The line-up we put out on Saturday was probably the youngest ever eleven we have put out for a league match in recent eras?
Gomez 17
Harriott 20
Cousins 20
Fox 21
Pope 22
Vetokele 22
Solly 23
Gudmundsson 24 (a month ago)
----
Buyens 26
Bikey 29
Ben Haim 32
Eight players (just) 24 or under, with some having to play out of position, and three of them (Buyens, Vetokele and Gudmundsson) not looking fully fit after coming back from injury. Jackson plays a big part in us keeping shape and adding experience, and Coqalin and Wiggins alone with have a big improvement on the starting eleven.
Slow intensity football can be difficult to watch at times, but this team is desperately missing a major presence up top and it feels like we are treading water at the moment.
We are not going to go up, and it is silly worrying at this stage that we might go down, so the most likely outcome is we will be seeing a transitional season where hopefully a few of those lads that either haven’t got much pro experience or English football experience are going to improve. If they don’t (and some won’t), then they’ll be moved on.
It was only a few weeks ago we were being described as high flying. Now in some people’s eyes the world has fallen in. if we have a bad Christmas period, then we can start looking more seriously at what needs to be done to ensure survival, but unless that happens, just a bit more patience is needed in my opinion at the moment.
26
Comments
I hadn't really given the overall age of the team too much thought but set out like that you can kind of see where having an older head or two defending a lead in the final 20 minutes would help massively. Especially if that older head was a proper centre forward to take some of the pressure off Igor.
As i mentioned on the post match thoughts thread I think some of the new players are now seeing the tiredness of updating to Championship/English football.
We are moving in the right direction with this squad and I prefer to build a team up which should hopefully see as get stronger and stronger over the next few seasons as we add a little bit here and there and some of the players get older and wiser to the championship.
Karlan Ahearne-Grant... 17
Joe Pigott.. 21
George Tucudean... 23
Neil Etheridge... 24
Frederic Bulot.. 24
-------
Lawrie Wilson... 27
Oguchi Onyewu... 32
However, I also completely understand the ongoing frustration re RD letting Yann slip through our fingers, just because he was too old/expensive/talismanic (delete as appropriate) and not replace adequately/ at all. We all knew at the time it would probably come back to bite us. It just leaves a "so near, yet so far" feeling.
And next season it will be even harder to compete with more clubs with more money and looser FFP regs, so it's a bit like the relegation season from the Prem in that way - the worst possible time just to be consolidating.
The good start raised everyone's expectations, as it should, but for various reasons we couldn't maintain that form.
It is, IMHO, a bit flat at the moment.
The point about the age of the players (I had forgotten how young Igor is) is very valid. That is the risk of relying too much of younger players. A lot of that is because of injuries but we've all been able to see that the squad was thin from kick off.
Had Jackson and Wiggins been available and Igor been fully fit I expect we'd have picked up more points by now but hard to moan about squad size when your last game was v Blackpool.
Also, looking at the ages of the players mentioned above, it feels like Chris Solly has been around way too long to still only be 23!
You can't win anything with kids.
We are set up to be difficult to beat and BP is making best use of resources to maintain a sound platform for the future. Satisfied with having long term optimism but admit it's more "interesting" than exciting.
Alternative could be a squad of has-been journeymen giving us excitement but false hopes and ultimate disappointment and wondering where we go next.
I still can't get my head around the fact that at the start of the season we was quality going forward we played with no fear and we got results. Why change something that was clearly working. What I have seen of the Championship teams this season is that not many of them are actually that good. I don't expect us storm the league or even be right up there, but it feels like we go into every game to contain the other team rather then really pushing for the 3 points.
This is very much a season of development and consolidation. Next season for those three will throw up different issues as clubs will have had the opportunity to "suss" them out and they will have to adapt their game.
Great post, AFKA.
Wish I'd have chosen that case for the defence !
Apart from the obvious additional striker required i do actually like this squad.
Of course that is all water under the bridge now. The problem I see now is that this squad is already struggling, 2 wins and 12 points in the last 11 games is relegation form, and we have not hit the hard months yet in terms of injuries and intensity of games. RD may take the same view as some in this discussion that this is a transitional year. In which case he will not be in a hurry to reinforce the squad in January. If we get to February and say, Ben Haim, Vetokele and Buyens are added to the injury list, we could be facing a desperate season end.
We have two windows between now and August 2015 for players to come and go. The squad which starts next season will be a year older so stronger and more experienced.
Right now we have the youngest squad in the Championship! If five players leave and are replaced with five better players then perhaps we won't be struggling to beat bottom six clubs?
However right now we can't buy a win and January can't come quick enough - to get Henderson and Wiggins back and a couple of quality signings. Unfortunately it looks unlikely we will still be in touch with the top six so the club may not feel obliged to pay top dollar for the quality we need.
I would argue that they should buy in what we need for a crack at the cup and for more preparation for 2015-16. And to look to ensure a top half finish which is achievable with some luck and a couple of decent signings. If Coquelin is available then we should certainly sign him. Top half would be a massive improvement on last season and enable fans to focus on the future, not the recent past.
As for Kermorgant, he's gone and is unlikely to return. In narrow performance terms the decision to sell looks worse every week! But that is with the luxury of hindsight. At the time M.Duchatelet bought a club in the bottom six with a decent ground and academy. The better players were angling for moves and refusing to sign offers of extensions... Everything has been covered in detail elsewhere and, as posted before, every manager except Avory, Joyes, Roberts has gone. And every player over 24 (except Jackson) has left the club. The strategy was to clear the decks AND stay up. It was executed with a view to starting over and is the reason we are where we are today.
Filling that #9 shirt will cost serious money but lets hope they do it soon and with a loan or permanent signing who can help us push on from this new position.
Promotion won't happen, and relegation shouldn't barring a nightmare scenario, just another season batting along in the Championship. Problem is the lack of investment we will have during the season, Bob is using what he has with a paper thin squad. I'm not upset with the season so far but it isn't half boring tactically, the excitement of the early season results have since worn off.
Even Nicholas is talking sense after his venom filled rage at Pope. (did you never watch David James)
I said on Friday about good luck to our young players who get a chance in the 1st team
and that they need a thick skin. what prophetic words.
Second time you have flagged me for nothing.
Ben roberts will earn his money this week. it seems to be one step forward then 2 steps back for pope,
after the derby mistake he was shaky for the the 1st 25 mins at udders. but since then he had looked good
even taking the friendly banter from the Millwall fans(that must be a joke) without being effected.
also the packed ipswich fans didn't unsettle him.
The bottom line is we are missing the steady eddie that stephen Henderson has been at CAFC so far.
plus Rhoys Wiggins from an attacking point of view.
The reason i don't slag individual players off too much is having been a football manager at a lower level you know
you need them the following week or until you can sign a better player.
Bob Peeters is in the same position!