so you dont think snoddy ince even robertson will chip in with a few goals and aluko and brady fit again wont get a few and long a jelavic with a full season?
In all honesty no I don't As we like to say the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so we will see however the league table does not lie & we clearly had a worse squad than all but 4 other clubs last season I don't see that has changed much this season, as BCC has said maybe Burnley, Leicester & Swansea are the ones with squads which are possibly worse than ours, but if they are not by much
As many others have said, I'd be really sad to see him go and he's been a terrific signing. He's one of those whose level is top half of the Championship rather than Premier League though and I can't realistically see him getting much first team football aide from League Cup and FA Cup. I'd rather see him go out on loan than permanently sign for someone else.
Brucey said as we're in four, yes four, serious competitions this season: EPL, League Cup, Europa League and FA Cup. So, ergo: we'll need cover for injuries and suspensions.... Surely?
As "new" attacking players compared to last season (i.e including players that were injured all season and ones that joined in Jan) we have; Brady, Aluko, Long, Jela, Ince, Snodgrass, Robertson.
I would say that last season, only one team had a worse squad than ours before a premier league ball was kicked and that was Crystal Palace. It's not always about the most technically gifted squad its about having that right mix of players which on paper we probably have. Let's take the 3 promoted sides, Leicester despite all promises aren't signing world beaters and are largely still the team that got them up, it will most likely be enough but I would say our squad is better. Burnley, we beat them hands down in the squad department and QPR have signed an iffy CB and one that's past it with a squad that should've walked the Championship but instead got promoted with the only shot on target in a Play off final. You look at our squad last season and while we didnt score buckets of goals, the goals came from all sources. Take the Fulham game, 5 goal scorers, now I don't know about you but I would rather have goals from all over than a guy who scores a hattrick every 3 games. Without Europe our squad is probably capable of a higher mid table finish in the ranges of 11th-15th. You say the league table doesn't lie, well when 38 games are all played you're probably right but if you can honestly tell me that Palace last season had a better squad than ours (on paper) then you would be lying. It's never about the squad on paper, it's what they do with their season that ultimately matters
My mistake - someone sent me a team sheet last night with Jakupovic on the bench when they meant Jelavic!
Why send him out anywhere ? As you said, he'll play in the cups. We need good players like Quinn for those games. No i'd keep Quinn. Both our goals in the fa cup final came from his crosses.
Anybody who thinks we'll be in a relegation battle next season, now, with a month of the transfer window to go and without a ball being kicked in the league is either gifted with foresight, mental or very pessemistic. I put our poor finish last season down to our squad depth. Well we have that now, plus we don't know who else is going to sign between now and the end of August. We have a talented, Premier League quality squad. It might not be up there with the likes of Chelsea or Arsenal, but as we showed last season, it's more than good enough to be in the Premier League. I'd struggle to see where in the bottom half of the PL you'd find a better CM pairing than Livermore and Huddlestone and I highly doubt we'd have made the signings we have already if the players weren't convinced we could be competitive and stay up. Potential signings want to know that their future is safe; the likes of Snodgrass and Ince probably had great offers from clubs like Stoke, Palace and the like, but they probably didn't see the potential in them. Instead, Palace and Leicester are left signing players like Matthew Upson and Hangeland (and splurging £7m on players who have never played in the top flight) while we quietly go about improving on the areas we feel need to be strengthened. Don't be fooled by last night's game; Trencin are effectively an Ajax feeder team so they were always going to have a few little gems in their squad, it was wrong of many of us to assume that we could just turn up and win (I think people thought that because we'd never heard of them, we'd easily win.), which you should never do in a game of football. As for Quinn, shame to see him leave, but if we can't accomodate him, then he deserves to go elsewhere and play.
Right, so you honestly think there won't be a single point this season where we are in or around the bottom 3? And if you're so sure I'll have a bet with you if you want? What constitutes not being in a relegation battle for you? I'd suggest to never be in a battle we have to keep a minimum 10 point gap to the bottom 3 every single week from Christmas Eve onwards. Fancy it?
My point was that with a month of the transfer window to go and not having played a league game, you appear to be writing off the squad. What are you basing that on exactly? Which of our first 11 aren't good enough for this league?
I agree that our squad does look weak in areas.. I feel we still need 1 more quality striker to give Long & Jela competition... they both cant be thinking they're first names on the team sheet every league game. We're already 1 less striker with Fryatt leaving, we need to bring someone else in and I think we well, probably a loan though. I also think the central midfielder that Bruce mentioned he wants to sign, will be a big money transfer, a bit like the Huddlestone was for us last season, someone exciting and someone that will greatly improve our team. Transfer window is still open for a month and Bruce said after we signed Maguire & Robertson that he wants 2 or 3 at the very least... his words...
we desperately need another experienced centre back - we struggled last season if Davies and Chester were injured - last night Bruce proved again that he's nowhere near good enough - too many passes to opposition or hoof it anywhere maybe good enough in League 1 but is nothing like the standard required at this level
Why ? We can only pick 18 on any matchday so somebody had to miss out. Quinn should have been on the bench imo but he will get his turn. As for back to the Blunts ? i very much doubt that at all.
It simply shows the strength of the squad now. Quinn will play and get his fair share over the course of the season. NB. We have 3 players(Hudds,Livermore and Davies) on yellow cards already. Quinn could well be needed for the next round.
