As a hint, both Connolly and Oscar came on against both Blackburn and Bristol City. So continuing to say 'Connolly will be the player subbed on' when I ask 'Who will come on instead of Oscar' is a pretty daft response.
Good questions. Tbh, I still don't have a clue how Rosenior wants to set us up (for his way of playing that nobody else is currently doing). As you say, if it's not 2 up top then what a waste of time to date. If it is 2 up top, then we need to pray Delap doesn't get injured. Only thing that would make sense is if there's a free agent lined up? #graspingatstraws Looking forward to watching Philogene but jury still out on Rosenior. Kids, development 'projects', ... and naive waffle.
Anyway, all that aside, probably the best transfer news of the window is the Syd household signing a new member, although the bloody paperwork is taking so long I suspect Acun's in charge of it, not arriving until March next year.
It's quite difficult to pick a strongest XI now, which is a good sign in itself. Based on how Liam has us playing in the first few games I wonder if the plan is something like this: . Flat 442 when defending, then switching to a 352 when in possession. Playing Twine in front of a very attacking fullback in Vinagre should allow him to drift inside and play more centrally. Whilst the pacey Philogene can stay high and wide on the other side. Christie has said himself he feels his best position is the right of a back 3 and playing this way allows him to do so. Would be harsh to drop Coyle but i'm not sure he can play the inverted role. The bench will still have the likes of Morton, Traore, Tufan, Lokilo, Ally, Vaughan maybe even Sinik on it. So it's not like we're short of quality.
Is this clear enough for you? (Philogene & Sinik also options when available too) Delap Lokilo Twine Traore Connolly Vaughn Twine Allahyar Allahyar Sinik Twine Philogene
I just think we’re going down a different route, just look at Man City, they don’t have a like for like replacement for Haaland
So the windows shut, from the end of last season to now on paper...... Goalkeepers - weaker Defense - over all stronger IF vinagre stays fit, if we lose 2x CBs at the same time it could get interesting midfield - should be stronger, but still feels little weak on depth out wide if we lose a winger for a period of time, be square pegs in round holes again Forwards - weaker Now the window is closed, Let's see where we are after the next 10 games. LR has said these are his choices and fair few his first choices, so now it's down to him.
I do think in terms of Oscar coming off the bench, its been clear that Twine, Tufan and Traore as a 3 behind Delap isnt quite working. Assuming Philogene is replacing one of them in the preferred starting line up, it'll probably be one of them replacing Oscar on the bench. That's not bad.
Twine will start the vast majority, so try again on that one. Out of Vaughan and Ally which offers the poacher abilities of Oscar that you said we didn't need to replace?
We went after Davis for a reason. Just probably went elsewhere too late to find a replacement. Also interesting that we had a late punt for Rak Sakyi as well. Indicates there should be a possibility in the budget to strengthen in those areas or elsewhere in Jan at least, if not with those players. Reckon we'll be back in for Bird too.
Only having two out and out strikers is clearly a bit light. The club obviously know this hence the targeting of Davis. It's a shame that didn't happen and we didn't have time to do something else. But comparing the squad now to last season is night and day. We have balanced, quality options in all positions. The big one that needed sorting was out wide. Last season for the majority of the time we had Longman, Tufan, Oscar and then a load of midfield graters making up the numbers. Allahyar, Traore and Tetteh were constantly injured, and Vaughan once he broke through immediately became our best winger, which says a lot. When Traore got fit again he was a standout star player. Now Longman isn't needed, Vaughan is way down the pecking order, Allahyar is fit but has sort of become forgotten when last year we were desperate for him, and Traore is still good but shoved out wide because we have so many players in his position now. So for those forward positions we now have Delap, Connelly, Twine, Tufan, Traore, Philogene, Vaughan, Allahyar, which is probably four or five quality players ahead of the options we had for most of last season. Yes it'd be nice to complete it with another out and out striker, but I can't ever remember a time when we've had a perfect squad with no gaps in it.
Exactly? That’s why I put Twine there behind the striker That’s my point, he isn’t offering that due to the way we play so we don’t need to replace that.
You had him in your second XI as well. As PLT said, clearly it was something we wanted to replace or we wouldn't have pursued Davis.
