Three transfer windows later

[Mr Popodopolous]

22 minutes ago, RedDave said:

That was the single most stupid thing Johnson did last season.  I remember seeing the team and being baffled and then watching the game unfold as it was obvious it was.  I hope he learned from it but worrying he did it in the first place 

It was baffling tbh, wasn't it? Predictable too as you say.

@Abraham Romanovich Yes we have the fan base, stadium, infrastructure to challenge...but so do many teams at this level. Moreover many sides at this level have had it for longer! I see 19k gates for us last year...and raise you Derby's 29k for example.

All in all, I think at this time midtable would be about par. I know attendances are not the be all and the end all but midtable is about par with our current fanbase, infrastructure, stadium IMO.

[RidgeRed]

The last of the long awaited 3 windows now closed. I think the September games, a tough run that includes Stoke in the cup, will tell us how effective the recruitment has been. Our performances so far this season indicate, to me, a finish around 15th. If we collect 6 or more points during this testing month I'll begin to think LJ has got it right. 

[Silvio Dante]

3 hours ago, spudski said:

He definitely has brought in the players to play the way he said he would.

As you say...it's full of movement, quick interlinking passing, high pressing and faster tempo, people who can now take on a player, dribble and players that can cross.

We can play with width or narrow. Expansive or Limit the space. We have many options. The team now excites me. It does look very offensive.

We have two decent keepers now. Fielding seems to have settled down it seems. Less erratic.

We have a plethora of decent CB's who are steady as a Rock. Baker, Wright, Magners, Flint, Hegeler....all have their certain attributes and strengths.

Our Fullbacks almost play like wingbacks. They give width and can all cross a ball. Pisano, Bryan, Vyner, Kelly...all have been impressive, especially going forward.

Pack in the CM gives some calmness, pick a pass and has a great eye. What he lacks in speed, he makes up for with his positioning and distribution.

We have 3 'wasps' to choose from, that can buzz about, and break down play and intercept. Smith, Oneil and Brownhill.

Some fantastic young players to play wide midfield and give lots of energy, options, movement and high pressing. Thay can all score goals and feed off the other players.

Leko, Eliasson, Patterson, Odowda...lots of energy in that lot.

Two 'Big men' in the middle to choose from....Diedieu holds the ball well, and bullies defenders. Đurić the same and good with his head. Both link well and give time. Woodrow offers a bit of both by the look of it.

Then you have Reid and Taylor who link up between the forwards and midfield and can score, link play and feed off balls into and around the box.

I can see a lot of balls being whipped into the box, and players really attacking that 18 yard box.

Then you have the lads out on loan that can come back and hopefully give extra competition.

My only concern is a lack of a CDM player who's a leader and boss, who can grab a game by the scruff of the neck, and out bully the opposition CM when needed.

Pack needs competition as well.

The team looks a lot more balanced imo.

Hopefully we are going to see some exciting football this season.

 

 

 

 

Exactly what I was going to say Spud but I only had 10 minutes

[downendcity]

1 hour ago, john shaw number 1 said:

Talk is cheap let's wait until Xmas and see, the games I have seen so far not impressed, I know I will be not be very popular but Lee is not the way forward, in this league you need a few experience players who know the championship and that is the players we should be singing 

Bryan, Flint, Fielding, O'Brien, Baker and Wright are all experienced and know the championship.

Pissano is very experienced and knows series A.

[MC RISK77]

Very very pleased with the depth of our squad now with some real quality in all positions.

big well done to Lj as I genuinely feel this is a very competitive championship squad..mid table comfortably for me

[Lrrr]

1 hour ago, Abraham Romanovich said:

Reading this thread in my view is all rather depressing, a lot of people seem to view a mid table finish as satisfactory.

Brighton went from virtual relegation to play offs then promotion as soon as they appointed Chris Hughton - look at Cardiff now flying under Warnock .

Exactly when do people think a promotion push is viable we are not some tin pot club punching above our weight,we have the fan base, stadium and infrastructure and to to accept mediocrity as it's an improvement on a relegation struggle is not acceptable as an objective.

A play off place as a minimum should be our aim

 

And for me this is the problem for a lot of our fans, just because some have done it doesn't mean we should be expected to. We've fought relegation for the last 2 seasons, why shouldn't finishing mid table be satisfactory? We're talking satisfactory here, not great, exceptional etc, satisfactory which is certainly would be. 

[john shaw number 1]

23 minutes ago, downendcity said:

Bryan, Flint, Fielding, O'Brien, Baker and Wright are all experienced and know the championship.

Pissano is very experienced and knows series A.

Like I said let's wait till Christmas and see 

[downendcity]

18 minutes ago, john shaw number 1 said:

Like I said let's wait till Christmas and see 

Endorsing Spudski's post as I think we have a stronger squad  and also think we have a team better able to compete at this level.

What we could do with is a Paul Hartley type player, able to control and dictate play in the centre of midfield. 

[Negan]

3 hours ago, Kid in the Riot said:

 

27 senior signings

3 x GK

7 x DEF

10 x MID

7 x FWD

6, mostly loans, no longer with us.

Mental when you think how many players he's brought in. It will take another 25 players and we might have a team full of his signings. 

 

Glad its steves money and not mine! 

[JoeAman08]

3 hours ago, Kid in the Riot said:

 

27 senior signings

3 x GK

7 x DEF

10 x MID

7 x FWD

6, mostly loans, no longer with us.

Stretching the senior signings a bit aren't you? Moore, De Girolamo, Hinds, and Lucic can be taken off of there. So we are down to 23 with 7 being loans. 16 permanent signings over 3 windows to a squad that was quite bare with some of those fringe players leaving. Don't think it's that bad. Think lessons learned from first window as well by buying too young and not ready for championship. Look at last summer to this one, on paper, a higher quality player has come in. Think the club and LJ are showing signs of getting better

[Guest]

2 hours ago, john shaw number 1 said:

Talk is cheap let's wait until Xmas and see, the games I have seen so far not impressed, I know I will be not be very popular but Lee is not the way forward, in this league you need a few experience players who know the championship and that is the players we should be singing 

Millions spent on players he doesn`t play/are "injured"/ or are "for the future", 5m spent on a forward who so far, is no better than Wilbs or the forward loaned to his dad imo.

We will see and before xmas, by when, many will be giving him the next window to "fine tune things".

I think he is spending money on random players just for the sake of it......because he can, and just like his dad did at the end. It didn't save him and it wont save LJ at the end.........but YEP could be wrong...we WILL see.

[Kid in the Riot]

4 minutes ago, JoeAman08 said:

Stretching the senior signings a bit aren't you? Moore, De Girolamo, Hinds, and Lucic can be taken off of there. So we are down to 23 with 7 being loans. 16 permanent signings over 3 windows to a squad that was quite bare with some of those fringe players leaving. Don't think it's that bad. Think lessons learned from first window as well by buying too young and not ready for championship. Look at last summer to this one, on paper, a higher quality player has come in. Think the club and LJ are showing signs of getting better

Think the jury is very much out on those last two lines, Joe. Moore and Lucic were signed for the first team squad IMO.

[JamesBCFC]

20 minutes ago, JoeAman08 said:

Stretching the senior signings a bit aren't you? Moore, De Girolamo, Hinds, and Lucic can be taken off of there. So we are down to 23 with 7 being loans. 16 permanent signings over 3 windows to a squad that was quite bare with some of those fringe players leaving. Don't think it's that bad. Think lessons learned from first window as well by buying too young and not ready for championship. Look at last summer to this one, on paper, a higher quality player has come in. Think the club and LJ are showing signs of getting better

Was going to post similar.

But KITR will take anything he can to be negative about LJ.

Waste of time engaging, which is a shame as he was a good poster.

[Fordy62]

The squad is certainy better than it was under Cotts, but then it's not really a fair comparison when one was pushed and the other given free reign on the cheque book like no other has ever seen a fraction of.

There's never been anything like it in the history of the club. A million pound signing here or there sure, but dozens of them? Unbelievable really. 

I think the squad lacks the harmony it had under Cotts, we need one of those managers who really unites the squad and brings the best out of them, arguably like Nigel Clough is doing at Burton or how Ranieri made Leicester... where the squad is greater than the sum of its parts. Right now, I don't think we have that. Imagine how good this squad could be if we overperformed like some managers are able to do. 

Time will tell, but LJ now has his squad. It's time to perform. 

[Super]

1 hour ago, MC RISK77 said:

Very very pleased with the depth of our squad now with some real quality in all positions.

big well done to Lj as I genuinely feel this is a very competitive championship squad..mid table comfortably for me

We have quantity but do we have real quality? 

[Lrrr]

6 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

The squad is certainy better than it was under Cotts, but then it's not really a fair comparison when one was pushed and the other given free reign on the cheque book like no other has ever seen a fraction of.

There's never been anything like it in the history of the club. A million pound signing here or there sure, but dozens of them? Unbelievable really. 

I think the squad lacks the harmony it had under Cotts, we need one of those managers who really unites the squad and brings the best out of them, arguably like Nigel Clough is doing at Burton or how Ranieri made Leicester... where the squad is greater than the sum of its parts. Right now, I don't think we have that. Imagine how good this squad could be if we overperformed like some managers are able to do. 

Time will tell, but LJ now has his squad. It's time to perform. 

We've never been in such a strong financial position that has allowed us to spend like we have either so you can't compare his spending to other managers on that front either. 

[Abraham Romanovich]

1 hour ago, hodge said:

And for me this is the problem for a lot of our fans, just because some have done it doesn't mean we should be expected to. We've fought relegation for the last 2 seasons, why shouldn't finishing mid table be satisfactory? We're talking satisfactory here, not great, exceptional etc, satisfactory which is certainly would be. 

My problem with this line of logic is that I don't believe if we had a competent manager we should have been in a relegation scrap.

Now we have given the manager the tools he said he needed, time to judge if he is up to the task.

I want LJ to do well but if the height of our ambition is to achieve a mid table finish in the Championship we really do need to ask some serious questions about our manager.

 

 

[Lrrr]

2 minutes ago, Abraham Romanovich said:

My problem with this line of logic is that I don't believe if we had a competent manager we should have been in a relegation scrap.

Now we have given the manager the tools he said he needed, time to judge if he is up to the task.

I want LJ to do well but if the height of our ambition is to achieve a mid table finish in the Championship we really do need to ask some serious questions about our manager.

 

 

We're not though, we're talking about a satisfactory season

[JoeAman08]

1 hour ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Think the jury is very much out on those last two lines, Joe. Moore and Lucic were signed for the first team squad IMO.

I'd probably give you Moore. When Lucic signed we had ROD as our number 1 and FF as the number 2. I do believe the club brought too many young players in at once last summer. Think LJ takes some blame but that's a club choice from SL as well. Can see this summer trying to sign more established players so improvement from the club for me. I know people get annoyed with loans like Moore but we spent the money and now need to do what's best for the players at the time. 

I also think January's window we were fed a little BS. Bringing forward a window is what was said. I see some panic buys in there albeit reasonable deals on most. Hopefully learned from that. 

I get you probably have more inside knowledge of the club and LJ but do think he gets too much stick at times. Think he does good work too though. Transfers I am not sure are all up to him. I know he gets final say but think most of us would've said yes to the same players if asked. If you look at LJs tenure as a whole it's quite mediocre but I don't think we've had exceptional talent either. 

[Negan]

Steve cotterill said in his first interview "give me the tools and I'll win the league". He did.

 

Johnsons tool bag is now overflowing. I don't expect a league title but a mid table finish at the very least! He has NO excuses this year. 

[Lrrr]

13 minutes ago, Tuggin over Tomlin said:

Steve cotterill said in his first interview "give me the tools and I'll win the league". He did.

 

Johnsons tool bag is now overflowing. I don't expect a league title but a mid table finish at the very least! He has NO excuses this year. 

Not hard when we barely had to spend anything to win it and the standard of teams we were against, don't get me wrong Cotts recruitment was excellent just that league is a joke. 

[CyderInACan]

17 minutes ago, Tuggin over Tomlin said:

Johnsons tool bag is now overflowing. I don't expect a league title but a mid table finish at the very least! He has NO excuses this year. 

In the context of this 3rd season back in the championship, isn't mid table a success? A big one, too. Not just (shay) given the last 2 seasons but our overall history? Success, in the short term is surely staying in this League (the best/3rd best/5th best etc depending on who ever you choose to reference)  and us enjoying it? I'm sure in the medium to long term the plan is premiership (as LJ said in his most recent interview, the world's "elite league") but during the meanwhilst isn't it ok to just hope we can enjoy a few seasons of continued membership of this league at varying, hopefully, non-threatening mid-table positions, whilst establishing a brand of football that we can all enjoy? 

[BobBobSuperBob]

38 minutes ago, hodge said:

Not hard when we barely had to spend anything to win it and the standard of teams we were against, don't get me wrong Cotts recruitment was excellent just that league is a joke. 

So much of a joke - we'd not won it for a lifetime , and a league we take , on average 8 years to escape !!

Dont underestimate what he did 

Winning any division isn't 'easy'

[Lrrr]

2 minutes ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

So much of a joke - we'd not won it for a lifetime , and a league we take , on average 8 years to escape !!

Dont underestimate what he did 

Winning any division isn't 'easy'

As said previously full credit goes to Cotts for that season, recruitment was excellent, but the only two other good teams in that league were Preston and MK, we outspent every team in the league by a long way (despite the fact we covered our spending with Baldock) and basically assembled a league 1 all star team. It would have been bad if we hadn't won the league. 

[BobBobSuperBob]

11 minutes ago, hodge said:

As said previously full credit goes to Cotts for that season, recruitment was excellent, but the only two other good teams in that league were Preston and MK, we outspent every team in the league by a long way (despite the fact we covered our spending with Baldock) and basically assembled a league 1 all star team. It would have been bad if we hadn't won the league. 

Sort of get what you're saying but I think in retrospect  it appears that way now , looking back how we stormed the league

But League One all star team ?

Not sure Derrick Williams , Wilbs , Agard , Flint just to name four would have been seen as a All Star team when the season commenced 

Still maintain to win a league is quite an achievement and to do it with style certainly is

There are plenty of Clubs at all levels that have spent lots of money but failed to make a side

 

[Lrrr]

2 minutes ago, BobBobSuperBob said:

Sort of get what you're saying but I think in retrospect  it appears that way now , looking back how we stormed the league

But League One all star team ?

Not sure Derrick Williams , Wilbs , Agard , Flint just to name four would have been seen as a All Star team when the season commenced 

Still maintain to win a league is quite an achievement and to do it with style certainly is

 

Wilbs came from the Premier league and think any club in the league would have loved to have him, Agard scored 26 for Rotherham on the wing. No doubt it is an achievement and he backed up what he said he would do, I just don't think it was the hardest league in terms of quality to do it in. 

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Thatch35 said:

Overflowing with unproven or bang average players costing millions and millons. 

He has indeed spent a lot of someone elses money on many unproven players, not liking that description he prefers "young talent or ones for the future" whilst preferring to develop them elsewhere also.

Meanwhile his 5mil man has yet to prove his worth, imo he should also have kept Wilbs and given Engval and Hinds match time at this club from the bench, thus saving SL 5m

Talking of bang average players are Taylor and Đurić actually still here and why exactly did we buy them? lets be far neither are likely to figure in LJ`s revised plans. 

[You Do The Dziekanowski]

First window stuck to his guns on bringing in young hungry players mixed with experience. IMO didn't strengthen the positions we needed and some signings on paper were brilliant (Tomlin, Mathews and O'Neil) just didn't perform as they had done previously.

Second window, panic buying strikers and again didn't really strengthen the areas we needed e.g wingers especially after Freeman leaving. 

Third window, on paper couldn't do much better, strengthened the GK position, cover at the back for injuries/suspensions and if one gets sold, midfield seems strong (quality wise) enough to compete and we've finally got exciting wingers to watch! Up top, got the depth and might need my tin hat but I don't care if we don't have  a 20+ or even 10+ goal man if we win games and like our play off final season our top scorer finishes with 8 goals you wouldn't find many (I know it's OTIB) complaining. 

[Phileas Fogg]

28 minutes ago, glos old boy said:

He has indeed spent a lot of someone elses money on many unproven players, not liking that description he prefers "young talent or ones for the future" whilst preferring to develop them elsewhere also.

Not so much this window, we almost exclusively bought for the first team squad

28 minutes ago, glos old boy said:

Meanwhile his 5mil man has yet to prove his worth,

Give him a chance

28 minutes ago, glos old boy said:

 imo he should also have kept Wilbs

Can't keep him against his will

28 minutes ago, glos old boy said:

and given Engval and Hinds match time at this club from the bench, thus saving SL 5m

Engvall clearly happier back in Sweden and Hinds will benefit from first team football on loan - far too soon to write Diedhiou off who's done fine imo

28 minutes ago, glos old boy said:

Talking of bang average players are Taylor and Đurić actually still here and why exactly did we buy them? lets be far neither are likely to figure in LJ`s revised plans. 

Both are good players - concerned about Đurić's injury issues. Both would feature if fit I think.

[old_eastender]

13 hours ago, Fordy62 said:

The squad is certainy better than it was under Cotts, but then it's not really a fair comparison when one was pushed and the other given free reign on the cheque book like no other has ever seen a fraction of.

There's never been anything like it in the history of the club. A million pound signing here or there sure, but dozens of them? Unbelievable really. 

I think the squad lacks the harmony it had under Cotts, we need one of those managers who really unites the squad and brings the best out of them, arguably like Nigel Clough is doing at Burton or how Ranieri made Leicester... where the squad is greater than the sum of its parts. Right now, I don't think we have that. Imagine how good this squad could be if we overperformed like some managers are able to do. 

Time will tell, but LJ now has his squad. It's time to perform. 

Totally agree... no excuses for LJ now, if we end up in another relegation scrap then it will show he is never going to make a good manager.