Pre Season Friendlies

[squeeze.]

Love Bonner but still wary after last years shite recruitment and concerned he’s said we might only get two or three more. Given the number we’ve lost, and the significance of them, that might not be enough.

That said, as much of that falls on Strang too.

[Cufcmad13]

Jul 15, 2023 21:21:44 GMT squeeze. said:

Love Bonner but still wary after last years shite recruitment and concerned he’s said we might only get two or three more. Given the number we’ve lost, and the significance of them, that might not be enough.

That said, as much of that falls on Strang too.

I still think we need a Right back to cover Bennett , A defensive midfielder to cover Digby , a Winger and two strikers .

[Tom Shaw's Fist of Rage]

Is the squad being too small being this season's narrative? People are seemingly never going to be happy unless we end up with about 30 senior pros. Expecting 5/6 more signings without any more outgoing seems mental to me.

[Mick1970]

Jul 15, 2023 23:07:10 GMT Tom Shaw's Fist of Rage said:

Is the squad being too small being this season's narrative? People are seemingly never going to be happy unless we end up with about 30 senior pros. Expecting 5/6 more signings without any more outgoing seems mental to me.

Oh, for Pete's sake, nobody is saying this, but after the absolutely disastrous transfer strategy only 12 months ago, can you seriously question people's slight nervousness regarding recruitment?

Let's not forget, we stayed up on the final day by the width of a pubic hair, and I think all sane and realistic United fans have every single right to be somewhat jittery regarding not repeating the nearly fatal mistakes made with the lack of squad depth/quality last season.

Heaven forbid anyone on here who dares to question the clearly previously floored recruitment strategy..

[Dylan]

Sorry, have I missed something?

This 'debate' essentially boils down to money.

[djs230480]

You could also argue, if so inclined, that Bennett x 2, Morrison and Thomas, added in January, weren’t here at the start of last season. If comparing like for like at this stage of a season

[pgtips (lurid)]

Jul 16, 2023 7:24:02 GMT djs230480 said:

You could also argue, if so inclined, that Bennett x 2, Morrison and Thomas, added in January, weren’t here at the start of last season. If comparing like for like at this stage of a season

I'd still be nervous starting the season with a squad of 23. If that was perfect first choice and cover in every position we are likely to play then okay. Yet I don't think the spread is that even.

[hookycrooky]

We struggled last season I thought they might have learnt that and made sure the squad was bigger we also have about 4 players who are injury prone and yet to see how May and Rossi come back from long term injuries.
For me we currently have a squad which looks very light and probably worse than last season team that only stayed up due a bit of luck on the last day.

[milesfenton]

I can't see us adding another right back, unless it's an untested youngster on loan. Anyone we sign there has to be as a clear backup to Lennett, which means we're not going to be spending much of our budget there and it won't be attractive to experienced players who could be first choice elsewhere. Okedina or Morrison can cover there when needed and I think would do well enough.

The squad will look quite different with 2-3 more attackers added I think, so easier to judge when they're in place.

[imp566]

If anyone thinks Bonner et al were happy with last season's recruitment, or the current state of recruitment this season, then they are very wrong. I am sure they would much rather have the squad for this season finalised already and training with the team in preparation for a fast start to the season. It's the reasons why that people really should take their heads out of the sand and understand.

Would we prefer a large squad full of League 2 standard players (which I guess we could afford!), or a squad of competitive League 1 players? I guess the answer to that is obvious - but so is the reason why we struggle to achieve the latter. Our budget is (and always will be) allowing us to shop at Aldi and Lidl, rather than Waitrose. Every now and then we can pop into Waitrose and grab deals like Thomas and Cousins, but they come with a caveat that they have 'history' for not being as reliable as others, so essentially buying from the 'discount aisle' in Waitrose.

Our other option is to have a short term rubbish or bust approach to recruitment, knowing we would be balancing on a financial knife edge, relying on success to stay financially viable. That route we and many other clubs have travelled before and we know it is at best unsustainable and at worst suicidal.

We are very fortunate to have prudent but generous financial backers, who have recently ploughed money into our facilities and infrastructure, which was long overdue; aligned to them is a manager who loves this club and wants to do the very best to allow it to grow, understanding the financial plan and aligning his plans to it. He cannot force players to sign fo4r us on the money we can offer, most often lower than our competitors, what he has to do is sell them his dream. Some will buy that, others undoubtedly won't.

Do I want another season like last season - definitely not, but I'd prefer that to a semi successful season that has financial consequences. I trust the process!

[Dylan]

Very well said Imp 👏👏👏

[smartspud]

Absolutely agree with this.

[kentishu]

I think Bonner's strategy is pretty clear, he is looking for high potential damaged goods at a bargain basement price. There's no doubt it's a risky strategy but it may also represent our best chance of success.

In order to work, it requires an element of luck (is Bonner religious?, I sometimes feel he believes he will get that luck, and to be fair I think he has so far), and confidence in his ability to unleash the potential of the players that he signs.

Such players clearly exist but I expect a lot of due diligence is needed to minimise the chance that we are buying a real busted flush, and perhaps that's also a factor in the time it's taking to conclude the deals.

Kentish

[jwills61]

So for me, I think we need 3 attackers and I’d loan a young (and sure somewhat untested) RB to come in and be backup to Lennett.

Jubril can play there but there’s going to be times where we’re stretched thin at CB and having another RB will be necessary.

Easier said than done but I’d hope we were trying to sign a cheap loan option there that gives us an extra body.

I assume we’re prepared to take a risk on not doing that though.

CM is another tough one as we’ll start the season without Cousins or May being able to contribute too much but we don’t want to block their path for when they’re fit and firing.

Think that means we’ll wait a bit before sending Simper out on loan.

[El Goodo]

Jul 16, 2023 8:55:37 GMT kentishu said:

is Bonner religious?, I sometimes feel he believes he will get that luck, and to be fair I think he has so far

He is, yes.

In terms of the squad size, it's been covered before, but that wasn't really the issue at the start of last season. We had 23 senior pros (not counting Simper or Holden), but we had an issue with the balance of it. We couldn't have legislated for the CB injuries compounded by the LB injuries; we should have legislated for how light we were in CM. Worth bearing in mind there are rules about how big the squad can actually be in terms of registered players (22 players, with <21s and goalkeepers not counting towards that number).

As someone else said, 2 or 3 attacking additions changes the look of things quite dramatically. We have 4 first-choice-quality players for 3 positions behind the striker currently in Brophy, Okenabirhie, Thomas and Lankester + Janneh & Dunk. Add another central striker to compete with Ahadme (not forgetting that Okenabirhie can play there too) as well as another winger to compete with Okenabirhie, Brophy & Thomas (+ Janneh) for the wide areas & another versatile winger/striker player and that feels like it should be able to cover injuries to 3 players in there at any one time.

Otherwise, our defence is probably a "proper" back-up RB light (& Bonner said yesterday we'd like to bring one in but that's not a priority at the moment – suspect if/when that's covered it'll be by a loanee) but pretty well stocked, with 5 CB options + a youth player who is probably at the point of being able to cover a game or two if necessary in Jobe, and 3 currently fit players who can play LB.

We'll probably go into the season looking a little light in central midfield with May not back until a month or 2 in, but we're still better off there than we were at the beginning of last season with Digby, Cousins, Thomas & Simper. Another more defensively minded midfield player available in the squad would be very nice, but the forward areas are a higher priority at the moment and the fact that we're butting up against the squad-size limits (currently we're at 18 if we assume Jobe won't be registered, so 3 more players if they're all over 21 would leave us with room for 1) means we're not going to get RB and CM cover unless 1 of them is under 21.