Dobson and Clare together is a huge upgrade on Watson and Pratley together.
Couldn’t agree more. It was a big reason the football was so turgid last year. It’s also psychological, for me anyway. I wasn’t looking forward to seeing a team potentially made up of a lot of the players that started the season last year, bar Stockley, Inniss and Famewo. I appreciate the likes of Watson and Pearce are back ups, but we lack the strength in depth. Back ups can very quickly become regulars with injuries etc. I’m also not so hot on Gilbey and Purrington, so would like to see better options than them if possible.
You never know if new signings are going to work out, but there’s something exciting for me about bringing in new faces, even if some of them don’t work out
Living in Scotland, the last live match I went to was Hearts vs Airdrie. Washington and Clare both started and Clare scored a brilliant volley. That's all I know about him 😂
Living in Scotland, the last live match I went to was Hearts vs Airdrie. Washington and Clare both started and Clare scored a brilliant volley. That's all I know about him 😂
Dobson and Clare together is a huge upgrade on Watson and Pratley together.
Couldn’t agree more. It was a big reason the football was so turgid last year. It’s also psychological, for me anyway. I wasn’t looking forward to seeing a team potentially made up of a lot of the players that started the season last year, bar Stockley, Inniss and Famewo. I appreciate the likes of Watson and Pearce are back ups, but we lack the strength in depth. Back ups can very quickly become regulars with injuries etc. I’m also not so hot on Gilbey and Purrington, so would like to see better options than them if possible.
You never know if new signings are going to work out, but there’s something exciting for me about bringing in new faces, even if some of them don’t work out
I quite like Gilbey. Bit of an underwhelming season last year due to injuries but think he will be a good player for us especially with a more dynamic midfield around him. Purrington though is indeed a bit limited and we definitely need to bring in a LB but he was promoted with us a couple years back from this league so can certainly do a job.
Personally think we'll bring in 2 more permanent signings (hopefully a winger and a LB) and then supplement the rest with loans and youth.
Dobson and Clare together is a huge upgrade on Watson and Pratley together.
Couldn’t agree more. It was a big reason the football was so turgid last year. It’s also psychological, for me anyway. I wasn’t looking forward to seeing a team potentially made up of a lot of the players that started the season last year, bar Stockley, Inniss and Famewo. I appreciate the likes of Watson and Pearce are back ups, but we lack the strength in depth. Back ups can very quickly become regulars with injuries etc. I’m also not so hot on Gilbey and Purrington, so would like to see better options than them if possible.
You never know if new signings are going to work out, but there’s something exciting for me about bringing in new faces, even if some of them don’t work out
I quite like Gilbey. Bit of an underwhelming season last year due to injuries but think he will be a good player for us especially with a more dynamic midfield around him. Purrington though is indeed a bit limited and we definitely need to bring in a LB but he was promoted with us a couple years back from this league so can certainly do a job.
Personally think we'll bring in 2 more permanent signings (hopefully a winger and a LB) and then supplement the rest with loans and youth.
I like Gilbey too but I am concerned that after his bout of Covid it might take some weeks for him to get up to speed. He might not even be available for selection until September.
Are Clare and Dobson both first team starters? Do they have the quality we need - or are they more back up's to our first choice? I dont know enough about them to answer that.
I think back to the Powell promotion season which is what I guess we were all hoping to replicate in approach.... buying the best players from league 1.
Havent a clue if these are the best players in league 1 - or how they compare to someone like Fraser who went to Ipswich?
Then again - look how many games Pritchard played in our promotion season and he came from non league!
Dobson and Clare seem to be indicative of a slightly different approach. Where Wigan are "doing a Powell" and pillaging players from bigger teams and direct competitors, these are two players who seem to have been stand outs at clubs that otherwise struggled.*
I would presume the logic is that if they can look good in a poor team, they will therefore turn out to be really rather tasty in a team of better quality.
* I suddenly realise this also applies to Stockley, except that the struggling team in question was us!! 😏
I don’t think what we’re doing is very different to what Powell did at all. We took players from Bournemouth, Oldham, Exeter and Dagenham, and cast offs from Preston, Reading, Wednesday, Scunthorpe and Leicester. The only team who were really a direct competitor was Weds and they couldn’t wait to get rid of Morrison. With the possible exception of Bournemouth, who were still a year away from properly starting up as a force, we didn’t actually take any bigger teams’ players off them that they wanted to keep
I'll tell you after a dozen or so games in a Charlton shirt if he's any good, but he feels like the right sort of signing. Mobile and energetic, bit of height to him. Should go a long way to helping us play with more intensity next season. Decent experience, but also a good age with time to improve.
------------------Mcgivallry Matthews - Inniss - Famewo - NEW ---------------Dobson - Clare NEW ------------ NEW ----------------DJ -------------------Stockley
We desperately need a creative midfielder
Mcgivallry Matthews Inniss Famewo Purrington Clare Dobson Gilbey NEW Stockley DJ
Is how I'm expecting to see us. I'd be surprised if we signed another centre midfielder, maybe a backup or a decent loan.
Expecting to see a very good winger to complete the 11.
I still think we have 5/6 players to come so think this team will change a lot in the next few weeks.
I think you're being very optimistic if you think we're going to sign 5 players that are better than what we have in the next few weeks.
We'll sign 5 but I expect 3 or 4 of them to be backups (GK, LB, ST, CB).
I think it’ll be 5/6 & 3/4 will be first teamers. Personally think we need that to really challenge. We’ll see I guess.
I doubt many will come in purely as back up.
I expect we'll see an attacking left back to give us an alternative to Purrington, and it'll be down to both players to fight for their place.
We can't rely on Inniss staying fit or an academy playing covering for him, so I'm sure we'll see a decent CB come in to challenge Inniss.
One if not two wingers is a must, and between them, DJ and Washington (and perhaps Clayden) no one will be an automatic first choice without earning it.
We need an alternative to Stockley and possibly a GK so AMB can go on loan. I'd say those are the two positions where signings are likely to be cover.
I saw him play a couple of times when I was working at Gillingham and he was on loan there from Sheffield Wednesday. He was very impressive - highly confident dribbling with the ball at his feet and could move through the gears carrying it up the pitch. I think they were pretty gutted they couldn’t keep him on loan beyond January that season.
I’ve always kept my eye out for his name since then as I thought he’d naturally move through the leagues with his ability - I’m not sure Hearts was the right move for him. Somewhat similar to Aribo in that regard? (although Aribo has won silverware and played in Europe so fair play to him)
Comments
(just hope he's got a better injury record!)
I quite like Gilbey. Bit of an underwhelming season last year due to injuries but think he will be a good player for us especially with a more dynamic midfield around him. Purrington though is indeed a bit limited and we definitely need to bring in a LB but he was promoted with us a couple years back from this league so can certainly do a job.
Personally think we'll bring in 2 more permanent signings (hopefully a winger and a LB) and then supplement the rest with loans and youth.
We'll sign 5 but I expect 3 or 4 of them to be backups (GK, LB, ST, CB).
I expect we'll see an attacking left back to give us an alternative to Purrington, and it'll be down to both players to fight for their place.
We can't rely on Inniss staying fit or an academy playing covering for him, so I'm sure we'll see a decent CB come in to challenge Inniss.
One if not two wingers is a must, and between them, DJ and Washington (and perhaps Clayden) no one will be an automatic first choice without earning it.
We need an alternative to Stockley and possibly a GK so AMB can go on loan. I'd say those are the two positions where signings are likely to be cover.
I’ve always kept my eye out for his name since then as I thought he’d naturally move through the leagues with his ability - I’m not sure Hearts was the right move for him. Somewhat similar to Aribo in that regard? (although Aribo has won silverware and played in Europe so fair play to him)