Looks like he played 18 minutes. Granted he came on when it was 1-1 but the most he’s played is 45 minutes.
I think it's obvious now there was no planning in place for if we didn't go up. Rosey talked about rebuilding, Acun and Walter have started rebuilding. The squad was nothing special (neither was Luton when it went up) and the loan players made it look better than it was. They have gone now and won't return. There was always going to be a need to do a big shop this summer. This probably can be blamed on all parties. Rosey signed some donkeys as did Acun/Tan. Hopefully lessons have been learned.
Longman isn’t good enough at this level , he scores one good goal every now and then and does nothing the rest of the time
Wonder if we’ll try to sign Daniel Elfadli from Magdeburg. Walter tried to sign him for HSV a year ago.
It was the best we could do with the budget we have. Should we get promoted to the Premier League and then relegated, you can make an argument for investing the parachute payments wisely. But until then, teams have to play the loan market. Investing in youth is very hit and miss. You could argue none of our U21 crop are ready to challenge for a starting place.
I have no problem playing the loan market - in fact I think sensible clubs should play it to the best of their ability. But looking at the retained squad - it’s clear the progression planning is lacking. We’re never going to compete with clubs between 10th in the PL and those with parachute payments - the only way we can do that is being savvy and planning as much as possible.
You need to do what you can to get out of the champ and there’s many ways to do it. Personally I’d rather take the Brentford approach and similarly the approach Coventry have done as of late. We are in a prime position to have a decent budget with the sale(s) of Greaves and Jaden. My fear is we use that too short sightedly. It doesn’t work and we sack Walter and end up back to this position but without anyone to sell. Hopefully Walter has some stones about him and approves some decent players from the brain trust. TWT
I agree, Brentford and Brighton are the models to follow. And I think there is some benefit to short term signings - but only if they are backed up with either scouting for their replacements or bringing someone in the mould. If Ohio doesn’t return - where is our planning for the striker position long term? You might say Omur was the replacement for Tufan - but what happens after him? The wingers are clearly nowhere near, especially if Jaden goes. There are holes all over the squad that need a plan and sharpish.
We need to take a punt on someone like Ohio. Someone who’s cheap now but with a bit of polish would turn good. He was raw as anything last year but still found 3 goals from limited minutes. Being realistic I’d take him over Delap at this point
Will Jason Lokilo be on the comeback trail ?....He started 7 games last term and came off the bench 10 times. Showed loads of promise early doors, but then seemed to disappear. Perhaps this could be his time to become the gem he promised to be.
For me he seems to have the technical ability and pace but his confidence levels dropped and dropped, doesn't seem to be able to stick at any club either so it looks a long shot but you can only hope.
Lokilo played his role exactly how Rosie wanted it. Hence our on the whole better performances with him in the side. Things got toxic for him as people judged him entirely on goals and assists and his general play deteriorated massively. I don’t think he’d want to stay
