The Ska Face Summer rumour/transfer thread

They signed Armstrong from Harrogate last minute didn't they? Hopefully they screwed them for an inflated fee.

Let's be honest. Conteh is excellent. If we spent a big part of the budget on him then I'm all for it. He's going to make us a big profit if he continues.

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

They signed Armstrong from Harrogate last minute didn't they? Hopefully Hopefully screwed them for an inflated fee.

Not yet clear whether the registration was done in time. Would be quite amusing if it wasn’t.

Quoted from lukeo

Let's be honest. Conteh is excellent. If we spent a big part of the budget on him then I'm all for it. He's going to make us a big profit if he continues.

Yes, Conteh is excellent but we’ve got a squad of 23 I believe. Two are long term injured and another two are on the way back from at least a month out. All the junior pros seem to be loaned out as well. I hope there are a few decent free agents out there but they will probably not be match ready either. Let’s also not forget that Conteh will miss games due to international duty starting next weekend.

Ah, made a sharp object of myself there then. Again.

I’m not particularly surprised we didn’t bring anyone in & not particularly disappointed either.  I think the squad has far more quality than last season & for those saying we’ve not brought in a striker again, we brought in 3 - Rose, Pyke and Wilson.
I don’t get the histrionics, it’s like the guy in front on me at Walsall, calling for Hurst’s head after 3 minutes.  Give them a chance to show what they can do!  There was a kid near me who said we needed to play better football like we did under Michael Jolley …… LOL 😂

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

I can't believe despite getting all our signings in early we haven't used that time to find a way to get into the opposition box.

This and the fact we’re already struggling to put a decent bench out is so frustrating. If one of the wingers (if we play that way today) has a poor game or gets injured we have no like for like replacement. And so far we’ve had one fit striker, I’ve never known Hurst only have three strikers in a squad before and it’s exacerbated by two being injured.

Nobody is doubting that we’ve signed some individually good players. Rodgers is probably the best centre back we’ve had for a decade and Conteh the best midfielder for the same length of time, plus he’s so young. Rose, Eisa, Mullarkey and Eastwood are also good players and are upgrades.

However, the squad as a whole still has some massive glaring gaps in it:
- Strength in depth. We’re already showing that a couple of injuries or suspensions puts us down to the bare bones.
- Pace. The squad is incredibly one paced. Hopefully Wilson might change that but even then it’s really not brilliant to be totally reliant on one player for having any pace. I really thought we might have got someone else in, even on loan, particularly with Vernam being long term injured now.
- Left back. We all know that neither Glennon or Amos are consistently good enough for a team looking to get promoted out of this league. I appreciate it sounds like we were trying to get something in but it’s still frustrating.
- Height. None of our attacking players are even approaching being tall. Rose is very good in the air for his size but considering our difficulty in creating chances, just having someone with a bit of presence that would allow a change in tactics is surely worth having? As it stands we can’t go long or get in behind them.
- Central midfield quality on the ball. This was a problem last season and although Conteh is a very good player I still think it’s below most teams. None of Holohan, Hunt, Green or Clifton are good enough with the ball to control a game against good opposition. When we don’t have the physical attributes to stretch these sides behind either, you can see why our expected goals has been so low. We can’t go over it, we can’t get behind it and we can’t get through it. Leaves us reliant on Eisa rockets from 25 yards which is very worrying.

I’m pleased we got in some good players early and have at least one, in Conteh, who we might well sell for s good profit. But if the squad we’ve built with all the positives going for us (record season tickets, huge unexpected FA cup money, sales of various players in the last couple of years, increased commercial income) still has this many pretty basic flaws then what does that say about our long term hopes? L2 mid table battlers for the rest of time? That would be extremely sad.

Quoted from lukeo

Let's be honest. Conteh is excellent. If we spent a big part of the budget on him then I'm all for it. He's going to make us a big profit if he continues.

You’re right. It’s where the money goes when we sell him that concerns me.
Win today and everyone will be happier. Lose with no goals scored and there’s going to be a lot of angry people tonight.

Cue a 4-0 win .

Quoted from louth_in_the_south

Cue a 4-0 win .

I'd take 1-0 now - cue a Hurst tactical masterclass!