How many more senior  players do we need

The squad is shaping up nicely .

2 goalkeepers
1 centre back (hopefully Bennett)
1 CM
1 winger (Vernam?)
1 Target man type striker

And then we have the loan market to dabble in

We don't seem that far off to me

Wondered what others thoughts are?

Doubt we'll get 2 'keepers tbh

1 Goalkeeper
1 Right Back (I see Mullarkey very much as a CB and would want someone else to be pushing Michee - ideally someone better than him as I am not convinced by him)
1 Centre Back
1 Centre Midfielder
1 Winger
1 Striker

With a younger loan keeper but the above would be the minimum I'd have thought.

If we get around 6 more in (as Mikey above suggests), how will the size of our 1st team squad compare to last season?

Quoted from lee65

If we get around 6 more in (as Mikey above suggests), how will the size of our 1st team squad compare to last season?

Would take us to around 25 but that includes the young lads who I'd probably suggest will go out for first team experience - so 21 ish assuming no outgoings. Jan onwards we had 27 players on the books.

Might be a tad high for what PH wants but with windows you need to have options in-between them for injuries etc.

2 keepers
1 RB
1 CM (attacking type)
1 wide player and possibly 2
1 striker and possibly 2
Someone who can play a ‘number 10’ role

I'm interested in how Hurst uses the loan market this time out .

It seemed in the main it was just to pad out the squad last year , another Smith would be helpful , is it completely dead that he does not come back ?
How many loans can you have in the matchday squad ?

I think it's vital we get some physicality at top, particularly if, as looks likely, we'll start with one up front with three or four behind most weeks. I thought we struggled during that period between Taylor (for all his foibles) getting injured and George Lloyd coming in, and even then Lloyd wasn't your archetypal "get it up 'em" target man.

Of the names bandied about previously, Harry and Sam Smith remain free agents whilst Josh Umerah will surely leave Hartlepool at some point this summer. Josh Kayode has had major injury problems but surely needs to get game time somewhere before his contract at Rotherham expires next year; would he be worth a punt provided he wasn't our only option in that position?

To that end, I think we definitely need to be investing in more than one "big man" up top, even if one is a loanee. There's a long period between transfer windows and if we're determined to play the way most expect us to, we can't have all of our eggs in one basket. I really hope we can see more of the Danilo Orsi we saw in our cup run, but I'm still to be convinced he can play the number 9 role week-in-week-out in the league (though I'd love him to convince me).

I'm pretty happy with where we are with the squad so far, though. A year ago today we made only our first signing of last year's summer window; Niall Maher. We are infinitely better prepared, 12 months on. I'm looking forward to this season more than any I can remember, possibly since 98/99. Exciting times.

We need another 6 I would say, and like poojah, I think at least 1 of those needs to be a big unit up front.

Another defender or 2 and another couple of midfielders, with a ubiquitous utility player who can fill a number of positions being one of the number.

Plus we need a keeper or two.

Some of those will be loan players from higher up I imagine.

Quoted from ginnywings

We need another 6 I would say, and like poojah, I think at least 1 of those needs to be a big unit up front.

Another defender or 2 and another couple of midfielders, with a ubiquitous utility player who can fill a number of positions being one of the number.

Plus we need a keeper or two.

Some of those will be loan players from higher up I imagine.

I think loan players will inevitably be a part of the mix, and possibly even in addition to the core of 5 or 6 that are required as a minimum. Whoever they are though need to be making more of an impact than the youngsters who came here last season.

Between them Pepple, Simmonds, O’Neill and Dickson-Peters barely troubled the Richter scale in terms of impact. Lewis Richardson is probably the exception, but even then he ran hot and cold at times.

Need to do better on that front.