Post by stevek192 on Jul 3, 2015 10:06:01 GMT
Well the lads are back in training so I thought this was a good time to look at the squad as it stands and how it compares to last season and more importantly where I think we need to be.
GOALKEEPERS Mildenhall Puddy Preston In all honesty I think I would have preferred one of Mildenhall and Puddy to have not signed for the coming season as would have liked a new first choice keeper. Preference would have been Conrad Logan now released by Leicester and at the age of 29 the right age for a keeper. On saying that there is no reason why both keepers (assuming Preston goes on loan) can't be good enough for this level. No change at present from last Season
DEFENDERS Clarke Leadbitter Parkes McCrystal Brown Lockyer Assuming that we play four at the back in most games I still feel we are one short and a natural left back to challenge Brown is probabl;y the missing part. Can't really comment on Clarke as only seen him once or twice but seems a good signing. Trotman not signing was a disappointment but I agree with what was offered him as we don't want to be left with an injured centre half from the off.
MIDFIELDERS Clarke Sinclair Lines Mansell The returning Lines is in my opinion a great signing for League 2 and hopefully Sinclair will be 100% fit to challenge. Would still like to see another Central midfielder to provide competition as not convinced by Ollie Clarke as being League standard but hopefully I will be wrong on this. It will be really interesting to see how Sinclair fares at a level where he has not played before. The player I would like to have signed is Young of Torquay.
WINGERS Montana Gosling. This is the area where I would still like to see two more signings as not convinced by Gosling BUT he is still young and it was definitely worth giving him a further chance. Montana for me is a good signing but I would still like to see the return of both LDV and Dawson as IMO the reason we went down before was that we had no wingers to create things and probably no strikers good enough to finish off what chances were created.
STRIKERS Taylor Blissett Easter Harrison Lucas Depending on Easters fitness it will be interesting to see how good we actually are in this area. I tend to agree with DC that we could do with another striker in preferably one with a proven record. Again here it will be interesting to see how Blissett develops and whether Taylor can be a force at an unproven level.I think he could be. A fit Easter could score regularly at this level and Ellis is still really unproven as well at this level in the striking role. We could have real talent in this area but until we see them in action against higher quality teams we just don't know. I was disappointed we lost Balanta as would like to have seen him after a full pre season but based purely on what we had seen so far the short term offer was the correct one.
So to conclude how do I think we will fare this season? In truth there are too many unprovens at the moment to draw conclusions.I feel we are four or five players short at the moment and would prefer to see these new players brought in earlier rather than later so we have time for the team to gel to avoid the start we had last season. For me lower than tenth would be a disappointment and with the right players brought in now I think play offs is not beyond us.
GOALKEEPERS Mildenhall Puddy Preston In all honesty I think I would have preferred one of Mildenhall and Puddy to have not signed for the coming season as would have liked a new first choice keeper. Preference would have been Conrad Logan now released by Leicester and at the age of 29 the right age for a keeper. On saying that there is no reason why both keepers (assuming Preston goes on loan) can't be good enough for this level. No change at present from last Season
DEFENDERS Clarke Leadbitter Parkes McCrystal Brown Lockyer Assuming that we play four at the back in most games I still feel we are one short and a natural left back to challenge Brown is probabl;y the missing part. Can't really comment on Clarke as only seen him once or twice but seems a good signing. Trotman not signing was a disappointment but I agree with what was offered him as we don't want to be left with an injured centre half from the off.
MIDFIELDERS Clarke Sinclair Lines Mansell The returning Lines is in my opinion a great signing for League 2 and hopefully Sinclair will be 100% fit to challenge. Would still like to see another Central midfielder to provide competition as not convinced by Ollie Clarke as being League standard but hopefully I will be wrong on this. It will be really interesting to see how Sinclair fares at a level where he has not played before. The player I would like to have signed is Young of Torquay.
WINGERS Montana Gosling. This is the area where I would still like to see two more signings as not convinced by Gosling BUT he is still young and it was definitely worth giving him a further chance. Montana for me is a good signing but I would still like to see the return of both LDV and Dawson as IMO the reason we went down before was that we had no wingers to create things and probably no strikers good enough to finish off what chances were created.
STRIKERS Taylor Blissett Easter Harrison Lucas Depending on Easters fitness it will be interesting to see how good we actually are in this area. I tend to agree with DC that we could do with another striker in preferably one with a proven record. Again here it will be interesting to see how Blissett develops and whether Taylor can be a force at an unproven level.I think he could be. A fit Easter could score regularly at this level and Ellis is still really unproven as well at this level in the striking role. We could have real talent in this area but until we see them in action against higher quality teams we just don't know. I was disappointed we lost Balanta as would like to have seen him after a full pre season but based purely on what we had seen so far the short term offer was the correct one.
So to conclude how do I think we will fare this season? In truth there are too many unprovens at the moment to draw conclusions.I feel we are four or five players short at the moment and would prefer to see these new players brought in earlier rather than later so we have time for the team to gel to avoid the start we had last season. For me lower than tenth would be a disappointment and with the right players brought in now I think play offs is not beyond us.