On the other hand, and trying to look at it objectively (I am a natural optimist):
It is more than reasonable to expect a regression for Bayo, at least in terms of goal scoring, given past performance and age, as well as a pretty high likelihood that his number of games played will drop too.
There is no reason to think Kashket will play any more games this season than last given his chronic pelvic injury. If he does, he has no pedigree as a consistent goalscorer that would allow significant confidence that his goals:game ratio will be as high as last season (though, at 21, he could perhaps reasonably be projected to improve)
Paris has scored 5 goals in 41 league appearances over the past three seasons. He's 26 - no Spring chicken.
Freeman and Southwell are totally unproven at this level. Notwithstanding that he was played out of position, the latter showed no goal threat at all when he played and nor did the former in very limited playing time, as good as he looked on the ball.
Hayes is clearly a way past his best. Like Kashket, perhaps more so, he is unlikely to maintain fitness through the season.
Brown is an obvious downgrade at 'keeper. Nothing wrong with him. Just how it is. Blackman was brilliant and worth a number of points to the team, even net of mistakes.
The midfield should show an upgrade in performance next year, given a full season of Saunders and continued development by O'Nien and Gape.
There is no reason to expect the defence to be better than the last two seasons - it has been one of the best in the League - and every reason for it to be a little worse if Pierre leaves and much worse if JJ gets injured.
I can see this season going well, am optimistic about our chances and keen to see how the team performs. But, objectively, the only area of the team that projects with any confidence to be better currently is the midfield. We'd have to be hoping for a few close ones that went against us last season to run our way this season to expect a significant improvement in league position.
The good news, of course, is that the league is so even that most of the games are close ones and, variance being what it is, we could easily get that rub of the green, especially if we get a little cuter with some of the tactics. :-)
PS. In other words, I'm with @Jonny_King : a few more signings would be great. Hope Tyson works out (though, again, recent past performance offers no surety).
This is the lot of clubs like ours - ie. pretty much every team in the league: roll the dice on unproven or fading players and hope things run your way.
Wow @HCblue , that would be one of the gloomiest readings of our squad i've ever seen in my life.
The comment about Paris is unbelievable too. No spring chicken... at 26!
No wonder so many are losing their cool at us signing a 32 year old
Just a word about Tyson though, he's so well known I think we'd have struggled to keep his trial on the low!
Even if they'd managed to edit him out of the training clips/photos, the second the first friendly came up it'd be obvious!
All in though, i can't remember a pre-season where we less needed key signings.
If any of Rowe, Southwell, Muller, WDH or Freeman offer more than squad fill it'll be a major bonus.
Just read @HCblue post and have asked for a refund on my season ticket. Whats the point?
Poor old Paris - 26 and called no spring chicken. Poor sod is not even half way through his career and thats him done for.
I wonder if he's the chap on the FB page, that when shown a gloriously scenic photo of our ground (apparently voted 4th best setting for a ground), he chose to concentrate on it being at the end of an industrial estate!
I was glad to see either he'd removed himself, or had been deleted out for such pointless negativity
The level of injuries will be the key to how well we perform this season. Saunders, Kashet, Hayes, Paris, Tyson (if he signs) all have a very poor record with injuries and unfortunately they are the players that can have the most influence on the teams performance.
Agree @Malone@TheAndyGrahamFanClub last season was a clear step up from the post-Wembley season for all the reasons you give. Two very very bad runs which I thought had done for us and we were still just in with a shout on last day...
@Jonny_King that would be lovely, but I wonder if they've announced his trial because there's. I way to hide it. Most of us don't recognize the average trialst we get in the summer, but imagine if Tyson just showed up in that video with no warning...
I would think that we already have a deal in place with him and the trial is a mural assessment of whether he is a good fit. We have a history of playing 'A.Trialist' with no fanfare which is fun. It might also be because the season ticket deadline was looming and we needed to add a boost to the PR.
@Malone much as I am fond of the thought of him coming back I was not thinking that he would cause a queue around the block. I was more thinking that we had to announce something as signings is always a good stimulus for STH old and new. The rather dry cracker of a trial of a popular ex-player was about as good as we could get. The signing the next day of a centre half most casual fans had to hit Wikipedia for has created less chat on this board than the fact that Tyson is training with us.
@Malone : HCblue is definitely not Steve Thomas! I've no idea who the latter is but HCblue is a thoughtful, mature and articulate person (judging by his many contributions to this forum). The post you and @TheAndyGrahamFanClub have seized upon seemed to me to be a valid piece of devil's advocacy and a timely reminder of the vulnerability of the present squad in the context of recent history.
@Malone I agree as a signing it's more romantic than exciting, (although isn't football about romance anyway?) but that wasn't my question. As a player, it's hard to think of someone more exciting to watch over the last decade than Tyson was.
@floyd , my memory aint as good as it was, the Tyson days were a long way ago!
We certainly haven't been blessed with exciting strikers in the decade gone though I agree!
Nothing quite like having a striker with terrific pace, so that even if your shuddering ape of a defender smashes one a million times harder than he should have, there's always that chance pacey lad might get onto it.
Kashket is decent for that. Him and Tyson would be an interesting double header.
Might make Paris up his game too to get in.
Like I said, I'm essentially an optimist, and am looking forward to the season. But it never hurts to try and look at things objectively, to get a feel for what it might be fair to expect.
@Malone , for my feelings about Adams Park, please see my reply on the "4th most beautiful ground in the country" page.
"Spring chicken" was not the most apt description for Paris. I meant to convey the point that he's approaching the time in a career when what you see is what you get.
For fun, here are some numbers:
.353
.19
.288
.27
These are the goals per game for Bayo in the last four seasons (all matches), most recent season first. Which one of the outliers is more likely this season?
And:
51
42
52
37
These are his games played per season, same order. He was 35 in May, is built like a brick outhouse and seems to have a busy (and happy) family life. I don't expect a regression in games played - he obviously looks after himself well - but it wouldn't be a shock if a footballer with that profile played fewer games this season than last, would it?
To reiterate, I'm positive about things generally. I'd be happy to discuss any differences of view anyone might have. If you can point to reasons for thinking there is good reason to expect, rather than hope, for a more potent attack or more solid defence this season, I'd be delighted to discuss them on this discussion forum.
Comments
On the other hand, and trying to look at it objectively (I am a natural optimist):
It is more than reasonable to expect a regression for Bayo, at least in terms of goal scoring, given past performance and age, as well as a pretty high likelihood that his number of games played will drop too.
There is no reason to think Kashket will play any more games this season than last given his chronic pelvic injury. If he does, he has no pedigree as a consistent goalscorer that would allow significant confidence that his goals:game ratio will be as high as last season (though, at 21, he could perhaps reasonably be projected to improve)
Paris has scored 5 goals in 41 league appearances over the past three seasons. He's 26 - no Spring chicken.
Freeman and Southwell are totally unproven at this level. Notwithstanding that he was played out of position, the latter showed no goal threat at all when he played and nor did the former in very limited playing time, as good as he looked on the ball.
Hayes is clearly a way past his best. Like Kashket, perhaps more so, he is unlikely to maintain fitness through the season.
Brown is an obvious downgrade at 'keeper. Nothing wrong with him. Just how it is. Blackman was brilliant and worth a number of points to the team, even net of mistakes.
The midfield should show an upgrade in performance next year, given a full season of Saunders and continued development by O'Nien and Gape.
There is no reason to expect the defence to be better than the last two seasons - it has been one of the best in the League - and every reason for it to be a little worse if Pierre leaves and much worse if JJ gets injured.
I can see this season going well, am optimistic about our chances and keen to see how the team performs. But, objectively, the only area of the team that projects with any confidence to be better currently is the midfield. We'd have to be hoping for a few close ones that went against us last season to run our way this season to expect a significant improvement in league position.
The good news, of course, is that the league is so even that most of the games are close ones and, variance being what it is, we could easily get that rub of the green, especially if we get a little cuter with some of the tactics. :-)
PS. In other words, I'm with @Jonny_King : a few more signings would be great. Hope Tyson works out (though, again, recent past performance offers no surety).
This is the lot of clubs like ours - ie. pretty much every team in the league: roll the dice on unproven or fading players and hope things run your way.
Wow @HCblue , that would be one of the gloomiest readings of our squad i've ever seen in my life.
The comment about Paris is unbelievable too. No spring chicken... at 26!
No wonder so many are losing their cool at us signing a 32 year old
Just a word about Tyson though, he's so well known I think we'd have struggled to keep his trial on the low!
Even if they'd managed to edit him out of the training clips/photos, the second the first friendly came up it'd be obvious!
All in though, i can't remember a pre-season where we less needed key signings.
If any of Rowe, Southwell, Muller, WDH or Freeman offer more than squad fill it'll be a major bonus.
Just read @HCblue post and have asked for a refund on my season ticket. Whats the point?
Poor old Paris - 26 and called no spring chicken. Poor sod is not even half way through his career and thats him done for.
I wonder if he's the chap on the FB page, that when shown a gloriously scenic photo of our ground (apparently voted 4th best setting for a ground), he chose to concentrate on it being at the end of an industrial estate!
I was glad to see either he'd removed himself, or had been deleted out for such pointless negativity
The level of injuries will be the key to how well we perform this season. Saunders, Kashet, Hayes, Paris, Tyson (if he signs) all have a very poor record with injuries and unfortunately they are the players that can have the most influence on the teams performance.
Agree @Malone @TheAndyGrahamFanClub last season was a clear step up from the post-Wembley season for all the reasons you give. Two very very bad runs which I thought had done for us and we were still just in with a shout on last day...
Thanks @Ned_Ludd and @Chris
@Jonny_King that would be lovely, but I wonder if they've announced his trial because there's. I way to hide it. Most of us don't recognize the average trialst we get in the summer, but imagine if Tyson just showed up in that video with no warning...
I would think that we already have a deal in place with him and the trial is a mural assessment of whether he is a good fit. We have a history of playing 'A.Trialist' with no fanfare which is fun. It might also be because the season ticket deadline was looming and we needed to add a boost to the PR.
Now you're really getting into fantasy @TheAndyGrahamFanClub . Who on earth would buy a season ticket just because we'd brought Tyson in on trial?
@Malone Can you name a more exciting player in the last 10 years?
It's romantic and nice I get it, but exciting certainly isn't the word. We have no idea if he's anywhere near the threat and player he used to be.
Bayo was more exciting just last summer.
Bayo not training yet it seems: Injured? Still in the States? Another reason ?
@Malone much as I am fond of the thought of him coming back I was not thinking that he would cause a queue around the block. I was more thinking that we had to announce something as signings is always a good stimulus for STH old and new. The rather dry cracker of a trial of a popular ex-player was about as good as we could get. The signing the next day of a centre half most casual fans had to hit Wikipedia for has created less chat on this board than the fact that Tyson is training with us.
@Malone : HCblue is definitely not Steve Thomas! I've no idea who the latter is but HCblue is a thoughtful, mature and articulate person (judging by his many contributions to this forum). The post you and @TheAndyGrahamFanClub have seized upon seemed to me to be a valid piece of devil's advocacy and a timely reminder of the vulnerability of the present squad in the context of recent history.
Who's the guy with the man bun/long hair. I only see backviews?
@Malone I agree as a signing it's more romantic than exciting, (although isn't football about romance anyway?) but that wasn't my question. As a player, it's hard to think of someone more exciting to watch over the last decade than Tyson was.
It's Sam Saunders isn't it?
@floyd aha...you could be right. Sorted.
@perfidious_albion Pretty sure I've read somewhere that Bayo is still on holiday in the States, but stand to be corrected.
Bayo seems to be having a great time on the American west coast.
@floyd , my memory aint as good as it was, the Tyson days were a long way ago!
We certainly haven't been blessed with exciting strikers in the decade gone though I agree!
Nothing quite like having a striker with terrific pace, so that even if your shuddering ape of a defender smashes one a million times harder than he should have, there's always that chance pacey lad might get onto it.
Kashket is decent for that. Him and Tyson would be an interesting double header.
Might make Paris up his game too to get in.
Like I said, I'm essentially an optimist, and am looking forward to the season. But it never hurts to try and look at things objectively, to get a feel for what it might be fair to expect.
@Malone , for my feelings about Adams Park, please see my reply on the "4th most beautiful ground in the country" page.
"Spring chicken" was not the most apt description for Paris. I meant to convey the point that he's approaching the time in a career when what you see is what you get.
For fun, here are some numbers:
.353
.19
.288
.27
These are the goals per game for Bayo in the last four seasons (all matches), most recent season first. Which one of the outliers is more likely this season?
And:
51
42
52
37
These are his games played per season, same order. He was 35 in May, is built like a brick outhouse and seems to have a busy (and happy) family life. I don't expect a regression in games played - he obviously looks after himself well - but it wouldn't be a shock if a footballer with that profile played fewer games this season than last, would it?
To reiterate, I'm positive about things generally. I'd be happy to discuss any differences of view anyone might have. If you can point to reasons for thinking there is good reason to expect, rather than hope, for a more potent attack or more solid defence this season, I'd be delighted to discuss them on this discussion forum.
I'd be delighted to discuss them on this discussion forum.
Scandalous.
I'm sorry. Don't know what I was thinking. I'll get my coat.
I hear he packs quite a punch
I'm sure he will N Tyson extraordinary amount of people to buy season tickets.