Ingram, Jacobson, Mawson(?), Pierre, Wood, Hayes. That is a decent spine of players.
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I really doubt we'll get Alfie to stay. He may not go back to Brentford but his time with us will have given him a price tag which we won't be able to meet, I reckon.
Simple answer for me - we should absolutely stick by the 'stability first, success later' mantra, but doing our best to achieve as much as we possibly can within the realm of 'stability' each season. This means, aiming for promotion now, but not by signing an extra £3k a week striker if we can't afford one. And it means trying to finish as high as possible in league one, but not spending any more than we were planning to spend to achieve 'stability' in league two.
Given GA's reasonably remarkable ability of recruiting decent players for our level this season, I have every faith that we would have more chance of staying up next season than last time we were in league one.
This doesn't mean signing no players, but it means signing players within the budgets that have already been no doubt forecast which assume we will be in league two, with a c. %15 increase taking into account likely increased gates.
Realistically speaking, we are absolutely in a better position to achieve promotion right now than we would be on day one of the 2016-2017 season, starting from 0 points!
I think if we could keep the back five (yep even Sido) we could compete, but midfield and strike force would need major overall...unless, of course, it is because they are 'too good' for L2 and will actually come into their own in the higher League! Murphy has faded, Bloomers did not really influence the game on Tuesday and as you point out, we need players like Max and Matt to come into their own in the run-up to earn a place for next year. A small squad with an enhanced medical team seems to have worked this year, but lack of goals is worrying as we move into the final stretch and other teams start hitting a run of form.
Sound summing up, Wendoverman. If Woody played wide left in a 4-4-2 I reckon Murphy would get back on the scoresheet. In the absence of a goalscoring forward - I've not checked latest inf on that score - Holloway and McClure would be my choice up front. Is there any news about Max Kretschmar's injury. He has been out for a worryingly long time.
If we go up I think we'll stay up. Bottom third of the league I suspect, hard to beat low scoring side. Which might be a platform to build on if Gaz can keep finding pearls. Keeping Alfie would be too much to hope for but he might pull in a loan striker or two from higher up to perform better than Mclure and Paul H will. I have doubts about the latter having many more miles left on the clock and Mclure has had enough time now to show his true form. Holloway I keep hoping for a bit more but doubt it's there and Craig is what he is - which isn't what we need.
Comments
Jombati is more than good enough for League 1, as is Murphy
I'm with @eric_plant on Jombati, though I've seen Murphy go completely missing in a couple of League 2 games.
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I really doubt we'll get Alfie to stay. He may not go back to Brentford but his time with us will have given him a price tag which we won't be able to meet, I reckon.
What would be projected prize money if any on winning league 2 anybody?? What would Alfie be valued at???
IF we go up we will try and stay up - but as we all know its a big step up
Jombati pretty awful today, I stand by what I said earlier in this thread. He couldn't kick the ball straight today.
Simple answer for me - we should absolutely stick by the 'stability first, success later' mantra, but doing our best to achieve as much as we possibly can within the realm of 'stability' each season. This means, aiming for promotion now, but not by signing an extra £3k a week striker if we can't afford one. And it means trying to finish as high as possible in league one, but not spending any more than we were planning to spend to achieve 'stability' in league two.
Given GA's reasonably remarkable ability of recruiting decent players for our level this season, I have every faith that we would have more chance of staying up next season than last time we were in league one.
This doesn't mean signing no players, but it means signing players within the budgets that have already been no doubt forecast which assume we will be in league two, with a c. %15 increase taking into account likely increased gates.
Realistically speaking, we are absolutely in a better position to achieve promotion right now than we would be on day one of the 2016-2017 season, starting from 0 points!
If we go up: we enjoy it, hope for the best and don't panic if things start to go a little wrong.
I think if we could keep the back five (yep even Sido) we could compete, but midfield and strike force would need major overall...unless, of course, it is because they are 'too good' for L2 and will actually come into their own in the higher League! Murphy has faded, Bloomers did not really influence the game on Tuesday and as you point out, we need players like Max and Matt to come into their own in the run-up to earn a place for next year. A small squad with an enhanced medical team seems to have worked this year, but lack of goals is worrying as we move into the final stretch and other teams start hitting a run of form.
Sound summing up, Wendoverman. If Woody played wide left in a 4-4-2 I reckon Murphy would get back on the scoresheet. In the absence of a goalscoring forward - I've not checked latest inf on that score - Holloway and McClure would be my choice up front. Is there any news about Max Kretschmar's injury. He has been out for a worryingly long time.
I forgot to specify "on loan" after "goalscoring forward".
If we go up I think we'll stay up. Bottom third of the league I suspect, hard to beat low scoring side. Which might be a platform to build on if Gaz can keep finding pearls. Keeping Alfie would be too much to hope for but he might pull in a loan striker or two from higher up to perform better than Mclure and Paul H will. I have doubts about the latter having many more miles left on the clock and Mclure has had enough time now to show his true form. Holloway I keep hoping for a bit more but doubt it's there and Craig is what he is - which isn't what we need.