Matthew me Posted July 27, 2020 Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 With the new season only seven weeks away...it got me thinking about fixture congestion and squads. We are likely to see many more midweek games to condense the season into a shorter period. Those teams with deeper squads and with quality on the bench will benefit from the aggressive format. I for one, wouldn't be trimming the squad too aggressively, we need the likes of Rowe, Watkins, Hunt etc to ensure we have some level of quality on the bench. Our goal is promotion. Not a cup run. I would personally sacrifice the cups and play kids. If we can avoid further games this might help us further, especially if our head to head competition get tied up in long cup runs If we lose any of our better players, we need to replace and invest. I just hope we don't decimate the squad numbers to pay for two new players. It's a team game more than ever for 20/21 season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvio Dante Posted July 27, 2020 Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 I think what we may see are less loans outgoing next year, for the very reasons stated - fixture congestion and a need for bodies. There’s no sense in buying squad fillers when we have our own players available. Everyone agrees that Joe, Liam, Taylor and Max (if Niki goes) will be part of the squad next year. But there are more that can be used as part of a squad - all the below were loaned to league clubs: Jonny Smith Bakinson Nurse Adelukan Semenyo Szmodics Morton Wollacott Then at conference level, you have Janneh, Edwards, Cundy. Sam Pearson at Bath also. I suspect loans will be far less prevailant next year and even keeping 50% of the above at the club gives you significant bulking up to cope with the workload Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendyredredrobin Posted July 27, 2020 Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 There will be a lot less money in the game due to COVID so some trimming of the squad due to cost will be inevitable unless players are willing to take some pretty aggressive pay cuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew me Posted July 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 14 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said: I think what we may see are less loans outgoing next year, for the very reasons stated - fixture congestion and a need for bodies. There’s no sense in buying squad fillers when we have our own players available. Everyone agrees that Joe, Liam, Taylor and Max (if Niki goes) will be part of the squad next year. But there are more that can be used as part of a squad - all the below were loaned to league clubs: Jonny Smith Bakinson Nurse Adelukan Semenyo Szmodics Morton Wollacott Then at conference level, you have Janneh, Edwards, Cundy. Sam Pearson at Bath also. I suspect loans will be far less prevailant next year and even keeping 50% of the above at the club gives you significant bulking up to cope with the workload Totally agree with above. Less loans and keep a good quality bench. Will allow for some rotation Games come thick and fast. It's easy to lose three of four on the bounce quickly if most of the season is sat/Tue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew me Posted July 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 5 minutes ago, wendyredredrobin said: There will be a lot less money in the game due to COVID so some trimming of the squad due to cost will be inevitable unless players are willing to take some pretty aggressive pay cuts. I'm not sure it will be a lot less. Crowds will return at some point soon, the match day revenue will be supported by online streaming. I suspect it will be a couple of slower months Also consider that transfer fees could be lower perhaps? That would also help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonBristolian Posted July 27, 2020 Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 3 hours ago, Silvio Dante said: I think what we may see are less loans outgoing next year, for the very reasons stated - fixture congestion and a need for bodies. There’s no sense in buying squad fillers when we have our own players available. Everyone agrees that Joe, Liam, Taylor and Max (if Niki goes) will be part of the squad next year. But there are more that can be used as part of a squad - all the below were loaned to league clubs: Jonny Smith Bakinson Nurse Adelukan Semenyo Szmodics Morton Wollacott Then at conference level, you have Janneh, Edwards, Cundy. Sam Pearson at Bath also. I suspect loans will be far less prevailant next year and even keeping 50% of the above at the club gives you significant bulking up to cope with the workload Agree with this. I think Adelakun'll move on but I'd have thought Szmodics and Semenyo will be squad players next season and that Smith, Bakinson, Morton and Wollacott are all reasonable shouts for at least filling out the bench and playing the odd cup game too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Popodopolous Posted July 27, 2020 Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 4 hours ago, Matthew me said: Totally agree with above. Less loans and keep a good quality bench. Will allow for some rotation Games come thick and fast. It's easy to lose three of four on the bounce quickly if most of the season is sat/Tue The schedule as it stands. Begins weekend of September 12th 2020. Season ending weekend of May 8th/9th 2021. Will the League Cup be a factor? FA Cup? International breaks? Depth will be key. Logistics seem a nightmare! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bard Posted July 27, 2020 Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 First international window is before the season. Not sure if the March one will happen. Sides with a 20 man squad that have a churn of 2/3 players each game will be most successful. Man City do this. Always a couple of changes each game so selection maintains consistency but all players get game time and rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledAjax Posted July 27, 2020 Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 It's about 6 matches that need to be condensed into the rest of the season. That's how many league games tend to get played in our division before the first international break in September. One week has been added to the end of the season as well. There's maybe going to be maybe 5 extra midweek games, and bear in mind that at least one of those would ordinarily have been a midweek game as August normally has one or two midweek league games, plus two rounds of the League Cup. Point being it's not quite as bad as it first sounds, it's not going to be Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday for the entire season, much of the season will probably feel pretty normal in terms of how regular the fixtures are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Popodopolous Posted July 27, 2020 Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 2 hours ago, The Bard said: First international window is before the season. Not sure if the March one will happen. Sides with a 20 man squad that have a churn of 2/3 players each game will be most successful. Man City do this. Always a couple of changes each game so selection maintains consistency but all players get game time and rest. Nothing in October and November? Often is! https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/about-uefa/news/025c-0f8e787ef28c-879e44a21e77-1000--updated-uefa-competitions-calendar/ Then there's the start of UEFA WC Qualifiers- might be the March point to which you are referring- these are in March 2021 as it stands? FA Cup 3rd Round in January too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Taylor Posted July 27, 2020 Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 4 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said: The schedule as it stands. Begins weekend of September 12th 2020. Season ending weekend of May 8th/9th 2021. Will the League Cup be a factor? FA Cup? International breaks? Depth will be key. Logistics seem a nightmare! I wouldn't be worried if they scrap the internationals for the whole of next season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Popodopolous Posted July 27, 2020 Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 4 minutes ago, Shaun Taylor said: I wouldn't be worried if they scrap the internationals for the whole of next season I'd be surprised if it happens but who knows in these times! Wasn't so long ago the Championship used to play on International weekends anyway- 15-20 years? Assuming it became fairly impractical due to the 3 player call up postponement rule- which was that a club could call off a game if they got 3 call ups on that weekend. As the League got bigger, more international this became the case more and more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Taylor Posted July 27, 2020 Report Share Posted July 27, 2020 17 minutes ago, Mr Popodopolous said: I'd be surprised if it happens but who knows in these times! Wasn't so long ago the Championship used to play on International weekends anyway- 15-20 years? Assuming it became fairly impractical due to the 3 player call up postponement rule- which was that a club could call off a game if they got 3 call ups on that weekend. As the League got bigger, more international this became the case more and more. I remember those days too and have no problem with games being called off in the championship & Premiership but not so sure about league one and a few games in league two Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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