are we better than last season ?

Quoted from toontown

Better as individuals yes.

But somehow the team is less than the sum of its parts. Especially up front where  we are utterly toothless.

Overall we somehow seem to have gone backwards from last year despite a massive budget increase....

If there is a significant increase in budget where has it gone?

Eastwood - surely not on significantly more in wages than Crocombe given that he’s not played that much football considering his age?
Mullarkey - has had half a season in the FL during which he was relegated. Again surely not on a huge wage?
Rodgers - quality signing from a higher division, can understand if he’s on a good wage.
Conteh - good signing but he’s very young. Again surely not a huge wage.
Eisa - good player but injury prone the last two seasons so that could lower what he’s able to command in wages.
Gnahoua - signed late in the window so also maybe not on huge wages.
Vernam - hit and miss player that did nothing last season. Has some good spells in this division but also has periods where he’s anonymous for multiple games which we’ve seen first hand. I worry that with a three year deal he’s possibly on far more money than a player of his consistency should be.
Ainley - signed after the window closed so surely not on huge wages as he’d have been more desperate than we were.
Rose - proven striker at our level, presumably on a good wage and that’s fine.
Wilson - can’t judge him as a signing yet.
Pyke - a 26 year old “striker” with less than five goals in the FL who has inexplicably been signed as our number 9. I’d sincerely hope that he isn’t on a big wage.

So other than Rodgers and Rose the rest of the players either due to inexperience, timing (out of contract well in to the season) or injury history surely can’t be on huge wages? So that begs the question; is the budget that much better/competitive or has Hurst seemingly squandered it with a squad that is still lacking in some crucial areas?

Biggest budget he Hurst will probably get and he’s taken us backwards.

No we are not better than last season but everything is just so difficult to call, in football in general but particularly Hurst.

I remember saying after the first game I didn't think we would concede many, but now we are leaking goals for fun. I thought we might be in for a season of cast iron defence and allow our technically better players to win us games, but that hasn't happened.

We had 2 defensive midfielders in that first game which made it difficult to mount attacks so we were calling for just one, and now we have we are wide open and still find it difficult to mount sustained attacks and our set pieces are poor.

I don't envy Hurst in having to try to sort it out but I think a lot of teams look better drilled in whatever style they choose, they seem to dictate games better when using subs and changing formation within games, where we tend to struggle in those areas.

Hurst being Hurst will probably bring a rabbit out of the hat with an unexpected win, but things just don't feel right to me.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

No we are not better than last season but everything is just so difficult to call, in football in general but particularly Hurst.

I remember saying after the first game I didn't think we would concede many, but now we are leaking goals for fun. I thought we might be in for a season of cast iron defence and allow our technically better players to win us games, but that hasn't happened.

We had 2 defensive midfielders in that first game which made it difficult to mount attacks so we were calling for just one, and now we have we are wide open and still find it difficult to mount sustained attacks and our set pieces are poor.

I don't envy Hurst in having to try to sort it out but I think a lot of teams look better drilled in whatever style they choose, they seem to dictate games better when using subs and changing formation within games, where we tend to struggle in those areas.

Hurst being Hurst will probably bring a rabbit out of the hat with an unexpected win, but things just don't feel right to me.

Even when we dominate (first half at Bradford for example), we don’t create enough. Even yesterday our chances were created by individual brilliance or poor Crawley defending. Not from decent team play.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Even when we dominate (first half at Bradford for example), we don’t create enough. Even yesterday our chances were created by individual brilliance or poor Crawley defending. Not from decent team play.

This. So many of our goals come from loose balls, lucky bounces or great individual play from Eisa. We create very little from team moves.

Oh, and Pyke looks a notable downgrade on Orsi

Some better players as individuals but as a team definitely not. We are slow, ponderous and create very little. We are conceding bad goals at a rate you would never expect from a Paul Hurst team and we don't appear to have the spirit or determination of last year's squad either. This team does not excite me and I don't have any sort of anticipation when I watch them. I think I got out of my seat twice during yesterday's match. One to applaud the brilliant second goal (1 stroke of genius) and once when in the second half and we were clear through with just the keeper to be beat but put in the tamest, most feeble shot you could imagine straight at him.
We are dull, boring and predictable. Just not fun to watch.

Quoted from mariner91

If there is a significant increase in budget where has it gone?

Eastwood - surely not on significantly more in wages than Crocombe given that he’s not played that much football considering his age?
Mullarkey - has had half a season in the FL during which he was relegated. Again surely not on a huge wage?
Rodgers - quality signing from a higher division, can understand if he’s on a good wage.
Conteh - good signing but he’s very young. Again surely not a huge wage.
Eisa - good player but injury prone the last two seasons so that could lower what he’s able to command in wages.
Gnahoua - signed late in the window so also maybe not on huge wages.
Vernam - hit and miss player that did nothing last season. Has some good spells in this division but also has periods where he’s anonymous for multiple games which we’ve seen first hand. I worry that with a three year deal he’s possibly on far more money than a player of his consistency should be.
Ainley - signed after the window closed so surely not on huge wages as he’d have been more desperate than we were.
Rose - proven striker at our level, presumably on a good wage and that’s fine.
Wilson - can’t judge him as a signing yet.
Pyke - a 26 year old “striker” with less than five goals in the FL who has inexplicably been signed as our number 9. I’d sincerely hope that he isn’t on a big wage.

So other than Rodgers and Rose the rest of the players either due to inexperience, timing (out of contract well in to the season) or injury history surely can’t be on huge wages? So that begs the question; is the budget that much better/competitive or has Hurst seemingly squandered it with a squad that is still lacking in some crucial areas?

Yeah there is a significant increase in budget, we signed numerous players for fees, early in pre season  and in a number of cases from a higher level.

Conteh ain't dropping from the championship for peanuts mate, even fringe players in the championship will be on good money. And fair enough he's on a 3 year deal and looks the business.

Vernam was someone we'd chased for ages, paid a fee for and signed from a higher level, on a 3 year deal, he will be on a good whack. It's not looking good at the moment for that being great business, but yeah he will be on v high wages for us I suspect.

Mularkey again was someone we had chased for a while and paid a fee for, he will be on much more money compared to Jordan cropper who he replaced.

There was other players who we paid a fee for too, can't remember them all, and we persuaded loads of players to sign for us early invthe window. To do that you have to convince them your offering a good deal and there is no need to wait and see if they get a better offer. That's something we haven't been able to do until this season, but this year we had the money to do it.

Then if there is a significant increase in the budget it appears so far to have been poorly spent. No improvement in goal, still don’t have a good left back, right back isn’t loads better, short on quantity and quality up front; little to no flair, creativity or quality on the ball in the middle of midfield, no strength in depth at all and we’re still chronically lacking in pace throughout the squad.

What is concerning is the lack of team spirit on the pitch, when compared to our promotion season. There doesn't seem to be a leader in the team and the captain appears to be a role for choosing heads or tails.

In the promotion season, the players seem to want to play for each other and some shattered at the end of the game. Not anymore, lack of effort, lack of skill and no gelling on the park after these opening games. Injuries, yes we have some, but all teams do, and that's when you expect others to step up to the mark to want a 1st place. We were totally let down by motivation and enthusiasm yesterday, summed up by a demure interview by Hurst who just seemed downcast with no apology for the display from squad he picked.

Hurst out, not for me as he turned a bad spell round before but don't play Pyke.

As admitted by the board we have a bigger budget compared to last season but is there a marked improvement apart from Eisa ? I'm not sure.

Still early days but imo can't see a major improvement all over the team.