Having listened to Rich and Louis’s podcast, I’m quite excited by the signing of Costello. Rich has seen him a few times and mentioned he was a standout player against Millwall. Solid signing I think. Not heard of Apter but Blackpool fans are having kittens over our interest, so must have something about him.
No matter how this season pans out, in this current moment at the very least it’s genuinely refreshing to feel like we’re a well run club again with ambitious owners that are proving their ambition with more than just words
A very good point. Posts moaning and criticising the ownership are few and far between these days.
If JRC is Thierry’s replacement, where would Apter fit in? Sounds like he’s an out and out winger rather than someone who could also play Right Wing Back. Suggests on the right of a 3 man forward line but I’d be surprised if Nathan wants to switch formations.
The Blackburn reporter on Cawley’s podcast sees CM as JRCs best position, and when he played RB he described him as playing as an inverted fullback, moving into CM. A Blackburn fan told me the same thing.
From that I think this will be JRCs chance to nail down a regular role in CM, with the option of covering at RWB.
I don’t see us shelling out a big fee for a player we would need to “convert” or that would play only if when we change it up to a front three. Tend to think Josh is on the right lines with his views.
Having listened to Rich and Louis’s podcast, I’m quite excited by the signing of Costello. Rich has seen him a few times and mentioned he was a standout player against Millwall. Solid signing I think. Not heard of Apter but Blackpool fans are having kittens over our interest, so must have something about him.
Apologies for being a luddite...where can you access the podcast? Is it through the substack or is it available on Spotify etc.?
I don’t see us shelling out a big fee for a player we would need to “convert” or that would play only if when we change it up to a front three. Tend to think Josh is on the right lines with his views.
Don't think we'd be paying for his current quality but more his potential, he's only played one season at L1 level so he isn't guaranteed to be a Championship success
Having listened to Rich and Louis’s podcast, I’m quite excited by the signing of Costello. Rich has seen him a few times and mentioned he was a standout player against Millwall. Solid signing I think. Not heard of Apter but Blackpool fans are having kittens over our interest, so must have something about him.
Apologies for being a luddite...where can you access the podcast? Is it through the substack or is it available on Spotify etc.?
Don’t know how the rest of you are feeling about this transfer window but I’m pretty buzzing with where we are at the minute tbh?
The thing that is impressing me most is what appears to be the right blend of senior but not too old pros like Kaminski and Bell (32 & 31) with players who are mid career with future sell on value. We saw in NJ’s first full season how he goes about getting the most/best out of players so am expecting him to help get the next level out of players like Oloafe and Carey.
One or two wing backs (one who could play both sides would be ideal), a CM and another forward and think we are pretty much set.
It's also worth remembering what things were like the last time we got promoted to the Championship. We'd gone up but we were immediately going to lose Purrington, Bauer, Cullen, Bielik, Aribo and Williams as well as a number of squad players and we knew that Dijksteel wouldn't be our player by the time the window closed. We did manage to get Purrington, Williams and Cullen back but not only had we lost a load of players, the ones we were bringing in were freebies and formerly good players who we could get because they had terrible injury records. Chuks, Amos and Lockyer were good free signings but after that it was Oshilaja, Oztumer, Hemed and Matthews. We only started getting our decent loans in in August right up to the deadline so we'd spent most of that summer tearing our hair out wondering where the signings were. Lyle Taylor only got a strike partner that wasn't Macauley Bonne on deadline day. Hilariously, the only players we actually spent money on were Bonne, Hemed and Purrington, and I have a memory of that being £75,000. In fact, I've only just remembered that we didn't even have Lee Bowyer secured and he was briefly set to leave until the backlash was too big for even Roland.
This time we've gone into the close season with only Chuks, Watson and Small out of contract and only one of those was a proper first team player. A couple of non-essential loans also ended as well, but we honestly could have started this coming season only needing a right back and still put out a decent, if slightly doomed, side. In 19/20 when the window started I think we only had 11 senior players and one of those was Lewis Page who ended up making 0 appearances that season due to injury. The squad building in the past 18 months has been really good with a mind to building out over time and the fact all this summer has been about is adding quality to a very good framework has made it so much more enjoyable than the usual panicking just to make sure we've got something approaching two injury-ridden players in each position. We're spending decent fees to bring in other team's assets rather than begging and borrowing players teams are desperate to get rid of. If you can't enjoy this window you're either too traumatised or not traumatised enough
That RWB position was so critical to our upturn in fortune over the second half of the season that, if there’s one area for the club to really spend in this summer window, it’s worth shelling out for a couple of decent players that can cover it. Just my opinion.
If JRC is Thierry’s replacement, where would Apter fit in? Sounds like he’s an out and out winger rather than someone who could also play Right Wing Back. Suggests on the right of a 3 man forward line but I’d be surprised if Nathan wants to switch formations.
Could potentially be coming in to play that second striker role? And maybe it will be him who’s competition for TC, and instead Olaofe will be competition for Leaburn and Godden.
Jones as a rule doesn't seem to particularly favour "traditional" centre forward/striker types as a rule, he seems to prefer players who can drop off or drift wide instead of the classic goal scorers - even with Godden it was his movement/running that let him get into those scoring positions.
I expect varying combinations of Campbell, Godden, Leaburn, Olaofe and (if signed) Apter will be tried/used depending on the situation.
Rob Apter is a firm fan favourite of the NTT20 presenters which bodes well.
My question is can he play RWB even if Small was hardly your typical WB given how high he played. Took a quick look at RA's defensive stats on FootMob over the past couple of seasons. Seems good in duels (probably his pace) likes to make a block and wins possession high up the pitch which is crucial for goals and chances on transition.
I then compared him to Small he's much less successful in the tackle very similar in duels, better in making recoveries but gets dribbled past more often. Given the much higher attacking output hes seems on paper to be a good option to play that attacking RWB role.
We could also change the shape slightly and play 343 so instead of 2 CMs and a 10 behind 2 strikers, it's 2 CMs and 2 wingers with one central striker.
NJ prefers 2 up top but modern football dictates a much more fluid approach to formations.
This is similar to how we lined up last season where out of possession we had a flat back 5, 2 central midfielders and Godden up top alone with TC and Berry dropping deeper or out wide to cover marauding players, but then in possession Small would play much higher than Edwards, with Ramsay moving across to a fullback role, TC going up top but also wide on the left, and Coventry dropping to just in front of the defence, whilst Berry pushed up behind Godden.
Playing 343 (with someone like Apter at RW) Would mean you can play Ramsay as the RWB and still have an attacking threat down the right hand side, and if you have Edwards pushing up on the left a bit more, then TC can still slot in closer to Godden, almost a flip of the formation last season
Interestingly (well maybe) there was a lot of talk on NTT20 about how the majority of team pivoted away from a back 3 over the course of last season and back to a back four, maybe there will be a change to combat this.
I guess at this stage don't know. NJ seemed very fixed on one formation at the start of the season, it almost got him sacked and we went then through a few formations before landing on the strange lop-sided 352 we saw success with. Maybe the same happens this season.
Small played so high for us that our formation was usually described by Sky and other outlets as 433. With Apter it's less about whether he's attacking enough and more whether he can provide the defensive cover needed to stop Ramsay getting overrun. To replace Small we were always going to be looking more at a winger with some defensive nous rather than a very attacking defender because Small is a bit of a rarity at the level he's at. My only reservation with Apter is I was hoping we'd replace Small with another lightning fast player to offset Edwards being a bit slower as it was Small's speed that allowed us to play lopsided the way we did. I don't think Apter is slow but he's also not anywhere near someone like Campbell and that might cause us to lose a bit of what made us so dangerous last season
Interestingly (well maybe) there was a lot of talk on NTT20 about how the majority of team pivoted away from a back 3 over the course of last season and back to a back four, maybe there will be a change to combat this.
I guess at this stage don't know. NJ seemed very fixed on one formation at the start of the season, it almost got him sacked and we went then through a few formations before landing on the strange lop-sided 352 we saw success with. Maybe the same happens this season.
That's a bit steep, I don't think Nathan's job was ever in jeopardy, he was finding his best formation and line-up, which came good in December iirc...
I ask wed my father in law who is a Blackpool season ticket holder, if Apter was any good:
“Yep, young and a bit naive at times, classic winger, would be a big loss for us 😩”
we already have a young, naive winger in Campbell. No point in spending a small shedload for another one
It is if you have the right plan and coaching. You only have to see the incredible advance TC has taken in one year.
so you advocate playing with 2 wingers ? .. one is a luxury, two an expensive extravagance
Why not?
It might not be plan A, but could work for plan B.
We will need plenty of different tactics this season depending on the opposition. No reason why TC and Apter coming down the wings wouldn't be effective at times.
I ask wed my father in law who is a Blackpool season ticket holder, if Apter was any good:
“Yep, young and a bit naive at times, classic winger, would be a big loss for us 😩”
we already have a young, naive winger in Campbell. No point in spending a small shedload for another one
It is if you have the right plan and coaching. You only have to see the incredible advance TC has taken in one year.
so you advocate playing with 2 wingers ? .. one is a luxury, two an expensive extravagance
Only if you are actually playing with classic wingers, which is not something that Jones really does. If you look at the role Small actually played last season he was a bit like a full back a bit like a wing back and a bit like a winger but not entirely any of these.
Campbell similarly is more of a forward who plays wide than a traditional winger (under Jones).
So yes, absolutely there are ways to play both at once. I don't think we are necessarily after Apter as a 1 for 1 Small replacement but I think we want him for a very specific reason and it won't be to play as a traditional winger.
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From that I think this will be JRCs chance to nail down a regular role in CM, with the option of covering at RWB.
I expect varying combinations of Campbell, Godden, Leaburn, Olaofe and (if signed) Apter will be tried/used depending on the situation.
My question is can he play RWB even if Small was hardly your typical WB given how high he played. Took a quick look at RA's defensive stats on FootMob over the past couple of seasons. Seems good in duels (probably his pace) likes to make a block and wins possession high up the pitch which is crucial for goals and chances on transition.
I then compared him to Small he's much less successful in the tackle very similar in duels, better in making recoveries but gets dribbled past more often. Given the much higher attacking output hes seems on paper to be a good option to play that attacking RWB role.
NJ prefers 2 up top but modern football dictates a much more fluid approach to formations.
This is similar to how we lined up last season where out of possession we had a flat back 5, 2 central midfielders and Godden up top alone with TC and Berry dropping deeper or out wide to cover marauding players, but then in possession Small would play much higher than Edwards, with Ramsay moving across to a fullback role, TC going up top but also wide on the left, and Coventry dropping to just in front of the defence, whilst Berry pushed up behind Godden.
Playing 343 (with someone like Apter at RW) Would mean you can play Ramsay as the RWB and still have an attacking threat down the right hand side, and if you have Edwards pushing up on the left a bit more, then TC can still slot in closer to Godden, almost a flip of the formation last season
I guess at this stage don't know. NJ seemed very fixed on one formation at the start of the season, it almost got him sacked and we went then through a few formations before landing on the strange lop-sided 352 we saw success with. Maybe the same happens this season.
“Yep, young and a bit naive at times, classic winger, would be a big loss for us 😩”
Campbell similarly is more of a forward who plays wide than a traditional winger (under Jones).
So yes, absolutely there are ways to play both at once. I don't think we are necessarily after Apter as a 1 for 1 Small replacement but I think we want him for a very specific reason and it won't be to play as a traditional winger.