Your Verdict- Forwards or Backwards?.

LJ has undoubtedly taken us forward. The Championship is a league of very small margins, so right now I really couldn't predict where we will finish tbh. If I had to call it, I would say anywhere between 8th-11th.

 

Off the ones you listed out, Flint, Bryan, and Reid were our only regulars, will we miss them, any team would, the replacements, to early to tell, some are quite experienced at championship level, the others, some could turn out to be a couple of crackers only time will tell, where will we finish, I think below half way so probably a mundane club flip flopping in mid table or below.
Everything depends on our coach and his staff, I know there are a few on here that can't wait for LJ to fail (mention no names) me, if its a relegation battle the sack no question, if we finish where I think we will SL will stick by him, at the end of the day its down to the chairman to splash the cash, but if we keep selling our best assets, it looks like he's quite happy to stay in the championship, just my opinion.

 

In purely terms of the squad now vs last season I think you'd have to say we're a bit worse off. Going through different areas:

GK: Hard to say as it's too early to judge Maenpaa accurately, but unlikely to be a significant improvement if any. Don't be surprised if Frankie is our no 1 again come Christmas.

Defence: In losing both Flint and Bryan we lost two of our best and most high profile players. Adam Webster seems a good if rather different type of player, though he has a record of injury troubles which is worrying. I don't know anything about Da Silva, so again jury is out, but being such a young kid I'd be surprised if he was at Bryan's level and whilst Lloyd Kelly was excellent at times last season, it's asking a lot for him to be our 1st choice for the whole season. Jack Hunt seems on the face of it a good signing, so it's possible he could play at left back and Pisano on the right, if he gets back to a good level.

Midfield: The addition of more wide players means that Brownhill can play more centrally, so him, Pack and Smith represent a strong centre. If fit the new wide players Watkins and Adelakun could have depth/quality and it's great to see Niclas Eliasson have a strong pre-season and opening match. Possibly the only area we're actually better off in.

Strikers: Obviously losing Reid's goals and also his energy is a blow. I think Weimann is a good signing in terms of value for money, but I doubt he'll match Bobby's goalscoring, so it's a question of by how much and whether he'd be a good foil for other strikers. I'm personally happy with Diedhiou (when he isn't banned), but I must admit it would've been nice to have seen a marquee signing. Matty Taylor really needs to step up in particular and grab his chance, otherwise he should be shipped off to League One come the end of the season. Mo Eisa looks a nice prospect, but I'd be shocked if he took the Championship by storm this season.

I think our hands were tied regarding Reid and Bryan - regarding Flint, I wonder if he had a clause, or was promised that he could speak to certain clubs in order to get him to sign his last contract, as it's hard to fathom that LJ would actually want to ship him out. Taking that into consideration, I sympathise a certain amount with the club and it's being realistic to say that a promotion push has probably been delayed, though I will temper that by saying that Maenpaa needs to play out of his skin to justify our goalkeeper situation.

 

Stronger squad , weaker first team.

Three left for prem, higher end champ. Obviously couldn’t replace like for like .

Over all reasonably happy with additions, at least on paper , only time will tell.

League stronger this year imo, I think we need a good start or else we could find ourselves being drawn towards a fight at the wrong end of the table , if we get a good start could be around top half .

Mid table finish between 10th & 17th

 

Keeper and LB most worrying/concerning/confusing. Don’t understand either to be honest , can’t see the new guy being an upgrade on Frankie , and only a 1 year contract . Maybe they have something up their sleeve , something in mind but couldn’t get it through in time with the American ?

LB another strange 1, we now have 2 young untried at this level , I presume we will have to play the loanee or get a fine , surely this will hold back Kelly?

I’m also surprised they let Djuric go without an obvious replacement.

Of course things could become clearer if there is still some loan activity to come

 

Agree with all you say

 

Any hope of Tammy coming back?

 

Wiz interesting post, I have given my opinion, interesting to see yours.

 

Clearly it will take more than one game to assess the current squad but it is so different to what we had last season, where we couldn't get close to the finish line. I believe overall we will probably be weaker just because we have lost some key ingredients to the mix and yet you never know what might happen and I predict a season of ups and downs ending up in 14th place. At least the summer break gave us way more activity than in January when we seemed to turn downwards and walk away from the chance of promotion/playoffs without looking over our shoulder and asking why we didn't take action.

 

Your mention that we can put the final touches during the January transfer window sounds wonderful, but given our chance last year we walked away, and we all know what happened then. I think your league prediction is about spot on wiz and your thought on promotion hits the mark as well. Our leaders keep talking about where our future lies and then do very little to get us there, other than mid-table mediocrity which suits many of us rather than a return to League None.

 

Djuric wanted stability for his young children, they are about to start school. He said he wanted to return to Italy when Salernitana declared an interest. Which given that he’s only started for us 7 times proves he’s not really got a future.
I would of liked him to stay, but only as a sub, which he’s proved a useful change. When he started against Preston at home last season, LJ had to take him off at half time to stop our players constantly going long to him.

Back Wiz’s question.
Players out,
Flint and Bryan along with Fielding have played in a back line that has been conceding goals and needed shaking up.
As to Bobby I suspect 99% of fans would of thought you was pissed if you said this time next year Bobby will be worth £10 million.
Plus most seem to forget they all wanted to move on, players do that strangely enough.
Players in
I liked the look at Webster in Spain and against Florest. I think he had a bad injury that took a bit of stop start in recovery hence his injury issues. So we will have to see on that one.
Hunt could be a useful player in an area we’ve struggled last season so now with him and Pisano fighting it out could be interesting.
Weimann will run round and has energy like Bobby, he wants to try as a central forward as opposed to out on the wing so we could see another player rejuvenated up front. With Diedhiou to come back whose minutes per goals ratio last season was good, could make a very good partnership.
Maenpaa has looked ok in both games, but will make a judgement on him after I’ve seen a bit more games.
As to the others I’ve not seen apart from 10 minutes or so, but am really looking forward to seeing Eisa and Adelkun
Da Silva was playing a youth game in 2015 and Ian Wright said he’s better than most current premier league left backs.

With Elliasson, Lloyd Kelly, Taylor Moore, Liam Walsh and youth players generally forgotten about we seem to have s stronger squad coming through so overall not a to bad of squad to move forward with. Last season we had bad injuries, this season we seem to have good cover.

Plus the one thing most are forgetting is Prem teams will be looking to offload so we’ve still got until August 31st to loan players and December for OOC players. So signings this window are not complete. Maybe get another keeper and if a target man becomes available then all the better.

 

Good window, we now have a stronger championship squad.

 

The first statement in particular is spot-on for me. I think we have more depth but the core of our team is weaker.
That is somewhat inevitable when 3 players who would be among the first names on the team sheet have gone.
The replacements look good to be fair but will take time to ‘bed in’ and it could go horribly wrong if we have a few heavy defeats which damage confidence.
As to progress; I think we have progressed but not as much as I would have liked.
It’s all relative for me; when LJ arrived I expected relegation (Cotts had started the fall and I thought LJ would finish it) but we survived - so that could be seen as progress.
The following season was not good, but no worse than expected in my book - and we survived, so neither progress or regression.
Likewise, when Tammy left a lot of people (including me) were worried but we ended up finishing comfortable in the league with a raised profile from our cup run, so progress once more.
This year for the first time for ages I don’t think relegation is likely. Of course we could have a disaster but I would be surprised if we are in a relegation battle by the end of the season so I suppose that’s progress compared to previous seasons. Of course only time will tell.......

So, Progress from me.

 

Im on the fence regards the incomings,have no issue with the players gone,if the don’t want to be here their best gone.
Think the squad is stronger not sure if the first eleven is stronger time will tell.
I will have a better idea after 10 games.
Certainly looks powder puff up front in the way LJ is starting the game,we still have four more games before Fammy can return he will make a huge difference.

 

Stop saying powder puff!

 

its "powder pouffe"

 

I’m sad to say that my own son is an avid ‘hater’ and thinks we are doomed to regress as long as Lee is in charge.
Of course he’s only 25 so hasn’t seen the number of league 1 (Div 3) battles that I have over the years.
To me, Championship safety IS progress and promotion would be icing on the cake - not the bread and butter - although I do want to see it in my lifetime, but I think a couple more years is ok to wait.....
To him it’s stagnation and only 5h1t or bust push for promotion is acceptable - so LJ must go (he can’t suggest a replacement - he says ‘anyone’) - but the poor fool doesn’t see the danger in that approach.
I blame myself......... poor parenting.

 

This time last year we beat Plymouth Argyle 5-0 in the same competition. Forwards or Backwards?