LondonBristolian Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 (edited) Looking at our team now, it feels like we've got reasonable depth in most positions, even if we'll presumably need one more central defender if Kalas does not sign. Outfield, the one problem spot that stands out to me as one that could potentially derail us is left-back. Not because I don't think Pring or Roberts are good enough but because it would only take those two players out at the same time to leave us without a player in a key area of the team. (Obviously there is a limit to how many players you can have in any position but we've got 4 non right backs who can play emergency right-back, 5 non-central defenders who can play emergency centre-back and 4 or 5 non-central midfielders who can play emergency centre-midfield). What do we think are emergency left- back options are? Is this a real weak point or are there other players who can play there, or youth players who might step up? The only player I can think of is Naismith and we'd both be pulling a key player from another position and I'm not sure how suited he is to playing there in a back 4 at this point in his career... Edited July 14, 2023 by LondonBristolian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcfc01 Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 9 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said: Looking at our team now, it feels like we've got reasonable depth in most positions, even if we'll presumably need one more central defender if Kalas does not sign. Outfield, the one problem spot that stands out to me as one that could potentially derail us is left-back. Not because I don't think Pring or Roberts are good enough but because it would only take those two players out at the same time to leave us without a player in a key area of the team. (Obviously there is a limit to how many players you can have in any position but we've got 4 non right backs who can play emergency right-back, 5 non-central defenders who can play emergency centre-back and 4 or 5 non-central midfielders who can play emergency centre-midfield). What do we think are emergency left- back options are? Is this a real weak point or are there other players who can play there, or youth players who might step up? The only player I can think of is Naismith and we'd both be pulling a key player from another position and I'm not sure how suited he is to playing there in a back 4 at this point in his career... Tanner or McCrorie could fill in I would think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkeh Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 4 minutes ago, bcfc01 said: Tanner or McCrorie could fill in I would think. As well as Roberts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spudgun Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 Harry Leeson? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davefevs Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 I guess through pre-season we might get to see how far away Harry Leeson (predominantly right-sided), Raph Araoye, and Callum Wood are. Tanner can play LB. Sykes or Knight can play RB if McCrorie is needed elsewhere. Naismith can play LB, assuming he’s not playing CB. The question is whether any of them are playing elsewhere because of injury. I prefer to take the risk of running a small squad with players able to cover if need be versus a bigger squad. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bristol Rob Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 Gotta be honeset, I'm more worried about the keeper options than the left back ones. Not convinced that we've any strength, depth or 'obvious number one' in the squad. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyderInACan Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 1 minute ago, Bristol Rob said: Gotta be honeset, I'm more worried about the keeper options than the left back ones. Not convinced that we've any strength, depth or 'obvious number one' in the squad. If Max gets injured we could try drop-backs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davefevs Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 Just now, CyderInACan said: If Max gets injured we could try drop-backs. Anyone heard of Stefan Bajic has returned to training or still off following France u21s? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
!james Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 2 minutes ago, Davefevs said: Anyone heard of Stefan Bajic has returned to training or still off following France u21s? He was in the last videos online, meeting Knight and the training ones 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 2 minutes ago, Davefevs said: Anyone heard of Stefan Bajic has returned to training or still off following France u21s? Definitely back, saw him twice in the Jason Knight video, looked to have had a rather severe military haircut.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonBristolian Posted July 14, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 7 hours ago, Bristol Rob said: Gotta be honeset, I'm more worried about the keeper options than the left back ones. Not convinced that we've any strength, depth or 'obvious number one' in the squad. I’d mostly agree with that. I actually think O’Leary is good enough for a Championship team and could improve but he needs to be pushed and there needs to be an alternative option. Bajic and Wiles-Richards are yet to prove they can offer either of those. I could be wrong but my gut feeling is Bajic will be gone (permanently or on loan) by the end of the window and there will be another keeper. But we shall see. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonBristolian Posted July 14, 2023 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 7 hours ago, Davefevs said: I guess through pre-season we might get to see how far away Harry Leeson (predominantly right-sided), Raph Araoye, and Callum Wood are. Tanner can play LB. Sykes or Knight can play RB if McCrorie is needed elsewhere. Naismith can play LB, assuming he’s not playing CB. The question is whether any of them are playing elsewhere because of injury. I prefer to take the risk of running a small squad with players able to cover if need be versus a bigger squad. On the whole I’d agree but we’ve been caught out in recent seasons by the wrong injuries at the wrong times and, if we’re serious about a promotion push, I feel we need to have cover. I don’t mean in terms of stockpiling multiple players - more in the way that Sykes, Weimann, Scott and Vyner offer emergency right back options or how McCrorie, Tanner, Pring, Roberts and King can cover centre back in a push. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grey Fox Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 If you can play right back , you can play left back, so I don’t see this as a problem. We should also be looked at the youngsters as third place cover in emergencies. Agree with the earlier poster, goalkeeper is the only position that concerns me as I don’t see any sort of competition to Max Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolman_Stand Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 Surely Sam Bell can play left back if he needed to, if not I blame his parents 8 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slippin cider Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 We need a big striker ….. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davefevs Posted July 14, 2023 Report Share Posted July 14, 2023 1 hour ago, LondonBristolian said: On the whole I’d agree but we’ve been caught out in recent seasons by the wrong injuries at the wrong times and, if we’re serious about a promotion push, I feel we need to have cover. I don’t mean in terms of stockpiling multiple players - more in the way that Sykes, Weimann, Scott and Vyner offer emergency right back options or how McCrorie, Tanner, Pring, Roberts and King can cover centre back in a push. We have indeed….but….I feel in the past two season we’ve had no depth, and had to use the kids (who’ve done well), we now better / more experienced depth. However, the underlined bit is key….is our improved depth sufficient, because the bar of expectation has moved upwards. We will see. If Rob was back in September for example we’d probably feel fine. But he’s not. Probably one where we evaluate nearer the end of the window. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SecretSam Posted July 15, 2023 Report Share Posted July 15, 2023 9 hours ago, Slippin cider said: We need a big striker ….. Stop it. Stop it now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Billy Posted July 15, 2023 Report Share Posted July 15, 2023 If you’re winning games and near the top you seem to have less injuries than when your are near the bottom and scrapping. That could be the obvious correlation or is it that players want to hide when things are not going well? Personally I feel that if the season were to start tomorrow even without Kalas and Scott we could still be very competitive in this league with the squad available. I don’t see left back as an area for concern as plenty could drop in and cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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