A team to get us promoted and drool over. Could it happen?

[B.W.]

Sorry wasn't aware he'd said that. I still prefer the 451 to be honest and think that'll be used a lot, especially away from home.

Our players look comfortable and settled in 451 in my opinion.

Fair enough away, bad idea at home, IMHO... still, Gus did say he wants 2 strikers up top, and that is what counts, i.e. his opinion, not ours...

 

[B.W.]

Did you not see the second half of last season. Taking points from the second half of the season we came fifth, so what has changed? We have lost Crofts and Lua Lua (who will hopefully sign again this week) but other players like Virgo and Forster barely played in the second half of last season. We have signed the likes of Sparrow, Greer, Kishishev as well as getting Painter and Barnes to sign permanently. What players were you expecting us to sign who were household names? How many players recognised by football fans across the country did Millwall and Norwich have last year. Not spending money is a sign of Gus' shrewdness in the transfer market, I bet if we had spent big money on Sparrow you would be raving about him.

Spot on there FS...

 

[B.W.]

" We have signed the likes of Sparrow, Greer, Kishishev as well as getting Painter and Barnes to sign "

And ?.

And you clearly have no idea what a good player looks like?

 

[Rookie]

We had one of the " best squads " last season and were 21st after 17 games. Most of our players are freebies and unknowns. We do not have a single player any football fan across the country would particularly recognise or rate. There has been very little money spent so why do you think it is so good.

Money spent does not make a good team, see last season.
Its league 1 do you really think teams are going to have household names. Can you name the Wednesday team or the Charlton team?

 

[mcshane in the 79th]

It is boring and predictable, and I don't think Gus is that. We will use an intelligent system designed to play the ball well. Whatever that is, it is prolly not a traditional 442.

That's my thinking behind it.

I really do think we'll play 90% of the time in the 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation - with one lone striker and the two wide men dropping back to help the full backs defend but then also be right up there on the attack. Possibly even drifting inside slightly to allow Painter and Calderon to bomb forward and cross the ball in.

 

[Perkino]

451 uses THREE attacking players, so I don't know why, if he said he wanted to use two, people assume 442!?

It is boring and predictable, and I don't think Gus is that. We will use an intelligent system designed to play the ball well. Whatever that is, it is prolly not a traditional 442.

4-4-2 gives you 4 attacking players, possibly 5 depending on the central midfielders

 

[B.W.]

451 uses THREE attacking players, so I don't know why, if he said he wanted to use two, people assume 442!?

It is boring and predictable, and I don't think Gus is that. We will use an intelligent system designed to play the ball well. Whatever that is, it is prolly not a traditional 442.

Well, we were EXTREMELY impressive on Sat, but looked like we couldn't score in a brothel, and that was using 4-5-1... we made about 5/6 great chances and failed to take all but one worldy from EB...

Put it like this, we need another striker more than we need another wide player, IMHO...

 

[B.W.]

4-4-2 gives you 4 attacking players, possibly 5 depending on the central midfielders

Yes!

 

[westy]

Well, we were EXTREMELY impressive on Sat, but looked like we couldn't score in a brothel, and that was using 4-5-1... we made about 5/6 great chances and failed to take all but one worldy from EB...

Put it like this, we need another striker more than we need another wide player, IMHO...

Agreed.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

" We have signed the likes of Sparrow, Greer, Kishishev as well as getting Painter and Barnes to sign "

And ?.

What exactly is the point of this response? My point was pretty obvious. We had a strong team at the end of last season, which came fifth in the division in the second half of last season. Painter, Barnes, Calderon and Brezovan were all key parts of that run and have signed up. We have lost Crofts and Lua Lua but have strengthened too. They may not be household names but Sparrow was a regular in the Championship last year, Greer was captain and a key player for a team who were in the play offs and Kishishev played for Bulgaria in May so they are all good signings.

I will ask again as you didn't answer last time. Why are you so negative when we had such a good run in the second half of last season, have only lost one or two players from that squad (who have been replaced) and have bought in some really good signings. We also, in my view, have one of the best managers/coaching setups in the league.

Finally, you say we have not signed any "household names". Ignoring the fact that no teams at this level do that, who had heard of Painter, Calderon, Brezovan, Lua Lua etc before we signed them last season but they made a big difference to our team. It is fair enough to say we might not make the play offs (as I think we are far from guaranteed a place in the top six) but to say we are far off it and our signings are poor because we haven't brought in any household names is ridiculous.

 

[Biscuit]

We had a strong team at the end of last season, which came fifth in the division in the second half of last season. Painter, Barnes, Calderon and Brezovan were all key parts of that run and have signed up. We have lost Crofts and Lua Lua but have strengthened too. They may not be household names but Sparrow was a regular in the Championship last year, Greer was captain and a key player for a team who were in the play offs and Kishishev played for Bulgaria in May so they are all good signings.

:albion1: :albion1:

 

[Finchley Seagull]

Well, we were EXTREMELY impressive on Sat, but looked like we couldn't score in a brothel, and that was using 4-5-1... we made about 5/6 great chances and failed to take all but one worldy from EB...

Put it like this, we need another striker more than we need another wide player, IMHO...

I agree that I would prefer 4-4-2, especially at home, as I felt the one slight problem we had under Poyet last season was the striker was quite isolated at times. Having said that, I think 4-5-1 has it uses, especially for difficult away games like Swindon and with the added factor of Murray's ban. With the three man midfield working so well together, I am sure it will be 4-5-1 for the first two games but it will be interesting to see how we line up at home to Rochdale.

 

[B.W.]

I partly agree in that we need to be more clinical, whether that means a new striker or wide man who can score as well or one of the guys we have becoming more prolific in front of goal I don't mind.
Personally 5/6 chances should give us 2 or 3 nil win really with the rigidity and ball retention that the 5 men in middle provide.

Agree with most of that, but we are just so close to being a top side in this league... 1 striker and we are almost there IMHO; I am assuming Lua Lua or similar will also be signed... Tony and Gus realise this I believe, but we are fast running out of time to maximise our promotion chances... we do NOT want another poor start; that would be a BIG mistake... time to get the cheque book out, again IMHO...

 

[Dandyman]

What exactly is the point of this response? My point was pretty obvious. We had a strong team at the end of last season, which came fifth in the division in the second half of last season. Painter, Barnes, Calderon and Brezovan were all key parts of that run and have signed up. We have lost Crofts and Lua Lua but have strengthened too. They may not be household names but Sparrow was a regular in the Championship last year, Greer was captain and a key player for a team who were in the play offs and Kishishev played for Bulgaria in May so they are all good signings.

I will ask again as you didn't answer last time. Why are you so negative when we had such a good run in the second half of last season, have only lost one or two players from that squad (who have been replaced) and have bought in some really good signings. We also, in my view, have one of the best managers/coaching setups in the league.

Finally, you say we have not signed any "household names". Ignoring the fact that no teams at this level do that, who had heard of Painter, Calderon, Brezovan, Lua Lua etc before we signed them last season but they made a big difference to our team. It is fair enough to say we might not make the play offs (as I think we are far from guaranteed a place in the top six) but to say we are far off it and our signings are poor because we haven't brought in any household names is ridiculous.

Good post. The club IMO has demonstrated it's ambition. We need to get ourselves promoted and playing Championship football for the starting season at Falmer. If we are significantly off that goal come January then criticism will be justified, at the moment it just seems like pointless sniping.

 

[B.W.]

I agree that I would prefer 4-4-2, especially at home, as I felt the one slight problem we had under Poyet last season was the striker was quite isolated at times. Having said that, I think 4-5-1 has it uses, especially for difficult away games like Swindon and with the added factor of Murray's ban. With the three man midfield working so well together, I am sure it will be 4-5-1 for the first two games but it will be interesting to see how we line up at home to Rochdale.

I agree that we will probably go 4-5-1 at Swindon, but not sure we will if we manage to sign a top striker... there is still time, and I'm still hopeful that we complete our squad BEFORE the season proper starts...

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

What exactly is the point of this response? My point was pretty obvious. We had a strong team at the end of last season, which came fifth in the division in the second half of last season. Painter, Barnes, Calderon and Brezovan were all key parts of that run and have signed up. We have lost Crofts and Lua Lua but have strengthened too. They may not be household names but Sparrow was a regular in the Championship last year, Greer was captain and a key player for a team who were in the play offs and Kishishev played for Bulgaria in May so they are all good signings.

I will ask again as you didn't answer last time. Why are you so negative when we had such a good run in the second half of last season, have only lost one or two players from that squad (who have been replaced) and have bought in some really good signings. We also, in my view, have one of the best managers/coaching setups in the league.

At the moment you are laying into me but the facts are WE HAVE NOT PLAYED A SINGLE GAME YET. Has that escaped you ?. You may be right, I may be right but the signings are yet to be tested. My opinion is the signings are ok but nothing special and we will finish 9th. Some people think we will walk the league and I am saying our squad is NOWHERE near good enough to do that imo.

My opinion is we will be in league one for the first season at Falmer and will mount a serious challenge for promotion that season. We will be in the Championship with 2-3 years of starting at Falmer, consolidate and consider a push for the premiership in years 5-7.

Lets revisit this after 10 games.

Finally, you say we have not signed any "household names". Ignoring the fact that no teams at this level do that, who had heard of Painter, Calderon, Brezovan, Lua Lua etc before we signed them last season but they made a big difference to our team. It is fair enough to say we might not make the play offs (as I think we are far from guaranteed a place in the top six) but to say we are far off it and our signings are poor because we haven't brought in any household names is ridiculous.

Finally, you say we have not signed any "household names". Ignoring the fact that no teams at this level do that, who had heard of Painter, Calderon, Brezovan, Lua Lua etc before we signed them last season but they made a big difference to our team. It is fair enough to say we might not make the play offs (as I think we are far from guaranteed a place in the top six) but to say we are far off it and our signings are poor because we haven't brought in any household names is ridiculous.[/QUOTE]

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

At the moment you are laying into me but the facts are WE HAVE NOT PLAYED A SINGLE GAME YET. Has that escaped you ?. You may be right, I may be right but the signings are yet to be tested. My opinion is the signings are ok but nothing special and we will finish 9th. Some people think we will walk the league and I am saying our squad is NOWHERE near good enough to do that imo. Lets revisit this after 10 games.

My opinion is we will be in league one for the first season at Falmer and will mount a serious challenge for promotion that season. We will be in the Championship within 2-3 years of starting at Falmer, consolidate and consider a push for the premiership in years 5-7.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

I agree that we will probably go 4-5-1 at Swindon, but not sure we will if we manage to sign a top striker... there is still time, and I'm still hopeful that we complete our squad BEFORE the season proper starts...

I am hopeful too. Poyet knows what he is doing and I would be surprised if we don't sign one or two players this week. Lets hope for a couple of quality signings before Saturday!

 

[B.W.]

I am hopeful too. Poyet knows what he is doing and I would be surprised if we don't sign one or two players this week. Lets hope for a couple of quality signings before Saturday!

I have to agree with that... in Gus we trust!

 

[Finchley Seagull]

At the moment you are laying into me but the facts are WE HAVE NOT PLAYED A SINGLE GAME YET. Has that escaped you ?. You may be right, I may be right but the signings are yet to be tested. My opinion is the signings are ok but nothing special and we will finish 9th. Some people think we will walk the league and I am saying our squad is NOWHERE near good enough to do that imo. Lets revisit this after 10 games.

My opinion is we will be in league one for the first season at Falmer and will mount a serious challenge for promotion that season. We will be in the Championship within 2-3 years of starting at Falmer, consolidate and consider a push for the premiership in years 5-7.

I have never said that we are going to walk this league and to be honest most people on here say that we are hoping for a play off place at best.

I am "laying into you" as you put it (although I would say debating with) because we don't need such blatant negativity at this stage and you have absolutely no basis for saying that we are nowhere near good enough. My basis is we had a good second half of last season and have, in my view, strengthened since then. This leads me to believe we will be very close to a top six place and hopefully will be in the play offs.

Finally, you are suddenly very defensive without really answering any of my questions. You are accusing me of jumping the gun by saying we have a good squad before a game has been played yet you are writing off the squad at the same time. Also, I can read so you don't need to use capital letters to shout certain words.