GK: Patterson, Moore, Blondy. Nailed that IMO.
Def: Hume, Ballard, O’Nien, Cirkin, Mepham, Hjelde, Alese, Seelt, Huggins, Johnson. Ten defenders, 8 of whom are absolutely stick-on top end champ players. Injury issues to get over, but once we do we’ve got to be happy with that imo.
Mid: Neil, Jobe, Rigg, Browne, Aleksic, Samed. Plenty of options added to a core that has bags of talent. Surprised if any team is clear of us in midfield.
AM: Roberts, Mundle, Poveda, ur-AA, Ba, Watson, Bennette. Plenty of bodies, plenty of talent. Need someone to break through to compensate for losing Clarke but we’ve got some established ones and a few good rolls of the dice. A few that many have prematurely given up on (IMO) too.
St: Mayenda, Isidor, Rusyn, Abdullahi. Four competing for one spot. Bit of versatility in terms of roles played. Loads of pace. Fair bit of promise. Unproven. Need more time than many fans seem willing to give, but that’s true of any. How would our lot have reacted to the starts made by Simms, Wright and Latte Lath last season? But the same fans are the ones lauding them as the sort of ‘proven’ champ strikers we missed out on!
So that’s a squad of 30 which is absolutely bloody massive. We’ll always carry more as a player development focused club but we need to find minutes for players if we can. Will be interesting to see if RLB uses more subs once he has his squad more stabilised. Overall though, we’ve got the talent for a solid top 6 push and have the manager too. Season 4 of a 5 year plan. Feeling quietly confident over here.