Stronger than last season

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Tall Paul
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Tall Paul » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:36 am

BOYSIE31 wrote:Because sooner or later those players will need replacing and to do that in a couple of windows to make wholesale changes will have a massive impact on any club never mind us
We've signed two players for the U23 squad this summer. Hopefully there will be more like McNeil coming through thanks to the investments made in youth development over the last few years

BOYSIE31
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by BOYSIE31 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:40 am

claretonthecoast1882 wrote:It is a simple question for even you, where did I say I was happy with the squad ?
Its you who keeps jumping on my quotes so you must be happy with the current squad ??

Where do you expect this current group to finish ?? 17th 18th ???

TVC15
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by TVC15 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:42 am

BOYSIE31 wrote:According to Dyche

How ???

2 in 2 out and similar players
Sometimes a thread should be deleted purely on the basis of stupidity - and surely this OP would be a great candidate.

It’s ridiculous to think that we are not a stronger squad than last years but then we know that the only reason you are questioning this is because it’s just another way of saying that you are not happy with Dyche, the Board or the transfer strategy.
Your constant whining in every transfer window is bad enough without you starting new threads - we get it.

Roll on transfer deadline day - it can’t come too soon.
Last edited by TVC15 on Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by BOYSIE31 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:42 am

Tall Paul wrote:We've signed two players for the U23 squad this summer. Hopefully there will be more like McNeil coming through thanks to the investments made in youth development over the last few years
Hopefully yes but doubt it

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by BOYSIE31 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:43 am

TVC15 wrote:Sometimes a thread should be deleted purely on the basis of stupidity - and surely this OP would be a great candidate.

It’s ridiculous to think that we are not a stronger squad than last years but then we know that the only reason you are questioning this is because it’s just another way of saying that you are not happy with Dyche, the Board or the transfer strategy.
Your constant whining in every transfer window is bad enough without you starting new threads - we get it.

Roll on transfer deadline day - it can’t come too soon.
I have yet to see the starting 11 strengthened for about the 4th succesive window.
Last edited by BOYSIE31 on Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

Jakubs Tash
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Jakubs Tash » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:43 am

We do have a slightly stronger squad now than when the season ended. No doubt.

I would still like to see 2 x new players that can play in the middle, bring a bit of creativity to the team and give SD the option of playing a 4-5-1 without having to put 3 x workmanlike midfielders in the centre.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by TVC15 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:43 am

BOYSIE31 wrote:Hopefully yes but doubt it
Of course you doubt it
Have you ever seen them play ?
Did you ever see McNeil play for the u23s ?

claretonthecoast1882
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by claretonthecoast1882 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:44 am

BOYSIE31 wrote:Its you who keeps jumping on my quotes so you must be happy with the current squad ??

Where do you expect this current group to finish ?? 17th 18th ???

There we go, at least you have finally admitted that you made it up.

If we donn't sign anyone I would have us in a battle for the places 15th - 18th with a couple of signings then I think it becomes more 12th - 18th. We will though start the season in a relegation fight in this division for a good few years based on us staying up.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by TVC15 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:45 am

BOYSIE31 wrote:I have yet to see the starting 11 strengthened for about the 4th succesive window.
And yet we keep on staying up, generating £120m a year and making huge profits - amazing isn’t it ?

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by BOYSIE31 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:47 am

Do people on here realise that players can leave and we can get better ones in or is it just a case of this is the squad lets not change anything - there are 4 or 5 players in this squad who in my opinion are not good enough for this league.
Last edited by BOYSIE31 on Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by claretonthecoast1882 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:49 am

BOYSIE31 wrote:Do people on here realise that players can leave and we can get better ones in or is it just a case of this is the squad lets not change anything - there are 4 or 5 players in this squad wwho in my opinion are not good enough for this league.

Should people take your opinion or the managers opinion as a guide ?

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Spijed » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:49 am

BOYSIE31 wrote:I have yet to see the starting 11 strengthened for about the 4th succesive window.
You can't have a poor squad in the Prem and finish 7th!

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by BOYSIE31 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:50 am

Spijed wrote:You can't have a poor squad in the Prem and finish 7th!
Oh did you miss last season - over a year is a long time in football

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by BOYSIE31 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:50 am

TVC15 wrote:And yet we keep on staying up, generating £120m a year and making huge profits - amazing isn’t it ?
It is so INVEST it on the playing side where it all bloody matters.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Tall Paul » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:52 am

Boysie during transfer windows

Image
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claretonthecoast1882
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by claretonthecoast1882 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:54 am

Tall Paul wrote:Boysie during transfer windows

Image

Think that is more the 2 weeks before it officially opens, not sure his current state is available in a gif
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Tall Paul » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:56 am

BOYSIE31 wrote:It is so INVEST it on the playing side where it all bloody matters.
It's being invested in the long term future of the club, as well as in the playing side.

We're clearly doing something (pretty much everything) right to be preparing for our fourth season in the PL, including a brief European campaign, without any outside investment. I'm not sure what you people want.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Spijed » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:57 am

BOYSIE31 wrote:Oh did you miss last season - over a year is a long time in football
Do you not think the Europa league had a big effect?

First 19 matches - 12 points
Second 19 matches - 28 points

If the squad was poor as you suggest there is no way in the world that we would have been able to recover from getting 12 points in the first half of the season. An impossibility

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by BOYSIE31 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:59 am

Any truth in the Cahil rumour ?

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Tall Paul » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:03 pm

BOYSIE31 wrote:Any truth in the Cahil rumour ?
No doubt if there isnt it'll be more evidence of our rubbish recruitment and if there is he'll be too old.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by BOYSIE31 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:05 pm

Tall Paul wrote:No doubt if there isnt it'll be more evidence of our rubbish recruitment and if there is he'll be too old.
Quite like Cahil and better than what we have actually but then again wrong side of 30 :shock:

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Devils_Advocate » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:06 pm

Spijed wrote:You can't have a poor squad in the Prem and finish 7th!
Very true but that summer we brought in Cork and Wood who went straight into the first 11 and had signed Brady and Westwoood the January before. Also the previous summer we had signed Defour, Hendrick, JBG and Nick Pope who all played big roles in coming 7th.

Compare that to who we signed last summer, last January and this summer (so far) and that is the worry for me that we just haven't built on coming 7th in the same way we built on promotion and staying up the following year

Still time left yet and if we get a top quality centre midfielder i'll be satisfied but over the following 2 windows we will need to add another good 3 or 4 players just to keep us competitive
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by AlargeClaret » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:07 pm

BOYSIE31 wrote:They dont half come out with crap sometimes - in other words we go with what we have
To aid your lip quivering Boysie just remember that last season we started stronger than our 7th place finish . Don’t forget we had Defour /Lennon/Brady et al fit and raring to go only for injuries to leave us without even a player who could take a free kick ! We survived . Granted Jay Rod ain’t the holy grail but he adds something ,throw in the above along with McNeil and hopefully a midfield signing we just might be quite exciting on our day .

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by BOYSIE31 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:09 pm

Devils_Advocate wrote:Very true but that summer we brought in Cork and Wood who went straight into the first 11 and had signed Brady and Westwoood the January before. Also the previous summer we had signed Defour, Hendrick, JBG and Nick Pope who all played big roles in coming 7th.

Compare that to who we signed last summer, last January and this summer (so far) and that is the worry for me that we just haven't built on coming 7th in the same way we built on promotion and staying up the following year

Still time left yet and if we get a top quality centre midfielder i'll be satisfied but over the following 2 windows we will need to add another good 3 or 4 players just to keep us competitive
Eh dont be seen as being a bit negative they will all jump on you :D

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by TVC15 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:10 pm

BOYSIE31 wrote:Do people on here realise that players can leave and we can get better ones in or is it just a case of this is the squad lets not change anything - there are 4 or 5 players in this squad who in my opinion are not good enough for this league.
Doesn’t really matter as long as the team is good enough though does it ?
But go on - give us all a laugh on a Monday and tell us who these 5 players are who your expert opinion deem as not good enough.

The other 6 players must be world beaters as they are the ones who got us into Europe and kept us up last year. I mean it is you who said we have not improved the squad in 4 transfer windows so both seasons are relevant here.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Top Claret » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:10 pm

Definitely stronger than 12 months ago with the introduction of McNeil, the improvement of Taylor and now the signing of Jay Rod, who is a better all round player than Vokes.

I can see a lot of movement over the next couple of weeks. I hope we can sign a quality central midfielder who can hit the ground running. It will be a big ask to expect Cork and Westwood to be anywhere near consistent over 38 games.
Just seen rumours about Cahill. If Cahill signs then I can see Tarks going to Leicester for 50 million with Maguire to United

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by BOYSIE31 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:10 pm

AlargeClaret wrote:To aid your lip quivering Boysie just remember that last season we started stronger than our 7th place finish . Don’t forget we had Defour /Lennon/Brady et al fit and raring to go only for injuries to leave us without even a player who could take a free kick ! We survived . Granted Jay Rod ain’t the holy grail but he adds something ,throw in the above along with McNeil and hopefully a midfield signing we just might be quite exciting on our day .
Dont worry pal lips arent quivering and never do

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Bosna » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:17 pm

Tall Paul wrote:Maybe Benson, or another one of the young players already at the club, could be that sprinkle of youth.
Did not look ready based on the friendly at Crewe.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Long Time Lurker » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:21 pm

Taking everything into account I would say that we are actually looking weaker and we have a huge amount of work to do in the last couple of weeks ... if we want to lay claim to a half decent window.

This window has me worried and for those that feel inclined to jump on me for being a Doomsayer I'm normally on the side of the Happy Clappers - although my placement is always tempered by realism.

I could explain my position in more detail ( oh boy could I explain it in more detail, must resist the urge ), but I'm going for a short post because the window still has a few weeks left to run.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by RVclaret » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:22 pm

I think if we don’t sign a CM that is good enough to start then it’s been a failure of a window.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Hibsclaret » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:26 pm

I honestly think some on here would be moaning about the squad if we finished in the top 6....

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by dsr » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:33 pm

Long Time Lurker wrote: ... if we want to lay claim to a half decent window.
But I don't. I want to watch football matches and to lay claim to some wins. And, window or no window, that's the area where Sean Dyche excels.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Barry_Chuckle » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:44 pm

2 out 2 in, the 2 in are definitely an improvement on the 2 out.
Oldest squad in the premier league, and every single player 12 months older than this time last year. That is more of a concern to me.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Bordeauxclaret » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:50 pm

I think Dyche is right.

Hopefully at least one more in though.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by TVC15 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 12:51 pm

Long Time Lurker wrote:Taking everything into account I would say that we are actually looking weaker and we have a huge amount of work to do in the last couple of weeks ... if we want to lay claim to a half decent window.

This window has me worried and for those that feel inclined to jump on me for being a Doomsayer I'm normally on the side of the Happy Clappers - although my placement is always tempered by realism.

I could explain my position in more detail ( oh boy could I explain it in more detail, must resist the urge ), but I'm going for a short post because the window still has a few weeks left to run.
I don’t think anyone is saying that we are a lot stronger. But a confident and improving McNeil, together with Pieters and Jay has to be an improvement on a crocked Walters and Ward, a 38 year old Crouch and an ageing Sam Vokes ?
At the start of last season Barnes had been injured in pre-season and we were starting with Vokes.
As good as Defour was Ashley Westwood ended up having far more good games than Defour had in the previous 2.
Charlie Taylor in the second half of the season was excellent and the likes of Tarks, Wood and Mee had another season in the top league under their belt.
Brady was injured at the start of last season - at the start of this season he shouldn’t be - so that’s another improvement by definition as at least he’s an option. Same with Nick Pope and Vydra - both injured at the start of the season.

I do think that JBG is a bit of a dilemma as he seems to have gone a little backward in the last year. And Lennon might fall into the same category (and he’s not got youth on his side)....but IMHO both of these are more than outweighed by the emergence of McNeil and to a lesser extent the performances of Hendrick when through injuries he was forced to play out wide.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Long Time Lurker » Mon Jul 22, 2019 2:17 pm

TVC15 wrote:I don’t think anyone is saying that we are a lot stronger. But a confident and improving McNeil, together with Pieters and Jay has to be an improvement on a crocked Walters and Ward, a 38 year old Crouch and an ageing Sam Vokes ?
At the start of last season Barnes had been injured in pre-season and we were starting with Vokes.
As good as Defour was Ashley Westwood ended up having far more good games than Defour had in the previous 2.
Charlie Taylor in the second half of the season was excellent and the likes of Tarks, Wood and Mee had another season in the top league under their belt.
Brady was injured at the start of last season - at the start of this season he shouldn’t be - so that’s another improvement by definition as at least he’s an option. Same with Nick Pope and Vydra - both injured at the start of the season.

I do think that JBG is a bit of a dilemma as he seems to have gone a little backward in the last year. And Lennon might fall into the same category (and he’s not got youth on his side)....but IMHO both of these are more than outweighed by the emergence of McNeil and to a lesser extent the performances of Hendrick when through injuries he was forced to play out wide.
On the playing front

We have replaced Vokes with Jay who will give us a bit more mobility and versatility. However, he will contribute less to our defence of corners.

Fortunately, we got away with the big risk of selling Vokes and bringing in Crouch as a replacement.

Positive addition given our circumstances and limitations, but we could have done better.

Ward wanted to move closer to the Midlands and his contract was at an end. So we needed to bring in a new left back of some description. Pieters is an old school left back, which means that he will offer us less in terms of forward runs and assists than a player like Taylor. I would even question his solidity at the back.

If he can't get forward to support Dwight that will limit the effectiveness of Dwight.

If he has to set off early and can't get back quickly that will compromise the defence.

If he can't stand his ground and shut players out Dwight will have to track back in support.

Less running from the left back will mean more running from Dwight which will eat into his energy reserves.

We didn't need a player better than Taylor, but we did need someone who could provide him with decent competition and compliment what Dwight gives us. Even if we failed to bring in a left back we could have played Bardsley at left back or shifted Mee to left back and given Gibson game time.

On the player development/financial front

We had the opportunity to bring in some younger players to provide us with a more effective spread of ages across the squad.

Jay isn't any younger than Vokes and we are down £2-3m on the deal when we take into account what we got for Vokes.

We paid an initial £1m for Pieters and we have given him a 2yr contract with the option of a 3rd. He will be 31 in a couple of weeks so he is 2 years younger than Ward.

In essence, what we have actually done is preserve our imbalance of Twilight players and ensured that a number of players will all be leaving at roughly the same time. In a market that is becoming more averse to buying older players ( ourselves excluded ). As Barry_Chuckle also pointed all our players are also a year older.

The better nutrition and prolonged careers argument is fair enough, but as Indiana Jones said " it's not the years honey it's the mileage". Nobody can go on forever and improved nutrition doesn't just benefit older players it also benefits the younger players that they are competing against.

A squad with a reasonably broad spread of ages makes sense from every perspective. We don't want a big bunch of enthusiastic youngsters without experience and we don't want an abundance of twilight players who will fade. Nor do we want to squander their experience by having nobody they can pass it on to apart from those in the development squads ( who may not go on to play for us ). We need a healthy mix.

We had an opportunity to address the situation in this window and not doing so has weakened our long term position in a number of important ways. I would also say that it has significantly increased the potential for a destructive squad overhaul in the short term. If we fail to stay up and players are poached, or players are released to cut back on wages instead of giving them new contracts, a lot of new additions could be needed next year. Unless we want to risk it for a biscuit like WBA tried to do last season and failed.

Fortunately ( or unfortunately ) we haven't emptied the dry powder store so it will be well stocked to fund a future buying splurge. If we don't stay up we can add parachute payments to that cash pot as well. Although it will be very hard to preserve our culture and character with a lot of new players arriving at the same time. Automatic promotion or a play off place could prove to be a tall order in that scenario and not everyone will stand by Dyche ( even though he deserves our lasting support ).

I'm confident we can stay up if the lads give 100% to make up for our recruitment, again. However, the league is stronger this year ( Huddersfield didn't even participate last year ) and by staying still we have regressed in a sense.

If we do stay up then we can try again next year. However, considering the increased investment in our recruitment team, the arrival of Rigg and the benefit of 8 months focussed planning "slightly stronger" is tantamount to **** poor performance. The fact that one of our signings was a player we chased last Summer and the other is a player from our regular " who do you want rid of shop " is a strike against our new analytical " better than anything else out there " scouting system.

If we brought in a new player or a new manager would we be happy to shower them with approval on the basis of " slight improvement " after an 8 month settling in period? I hazard to think not.

Football is all about results. Garlick, Sean and the players have all delivered consistently fantastic results ( far and above what we could realistically expect from them ). The same can be said for the playing staff, our community involvement and the progression of our Academy and physical infrastructure. However, the recruitment team ( which has changed a lot in the last couple of years ) hasn't delivered to the same degree.

So, with a couple of weeks to go, we everything to play for, but at the moment we are looking weaker than last year and considering the increased recruitment investment that isn't good enough. The optomistic upside is that we always seem to do most of our business at the last minute. Given that, it could be said our window has only just opened.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Spijed » Mon Jul 22, 2019 2:46 pm

Long Time Lurker wrote:On the playing front

Pieters is an old school left back, which means that he will offer us less in terms of forward runs and assists than a player like Taylor. I would even question his solidity at the back.

We didn't need a player better than Taylor, but we did need someone who could provide him with decent competition and compliment what Dwight gives us. Even if we failed to bring in a left back we could have played Bardsley at left back or shifted Mee to left back and given Gibson game time.
How can you say Pieters would add nothing to our attack on the left hand side and then talk about playing Mee there if need be?

Is he going to be good enough to support McNeil on the left hand side? I don't remember him being anywhere near as mobile as Taylor in that respect.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by TVC15 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 3:10 pm

LTL - do you ever answer a simple point with a simple answer ?
You said we were weaker now than we were at the start of last season....yet in a very long winded way you seem to be contradicting yourself by admitting that Jay and Pieters are better than am injured Ward or Crouch / Vokes (I think you are saying that anyway !) but then talking about Taylor, Bardsley etc

For once just try and say succinctly why you think the team / squad today is worse than it was at the start of last season - which position(s) are we worse ?
Try and leave out your views on who we should be buying or how good the midfielder from the Vietnamese 4th division you saw play last week is - just stick the point you said about why you think the team is worse now that it was at the start of last season

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Carport » Mon Jul 22, 2019 3:21 pm

BOYSIE31 wrote:Hope so as we have the oldest average squad in all divisions which is also worrying.
Anyone seen Benson play? Any good?

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Erasmus » Mon Jul 22, 2019 3:28 pm

To Long Time Lurker, throughout your post you use the phrase, 'We had the opportunity . . .' but how do you know what opportunities existed? As far as I can see, any recruitment problems we face rest on the fact that we don't have many opportunities to bring in players who would improve our first team. We can complain about it as much as we want, but if the players are not available then there is nothing that can be done. The players we need have to be very good Premier League standard players and I really don't think we do have the opportunity to sign many in that category.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Long Time Lurker » Mon Jul 22, 2019 3:47 pm

TVC15 wrote:LTL - do you ever answer a simple point with a simple answer ?
You said we were weaker now than we were at the start of last season....yet in a very long winded way you seem to be contradicting yourself by admitting that Jay and Pieters are better than am injured Ward or Crouch / Vokes (I think you are saying that anyway !) but then talking about Taylor, Bardsley etc

For once just try and say succinctly why you think the team / squad today is worse than it was at the start of last season - which position(s) are we worse ?
Try and leave out your views on who we should be buying or how good the midfielder from the Vietnamese 4th division you saw play last week is - just stick the point you said about why you think the team is worse now that it was at the start of last season
Perhaps we can both try to be a little more succint. You could simply copy and paste this Gif to use every time you jump on one of my posts to put the boot in. It would certainly save you a lot of typing.

Image

Not to worry, my inclination to continue being an active participant on this forum is rapidly declining ( amidst the hostility that appears to be directed towards me and far more annoyingly the hostility that is constantly directed towards others for simply expressing an opinion - long winded or not ), which will no doubt please you enormously.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by Long Time Lurker » Mon Jul 22, 2019 4:09 pm

Erasmus wrote:To Long Time Lurker, throughout your post you use the phrase, 'We had the opportunity . . .' but how do you know what opportunities existed? As far as I can see, any recruitment problems we face rest on the fact that we don't have many opportunities to bring in players who would improve our first team. We can complain about it as much as we want, but if the players are not available then there is nothing that can be done. The players we need have to be very good Premier League standard players and I really don't think we do have the opportunity to sign many in that category.
Fair point and I'm not denying that it is difficult. It definitely is. We could have been in for lots of players in this window and over the years, but we have missed out for one reason or another. However, I don't think we should actively revel in our impotence as we sometimes appear to do.

A difficult environment just means you have to up your game and work harder or smarter. The increased investment was a strong move by us to address that, but the return on that investment is yet to reveal itself.

Granted it is going to take some time, but I would expect to see some indication that we are moving forward - in terms of player aquisitions and the development of a long term strategy that will ensure the strength of the squad and our financial prosperity over time. We can't keep working to a " this season only " strategy and we have to be more pro-active and responsive to changes in the business environment.

When our lads take step out onto the pitch to face Man City or Liverpool they know that the odds are against them and they are in for a difficult 90 minutes. However, to their credit and the credit of the playing/tactical staff they give it everything they've got and sometimes ( far more frequently than we have any right to expect them to ) they upset the apple cart and surprise everyone with a great result.

I would just like to see a little more of that " against the odds " type of performance in our recruitment and operational strategy.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by rob63 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 4:12 pm

Not to worry, my inclination to continue being an active participant on this forum is rapidly declining ( amidst the hostility that appears to be directed towards me and far more annoyingly the hostility that is constantly directed towards others for simply expressing an opinion - long winded or not ), which will no doubt please you enormously.[/quote]

You forgot about daring to suggest a player from a foreign league who might do a job for us :D

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by jrgbfc » Mon Jul 22, 2019 4:16 pm

Long Time Lurker wrote:Perhaps we can both try to be a little more succint. You could simply copy and paste this Gif to use every time you jump on one of my posts to put the boot in. It would certainly save you a lot of typing.

Image

Not to worry, my inclination to continue being an active participant on this forum is rapidly declining ( amidst the hostility that appears to be directed towards me and far more annoyingly the hostility that is constantly directed towards others for simply expressing an opinion - long winded or not ), which will no doubt please you enormously.
Just ignore him LTL, you've as much right to give your opinion as anyone else on here and if he doesn't like your long posts it's his problem. I agree that this Board has really deteriorated, it's almost reached the stage where anyone daring to give a view that goes against the happy clapper/majority opinion is shouted down and ridiculed by some of the brainless sheep on here.
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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by TVC15 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 4:28 pm

Long Time Lurker wrote:Perhaps we can both try to be a little more succint. You could simply copy and paste this Gif to use every time you jump on one of my posts to put the boot in. It would certainly save you a lot of typing.

Image

Not to worry, my inclination to continue being an active participant on this forum is rapidly declining ( amidst the hostility that appears to be directed towards me and far more annoyingly the hostility that is constantly directed towards others for simply expressing an opinion - long winded or not ), which will no doubt please you enormously.
Or you could just say why you think the team is weaker now than it was at the start of the season which is what I asked....opinions are fine but back them up then we can debate them. Going off at tangents about financial positions, who you think we should buy are for other threads

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by boyyanno » Mon Jul 22, 2019 4:35 pm

TVC15 wrote:LTL - do you ever answer a simple point with a simple answer ?
You said we were weaker now than we were at the start of last season....yet in a very long winded way you seem to be contradicting yourself by admitting that Jay and Pieters are better than am injured Ward or Crouch / Vokes (I think you are saying that anyway !) but then talking about Taylor, Bardsley etc

For once just try and say succinctly why you think the team / squad today is worse than it was at the start of last season - which position(s) are we worse ?
Try and leave out your views on who we should be buying or how good the midfielder from the Vietnamese 4th division you saw play last week is - just stick the point you said about why you think the team is worse now that it was at the start of last season
I think what he is saying is that the posters who are saying we are "stronger" are correct in certain aspects, but the posters saying we are "weaker" also have some merits in their claims. You can counterbalance the extra years experience that McNeil and Taylor have under their belts by offsetting this against our older heads who may preform less well, you could make that argument about Bardsley and possibly Cork who most likely are past their peak.

I'm not saying I agree either, that's just how I interpreted the points by LTL. The two players we have added are improvements to the squad in my opinion. What I would say is I think we have made the squad better and more flexible whilst also reducing the age. If we can do this with Centre mid for the first team then we will have had a decent window IMO. I think most peoples frustration comes from the fact we have not signed anyone for 20m who will be the new first name on the team sheet. Given how Dyche operates it's unlikely we will ever get this as he prefers to embed his players in over time.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by TVC15 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 4:41 pm

boyyanno wrote:I think what he is saying is that the posters who are saying we are "stronger" are correct in certain aspects, but the posters saying we are "weaker" also have some merits in their claims. You can counterbalance the extra years experience that McNeil and Taylor have under their belts by offsetting this against our older heads who may preform less well, you could make that argument about Bardsley and possibly Cork who most likely are past their peak.

I'm not saying I agree either, that's just how I interpreted the points by LTL. The two players we have added are improvements to the squad in my opinion. What I would say is I think we have made the squad better and more flexible whilst also reducing the age. If we can do this with Centre mid for the first team then we will have had a decent window IMO. I think most peoples frustration comes from the fact we have not signed anyone for 20m who will be the new first name on the team sheet. Given how Dyche operates it's unlikely we will ever get this as he prefers to embed his players in over time.
I agree with all of this - and most fans (me included) think we should be spending more and prioritising a centre mid. I’ve said on many threads why we can afford this too backing it up with numbers.
What I disagree with as how anybody could think we are in a weaker position now than the start of last season. The way to answer it though is simply say where he thinks we are weaker and why - not turn it into another transfer thread or about who we should buy. This thread is about who we have bought, let go and also about the development (or not) of the existing team / squad during the last year.

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by rob63 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 5:04 pm

Erasmus wrote:To Long Time Lurker, throughout your post you use the phrase, 'We had the opportunity . . .' but how do you know what opportunities existed? As far as I can see, any recruitment problems we face rest on the fact that we don't have many opportunities to bring in players who would improve our first team. We can complain about it as much as we want, but if the players are not available then there is nothing that can be done. The players we need have to be very good Premier League standard players and I really don't think we do have the opportunity to sign many in that category.

Hi Erasmus, I see where LTL is coming from & also some of the other posts too. As I see it an opportunity occurs when a player signs for another club or when he's approaching the last year of his contract, standing out among his peers as a prospect, or he makes himself available in some other way.
Mike Rigg has been given the task of finding these opportunities & we won't know if he's doing a good job IMHO until the end of next summer's window. Like any management appointment utilising a new system, you have to give it an opportunity to work or you'll never have a working, settled system.This is one of the few areas the club is still behind the curve with at the moment & Rigg has been given the tools to do the job/enough rope to hang himself with.....depending on your point of view, so we can only wait & see, the club is going to give him a chance no matter what you post on here.
Most on here seem to be in agreement that we need a CM this window & that it would be a failure if we don't get one. We arguably need a defensive as well as a creative CM but I'd just settle for one this time. Anybody who says that the midfield worked well in the 2nd half of last season should remember that we're only a couple of groin/thigh strains away from playing one of the U-23's or a winger or defender in CM. Strange how some want 5 strikers for 2 positions but are happy with 3 fit MF'ers for 2 positions :?

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by GodIsADeeJay81 » Mon Jul 22, 2019 6:05 pm

I can't wait to go through all this **** again next window and next summer...

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Re: Stronger than last season

Post by ksrclaret » Mon Jul 22, 2019 6:21 pm

GodIsADeeJay81 wrote:I can't wait to go through all this **** again next window and next summer...
You know, Sidney, and I appreciate this may be hard for you to comprehend, but you aren’t obliged to spend all day, every day, sat refreshing this board and replying to posts.

If you really don’t like it, maybe you could find something else to do with your time?

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