---------------------- 9 - Austin--------25 - Zamora ---------------------- (8 - AJ)------------ 11 - Wright-Philips------------------------------------------------17 - Barton (23 - Hoilett) ---------------------18- Jenas----------36 - O Neil ---------------------20 - Henry---------32 - Faurlin 13 - Young-Suk-------6 - Hill------------15 - Onuoha---------------2 - Simpson ----------------------5 - Dunne--------- -----------------------------Green -----------------------------Murphy At the moment we have just a 18 man squad with 2 injured if we exclude those who we want to leave and the kids. We need 2 competent players per position. Left out: Mbia Diakite Ephraim Young Cesar Traore We need at minimum: 2 CF 1 LW 1 RW 1 LB 1 CB 1 RB CM (we have 5 already) and GK (an emergency loan can cover us if both get injured) are ok. On the plus side, weve done well to get as many points as we have with such a light squad. We have a hell of a lot to do.
I think we may see another striker, a winger, a left back and a CB. You are right in that we have done well with what is effectively a work in progress. Unfortunatley it appears a lot may come in late as everone seems to hedge their bets until deadline day. Much to Skys delight I might add!
Baird does look to be in....and you can add Sutherland and Hitchcock up front....although I would like to see a senior prolific CF too
I decided to leave those lads out, they should be 5th and 6th choice meaning they wont be on the bench unless someone else is out which will happen with Zamora injured all season and AJ likely to be joining him. Hitchcock is now 3rd choice which is too high.
I think we'll probably get some utility men in to cover multiple positions. Chris Baird is a bit of a jack of all trades isn't he? maybe he could account for the RB/LB/CB. One more winger who can play on the left or right would be handy, and certainly an out+out striker. Then perhaps a guy who can play up front or on the wing? We've got a nice "core" of team spirit built up in those 18 mentioned, so I think cramming seven more in there would be counter productive. Four feels a nice number to complement the existing squad. Let not forget Barton can play in the middle, O'neil on the right, and Hoillet up front too. We don't want to smash another huge "layer" of players onto the wage bill every transfer window. With our buying power, we all know for fact that there'll be more additions in January. There are 19 league games before January the 1st, so we only need a good enough squad now to get us through those games. Then we can reassess and make some more educated squad tweaks. That's a very nice concise and clear graphic you've created there though Flyer, Kudos!
I think most importantly we need attacking midfielder who can play in behind the striker so we don't always have to play 442. I think we need 1xCF, 1xAM 1xCB maybe bring one or two in on loan deals
Can't see us getting all those positions covered by the end of the window so I'll go for a striker and a winger, preferably a goal-scoring one.
Good article Flyer help yourself to the biscuit jar ... I have no idea what Harold is doing so I am going to start taking drugs ... It's not boring at least ... we could be Norwich
He can't buy them, so presumably we're going to get in five or six loans, which is a very good option to have; I think we're allowed more in the championship too.
It has the makings of a decent squad....I feel that the "youngsters" should be included as they will be in all probabilty required to play before January, besides Hitchcock is not exactly a "youngster" at 20 he should be well on the way to first team experience..... Look at Saints they had 3 18 year olds in their side at West Brom on Saturday....."if they are good enough they're old enough" as the saying goes....
Obviously I'd like to see us promoted but I also want to see some home-grown players in match day squad on a regular basis. I don't know a great deal about many of them but the only way we're gonna find out is by giving them an opportunity. It may pay dividends in the future.
You could do worse for the striker than look at Matty Fryatt. He missed last season injured so he ticks that box for you. Season before that he was our top scorer with 16 (and we didn't score a lot at all that season), for some reason people keep saying it's not as impressive if you take out penalties, but we only had 1 so it makes little difference. In his first 12 months with us he was the top scorer in the Championship of players at any club. He's 27 and at the weekend didn't make our bench despite us not having a striker on the bench (we named 3 defenders and 3 midfielders) so he's probably available.
It's virtually unlimited the number of loans you can have over the season*, but you can only name 5 loanees in your matchday squad. *The only being able to name 5 makes the limits that exist pretty meaningless as you're unlikely to exceed them anyway if you can't play them.
Good post, Flyer. It is going to be a busy last few hours of the window then we will see 3 to 4 loanees coming in after that too. I had resigned myself to at least a couple of seasons at this level but the good start has got me daring to believe (yet again). I expect that quite a lot depend son whpo Harry can pursuade to join the project.
Think we should be including ehmer in the squad, good potential apparently and could be used this season.
This is starting to worry me slightly now. We only have a few days to get some good signings in. Last nights game gave an opportunity for two or three players to make an impact, but they came up terribly short. We are lacking depth within the squad and any player that comes in needs to hit the ground running. We don't have any more time for that 'gelling' nonsense.
Harold only wants 'the right sort' - while I don't especially like his philosophy he is definitely right to stick to his guns on this. We should not buy out of desperation - but play the infinite loan market available to championship clubs as astutely as possible. Marvin I think you will be very disappointed - a few old blokes on short term (one year) contracts very possible I think, plus those not making the 25 man squad in the Prem on loan. I think we have a decent first team with everyone fit and no suspensions (albeit one dimensional 4-4-2, but enough to be very strong in this league) though we lack a quality left back and a creative midfielder. But we have no decent back up for a lot of positions - what happens if Simpson is out?
