I still think we are weaker than last season

[Luke]

5 hours ago, Utah Owl said:

If Berahino is as good as some on here make out, how come he's still a free agent?

Could say same for sam Hutchinson 

After he got the boot  half the fan base was on suicide watch

[Ethel The Tree]

It's surely been mentioned elsewhere on this thread, but the key for me is keeping the squad we have now fit

 

It was ridiculous at various stages last season but it's a problem that's plagued us for a number of years 

Hopefully DM and his staff are on top of it this time around and we'll see those lengthy injuries reduced to a minimum

 

Windass, Iorfa & Adeniran would be like new signings if they can hit the ground running and keep it going through

till next spring

And if the new recruits apply themselves and adapt to whatever system(s) DM has in mind then yes, I believe

this current squad is stronger than last year

 

I'd still have kept hold of Luongo, though   and maybe Dean (if it were possible)

[Wednesday_Jack]

******BREAKING NEWS******

 

SWFC have signed CR7 on a two year deal. CR7 stating " he wanted to follow in the foot steps of his best pal, Jose Semedo and play in front of the Hillsborough faithful"

 

Over to you Inspector Lestrade on OT for analysis..."not impressed, we need pace. Been honest, were weaker than we were last season by making this signing"

 

 

 

[Guest mrbluesky]

12 hours ago, Inspector Lestrade said:

Not that impressed with any of the signings apart from the lad from Cardiff.  We look static and one dimensional, no pace introduced or out and out skill.

 

The two lads signed over the last two days haven't impressed the fans of their last club especially the lad from Blackpool in fact they are delighted he's left.

 

We need to up the quality or a top six place looks very difficult.

 

Convince me I'm wrong please.  Getting worried.

 

 

It's not that depressing, BUT my personal opinion is that he's trying to recreate what's worked previously for him, looking at the players he's signed it looks as though we'll be a lot more direct, and that's the worrying thing for me in that it could be a gamble (re players), added to this I think we were spoilt for attractive signings last season, fans are wanting that "marque" signing, which hasn't worked, so it could be Moore's plan B    

[Animis]

1 hour ago, Owlinmad said:

We don't need pace. Many players with pace have no consistent end product. Those that do are playing high end football.

 

We need a tricky dribbler.

 

I tend to agree with that - most professionals have some pace, and the ones who have that extra don't always have an outlet - both JJ and NML are in that category IMO. 

 

We also don't play with wingers, and the wing backs have decent pace and stamina to get up and back to support both ends of the pitch. 

 

Windass will give us an extra edge in pulling defenders into the gaps allowing the midfield to exploit.

 

Too much made of a need for 'pace' IMO.

[striker]

I get the arguments for and against the need for pace, personally I'm for.

 

The best example is the two Sunderland lads who caused us so many problems in the play off games. It's that option which I think we are missing from the squad.

[Pieman]

5 minutes ago, Animis said:

 

I tend to agree with that - most professionals have some pace, and the ones who have that extra don't always have an outlet - both JJ and NML are in that category IMO. 

 

We also don't play with wingers, and the wing backs have decent pace and stamina to get up and back to support both ends of the pitch. 

 

Windass will give us an extra edge in pulling defenders into the gaps allowing the midfield to exploit.

 

Too much made of a need for 'pace' IMO.

There is a much simpler alternative to pace. It’s called running off the ball and being very good at long range passing. Irish, King, Roland, Harkes, even Palmer didn’t have pace, but Sheridan could find them and put the ball into space for them to run on to. We have good passers of the ball and in the likes of Gregory, Windass, Hunt and Marv, good runners. Dennis and FDB are good runners from midfield, but we need more of that. 
 

We do need good engines and strong running power, like Sunderland showed. Individually, their players in midfield were not as good as ours. Collectively, they over ran us for large parts of the games. While I have been Luongos number 1 fan, his time was up and I think we have a lot more legs now in our midfield with a fit Dennis and Vaulks. A Wilks + 1 to provide more legs in the final third is what is needed now.

[Screen Door Slams]

Bottom Line , I cant comment on Henneghan, Fawemo and James as I havent seen them play.

 

Smith, Ihekwie and Vaulks seem like very solid signings, Stockdale I`m a little unsure about...wait and see.

 

Overall it would appear that DM has tried to correct our appalling record for conceding at set pieces.

 

IMHO , one more CB and a couple of pacey x factor types for the attacking third.

[andypandy]

I think defensively we look to be in a far stronger position, last season we struggled with set pieces, Hutch played 28, Dunks managed 21, Dom just back from a massive lay off, The 3 CH we have signed are all young, fit, good league 1 experience.

[Wednesday_Jack]

41 minutes ago, Animis said:

 

I tend to agree with that - most professionals have some pace, and the ones who have that extra don't always have an outlet - both JJ and NML are in that category IMO. 

 

We also don't play with wingers, and the wing backs have decent pace and stamina to get up and back to support both ends of the pitch. 

 

Windass will give us an extra edge in pulling defenders into the gaps allowing the midfield to exploit.

 

Too much made of a need for 'pace' IMO.

 

People clamouring for NML but lets be honest his time here wasn't really that productive was it?? and in my mind our system didn't really suit him one bit (Sunderland at home a prime example), we experimented with him up top but lets be honest, he could hit a cows arse with a tennis racket!!

 

As you have said...we don't play with wingers. We signed several last summer and only one as worked, Johnson!! and that is only because he as taken the wing back role on impressively.

[leftpeg]

Upfront and in Defence I feel we are stronger.  We have signed two defenders who last season were lauded as 2 of the best in the league by their own fanbases and we are stronger upfront, though many here will still lament our lack of pace, its not the be all and end all, its just one of many ways to test opposing defenses. 

 

Midfield I feel we are, different, I am not sure if it is stronger or weaker but the lack of dedicated defensive cover in the midfield 3 (Assuming we start with Byers, Bannan and Vaulks) will require a change in build up play as none of those three are natural replacements for Luongos shielding of the defense.

 

People downplay how important that element was but look at our defensive record in the second half of last season, generally solid and he was a part of that and it will be missed.  Vaulks natural game is box to box and firing off lots of long efforts/Through balls, so while he will at times drop back its not his most effective use, same with Bannan which leaves Byers to pick up a lot of the dirty work Luongo used to do.

 

It remains to be seen if the new dynamic in midfield works and offers a bit more balance, or loses us the freedom which allowed Bannan to be the best player in the division last season.  If it works we will be stronger as the threat from midfield will be balanced between all 3 making us less predictable, or if it pulls Bannan deeper into defensive duties and trying to be a deep playmaker, which while he is still more than able to do, loses us the attacking momentum of having him as the tip of the spear.

 

A LOT rides on how the new midfield dynamic works out.

 

Last season I felt that midfield was consistently our strongest element of the team, however it also needs to be mentioned again, it was a season of two halves the first half we were just about top 6 to top 8 material second half we were automatic material.  Now I am not saying Luongo was solely responsible for this, but having a dedicated "Do the dirty work" kind of player in midfield changed the whole team dynamic allowing Byers to be the engine and Bannan to get forward and really cause mischief.  That triangle will not be as fixed this year, which if we are going to play without wingers, is a good thing as it means teams wont be able to just "Mark Bannan and be done with it" as their counter play to us, but it also means our Back 3 and wing backs will need to be more involved, possibly playing a little higher up the pitch, leaving us vulnerable to counter attacks.   

Normally with such a dynamic the defense would drop deeper and play on the counter more, but our current squad lends is self better to pressing higher and forcing mistakes than sitting back and playing on the break.

 

If the new midfield clicks, we will dominate possession and have the firepower upfront to sniff out the chances that we create, Windass and Smith/Gregory will be a potent front line.

 

If it doesnt then we literally have 0 attacking outlets, its a gamble by Moore, but if it pays off we will be flying.

[TbagMcgraw]

I think we've made steady progress on the recruitement, and much more methodical this time around. Doesnt feel like square pegs for round holes anymore, like previous seasons (Carlos era, up to last pre-season included). Think we're also looking at the increased use of substitutions too, and building a hefty sized squad.

 

Been mentioned before like, but a fit and healthy Josh Windass will be like a new player for us!

 

This time last season we were pinning our hopes on the likes of him and Bannan being our stand out players. Bannan was brilliant, but Windass never got started due to injury, and I think he's now been written off as a crock by the large majority, despite us all knowing what he is capable of doing on his day.

 

One things for sure, he looks in the shape of his life from recent pictures! Not sure what the Argentinian link was all about, but he wasn't a n0bba about it all, so fair play to him. Looking forward to seeing him back!!

[thewookieisdown]

To be honest I've no idea about quality of any of the signings.

 

On the face of it, though, it appears roughly like for like with the exception of a proven striker at this level. Into a team pretty much top two form in second half of season, that feels sort of ok. But it's only 8 July, be surprising if that's the end of the story and presumably we will look at some loans

 

 

[Nero]

75 mins gone. 1 nil down.

Who do we bring on to change the game?

[Gbear1867]

17 minutes ago, Nero said:

75 mins gone. 1 nil down.

Who do we bring on to change the game?

This is my only real concern tbh (and I'm not saying that nml was the answer) but we do lack that little something that can turn a match from the bench since he's gone.

 

But I do have faith Darren will do some good business before the start of the season to remedy this.

[CircleSeven]

11 minutes ago, Nero said:

75 mins gone. 1 nil down.

Who do we bring on to change the game?

It depends who we started with. One of Windass, Smith or Gregory are likely to be on the bench.
For me I’d be trying to use Windass as an impact sub in the main anyway as that’s where he adds real value. 

We will also the likes of Adeniran/ Bashiru on the bench to add some athleticism late in the game. 

Plus we are still chasing Wilks. 
 

But for me the five subs will change the dynamic massively anyway. If we are 1-0 down at half time and under the cosh we can change half of the outfield players. Bringing on one or two ‘Hail Mary’ subs to desperately chase a game isn’t how it will play out. 

[leftpeg]

Generally speaking if a player is good enough to "Change a game" at this level, he does not start on the bench anyway.

 

Look at the squads of other  teams, how many of them have real game changing players they can afford to leave out of their starting lineup.

 

This fallacy of "We have to have our best player on the bench incase we need to chase a game" is what is causing the anxiety over our squad.  We have a squad that most of the time wont need to chase a game that way, it will either already dominate, or be good enough to play for a win regardless. 

 

Dont look at those odd times we are 1-0 down with 5 minutes to go, look at not being in that position in the first place.

 

Way too much negativity if your focus is on just how to hail mary our way out of a bad day.

 

[Tewkesbury]

39 minutes ago, Nero said:

75 mins gone. 1 nil down.

Who do we bring on to change the game?

Doesn't matter if you don't use them correctly.

 

DM made the right subs a lot last season, just didn't use them in a way that would actually change the game, usually it was a 1 for 1, new player, same role, same formation and tactics.

[@owlstalk]

5 minutes ago, daveyboy66 said:

You mean you're not on speed dial for DM Pep ?  He can't let that tactical genius go to waste 

One day you might stop the personal attacks on other users 

 

 

[1867Heaven]

A settled back 3 with hopefully a fully fit and back to his best Iorfa and keep Windass fit and we’ll be fine.