Glass half full/glass half empty

[JemmoJemoJemmo]

7 minutes ago, mcmigo said:

No point getting the ball forward quickly with Gregory and smith up front.  The better teams in the league will play a high ish line against those two 

we will need to play out to pull other teams out of shape to move the team up the park and allow wide players and Bannan to play balls into the front two . 
 

If we try and play it out with those centre backs we are in trouble.

 

As we saw numerous times from Rotherham and Wycombe - a goalkeeper is allowed to kick it long, your centre forwards compete for the ball and your midfielders pick it up from there.

 

You know like it’s been played for 150 years.

[JemmoJemoJemmo]

10 minutes ago, mcmigo said:

No point getting the ball forward quickly with Gregory and smith up front.  The better teams in the league will play a high ish line against those two 

we will need to play out to pull other teams out of shape to move the team up the park and allow wide players and Bannan to play balls into the front two . 
 

Also, I’ll be surprised if Gregory and Smith start that often together.

 

If Windass is fit, he starts.

 

He might play Windass behind the other two in some home matches in which case Byers or Vaulks may miss out.

 

With 5 subs, the bench is going to be utilised like never before and it will play an important role.

[Sham67]

Mine’s brimming over.

[S72 Owl]

5 good signings at this level. Or should I say 4 because I don’t know anything about Hennaghan. 
 

We made some good signings last summer too but then we seemed to sign players just to fill the squad up, Kamberi, Sow, Berahino etc 

 

I think we probably need another 5 signings. 
CB x 2 

LWB

RWB

CF

 

These signings are just as important and we need to get these right too. 
 

Hopefully we’ll add a bit more youth and pace too. 

[Blue and white]

My glass is neither half full nor half empty, more somewhere in the middle.

[Teddy Nickelarse]

1 hour ago, JemmoJemoJemmo said:

Also, I’ll be surprised if Gregory and Smith start that often together.

 

If Windass is fit, he starts.

 

He might play Windass behind the other two in some home matches in which case Byers or Vaulks may miss out.

 

With 5 subs, the bench is going to be utilised like never before and it will play an important role.

I think that Smith and Gregory playing together will be a nightmare for league 1 defences.

Great to have the Windass option though if he can keep fit. Be like a quality new signing.

[mcmigo]

1 hour ago, JemmoJemoJemmo said:

If we try and play it out with those centre backs we are in trouble.

 

As we saw numerous times from Rotherham and Wycombe - a goalkeeper is allowed to kick it long, your centre forwards compete for the ball and your midfielders pick it up from there.

 

You know like it’s been played for 150 years.

We tried that for the final 3 years of our life in the championship, and ended up barely scoring and bottom of the league.  Defenders simply marched us up the pitch safe in the knowledge that a ball over or through either gets gobbled by the goalie or recovered by a quicker defender than the forward.  
Our problem is compounded as whenever a defence does that, our midfield get squeezed  and Bannan moves backwards as he would rather operate in space .  
 

[beswetherick]

Trying not to get carried away with the usual pre season optimism that usually ends up in disappointment… but if the next few signings are as good as

these first ones, it’s going to be hard to keep a lid on it

[onlyonedavidhirst]

Very decent signings so far. We look like we have enough for top 8 already. Could even be top 6 or top 2 depending on injuries and whether Iorfa and Windass have good seasons.  For me, a big factor will be how much we get Bannan on the ball and how high up the pitch in general Johnson plays. 

Like others have said, we need a bit of pace, a good WB replacement and maybe a full breakthrough season for Fizz.

[CircleSeven]

I can’t believe how good the signings are and how early we’ve signed them. And not one pence spent on transfer fees! The loans market is normally concluded a bit later and will top up the squad nicely with a bit of youth/ pace. 
 

I haven’t been this excited about an upcoming campaign for years!

[CircleSeven]

3 minutes ago, beswetherick said:

Trying not to get carried away with the usual pre season optimism that usually ends up in disappointment… but if the next few signings are as good as

these first ones, it’s going to be hard to keep a lid on it

I’ve decided to just go ‘all in’ on the excitement this year. I can’t keep a lid on it!

Im convinced we are going to absolutely storm the league this season. I can’t actually believe we signed Smith from Rotherham. Our forward players are Smith, Gregory and Windass. Our midfield choices are Vaulks, Byers, Bannan, Adeniran and FDB. We’ve already signed two CBs and a proven keeper. A few youngsters/ loans to add some cover (particularly to the Wingbacks) and HMS PTL can finally set sail!!

[room0035]

The positive of get good free agents and early business, is down graded by the 'shoot themselves in the foot' ticket pricing muppet who introduce an A* rating for third division games.

 

We need a left winger who can defender as well as get good crosses in, we need a centre back with some pace, we need a right winger who can contribute goals, the has the ability to beat his man and cross from the by-line not the edge of the area, Get these 3 key players we could be looking top 2.

 

But we need to be offloading a few of the resources drainers, Paterson, Brown, Sow.

 

Hunt, Brennan, Galvin need to be playing week in week out, in mans football all should be prioritised to get out on loan, with recall options if they dont play.

 

Then the big question should we have sold Windass, because i dont see where he fits into a team playing 3-5-2, unless we drop Bannan and thats not going to happen.

[dehowl]

Glass half full for me. We’ve acted extremely quickly by our normal standards to acquire some quality acquisitions that should be more than good enough to get automatic promotion in my humble opinion.

[Tamworthowl]

With Stockdale and the two defenders we’ve certainly addressed a major weakness from last season, but the concern is that improving our ability to deal with crosses from set pieces might make us less capable at defending open play. Time will tell.

 

One of the reasons for us playing out from the back was the lack of a target man and of pace up front*. A long clearance almost always gifted possession to the opposition. Smith gives us that target man. The addition of Wilks (if we get him) gives us pace to attack a ball over the top. So if the opposition press high up, they could be exposed to a long clearance; if they don’t press high, we can work through the midfield. Smith / Wilks transform the tactics available to Moore. 

 

* NML looked like he should be the man with pace, but rarely used it effectively.

[owlsdreamer]

Anyone however pessimistic, has got to view this as a glass half full.

The only trouble is that we are in danger of supporting a club which appears now to be run like a proper football club.

[jamthesun]

After years of getting excited about signings who don’t deliver the expected results on the pitch I refuse to get excited until we are 12 points clear by Christmas. 

 

I may allow myself a small fist pump at 11 points.

[Lime Tree Heros]

More than glass half full for me - we all need to remember it's only 24th June and the loan window isn't even open yet, if you look at who we've lost and gained already, I think we're definitely stronger now than we were on 24th June 2021.

 

Wildsmith             -  Stockdale

Dunkley                 -  Ihiekwe

Hutchinson           -  Heneghan

Luongo                  - Vaulks 

NML                       -

Berahino                -

BPF - L                   - Dawson (return from loan)

Dean - L                 -

Gibson - L              -

TJJ - L                    -

Kamberi - L            -  Smith

Shodipo - L            -

Storey - L                -

 

Only slight negative for me is the age of players signed, didn't think our squad age would get older this year, but looks like it will be.

 

I'd love to see us sign (not loan) a couple of young wing backs of the same sort of quality next, if we did I think I'd need a new whelmometer, as I'd be off the scale on the current one!

[Since 1971]

It's not glass half full of half empty for me. My glass is simply never big enough.

 

In terms of where we are, very good signings and early for a change. And free. That's all good and exciting.

I agree with a few comments though, tactics need to adapt so we can change it when the opposition defence push up and we get pressed, squeezing out any space for Bannon.

[Mighty Quinn]

Always half full don't be a miserable twot lol, Ihekwie got in team of season and is OK, got most yellow cards in league 12 but reliable most of time, Smith is the hardest working center forward I've ever seen and is a fantastic signing and does have some pace so half full for me

[JemmoJemoJemmo]

3 hours ago, mcmigo said:

We tried that for the final 3 years of our life in the championship, and ended up barely scoring and bottom of the league.  Defenders simply marched us up the pitch safe in the knowledge that a ball over or through either gets gobbled by the goalie or recovered by a quicker defender than the forward.  
Our problem is compounded as whenever a defence does that, our midfield get squeezed  and Bannan moves backwards as he would rather operate in space .  
 

But we didn’t have the personnel.

 

we now do.

 

Comparing us to Rotherham last season is a more relevant comparison than us in The Championship 3 years ago with completely different players.

 

Having Smith and tapping it about on the edge of our box is a complete waste of time.

 

Without BPF, Hutch and Storey, we don’t have the capabilities to pass it around our own box.

 

Make no mistake, adapting to the players he has chosen to bring in will be Moore’s biggest test. Warne or Ainsworth would love this squad and would expect to get promoted, let’s see if Moore can.

 

I think he will, why pick these players if he’s not going to take a more pragmatic approach?