Final Transfer Analysis

[Blue blood]

Thing is @Bigdoggsteel whilst not a guaranteed top 6 team if you look at a couple of the teams that are in it, our squad compares favourably to Barnsley and a lot of the chasing pack too. So definitely underperforming imo. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

3 hours ago, Blue blood said:

Thing is @Bigdoggsteel whilst not a guaranteed top 6 team if you look at a couple of the teams that are in it, our squad compares favourably to Barnsley and a lot of the chasing pack too. So definitely underperforming imo. 

Does it though? A lot of Barnsley lads have made names for themsleves this season. Surely some will get moves if they don't go up. Of the chasing pack, ya, maybe. Who though? Armstrong deffo, Kaminski maybe but some good keepers in this division, Lenihan maybe, Travis not currently, Rothwell probably be used the same as here, who else have we got then? Dack, ya, but he's ,well ,let's not depress ourselves more after the season we have had 

I agree we are underperforming

Edited May 7, 2021 by Bigdoggsteel

[Blue blood]

15 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Does it though? A lot of Barnsley lads have made names for themsleves this season. Surely some will get moves if they don't go up. Of the chasing pack, ya, maybe. Who though? Armstrong deffo, Kaminski maybe but some good keepers in this division, Lenihan maybe, Travis not currently, Rothwell probably be used the same as here, who else have we got then? Dack, ya, but he's ,well ,let's not depress ourselves more after the season we have had 

I agree we are underperforming

Certainly does look more dicey next season, I will give you that. 

But was our squad better or worse than Boro or Reading or Cardiff for example. I'd say better than all of those. Travis, Elliott, the City defender whose name temporarily escapes me, Nayambe, Kaminski, Lenihen, Armstrong, Rothwell. All good championship level players who can perform well at this level. Then you have talent like Holtby when fit, Gally is useful when used properly (and has done ok as a plan B for us). Warton looks comfortable at this level and of course Dack although neither in the first list due to injury. Heck even Williams is ok back up at centre back and Johnson can have occasional good days. 

So for me this season even with the transfers we did that squad should be finishing about 7th or 8th. And if a manager could have got them all performing or over performing slightly then that's playoffs for us. So even if not promotion material we should have had a huge crack at promotion. 

And that's with what we had. Just think had we recruited just a bit better we would have been massively stronger. Had we not wasted money on Ayala - practically any other CB would have had more of a positive impact - then the squad would have been even better equipped for top 6. But I am digressing into transfers. The squad really should have been in or around top 6. 

Next season though, like you I am more wary. 

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, Blue blood said:

Certainly does look more dicey next season, I will give you that. 

But was our squad better or worse than Boro or Reading or Cardiff for example. I'd say better than all of those. Travis, Elliott, the City defender whose name temporarily escapes me, Nayambe, Kaminski, Lenihen, Armstrong, Rothwell. All good championship level players who can perform well at this level. Then you have talent like Holtby when fit, Gally is useful when used properly (and has done ok as a plan B for us). Warton looks comfortable at this level and of course Dack although neither in the first list due to injury. Heck even Williams is ok back up at centre back and Johnson can have occasional good days. 

So for me this season even with the transfers we did that squad should be finishing about 7th or 8th. And if a manager could have got them all performing or over performing slightly then that's playoffs for us. So even if not promotion material we should have had a huge crack at promotion. 

And that's with what we had. Just think had we recruited just a bit better we would have been massively stronger. Had we not wasted money on Ayala - practically any other CB would have had more of a positive impact - then the squad would have been even better equipped for top 6. But I am digressing into transfers. The squad really should have been in or around top 6. 

Next season though, like you I am more wary. 

Its obviously a totally subjective discussion topic once you remove managers but I would disagree that our squad is better than those you mention, in particular Reading. They have a number of good players, they have Joao, Swift, Olise, Ejaria, Meite and Puscas in attacking positions, I would put Armstrong just about above all of those, but overall they have better attackers than us, and are pretty solid all round, Cabral in net is probably of a similar level to Kaminski, their 2 central midfielders are very consistent, their centre backs very experienced and Richards at left back has agreed a deal with Bayern Munich.

Cardiff and Boro both have obvious examples of quality managers, the former has a goalscorer like us, but I would probably say there isnt too much between the 3 clubs. The likes of Travis, Nyambe, Lenihan and Rothwell, I suspect they could give or take. 

[Oldgregg86]

i know barnsley looked as shite as we did and with the same players got into the play offs under a new manager

[Blue blood]

Like you say @roversfan99 it's pretty subjective but I can certainly see your argument. Personally I think we strongly edge the likes of Boro and Cardiff, especially as you say they have a strong manager and we haven't seen any of our players have that boost or allow them to show their potential. 

Reading you make a good case for and I may have to revise that. Perhaps it's a legacy of seeing a number of poor Reading teams over the years and that they have been hot and cold over this year (more hot tbf) and thinking the cold looks very poor. They'd be the playoff team I think is clearly the weakest. 

Still opinions are what make football interesting and either way am sure we all agree we have hugely underperformed. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

18 hours ago, Blue blood said:

Certainly does look more dicey next season, I will give you that. 

But was our squad better or worse than Boro or Reading or Cardiff for example. I'd say better than all of those. Travis, Elliott, the City defender whose name temporarily escapes me, Nayambe, Kaminski, Lenihen, Armstrong, Rothwell. All good championship level players who can perform well at this level. Then you have talent like Holtby when fit, Gally is useful when used properly (and has done ok as a plan B for us). Warton looks comfortable at this level and of course Dack although neither in the first list due to injury. Heck even Williams is ok back up at centre back and Johnson can have occasional good days. 

So for me this season even with the transfers we did that squad should be finishing about 7th or 8th. And if a manager could have got them all performing or over performing slightly then that's playoffs for us. So even if not promotion material we should have had a huge crack at promotion. 

And that's with what we had. Just think had we recruited just a bit better we would have been massively stronger. Had we not wasted money on Ayala - practically any other CB would have had more of a positive impact - then the squad would have been even better equipped for top 6. But I am digressing into transfers. The squad really should have been in or around top 6. 

Next season though, like you I am more wary. 

No, I can't agree that Rothwell is much use, too inconsistent. Bit of a push to say Holtby is any use as well. The others ,ok really, but none guaranteed starters for any of the top 6 barring probably Armstrong. A decent manager top 10 yes. Play offs would have taken a manager getting them playing better and more consistent than any of them have to date. It's all on Mowbray anyway. It's his squad. 

Reading ,Cardiff and Boro. You could argue that either way who has the better squad. It's probably 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. All have some good players,none have enough. 

Edited May 8, 2021 by Bigdoggsteel