So initial reactions, of the three today (Arter, Lavelle, Leko), what one are you most pleased about?
Difficult to say, on the one hand, we've added depth to the squad, and 2 of the 3 are "names".
However, on the other side, those 2 names have been injured and out of form recently, and on their way down the ladder, and the 3rd is unproven at this level.
We need a left back by hook or by crook still, but at least we have enough players to field a full senior team
Good window, good squad. congrats Recruitment team, NA and TS. Automatic promotion here we come. COYR
Why is this liked so much? Good window my arse
I think it is has now been a good window. It hadn't been when the season started. We are in the promotion race and anyone that thinks otherwise is simply unhappy for other reasons, nothing to do with Charlton. COYR & thanks to Thomas Sandgaard & the team.
Personally I think this view is massively skewed by us winning on Sat. Suspect you (and others) would be saying very different had we played bad on Sat and lost.
Good window, good squad. congrats Recruitment team, NA and TS. Automatic promotion here we come. COYR
Why is this liked so much? Good window my arse
I think it is has now been a good window. It hadn't been when the season started. We are in the promotion race and anyone that thinks otherwise is simply unhappy for other reasons, nothing to do with Charlton. COYR & thanks to Thomas Sandgaard & the team.
Personally I think this view is massively skewed by us winning on Sat. Suspect you (and others) would be saying very different had we played bad on Sat and lost.
You don't think Lee, Arter and Leko aren't very good signings? Noticeable there are no Levitt/Smith type loans this window.
That’s not what I said though!
But we didn't lose on Saturday, at least in part because Adkins/Gallen/Sandgaard/whoever all knew just as well as we did that there were some serious weaknesses needing addressing. With the exception of LB those weaknesses have now been addressed - how successfully we don't know yet but at least TPTB aren't deluding themselves that they were right all along.
MacGilllivray Matthews Inniss Famewo Purrington Clare Arter DJ Lee Kirk Stockley
Looks a very good XI to me. Second XI of:
Harness (emergency loan if needed) Gunter Lavelle Pearce Roddy Morgan Dobson CBT Gilbey Leko Washington
Plus Watson, Davison and Schwartz. I don't think we'll run away with the league but it looks reasonably strong. There is an obvious weakness but I doubt many League 1 sides can genuinely say they don't have a position or two that looks weak.
And Elerewe.
He will rightfully drop down to the U23's after the signing of Lavelle. It's nice to know we can play him if necessary (might well be necessary given our injury record at CB) but he needs game time at U23 to develop. Maybe even a loan to Welling/Dartford for a bit to play some mens football.
Arter has real quality and I think he will really want to show everyone he has got it. To be prepared to drop to League One says he wants to play and get back to a good level of form.
Lavelle I know nothing about. However, signing a captain from another team in our league, where reports are he’s strong and can play a bit, he’s at a good age and should be coachable, I’d take that. Good luck to him.
Leko is the wildcard we knew about before. If he can produce the moments of magic he did in The Championship, he’ll be class for us in League One. I actually think he was a big factor in us eventually being relegated that season. He never got replaced, and neither did Gallagher. But Leko done well for us and should link up nicely with Stockley. Unfinished business that’s for sure. Cheers Bow.
My main concern is now left back. It’s putting huge pressure on Purrington to be fit and firing quickly. To. It being in a left back is poor to be honest. Not replacing Aneke is shocking but don’t want to cover that now as Leko signing slightly papers over the cracks. Not signing an attacking left back is far, far from ideal. I now hope that there is a left back that is a free agent that can come in and do a good job for us because if we want to get the best out of players like Kirk, we need to allow these players the tools and platform to perform. I actually think Purrington and Kirk could work well. But it’s not good going into the season until January with only Purrington who is not yet fit.
Overall, I think we have got in some very good players over the last 10-14 days. We are still short and some bits do concern me, but the quality of player coming in recently seen far stronger than the quality in the early to middle part of the window.
Most fans have saying LB is an issue. Find it worrying that all the expertise at the club have been so slow in getting a LB
Leko is a weird one. Kirk, DJ, CBT, Clayden. Do we need another winger?
Imo......No.
But you've been calling for a pacey striker? Leko scored 1 in 4 for us in the Champ and let's be honest, we wasn't a particularly good side who created loads of chances each game.
My concern is in the 65 games he’s played for other teams - including his last 38 for Birmingham - he’s scored exactly zero goals.
My thoughts exactly......but Golfie Jnr is over the moon.
All I can think is that we asked about Aneke after Troy Deeney signed for them & Bows did us wrong.
Good window, good squad. congrats Recruitment team, NA and TS. Automatic promotion here we come. COYR
Why is this liked so much? Good window my arse
I think it is has now been a good window. It hadn't been when the season started. We are in the promotion race and anyone that thinks otherwise is simply unhappy for other reasons, nothing to do with Charlton. COYR & thanks to Thomas Sandgaard & the team.
Personally I think this view is massively skewed by us winning on Sat. Suspect you (and others) would be saying very different had we played bad on Sat and lost.
But we didn't play bad or lose on Saturday, did we?
You could equally say that peoples views had been skewed onto a downer because we hadn't played well or won up until then.
Both statements have credibility, which is why its important to take a balanced view.
A few weeks back the general consensus that we were "5 or 6 bodies short". I don't think anyone was arguing against that.
We've now signed 5 or 6 extra bodies and whilst we can all debate about the positions or the quality of the individuals, there's surely no argument that both the first XI and the squad as a whole are stronger now than they were a couple of weeks ago.
So on that respect it's been a "good" window, and certainly not the total disaster some of the usual suspects were predicting (and possibly even hoping for, bizarrely!)
Arter has real quality and I think he will really want to show everyone he has got it. To be prepared to drop to League One says he wants to play and get back to a good level of form.
Lavelle I know nothing about. However, signing a captain from another team in our league, where reports are he’s strong and can play a bit, he’s at a good age and should be coachable, I’d take that. Good luck to him.
Leko is the wildcard we knew about before. If he can produce the moments of magic he did in The Championship, he’ll be class for us in League One. I actually think he was a big factor in us eventually being relegated that season. He never got replaced, and neither did Gallagher. But Leko done well for us and should link up nicely with Stockley. Unfinished business that’s for sure. Cheers Bow.
My main concern is now left back. It’s putting huge pressure on Purrington to be fit and firing quickly. To. It being in a left back is poor to be honest. Not replacing Aneke is shocking but don’t want to cover that now as Leko signing slightly papers over the cracks. Not signing an attacking left back is far, far from ideal. I now hope that there is a left back that is a free agent that can come in and do a good job for us because if we want to get the best out of players like Kirk, we need to allow these players the tools and platform to perform. I actually think Purrington and Kirk could work well. But it’s not good going into the season until January with only Purrington who is not yet fit.
Overall, I think we have got in some very good players over the last 10-14 days. We are still short and some bits do concern me, but the quality of player coming in recently seen far stronger than the quality in the early to middle part of the window.
Summarises my thoughts well. A strong end to the window but short at left back.
That being said I doubt there’s any team in the division that has strength in depth in every position.
If you look back to our halcyon days in the Premier League - and I know we had money - but we could basically field two strong teams and still have four or five strong players not involved.
It was similar in the Chris Powell promotion season although to be fair we had a smaller squad under Lee Bowyer in our last promotion season, although we had a lot of quality in our first team.
What do we have now?
We DO have decent depth everywhere apart from strikers, only TWO experienced first teamers on our books, and left-back, with only Purrington in our squad.
Midfield looks very competitive with Dobson already looking like he will be squeezed out and it looks like Watson was pretty lucky to get signed up for this season as he won't be playing much.
If this team is going to get anywhere near the Play Offs then we need a wide range of players to chip in with goals.
If Stockley plays 46 league games he will score 18-20 league goals - a very decent return.
However, to give ourselves a chance of the Play Offs we need to score at least 70 goals which means we need 50 goals or so from elsewhere in the team, where do they come from?
At best Washington may get 10 over the season so that means we need Lee, Leko, Kirk, Gilbey and DJ to also pitch in with 6 or 7 goals each over the season and we are then getting close.
Now the dust has settled, my rose-tinted glasses can agree that it's annoying so much happened so late in the day giving the others a head-start, but... another LB aside I'm very happy with that squad. Yes, Stockley is a risk as he's so good, but Washington, now he's freed from LW duties, can certainly cover if we adapt our style slightly. Now blessed with midfielders, CBs must be as strong as any in this league. And I don't think we even used up our full loan complement? Leko, Lee, Arter, Famewo... that's it, right?
Add the fun 6-1 jaunt this evening and it's been a good day!
So, Thomas has got out his chequebook, again, and we now have a decent squad. A freebee left back would be a good extra but Gunter has covered Purrington's position pretty well. Now it is up to Nige to figure our a formation that will suit the players. Surely Lee has to be a main-man. It remains to be seen if Arter can blow us away...or be a dud. I think Innis will play when fit in a five man defence but we'll see in due course. I think the recruitment team have done pretty well, under financial restrictions. I'll give them 7/10. Good night to another deadline day. Phew!
Arter has real quality and I think he will really want to show everyone he has got it. To be prepared to drop to League One says he wants to play and get back to a good level of form.
Lavelle I know nothing about. However, signing a captain from another team in our league, where reports are he’s strong and can play a bit, he’s at a good age and should be coachable, I’d take that. Good luck to him.
Leko is the wildcard we knew about before. If he can produce the moments of magic he did in The Championship, he’ll be class for us in League One. I actually think he was a big factor in us eventually being relegated that season. He never got replaced, and neither did Gallagher. But Leko done well for us and should link up nicely with Stockley. Unfinished business that’s for sure. Cheers Bow.
My main concern is now left back. It’s putting huge pressure on Purrington to be fit and firing quickly. To. It being in a left back is poor to be honest. Not replacing Aneke is shocking but don’t want to cover that now as Leko signing slightly papers over the cracks. Not signing an attacking left back is far, far from ideal. I now hope that there is a left back that is a free agent that can come in and do a good job for us because if we want to get the best out of players like Kirk, we need to allow these players the tools and platform to perform. I actually think Purrington and Kirk could work well. But it’s not good going into the season until January with only Purrington who is not yet fit.
Overall, I think we have got in some very good players over the last 10-14 days. We are still short and some bits do concern me, but the quality of player coming in recently seen far stronger than the quality in the early to middle part of the window.
I know you don’t want to go over it, but out of interest could you think of one single player available that would replace Aneke’s goals?
Aneke was a bit of an enigma, I’m not sure we’ll ever again see a player be so dangerous from the bench. I think we’ve replaced his 15 goals with the signings of Kirk, Lee and Leko.
In my opinion... Great window. Strong team. Spent well over £1,000,000 signing young, talented, motivated players on long term contracts. Also signed players with links to CAFC (Lee, Arter, Leko & Clare) and signed natural leaders and players of the season (Lavelle Kirk & MacG). I also think the temperament of the players we've brought in has been well thought through.
Whats not to like? Yes, we might be a LB or a ST short, but I reckon we might dip into the free transfer market to plug whatever minute holes there might be.
Finally, a sensible window, not one where our sole target is to bring In 'bodies.'
Brilliant transfer window . TS has put his money where his mouth is and delivered . Yes it took time but that’s the way it works nowadays and is more a condemnation of the transfers window timings than how we do our business.
Arter has real quality and I think he will really want to show everyone he has got it. To be prepared to drop to League One says he wants to play and get back to a good level of form.
Lavelle I know nothing about. However, signing a captain from another team in our league, where reports are he’s strong and can play a bit, he’s at a good age and should be coachable, I’d take that. Good luck to him.
Leko is the wildcard we knew about before. If he can produce the moments of magic he did in The Championship, he’ll be class for us in League One. I actually think he was a big factor in us eventually being relegated that season. He never got replaced, and neither did Gallagher. But Leko done well for us and should link up nicely with Stockley. Unfinished business that’s for sure. Cheers Bow.
My main concern is now left back. It’s putting huge pressure on Purrington to be fit and firing quickly. To. It being in a left back is poor to be honest. Not replacing Aneke is shocking but don’t want to cover that now as Leko signing slightly papers over the cracks. Not signing an attacking left back is far, far from ideal. I now hope that there is a left back that is a free agent that can come in and do a good job for us because if we want to get the best out of players like Kirk, we need to allow these players the tools and platform to perform. I actually think Purrington and Kirk could work well. But it’s not good going into the season until January with only Purrington who is not yet fit.
Overall, I think we have got in some very good players over the last 10-14 days. We are still short and some bits do concern me, but the quality of player coming in recently seen far stronger than the quality in the early to middle part of the window.
I know you don’t want to go over it, but out of interest could you think of one single player available that would replace Aneke’s goals?
Aneke was a bit of enigma, I’m not sure we’ll ever again see a player be so dangerous from the bench. I think we’ve replaced his 15 goals with the signings of Kirk, Lee and Leko.
We've lost Aneke and Millar, and signed Kirk, CBT, Leko and Lee. Find it hard to believe we're not as good going forward as we were at the back end of last season.
Lavelle will prove to be the best of the three. Good long contract should see him through into the prime of his career while at the Valley. I’m excited for that one.
Comments
However, on the other side, those 2 names have been injured and out of form recently, and on their way down the ladder, and the 3rd is unproven at this level.
We need a left back by hook or by crook still, but at least we have enough players to field a full senior team
Find it worrying that all the expertise at the club have been so slow in getting a LB
All I can think is that we asked about Aneke after Troy Deeney signed for them & Bows did us wrong.
You could equally say that peoples views had been skewed onto a downer because we hadn't played well or won up until then.
Both statements have credibility, which is why its important to take a balanced view.
A few weeks back the general consensus that we were "5 or 6 bodies short". I don't think anyone was arguing against that.
We've now signed 5 or 6 extra bodies and whilst we can all debate about the positions or the quality of the individuals, there's surely no argument that both the first XI and the squad as a whole are stronger now than they were a couple of weeks ago.
So on that respect it's been a "good" window, and certainly not the total disaster some of the usual suspects were predicting (and possibly even hoping for, bizarrely!)
It was similar in the Chris Powell promotion season although to be fair we had a smaller squad under Lee Bowyer in our last promotion season, although we had a lot of quality in our first team.
What do we have now?
We DO have decent depth everywhere apart from strikers, only TWO experienced first teamers on our books, and left-back, with only Purrington in our squad.
Midfield looks very competitive with Dobson already looking like he will be squeezed out and it looks like Watson was pretty lucky to get signed up for this season as he won't be playing much.
If this team is going to get anywhere near the Play Offs then we need a wide range of players to chip in with goals.
If Stockley plays 46 league games he will score 18-20 league goals - a very decent return.
However, to give ourselves a chance of the Play Offs we need to score at least 70 goals which means we need 50 goals or so from elsewhere in the team, where do they come from?
At best Washington may get 10 over the season so that means we need Lee, Leko, Kirk, Gilbey and DJ to also pitch in with 6 or 7 goals each over the season and we are then getting close.
First Team
MacGillvray
Matthews - Famewo - Innis - Purrington
Arter - Lee - Morgan
Leko - Stockley - Kirk
+++++++++++++++++++++
Reserves
???
Gunter - Lavelle - Pearce - Barker
Gilbey - Watson - Clare
Jayishemi - Davison - Washington
+++++++++++++++++++
Others
Forster-Caskey, Dobson, Schwartz, Blackett-Taylor, Vennings.
Yes, Stockley is a risk as he's so good, but Washington, now he's freed from LW duties, can certainly cover if we adapt our style slightly. Now blessed with midfielders, CBs must be as strong as any in this league. And I don't think we even used up our full loan complement? Leko, Lee, Arter, Famewo... that's it, right?
Add the fun 6-1 jaunt this evening and it's been a good day!
Good night to another deadline day. Phew!
Whats not to like? Yes, we might be a LB or a ST short, but I reckon we might dip into the free transfer market to plug whatever minute holes there might be.
Finally, a sensible window, not one where our sole target is to bring In 'bodies.'