How are we looking, and what's left to do?

I've taken a bit of a sabbatical from all things Town during the summer, and I've quite enjoyed the break. And I've also taken the decision not to renew my season tickets this season. Not because of anything remotely connected to Town's poor performance last season by the way. Merely because my Son enters the next phase of his own football education and development journey with Boston United, and he will now be playing Saturday football instead of Sunday's with the GTFC Academy. So with the uncertainty of being able to attend every home game, I didn't think it was going to be worth getting the season tickets.

The upshot of this is that I am not entirely sure how the squad is looking for next season and what is left to do in order to complete the squad for the commencement of the season. So what are peoples thoughts please on the business we have been doing both in and out during the closed season? We all know its never really possible to judge what we are looking at until we start kicking balls in anger. But what is the gut feeling of people please? Hoping to hear some real positivity around the business the club has done so far in addition to the players we retained.

? ? ?

All the best

Dale
The eternal optimist

I still think we’ve got to make at least 3 more experienced signings of we’re in for another season like last year . Sorry to be pessimistic but I still don’t see enough quality in the squad yet , especially up front. Hopefully there’s work being done in that department.

Definitely need to strengthen midfield and attack. GK and defensive positions covered I would say…..

Still badly short up front, especially with Rose injured. Although with better service I can see Wilson getting double figures.

We are short in quality in midfield and in attack. We have a couple of decent midfielders and a couple of decent forwards but not enough quality. The rest of those players in mid field and attack are last years failures who are either injury prone or simply not good enough. Three or four quality players might just make the difference between a really good season or another one like last season. Filling in with young hopefuls would be a disaster. It's experienced players we need.
I think the keepers and defenders are a big improvement on last season, it's those midfield and forwards that will make or break our season.

I don't think we're that far off to be honest but I accept that more often than not I'll be glass half full when it comes to Town.

In the final third of last season our strength was our defence, where to my mind we've strengthened.  I liked Mullarkey but Cass looks an upgrade, Warren looks good at right-back and I think both Hume and Carson come with points to prove and will do so.  Tharme was excellent from the moment he arrived and Rodgers ended the season well.  There's then McJannet to throw into the mix too, someone who is billed as having the ability of bringing the ball out from the back (which I think we were a bit weak on last season - especially trying to play the way Artell wants us to).

Who have we lost defensively?  Mullarkey, Maher, Amos and Glennon then plus Smith.  Previous mention of Mullarkey aside I'm not that desperate to keep any of those.  In fact 3 of those couldn't even get in the side.  That's progress, on paper.  We're replacing the ones we don't want and you hope that the new recruits force the old guard to become the back-up and/or get even more out of them as a result of the better competition.

Midfield wise I definitely don't think it's a disaster.  Ainley is like a new signing.  This is a guy with 250+ appearances at this level and a promotion under his belt.  Someone who is capable of creating chances and influencing attacks, which we lacked last year.  McEachran looks the upgrade we probably needed on Alex Hunt, that player who can switch play quickly and dictate without crowding the centre-backs or floating about aimlessly.  We know what Thompson can do and I don't think there's many better holding midfielders at this level.  The one we kept was Green but I think it's important we look at how he ended the season rather than the 18 months prior.  Given the role of just getting onto stuff and being a nuisance, he looked a different player.  His role before was often that of a destroyer, which he did well but technically couldn't do enough with the ball (standard is set by the way Thompson does it).  But if we accept that we're not expecting him to do a tidy drag back and take two players out of the picture with a deft dummy, rather that he's going to get little flick-ons and pick up scraps from the front players then I think he'll be an asset.  Think more his goal last night than someone sitting in front of the back four and spraying passes about.  

We've also got Khouri in there but he needs to prove his fitness above all else. On that basis I'm not counting him really in the numbers just yet.  But even if we do it's 5 in the middle.  We need another in there and I'm sure we'll get one. But if we line up with any of those 5 in there I'm ok with it.  It's a good balance and mixture of attributes, but crucially it's got genuinely creative players in there.  

Out wide, much like Ainley, Vernam almost feels like a new signing as we saw so little of him.  But then you do start to ask a few questions.  Svanþórsson is going to need time to get up to speed and I really like the look of Ladapo on trial and presuming he signs he'll come to us with virtually no experience under his belt.  We can't expect him to hit the floor running and keep going.   So room for at least one more there.

Up top, I'm a big fan of Wilson and genuinely believe he's got it in him to be one of the best at this level.  Pace, power, can hold it up, can run off the shoulder and most importantly can finish.  Then there's Danny Rose, we know what he brings and we're very lucky to have him.   Question is are we going with one of them alone or pairing them. Either way we need other options.  Pyke appears to still be at the club but I don't imagine he'll be here for long.  But we can't just rely on young Gardner to be the only back-up.

Goalkeeper sorted and improvements made.
Defence sorted and improvements made.
Midfield not far off with improvements made - probably a young lad coming into boost numbers

It's up top and wide that we need strengthening, if only in terms of numbers.  But it's not like we're playing our first game tomorrow.  The extra bodies will come in.  

I am happy with the players that have come in so far.

Worried about Rose being injured and not sure if he will make the start of the season.

So need at least a loan player to play up top until Rose is ready to return.

I would prepare we sign a striker but they are like gold dust so hoping Gardener is ready for starting place soon.

Another 2 or 3 still needed on top of that but not too worried about them not signing before the start of the season as long as they are fit and ready when they arrive.

With Rose likely injured and Wilson only intermittently starting I reckon we'd have an OK 5-5-0. 😱

However if we want to definitely start the season with strikers,  like the other 91 clubs,  we probably need to do a bit of business ASAP.

I’m probably a bit  surprised that we appear to be needing at least two strikers and maybe another couple of players too. Be interesting to see if he gives Ladapo a crack after his trial.
Probably expected a bit more transfer activity by this point but I’m not unduly worried or particularly struck with excitement at the obvious ambition. Time will tell, as always.

Quoted from diehardmariner

I don't think we're that far off to be honest but I accept that more often than not I'll be glass half full when it comes to Town.

In the final third of last season our strength was our defence, where to my mind we've strengthened.  I liked Mullarkey but Cass looks an upgrade, Warren looks good at right-back and I think both Hume and Carson come with points to prove and will do so.  Tharme was excellent from the moment he arrived and Rodgers ended the season well.  There's then McJannet to throw into the mix too, someone who is billed as having the ability of bringing the ball out from the back (which I think we were a bit weak on last season - especially trying to play the way Artell wants us to).

Who have we lost defensively?  Mullarkey, Maher, Amos and Glennon then plus Smith.  Previous mention of Mullarkey aside I'm not that desperate to keep any of those.  In fact 3 of those couldn't even get in the side.  That's progress, on paper.  We're replacing the ones we don't want and you hope that the new recruits force the old guard to become the back-up and/or get even more out of them as a result of the better competition.

Midfield wise I definitely don't think it's a disaster.  Ainley is like a new signing.  This is a guy with 250+ appearances at this level and a promotion under his belt.  Someone who is capable of creating chances and influencing attacks, which we lacked last year.  McEachran looks the upgrade we probably needed on Alex Hunt, that player who can switch play quickly and dictate without crowding the centre-backs or floating about aimlessly.  We know what Thompson can do and I don't think there's many better holding midfielders at this level.  The one we kept was Green but I think it's important we look at how he ended the season rather than the 18 months prior.  Given the role of just getting onto stuff and being a nuisance, he looked a different player.  His role before was often that of a destroyer, which he did well but technically couldn't do enough with the ball (standard is set by the way Thompson does it).  But if we accept that we're not expecting him to do a tidy drag back and take two players out of the picture with a deft dummy, rather that he's going to get little flick-ons and pick up scraps from the front players then I think he'll be an asset.  Think more his goal last night than someone sitting in front of the back four and spraying passes about.  

We've also got Khouri in there but he needs to prove his fitness above all else. On that basis I'm not counting him really in the numbers just yet.  But even if we do it's 5 in the middle.  We need another in there and I'm sure we'll get one. But if we line up with any of those 5 in there I'm ok with it.  It's a good balance and mixture of attributes, but crucially it's got genuinely creative players in there.  

Out wide, much like Ainley, Vernam almost feels like a new signing as we saw so little of him.  But then you do start to ask a few questions.  Svanþórsson is going to need time to get up to speed and I really like the look of Ladapo on trial and presuming he signs he'll come to us with virtually no experience under his belt.  We can't expect him to hit the floor running and keep going.   So room for at least one more there.

Up top, I'm a big fan of Wilson and genuinely believe he's got it in him to be one of the best at this level.  Pace, power, can hold it up, can run off the shoulder and most importantly can finish.  Then there's Danny Rose, we know what he brings and we're very lucky to have him.   Question is are we going with one of them alone or pairing them. Either way we need other options.  Pyke appears to still be at the club but I don't imagine he'll be here for long.  But we can't just rely on young Gardner to be the only back-up.

Goalkeeper sorted and improvements made.
Defence sorted and improvements made.
Midfield not far off with improvements made - probably a young lad coming into boost numbers

It's up top and wide that we need strengthening, if only in terms of numbers.  But it's not like we're playing our first game tomorrow.  The extra bodies will come in.  

Great assessment
In full agreement with this, getting excited and can't wait for the season to start (then again I say this every season)