The biggest thing for me is how quick we move and get things done. This club threw the towel in in December. Unfortunately their comments in January also kinda solidified that they made their peace relegation. Also unfortunately this means that by the time summer hits that they will have had 6 months to plan for the new season. They shouldn’t have just got a list of managers, you would hope that talks have been actively ongoing. They should have their lists of transfers both in and out and they should be ready to execute this as soon as the window opens. My minimum expectation is that we have a manager in within 2/3 weeks of the season end and at least some players either in or out within the first 2 weeks of the window. If we are in July, we’ve done **** all in the transfer window with no manager. Any positivity I somehow still had will be gone.
I think Beddy, THB and Stephens are all more than good enough for the championship to be honest and that Martin's style is a huge part of why we conceded so many goals. Having a keeper with paper mache wrists didn't help either. That's something which needs rectifying for next season.
No chance we keep Ugo, Chelsea paid £25m for him not that long ago (not saying much with their transfer policy I know). He, like a number of our players, would probably be fine if he was playing regularly at an Everton or West Ham and not stick out like a sore thumb as being ****e for the level. Just the whole collective at Saints with style of play as well has led to all of them looking ****
Same as previous Champ season, set expectations to moderate and hope for them to be exceeded, so Top 10 So many variables and we lack detail to predict many of them THB, Bedders, Stephens may be good enough but we need backup/competition for them How much do we aim for a promotion squad alone and how much players for future in EPL? Who will the manager be, what will the playing style be? Will we get a proper striker???? Will we get a leader on the pitch? It’s 52 card pickup!
Agreed on the keeper and Martin's style was definitely a factor. I'm not saying they're only League One standard and can't play in the Championship, I'm just not convinced the defence is currently good enough for a serious autos challenge. I also think we need to have an eye on the season after and we know they're not good enough for the Premier League. THB might improve, and so might Wood and/or Edwards but Stephens and Bednarek aren't going to get any better. The other issue is mental resilience. I have no doubt we'll have a squad with the technical ability to play in the Championship but we're mentally weak and have been for years so I think that needs to be one of our priorities this summer. It's hard to comment on the mentality of individual players without knowing them personally but they've all been part of games where we've collapsed in a heap, especially Stephens and Bednarek, and it may be we need to move them on.
On the flip side how many times last season did we score late to win/draw games? Felt like a lot but don’t have the stats to back it up. Probably down to overall squad quality with fresh legs coming from the bench who were superior to the opposition, but also shows some toughness from the team. It is very fragile though, and I think pretty simple in that if you are winning games the belief is there and if you aren’t then heads drop and the belief is there that you will lose every game as soon as you concede
The defence is absolutely not good enough. They were found out massively in the championship and we clawed our way over the finish line. It’s not been good enough for years, yeah we may squeeze by again in the championship but then we’ll find ourselves in the premier league with crap defenders again. Martin’s style didn’t help but then when has Bedders and Jack Stephens ever looked like strong reliable centre backs!?
If we were playing football manager or operating in a sandbox then this would be great. Unfortunately we aren’t. What reason would selling clubs have to sell us players early in the window unless we massively overpay for players? What reason would buying clubs have to buy our players early unless we are selling them very cheaply? They get the players in early for pre season, but if they think they can save a couple of mil on wages and transfer fee by waiting then they will. Fans of every team in the world say they want business done early and it never happens. Not for a want of trying, but because it makes no business sense to do it all early. We may have a list of players and then someone becomes available we hadn’t anticipated due to dominos falling elsewhere. We may think we are keeping a player then some team bids for him late on in the window who he really wants to go to and they are offering mega money. The transfer window is one long sequence of knock on effects, we aren’t Real Madrid so we can’t just go for whoever we want and get them immediately.
Found out seems a massive exaggeration. Do you not think our goals conceded last season was largely down to style of play and having a poor shot stopper? I forgot to mention Edwards earlier too. He's doing well at QPR by all accounts. I suppose the question is how many of the other 23 teams wouldn't find a place for our CB's. Not many I'd suspect.
I think there's a problem in the squad and has been for some time. I remember years back Ralph Hasenhuttl would say at times that we weren't nasty enough, Juric has talked about the squad's mentality this year and Russell Martin continually referred to "being brave" and mental "scar tissue". I think he may even have said that was part of the reason he wanted a British core to the squad.
Also, this may defy logic in the real world but I think a build season and Top 10 then consolidation season with Auto promo might put is in a better place to then survive in the EPL TBH I think the only realistic model for survival may be the Forest one, spend spend spend, take the points deduction and get enough points to stay up anyway … but if it fails you’re right in the sh1t
I chose title winners because what's the point of being in the championship and not trying to win it? There's probably a handful of teams who may challenge us but if we're not there or thereabouts I'll be pretty disappointed. Best part of 4 months to prepare for it too
That’s what Stephens offers, and BBD Not sure they need to be Brit’s though, Oriel wasn’t, nor Wanyama Interesting question though, name our leaders from post millennium squads Not so difficult pre this era as the football rather demanded a more gladiatorial style
Our defence is easily top 6 quality, especially considering Edwards to come in. If our budget is going tobe small, then we need to spend on other areas.
I'm hoping that Edwards and Wood will be given game time especially the former. It is time for a changing of the guard and Bedders and Stephens should be let go IMO.
I think keep Stephens for his last year of his deal. Will be useful in the Championship. But don’t renew his deal after next season. Not sure how long Bednarek has left on his deal. Seem to recall that there was talk of him signing a new deal a few months back but might be misremembering
