is going to be a nothing season and we just need to avoid relegation. Should use it to establish who is worth keeping for a club that wants to (presumably) start building towards being a play off contender. We are obviously going to sell Chakvetadze if he continues but outside that, I'm not sure any of our squad would be starting week in, week out for any of the division's top teams. There is some potential there which we need to develop this season (Pollock, Andrews, Baah, Vata), some that would be ok as squad players/rotation options (Sierralta, Kayembe, Bachmann,Sissoko) and some unknowns (Doumbia, Kayky, Keben, Dwomoh) but the truth a lot of the players that get game time aren't good enough for an upwardly mobile Championship team. There's no way the likes of Dele-Bashiru, Porteous, Morris, Ince, Bayo, Rajovic, Ngakia, Louza, Sema would be anywhere near the match day squads of any play off challengers.
The joys of editing things on your phone... You're slipping though, you missed a sentence later where I'd accidentally omitted a word.
