So initial reactions, of the three today (Arter, Lavelle, Leko), what one are you most pleased about?
Lavelle, think he'll be a starter. Both Arter & Leco come with warnings from fans. Arter- fans reckon his legs have gone. Leco - I believe has not scored at Brum, didn't he suffer an ACL injury? Could slow him down. I'd be satisfied if one was a success.
Don’t get me wrong, the signings of Lee, Leko, and Kirk are all excellent, I mean really strong business for League One.
I’m not saying we will find a player quite like Aneke as he has so much to his game. My point was that we wanted both Aneke and Stockley, we only have one. We seem to have drafted in Davison as the replacement role of Aneke, in the sense of being a striker who will play that number 9 position. The difference is we will lose so much quality and see such a difference if we lose Stockley. I think Davison is alright, but he’s not at the level of striker I hoped we would bring in to replace Aneke if Stockley was unavailable.
We have some really good attacking players not and actually quite a bit of pace which we seriously lacked a couple of weeks ago. I think there will definitely be goals in this team now. The only thing it does is put pressure on players like Stockley and Purrington to stay and get fit, respectively.
But why can't we play Leko or Washington up top if Stockley is unavailable? Yes can't hold the ball up the same way but we'd be forced to get the ball down and play some decent football. Plenty of people out there been saying that's exactly what they want us to do anyway.
With the amount of wide players we have now the 4-4-2 was a one off. In every match I can see the likes of Gilbert, DJ, Leko and CBT all playing a part as the wide men to Stockley down the middle. Who starts and who comes off the bench will depend on if we have 3 games in a week. Washington and Davidson will be the potential cover for Jayden as the central striker role. I feel Burstow will get on the bench and get some minutes on occasions. This is important for his development.
If 4-3-3 Lee will mainly be the attacking midfielder but we have a squad which looks decent for League 1. The LB position looks weak for cover and Aneke hasn't been replaced ( How were we going to replace a player who scored a goal every 100 minutes last season ?)
Lavelle hasn't come to be back up. Inniss will be back up as he can probably only play 20 games max, and young Deji will also get games as back up.
This will be a squad effort as we don't have the X factor players this season unlike our Wembley winning side.
Dempsey won’t be included in the squad registration. It would make no sense. Gilbey is back in training now so even without Forster-Caskey, Dempsey would be behind Arter, Watson, Gilbey, Clare, Dobson, and Morgan, without even including Lee as well. He’s so far down the pecking order.
23 players who would count for the squad cap rules. Could have an effect on whether we will dip into the free agent market. Dempsey, Schwartz and JFC are the obvious ones who may not be included.
Agreed, potentially you could put Watson there too as Arter probably makes him superfluous now.
Jackson's comments re: Schwartz didn't seem to be ruling him out completely but these mysterious "fitness reasons" have certainly been going on for an oddly long time now. Wouldn't be entirely surprised if he was let go to return to his home country/league tbh.
Don’t get me wrong, the signings of Lee, Leko, and Kirk are all excellent, I mean really strong business for League One.
I’m not saying we will find a player quite like Aneke as he has so much to his game. My point was that we wanted both Aneke and Stockley, we only have one. We seem to have drafted in Davison as the replacement role of Aneke, in the sense of being a striker who will play that number 9 position. The difference is we will lose so much quality and see such a difference if we lose Stockley. I think Davison is alright, but he’s not at the level of striker I hoped we would bring in to replace Aneke if Stockley was unavailable.
We have some really good attacking players not and actually quite a bit of pace which we seriously lacked a couple of weeks ago. I think there will definitely be goals in this team now. The only thing it does is put pressure on players like Stockley and Purrington to stay and get fit, respectively.
But why can't we play Leko or Washington up top if Stockley is unavailable? Yes can't hold the ball up the same way but we'd be forced to get the ball down and play some decent football. Plenty of people out there been saying that's exactly what they want us to do anyway.
Our play is so orientated around Stockley that if he’s out for a lengthy period it changes everything. Lego and Wash are ok but neither will score enough goals.
So initial reactions, of the three today (Arter, Lavelle, Leko), what one are you most pleased about?
Lavelle. The right age, a player the club would have liked to keep and someone eager to take the next step upwards in his career. And a position where we badly needed someone.
Arter and Leko have more question marks over them, they're available because they've flopped badly at their current clubs. Which doesn't mean that they can't go and do a great job for us in L1, but it's yet to be seen.
Dempsey won’t be included in the squad registration. It would make no sense. Gilbey is back in training now so even without Forster-Caskey, Dempsey would be behind Arter, Watson, Gilbey, Clare, Dobson, and Morgan, without even including Lee as well. He’s so far down the pecking order.
Agreed, I think Dempsey and JFC will be left out so there would be room for one more if necessary.
From what I've seen Dobson & Clare aren't good enough for a promotion chasing side & Leko is not what's really needed.
What is needed & that we don't currently have is a striker to replace Aneke & to be there if Stockley is out injured for any length of time as well as a left back, although this I expect to be sorted by an out of contract player very soon.
I would also like to see Lavelle start & not be a back up player. Not sure who he will replace but perhaps Innis' injury is worse than thought or isnt recovering well enough after games. Or we play 3 centre halves....
So all in all ok from where we were 2 weeks ago but still not as good as I hoped 2 months ago. Dont think we will get automatics so top 6 has to be the aim. Still think that could be a long shot if Stockley is missing for long periods or Purrington breaks down without a replacement being brought in.
My prediction for the end of the season - between 5th and 8th.
With the amount of wide players we have now the 4-4-2 was a one off. In every match I can see the likes of Gilbert, DJ, Leko and CBT all playing a part as the wide men to Stockley down the middle. Who starts and who comes off the bench will depend on if we have 3 games in a week. Washington and Davidson will be the potential cover for Jayden as the central striker role. I feel Burstow will get on the bench and get some minutes on occasions. This is important for his development.
If 4-3-3 Lee will mainly be the attacking midfielder but we have a squad which looks decent for League 1. The LB position looks weak for cover and Aneke hasn't been replaced ( How were we going to replace a player who scored a goal every 100 minutes last season ?)
Lavelle hasn't come to be back up. Inniss will be back up as he can probably only play 20 games max, and young Deji will also get games as back up.
This will be a squad effort as we don't have the X factor players this season unlike our Wembley winning side.
So initial reactions, of the three today (Arter, Lavelle, Leko), what one are you most pleased about?
Boring answer, but all three about equally, bearing in mind I don’t remember seeing Lavelle playing. He sounds like a great signing though, from what I’ve read.
Don’t get me wrong, the signings of Lee, Leko, and Kirk are all excellent, I mean really strong business for League One.
I’m not saying we will find a player quite like Aneke as he has so much to his game. My point was that we wanted both Aneke and Stockley, we only have one. We seem to have drafted in Davison as the replacement role of Aneke, in the sense of being a striker who will play that number 9 position. The difference is we will lose so much quality and see such a difference if we lose Stockley. I think Davison is alright, but he’s not at the level of striker I hoped we would bring in to replace Aneke if Stockley was unavailable.
We have some really good attacking players not and actually quite a bit of pace which we seriously lacked a couple of weeks ago. I think there will definitely be goals in this team now. The only thing it does is put pressure on players like Stockley and Purrington to stay and get fit, respectively.
I agree with you there.
Another thing to consider is how much budget it would take to accommodate both Stockley and Aneke, particularly when one can’t play 90 minutes. If we’d have kept Aneke, we’d have missed out on some other key additions.
On the whole a very positive window, but I do share your concern about the lack of support for Purrington and Stockley.
Didn’t realise that leko had such good stats in his 21 games. 5 goals and 4 assists. Assuming they get good game time I’d expect us to get a better spread of goals across the team this time. Wonder if they’re going to try and use him like Grant with Taylor or as a proper winger?
Don’t get me wrong, the signings of Lee, Leko, and Kirk are all excellent, I mean really strong business for League One.
I’m not saying we will find a player quite like Aneke as he has so much to his game. My point was that we wanted both Aneke and Stockley, we only have one. We seem to have drafted in Davison as the replacement role of Aneke, in the sense of being a striker who will play that number 9 position. The difference is we will lose so much quality and see such a difference if we lose Stockley. I think Davison is alright, but he’s not at the level of striker I hoped we would bring in to replace Aneke if Stockley was unavailable.
We have some really good attacking players not and actually quite a bit of pace which we seriously lacked a couple of weeks ago. I think there will definitely be goals in this team now. The only thing it does is put pressure on players like Stockley and Purrington to stay and get fit, respectively.
But why can't we play Leko or Washington up top if Stockley is unavailable? Yes can't hold the ball up the same way but we'd be forced to get the ball down and play some decent football. Plenty of people out there been saying that's exactly what they want us to do anyway.
Our play is so orientated around Stockley that if he’s out for a lengthy period it changes everything. Lego and Wash are ok but neither will score enough goals.
Washington has hit double figures in his last 3 seasons in League 1.Our play is orientated around him, but that would have to change. To be honest, I don't think DJ's, Kirk's or Lee's play would be disadvantaged by that either.
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.'
Wow we spent a million. I will go Charlton and support the team as Always but I'm not expecting us to be anywhere near the play-offs. I think this is a below average squad. I hope I am wrong I honestly do. Playing some youngsters through the season will keep me interested and then mount a challenge next season. I'm not in a rush for promotion like others
I agree re. not rushing - however would you not agree this window is a step in the right direction though, a solid base on which to build?
I've not done the maths in terms of squad numbers, but with our 3 signings today all being over 21, we must be tight. I'd be amazed if we register Dempsey as part of our squad, and will we have to leave JFC out? Especially if we still want to keep open the free agent option?
That's why I'm really surprised we haven't loaned a young PL LB, as not only would it fill a squad gap, it would be outside the squad limit too.
I've not done the maths in terms of squad numbers, but with our 3 signings today all being over 21, we must be tight. I'd be amazed if we register Dempsey as part of our squad, and will we have to leave JFC out? Especially if we still want to keep open the free agent option?
That's why I'm really surprised we haven't loaned a young PL LB, as not only would it fill a squad gap, it would be outside the squad limit too.
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.'
Wow we spent a million. I will go Charlton and support the team as Always but I'm not expecting us to be anywhere near the play-offs. I think this is a below average squad. I hope I am wrong I honestly do. Playing some youngsters through the season will keep me interested and then mount a challenge next season. I'm not in a rush for promotion like others
Genuinely don’t think it is, not in League One. Hopefully you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
23 players who would count for the squad cap rules. Could have an effect on whether we will dip into the free agent market. Dempsey, Schwartz and JFC are the obvious ones who may not be included.
Agreed, potentially you could put Watson there too as Arter probably makes him superfluous now.
Jackson's comments re: Schwartz didn't seem to be ruling him out completely but these mysterious "fitness reasons" have certainly been going on for an oddly long time now. Wouldn't be entirely surprised if he was let go to return to his home country/league tbh.
He did say “if he’s at the football club” in the interview with the SLP
One thing I do suspect is those poor showings and results v MKD and Wigan May prove pretty influential on our season.
I suspect a reassessment was made and more budget was made available following those two games.
Nailed on.
To be honest this delights me, it's optimistic for the future. Roland never admitted a mistake in years of owing us, if Sandgaard was happy to do that within a transfer window it shows he's happy to take action.
I don't think the plan ever was to replace Aneke like for like, trying to find a striker to come off the bench and still have a goal record like his would be nearly miraculous.
But instead of having one player to directly replace his 10-15 goals we now want 2 or 3 players to be contributing that many between them instead.
Kirk, Lee and Leko should be good for at least 5 or 6 each, Washington made it into double figures last season as well so has goals in him.
Don't get the negativity to Leko on here from a few posters. 5 goals and 4 assists in 21 games for a very poor Charlton team in the Championship was great stats.
Defenders need to be consistently good always with no mistakes, flair attacking Ayers need to score/create a goal on a regular basis but that does not mean everytime they dribble it has to lead to a chance
I don't think the plan ever was to replace Aneke like for like, trying to find a striker to come off the bench and still have a goal record like his would be nearly miraculous.
But instead of having one player to directly replace his 10-15 goals we now want 2 or 3 players to be contributing that many between them instead.
Kirk, Lee and Leko should be good for at least 5 or 6 each, Washington made it into double figures last season as well so has goals in him.
Leko got 5 in 21 for us in the Championship plus 4 assists. id assume his target is 10 goals.
23 players who would count for the squad cap rules. Could have an effect on whether we will dip into the free agent market. Dempsey, Schwartz and JFC are the obvious ones who may not be included.
Some brutal decisions will have to be made in January concerning the sheer number of central midfielders taking up squad places, unless that rule is scrapped, as JFC should be fit by then and Gilbey before then. We may need to free up a couple of squad places
Definitely a left back would be the priority now. Interestingly, we haven’t used all 5 loan spaces, probably something Gallen will say they’ve planned on if we need to bring in a loan in January.
23 players who would count for the squad cap rules. Could have an effect on whether we will dip into the free agent market. Dempsey, Schwartz and JFC are the obvious ones who may not be included.
Some brutal decisions will have to be made in January concerning the sheer number of central midfielders taking up squad places, unless that rule is scrapped, as JFC should be fit by then and Gilbey before then. We may need to free up a couple of squad places
Don't get the negativity to Leko on here from a few posters. 5 goals and 4 assists in 21 games for a very poor Charlton team in the Championship was great stats.
Defenders need to be consistently good always with no mistakes, flair attacking Ayers need to score/create a goal on a regular basis but that does not mean everytime they dribble it has to lead to a chance
The negativity isn't based on how he did for us, but rather how he did for Birmingham last season
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.'
Wow we spent a million. I will go Charlton and support the team as Always but I'm not expecting us to be anywhere near the play-offs. I think this is a below average squad. I hope I am wrong I honestly do. Playing some youngsters through the season will keep me interested and then mount a challenge next season. I'm not in a rush for promotion like others
I agree re. not rushing - however would you not agree this window is a step in the right direction though, a solid base on which to build?
Yes I'd agree we are building. I've no problem with that. But this squad compared to Sheff Wd, Sunderland,Ipswich even Oxford, we won't be challenging
Comments
Both Arter & Leco come with warnings from fans.
Arter- fans reckon his legs have gone.
Leco - I believe has not scored at Brum, didn't he suffer an ACL injury? Could slow him down.
I'd be satisfied if one was a success.
If 4-3-3 Lee will mainly be the attacking midfielder but we have a squad which looks decent for League 1. The LB position looks weak for cover and Aneke hasn't been replaced ( How were we going to replace a player who scored a goal every 100 minutes last season ?)
Lavelle hasn't come to be back up.
Inniss will be back up as he can probably only play 20 games max, and young Deji will also get games as back up.
This will be a squad effort as we don't have the X factor players this season unlike our Wembley winning side.
Jackson's comments re: Schwartz didn't seem to be ruling him out completely but these mysterious "fitness reasons" have certainly been going on for an oddly long time now. Wouldn't be entirely surprised if he was let go to return to his home country/league tbh.
Arter and Leko have more question marks over them, they're available because they've flopped badly at their current clubs. Which doesn't mean that they can't go and do a great job for us in L1, but it's yet to be seen.
Good permanent signings in Kirk & Lavelle.
Good loans in Lee & Arter.
From what I've seen Dobson & Clare aren't good enough for a promotion chasing side & Leko is not what's really needed.
What is needed & that we don't currently have is a striker to replace Aneke & to be there if Stockley is out injured for any length of time as well as a left back, although this I expect to be sorted by an out of contract player very soon.
I would also like to see Lavelle start & not be a back up player. Not sure who he will replace but perhaps Innis' injury is worse than thought or isnt recovering well enough after games. Or we play 3 centre halves....
So all in all ok from where we were 2 weeks ago but still not as good as I hoped 2 months ago. Dont think we will get automatics so top 6 has to be the aim. Still think that could be a long shot if Stockley is missing for long periods or Purrington breaks down without a replacement being brought in.
My prediction for the end of the season - between 5th and 8th.
Assuming they get good game time I’d expect us to get a better spread of goals across the team this time.
Wonder if they’re going to try and use him like Grant with Taylor or as a proper winger?
But instead of having one player to directly replace his 10-15 goals we now want 2 or 3 players to be contributing that many between them instead.
Kirk, Lee and Leko should be good for at least 5 or 6 each, Washington made it into double figures last season as well so has goals in him.
Defenders need to be consistently good always with no mistakes, flair attacking Ayers need to score/create a goal on a regular basis but that does not mean everytime they dribble it has to lead to a chance
id assume his target is 10 goals.
Some brutal decisions will have to be made in January concerning the sheer number of central midfielders taking up squad places, unless that rule is scrapped, as JFC should be fit by then and Gilbey before then. We may need to free up a couple of squad places
RB: Matthews, Gunter, Barker
CB: Inniss, Lavelle, Famewo, Pearce, Elewere
LB: Purrington, Roddy
CM: Watson, Arter, Clare, Gilbey, Morgan, Dobson, Forster-Caskey
AM/W: Jaiyesimi, Kirk, Lee, Blackett-Taylor, Clayden
ST: Stockley, Washington, Leko, Davison, Schwartz
Definitely a left back would be the priority now. Interestingly, we haven’t used all 5 loan spaces, probably something Gallen will say they’ve planned on if we need to bring in a loan in January.
I've no problem with that.
But this squad compared to Sheff Wd, Sunderland,Ipswich even Oxford, we won't be challenging