Why I am postive about this transfer window. TLDR....really f**king long.

First of all outgoings.
Sainz was decent business with only a short time remaining. While his stats last season looked impressive there should be the context that we played a very open style which favors attacking stats. And it looked to be a fluke season he is unlikely to repeat.
Getting rid of Onel and Gunn, 100% fine with based on wages as we could bring in 3-5 players for the same money. (and have)
Lungi I had mixed feelings, if he wasn't such a sicknote he was an incredibly versatile steady player at this level.
TBF bringing in Schlupp has filled that gap and is without doubt an improvement.
One we let go that we might regret is Jonathan Tomkinson. Clearly the club didn't see enough in his loan moves to think he will make it at this level.
I have to respect that.
Its still up in the air if Sarge will leave.
I did a post about this a few months ago where I expected we would absolutely get offers but I'm not sure clubs would be willing to pay what we want because of his injury issues.
If we took a low ball offer it would be impossible to replace him for what we paid.
I would rather we just sold Nunez and kept Sarge who wouldn't be over worked (in terms of minutes) as we will have more forward options

The in-comings have been great, lots of experience and quality at a decent level.
Amongst the back 5 and GK we looked to have upgraded in every position.
Lots of quality, lots of competition.
We look to have both the quality and depth at the back to stop the goals this season as long as we arnt too open.
Midfield and up front. Wright looks a good signing, the rest we just don't really know but on paper/youtube they look good.
In this division teams like Burnley and Sheff Utd proved that having a solid defense is more important than an incredible attack (both scored less goals than us to finish 2nd and 3rd)
You all know the stats, sides who finish 3rd and 4th have a much greater chance of promotion than those finishing 5th and 6th. (better sides win more, shocking I know)

Here is the BIG difference this season to last.

Last year it was a project, inexperienced coaching and management team, develop youth players and slowly build a squad while integrating them.
Playing a fixed open style which enhances the stats of the attacking players allowing us to resell for top dollar (TBF that part worked)

This year. experienced coaching staff, Knapper more experienced ....squad depth improved....Pragmatic flexible solid style.....lots of experience....We want to win NOW!

I was very scathing of Knapper last year on transfer business because frankly I think we vastly overpaid for the likes of Jurásek and Crnac, not sure even Forson or Cordoba look good value for what we paid.
(To be 100% clear I don't think any of the 4 players are bad, just we overpaid)

This window we paid 1.5M less combined for Darling, Medic and Schlupp than we did for Cordoba alone.
Thats more like it, lots of depth. Moneyball baby!

I cannot stress how important squad depth is in the champs with a possible 55-60 game season (cup games and playoffs) but MOST important of all..... 5 subs in a game. (you can change 50% of outfield players, Math(s) huh!)
How many times did we look at the bench last season and could hardly see any quality or game changers (half the time we didn't even have a striker)
This year its clear we will have much more depth and bench quality.
No more playing Kenny or Lungi as CBs or Left backs
No more playing Onel as a striker.

Last season I mentioned that our finish could have tremendous variance as everything was new and inexperienced.
This season I am very positive about our chances.
IMHO if Manning doesn't finish top 6 as a minimum he should be sacked. There I said it.
As hard as I was on the club last season about our transfer business, this year they are nailing it within a fixed budget which is all you can ask.
We havnt even dipped into the loan market yet which is exciting to look forward to.
If the likes of Jurásek and Crnac could release their full potential this could be a really special season.

Posted By: usacanary, Jul 26, 18:46:03