toddy Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Is our squad stronger than last season? For automatic promotion we would need to be 26 pts better than last season. Possible yes, likely no, unless we bring in quality players and they gell together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Day Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Just now, toddy said: Is our squad stronger than last season? Yes, we have Chris Martin back in the number 9 shirt, proper 100% British beef striker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddy Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 13 minutes ago, David said: Yes, we have Chris Martin back in the number 9 shirt, proper 100% British beef striker. Thinking more of rice pudding than beef! Minus possibly our best midfielder and also the best winger/inside forward we have had for years.....stronger Hmm not too sure..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Day Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 5 minutes ago, toddy said: Thinking more of rice pudding than beef! Minus possibly our best midfielder and also the best winger/inside forward we have had for years.....stronger Hmm not too sure..... Mr Mainwaring just text me "Transfer window still open" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddy Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 1 minute ago, David said: Mr Mainwaring just text me "Transfer window still open" Yes, I know just waiting to see who we bring in that GR thinks are better than Hughes and Ince! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Day Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 3 minutes ago, toddy said: Yes, I know just waiting to see who we bring in that GR thinks are better than Hughes and Ince! Might not be better individuals but maybe players that want to be at the club, will fit his system and be sufficient quality to achieve promotion. Have to remember both wanted to leave, at no point Rowett has said we sold them as we can bring in better players. On Ince he did talk about a high quality replacement though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparkle Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 5 minutes ago, toddy said: Yes, I know just waiting to see who we bring in that GR thinks are better than Hughes and Ince! They might not be better technically and individually but the team might be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angieram Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 In my opinion: Goalkeeping - same but happy with what we've got Left Back - stronger - Fozzy and now Lowe in full training Right back - stronger - Wisdom Central defence - stronger as it stands - Curtis Davies added (would go back to same if Keogh goes) Midfield - neutral - Hughes out; Thorne (nearly) back - however, probably our weakest area last year so see below Up front - stronger - Martin back; Blackman fit; Nugent settled in and with a pre-season Wings - weaker - Ince out - our biggest miss on last season's form Team spirit - stronger at moment - can change and will improve further if we lose one or two fringe players. So for me, to be stronger all round I would like to see a cracking winger to replace Ince and a physical midfielder as I think we were short of this anyway last season. Verdict - as it is, I still think we're slightly stronger than last season at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFox1993 Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Hey guys ! been reading this forum for years and years and finally decided to create an account ( probably due to the irrational fear of being mistaken for a Leicester fan! ) . Anyways back to the topic at hand . I'm feeling fairly enthusiastic about the upcoming season , while selling ince and hughes looks on paper to be bad moves i think that aslong as we can bring in real quality replacements and lower the squad size we will actually do better than if they stayed. Im predicting us finishing 4th and to bring in a DM and possibly 2 wingers , one younger and another who is proven at this level. So yea hi everyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeedsCityRam Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 I'm pretty positive even after the sale of Hughes & Ince - 2 players I desperately didn't want to leave. Firstly, I've got more confidence in Rowett than any of our most recent bosses - he strikes me as a man with a plan & capable of setting teams up to go away to Sunderland, Villa, Boro etc and come away with a result. That arguably is more important than bashing teams at home - which we've shown over the past 3/4 years that we're well capable of. Secondly, the 'new faces' - this isn't just the very solid signings of Davies & Wisdom but the return of Martin, Forsyth & Thorne - thats 5 quality players coming into our first XI. A massive infusion of talent. Lastly, I'm pleased we're reducing the size of the squad & this is what I believe has held us back for the past 2 years. Bloated squads lead to players being under-utilised, becoming unhappy/demotivated and teams becoming disjointed & apathetic. I want to see the likes of Blackman, Butterfield & Weimann given some genuine responsibility & consistent runs in the team - if they're then proven to be short of the standard needed, only then should we look to get rid. I still think there's some culling to do (probably Bent & Shackell at least) but I really don't want anymore than 2 coming in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TroyDyer Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 I'm indifferent. Renewing was quite the heart over head this year. As much as I wanted to stay grounded, I allowed the SM and early Clement eras to get me dreaming. The inevitable crash back to Earth has left a scar. As long as I see a team that gives a s**t as much as the fans do, I'll take that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKRam Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 1 hour ago, LeedsCityRam said: I'm pretty positive even after the sale of Hughes & Ince - 2 players I desperately didn't want to leave. Firstly, I've got more confidence in Rowett than any of our most recent bosses - he strikes me as a man with a plan & capable of setting teams up to go away to Sunderland, Villa, Boro etc and come away with a result. That arguably is more important than bashing teams at home - which we've shown over the past 3/4 years that we're well capable of. Secondly, the 'new faces' - this isn't just the very solid signings of Davies & Wisdom but the return of Martin, Forsyth & Thorne - thats 5 quality players coming into our first XI. A massive infusion of talent. Lastly, I'm pleased we're reducing the size of the squad & this is what I believe has held us back for the past 2 years. Bloated squads lead to players being under-utilised, becoming unhappy/demotivated and teams becoming disjointed & apathetic. I want to see the likes of Blackman, Butterfield & Weimann given some genuine responsibility & consistent runs in the team - if they're then proven to be short of the standard needed, only then should we look to get rid. I still think there's some culling to do (probably Bent & Shackell at least) but I really don't want anymore than 2 coming in. Top post LeedsCity. Wanted to add to your 'heart' PS Johan Cruyff legend agreed ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwram1973 Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 I'm excited, looking forward to what GR can do. Like his 1st 2 signings. I'm looking forward to seeing us play a different style too, this pretty football was easy on the eye and made for some very exciting games, but has in 3-4 years failed to get us out of the league. I'm all for the fast direct approach because with the quality we have we will crush lesser teams in this league. We were too ponderous in our play before, playing along the back, not getting forward quick enough, so even the lesser teams could set up to defend as we made it too easy for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertRam Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Still very confident, more so now. We have some mouthwatering matches to come with the likes of Sunderland, Boro Leeds Villa the 2 sheffields and Fulham and newly rich Wolves to name a few, but when I look at the team sheet and the proposed replacements I see a stronger team, couple this with GR and we have a winning formula. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archied Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 3 hours ago, LeedsCityRam said: I'm pretty positive even after the sale of Hughes & Ince - 2 players I desperately didn't want to leave. Firstly, I've got more confidence in Rowett than any of our most recent bosses - he strikes me as a man with a plan & capable of setting teams up to go away to Sunderland, Villa, Boro etc and come away with a result. That arguably is more important than bashing teams at home - which we've shown over the past 3/4 years that we're well capable of. Secondly, the 'new faces' - this isn't just the very solid signings of Davies & Wisdom but the return of Martin, Forsyth & Thorne - thats 5 quality players coming into our first XI. A massive infusion of talent. Lastly, I'm pleased we're reducing the size of the squad & this is what I believe has held us back for the past 2 years. Bloated squads lead to players being under-utilised, becoming unhappy/demotivated and teams becoming disjointed & apathetic. I want to see the likes of Blackman, Butterfield & Weimann given some genuine responsibility & consistent runs in the team - if they're then proven to be short of the standard needed, only then should we look to get rid. I still think there's some culling to do (probably Bent & Shackell at least) but I really don't want anymore than 2 coming in. The squad size issue is a bit of a dammed if you do dammed if you don't type thing that has possibly been used as a bit of a stick to beat mel and Derby management ,, whilst I think we have found out that it's counter productive having too big a squad it's fair to say most of us would feel that we would have been promoted already if we weren't so bloody out and out unlucky with injuries to key players at vital times and not only that their back up players have been injured at same times so not a spread of injuries through the side but rather debilitating total wipe outs at times ,,, I think we have over spent and over recruited as a reaction to this with the emphasis more on having numbers back up as opposed to real first team improvement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
europia Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 It's not easy to predict, but with a weaker squad due to departures of Ince & Hughes, finishing higher than last season is going to be extremely difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeedsCityRam Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 4 hours ago, archied said: The squad size issue is a bit of a dammed if you do dammed if you don't type thing that has possibly been used as a bit of a stick to beat mel and Derby management ,, whilst I think we have found out that it's counter productive having too big a squad it's fair to say most of us would feel that we would have been promoted already if we weren't so bloody out and out unlucky with injuries to key players at vital times and not only that their back up players have been injured at same times so not a spread of injuries through the side but rather debilitating total wipe outs at times ,,, I think we have over spent and over recruited as a reaction to this with the emphasis more on having numbers back up as opposed to real first team improvement Fair point about the injuries - we have been very unlucky in key areas. Like you say though, some signings have just been squad fillers rather than improvements to the first XI & I genuinely don't know why we haven't looked to the youth team or lower divisions to pad out the squad rather than expensive ex-Premiership players/Championship players in a bit of form. I hope Rowett continues to only buy players who are indisputably better than what we have. Wisdom & Davies so far past that test for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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