Good afternoon all, hope everyone is well and raring to go for the season ahead! I'll do my by now rare / semi annual or whatever post, do still follow the Towen and hope we can do things with the new backing. Sidenote - the new fitness / strength coach is Ivan Makandi - someone I went to school with and that's the best I'll say about him....! That being that, this is how I see the new season - On paper we have quite a good team you'd have to think. Pigott should do well, Harper COULD be a coup - and I cannot really think of a signing that stands out as ' hmmm why ' or bad for that note - What does concern me is the following - * Fitness. Especially match sharpness in various positions, CM I cannot imagine they are remotely fit considering pre season etc. Not surprised Evans has missed chunks, quite a sicknote from over the years looking at his injury record..... * CB we appear to be starting with Wolf + Nsiala. Not good enough in my view, and with Toto getting the captain armband for one game, assume he + Edmundson will become the pair. I fully expect us to sign more players yet, however how fit they will be / gel / whether they will rub various players in the 11 up the wrong way ( not voluntarily ) Throw in the Cook factor, I'm not 100% sold on him yet. Too much white flag waving last season, results just as bad if not worse than Lambert if you extrapolate the table though of course - wasn't his squad he inherited. He will be judged by what he's signed this summer. It's hard to put the team to the mast, considering we aren't at the end of transfer window but based on what I can see to date, 4th - 5th would be where I'd put us. I believe there would be 2 sides better than us over a 46 game run at the moment frankly. Upper towen. Will respond later in the season.
Completely agree Westy, while the noises coming out of the club are all positive think it could actually be a challenging season for us, we will not win the league with our current defence. We currently lack depth in most areas and the pre season due to multiple factors has been very disrupted. I've said it before, I cannot recall a player who's had a disrupted pre season going on to have a good season. We've signed exactly the type of players we needed but we need more and need them to gel very quickly.
I think thats a realistic summary Westy. its such a competitive division; who are our main competitors for a top 6 spot? Wycombe, Portsmouth, Lincoln, Rotherham, She Weds, Sunderland, Charlton, Wigan.. and us. thats 9 teams for 6 spots...plus maybe Bolton and/or Lincoln, MK Dons have "one of those seasons" where it all clicks fr them out of nowhere... Wycombe have no money and punched way above there weight in a weird season, I think they'll be more mid table. just a hunch. Portsmouth seem frustrated in terms of spending power and seemingly have a cheaper version of our own makeover. She Weds are the big fish for me; higher wage threshold and mostly a Championship team with some real quality they've retained. that said they are seriously over paying on wages to income ratio and struggled to pay all their players recently so maybe its not a great club to be at/playing for. Sunderland. chaos as always! Sold the divisions highest scorer to a direct competitor. where do you get those goals back again? weird. Charlton, big club, def a top 6 contender. Wigan, have bought said top scorer, probably like us have lots of new signings that need to gel and don't have overall strength in depth. but they concern me. Us. we've completely changed 15 years of defensive 'hard to beat' players and it's unlikely to happen instantly. but we're bristling with ice and goals and thats the perfect combo at any level. its how we shore up the defence to turn those tight and tough away days at Doncaster into 2-1's not a sapping series of draws or tight defeats...
Good post Westy, hopefully we'll hear more from you over the course of the season. I think the main issue is the squad gelling, particularly if there are a further three or four players coming in. I cannot recall such a wholesale squad change in the club's history, apart from Paul Jewell's 2011/12 season. I believe we have better players replacing the outgoings, but how many times have we seen good players come to the club only to fail or underachieve? We do have a forgiving start to the schedule - on paper, at least - where hopefully we won't drop many points. If we get to the new year in the top six, then I have confidence we can see it out and hopefully push for the automatic promotion spots. I think if we're struggling, say upper mid-table, then possibly Paul Cook will be replaced. As a club, I do believe we look a lot better set up and appear to be making the right moves behind the scenes.
Rotherham are my favourites for a top two spot, particularly as they have a recent habit of yo-yoing between League One and the Championship. Got a good core of players there and a manager that's been there and done it. Sheffield Wednesday and Wigan are the other two clubs I fancy to trouble the automatic spots, alongside us. Sheffield Wednesday have a strong squad, the main issue for them will be the running of the club behind the scenes and whether they have to offload quality to balance the books. Wigan are also being bankrolled and has Paul Cook's old trusted number two in the dug-out. Signing last season's League One top goalscorer, Charlie Wyke, on a free was also astute business. Beyond those clubs, Sunderland don't appear to be throwing cash around, despite a new owner, but maybe the positivity will seep into the players? Maybe they'll be active at the end of the transfer window? Lee Johnson is a good manager at this level and turned around their form last season. Charlton, Lincoln, and Portsmouth will be top six contenders. Lincoln, in particular, are a club that has steadily progressed over the last half a decade. In Michael Appleton, they have one of the best managers in the league. I am also wary of Wycombe, Bolton, and Oxford. Russell Martin's departure from MK Dons will probably affect them massively. I know it's before the transfer window has been completed, but my League One top six prediction is: 1. Sheffield Wednesday 2. Rotherham 3. Ipswich 4. Wigan 5. Lincoln 6. Sunderland
