Our recruitment

[dooderooni]

I was more worried about the Gibson/ Carrick dynamic being the other way around, and Carrick walking. What do we know eh.

Very true. It looked to me that we were trying to replicate our play from last season without having the players to do so. I was hoping Carrick would tighten us up, but what he has done is switch it up and now it's Jones doing the Giles and Crooks doing the Chuba and we look very good at the moment.
Gets the new lads out of the firing line and lets them get up to speed.

 

[coluka]

Happy to put my head above the parapet. I have been critical game by game and praised individuals game by game. The phrase ‘as things stand’ will be irrelevant to the deliberate message the OP is trying to stir.

Silvera isn’t getting a look in, Rogers clearly had some attributes but lacked consistency, Dieng has always been praised as was O’Brien. Greenwood still has a way to go, Gilbert has disappeared, RVDB has been given credit, I stuck up for Engels at Millwall and pointed out he was positive taking up positions at Sheff Weds and that his experienced teammates were not passing to him that game. He has done well since his re-emergence. Glover has made a few gaffs in the cup games and is raw.

However, the positive results have come as a result of the going back to last years squad that remained as our backbone, Smith, Jones, Crooks, Coburn as the No9 grafting as he does, keeping Lath out, the player we spent money on (for now). The newer lads have had time on the training field to integrate. They were never oven ready starters, some clearly still aren’t and Carrick has been careful to not have too many in at once. The real proof will be as and when they have played a good regular number of games showing they are undroppable (still a way to go there), only Dieng has done that for me. Engel is performing better, has always looked positive going forwards, but is susceptible to pace defensively. Bangura, who knows yet.

We are sat 13th in the league, with some difficult games coming up. We have played 7 teams below us and lost 4, drawn 2 winning only one, yet above us we have played 5 won 4 lost one. That is a bizarre set of results, it indicates to me we struggle to break teams down who sit in, that wont get lost on teams. Far too early to say recruitment is a success, some people are getting a little misty eyed too soon, it will only be a potential success if we make the playoffs, a feat that is far from certain. I am enjoying our run and credit to Carrick and his coaching team for his ability in doing what he has, but it is a long old season still. Carrick is someone we need to keep on board no matter where this season ends up.

 

[h_m_boro]

Happy to put my head above the parapet. I have been critical game by game and praised individuals game by game. The phrase ‘as things stand’ will be irrelevant to the deliberate message the OP is trying to stir.

Silvera isn’t getting a look in, Rogers clearly had some attributes but lacked consistency, Dieng has always been praised as was O’Brien. Greenwood still has a way to go, Gilbert has disappeared, RVDB has been given credit, I stuck up for Engels at Millwall and pointed out he was positive taking up positions at Sheff Weds and that his experienced teammates were not passing to him that game. He has done well since his re-emergence. Glover has made a few gaffs in the cup games and is raw.

However, the positive results have come as a result of the going back to last years squad that remained as our backbone, Smith, Jones, Crooks, Coburn as the No9 grafting as he does, keeping Lath out, the player we spent money on (for now). The newer lads have had time on the training field to integrate. They were never oven ready starters, some clearly still aren’t and Carrick has been careful to not have too many in at once. The real proof will be as and when they have played a good regular number of games showing they are undroppable (still a way to go there), only Dieng has done that for me. Engel is performing better, has always looked positive going forwards, but is susceptible to pace defensively. Bangura, who knows yet.

We are sat 13th in the league, with some difficult games coming up. We have played 7 teams below us and lost 4, drawn 2 winning only one, yet above us we have played 5 won 4 lost one. That is a bizarre set of results, it indicates to me we struggle to break teams down who sit in, that wont get lost on teams. Far too early to say recruitment is a success, some people are getting a little misty eyed too soon, it will only be a potential success if we make the playoffs, a feat that is far from certain. I am enjoying our run and credit to Carrick and his coaching team for his ability in doing what he has, but it is a long old season still. Carrick is someone we need to keep on board no matter where this season ends up.

Think you have explained why we have lost games to so many teams below us - players were too raw, not ready, and definitely not plug and play.

Hungover from last season - probably some of that too.

The players brought in were not ready for Carricks system. It has taken time.

I would bet £2 that if we played Millwall, Coventry and QPR in the next three weeks we would beat them all.

Long old season indeed

 

[Frozen Horse]

If we were measuring success by asking "are we immediately as good, if not better, than we were at the end of last season", recruitment had failed. We are not yet as good as we were then.

That would also be an ignorant anc naive measure. We played a short term game last season: expensive loan signings hoping for quick success, but needing a complete rebuild if it didn't work.

The bigger the rebuild, the longer it will take to gel. No surprise in hindsight that we had such a slow start.

However, I do feel we've laid the foundation for continued upward progress if we don't go up this year.

It used to be that a player coming from overseas was given a year to adjust to the English game. Now we want to write the off after 3 matches if they've not delivered yet.

 

[Muttley]

Far too early to say recruitment is a success

Indeed exactly right, yet six games or so ago people were declaring recruitment a failure and demanding the heads of anyone that was involved in the recruitment (and quite a few that weren't). They produced statistics stretching back into the previous season that proved it beyond doubt. Yet here we are.

 

[festa5]

We are sat 13th in the league, with some difficult games coming up. We have played 7 teams below us and lost 4, drawn 2 winning only one, yet above us we have played 5 won 4 lost one. That is a bizarre set of results, it indicates to me we struggle to break teams down who sit in, that wont get lost on teams.

It's does suggest that, but that wasn't the reality of most of those matches.

We missed absolute gilt edged chances in most of those games. We could (and should) have scored 4 past Huddersfield alone, 3 past Coventry etc.....

We weren't struggling to break them down and create openings, we were struggling to put those chances away. That was then compounded by daft errors at the back (from defenders and midfielders) and the opposition being absolutely lethal when they had a sniff. That's football, it happens.

The stats always suggested that trend wouldn't continue if we carried on creating as we had been. But we've clearly gone up a level in all areas too. No doubt heavily influenced by the confidence a win brings, but also having the more experienced lads back in the side as you've said.

Any team will struggle to break down teams that sit in, but I think we're probably one of the better sides at finding a way to create chances against those tactics.

 

[Frozen Horse]

I think you're reading a bit too much into early season form Coluka.

There's always a few results in the first few weeks that look odd at the end of the season.

Plus, with so many new players, so much change, it's hard to hit the ground running. Doesn't matter how many friendlies you play: competitive matches are needed for a team to gel

 

[The Card Cheat]

Happy to put my head above the parapet. I have been critical game by game and praised individuals game by game. The phrase ‘as things stand’ will be irrelevant to the deliberate message the OP is trying to stir.

Silvera isn’t getting a look in, Rogers clearly had some attributes but lacked consistency, Dieng has always been praised as was O’Brien. Greenwood still has a way to go, Gilbert has disappeared, RVDB has been given credit, I stuck up for Engels at Millwall and pointed out he was positive taking up positions at Sheff Weds and that his experienced teammates were not passing to him that game. He has done well since his re-emergence. Glover has made a few gaffs in the cup games and is raw.

However, the positive results have come as a result of the going back to last years squad that remained as our backbone, Smith, Jones, Crooks, Coburn as the No9 grafting as he does, keeping Lath out, the player we spent money on (for now). The newer lads have had time on the training field to integrate. They were never oven ready starters, some clearly still aren’t and Carrick has been careful to not have too many in at once. The real proof will be as and when they have played a good regular number of games showing they are undroppable (still a way to go there), only Dieng has done that for me. Engel is performing better, has always looked positive going forwards, but is susceptible to pace defensively. Bangura, who knows yet.

We are sat 13th in the league, with some difficult games coming up. We have played 7 teams below us and lost 4, drawn 2 winning only one, yet above us we have played 5 won 4 lost one. That is a bizarre set of results, it indicates to me we struggle to break teams down who sit in, that wont get lost on teams. Far too early to say recruitment is a success, some people are getting a little misty eyed too soon, it will only be a potential success if we make the playoffs, a feat that is far from certain. I am enjoying our run and credit to Carrick and his coaching team for his ability in doing what he has, but it is a long old season still. Carrick is someone we need to keep on board no matter where this season ends up.

But it's not that people are/were saying "our recruitment has been absolutely fantastic!".
It's a response to the many many posters who were saying "our recruitment has been an absolute disaster, league two players etc". The last few weeks has shown that's clearly not the case and with the majority of signings it's been clear why we've signed them.

 

[coluka]

It's does suggest that, but that wasn't the reality of most of those matches.

We missed absolute gilt edged chances in most of those games. We could (and should) have scored 4 past Huddersfield alone, 3 past Coventry etc.....

We weren't struggling to break them down and create openings, we were struggling to put those chances away. That was then compounded by daft errors at the back (from defenders and midfielders) and the opposition being absolutely lethal when they had a sniff. That's football, it happens.

The stats always suggested that trend wouldn't continue if we carried on creating as we had been. But we've clearly gone up a level in all areas too. No doubt heavily influenced by the confidence a win brings, but also having the more experienced lads back in the side as you've said.

Any team will struggle to break down teams that sit in, but I think we're probably one of the better sides at finding a way to create chances against those tactics.

You are correct we have created lots of opportunities and have often been far from clinical, Josh himself had a bad day at the office in that particular sense. Some might argue that that lacking that clinical edge where it matters is a failure of recruitment, some might see it as a failure in coaching though. Whatever a posters view, we are undoubtedly less clinical as things stand. Like us Coventry can be argued to have fallen down in that area too.

 

[coluka]

But it's not that people are/were saying "our recruitment has been absolutely fantastic!".
It's a response to the many many posters who were saying "our recruitment has been an absolute disaster, league two players etc". The last few weeks has shown that's clearly not the case and with the majority of signings it's been clear why we've signed them.

I respectfully disagree, the experience coming back has been the catalyst (Smith, McNair, Jones, Crooks, add young Josh’s fight) Silvera, Rogers, Gilbert, RVDB (who i like) and Lath have all been bit part players in that recent run. Yes they have contributed in some way if brought on, but the experience of the solid experienced base has been the difference for me, with a couple of inexperienced lads being brought on with coaching. Dieng was experienced and I don’t believe anyone has been critical of the 2 lads with experience (O’Brien being the other).

 

[InglebyUTB]

People were very quick to throw the recruitment team under the bus in order to give Carrick cover for the start to the season. People said Pep couldn’t get a tune out of these players. Truth is he made mistakes and threw too many in the team too quickly.

Since he adopted a more measured approach and starting 2/3 new players as approach to 5/6 the team has looked better, we’ve been getting results and the new players have flourished.

 

[Diego]

People were very quick to throw the recruitment team under the bus in order to give Carrick cover for the start to the season. People said Pep couldn’t get a tune out of these players. Truth is he made mistakes and threw too many in the team too quickly.

Since he adopted a more measured approach and starting 2/3 new players as approach to 5/6 the team has looked better, we’ve been getting results and the new players have flourished.

You were quick to Throw Carrick under the bus and asking for him to be sacked on numerous occasions. We all get it wrong sometimes.

 

[Nano]

We're on a good run but realistically we're in the bottom half, 11+ points off the promotion spots. The recent results have been fantastic but if we finish the season in this position it would be a disaster of a season. Too soon to be making a judgement just yet.

I think it's perfectly fair to criticise the recruitment team for leaving us in the position of having no striker or left back to start the season.

 

[The Card Cheat]

We're on a good run but realistically we're in the bottom half, 11+ points off the promotion spots. The recent results have been fantastic but if we finish the season in this position it would be a disaster of a season. Too soon to be making a judgement just yet.

I think it's perfectly fair to criticise the recruitment team for leaving us in the position of having no striker or left I back to start the season.

Two points off the play offs, after losing our best three maybe four players from last season. If that's how we finish the season it'd be disappointing, definitely not a disaster.
I think people underestimate the difficulty of restarting this season without the players who scored 45 goals and assisted about 20 from last season . I actually think after 15 games everyone at the club has done a decent job of a what has been a pretty big challenge.

 

[Nano]

Two points off the play offs, after losing our best three maybe four players from last season. If that's how we finish the season it'd be disappointing, definitely not a disaster.
I think people underestimate the difficulty of restarting this season without the players who scored 45 goals and assisted about 20 from last season . I actually think after 15 games everyone at the club has done a decent job of a what has been a pretty big challenge.

Recruitment isn't an isolated transfer window issue. The recruitment process happens over an endless time period. "Losing players" to the point our squad is massively weakened without bringing in enough funds to improve it again is poor. Each season isn't/shouldn't be a reset. That's just bad planning.

 

[Jedi boro]

I’ll admit I was worried because I thought we’d thrown them in too early and they weren’t ready yet and it was awful seeing them flounder week after week.

But carrick changed it took them out of the fray and slowly reintroduced then ( silvera once an ever present now not even a sub / but I think he to will come good).

So I think we are both right they weren’t good enough ( as I and others were saying) but they are now getting better every week.

 

[InglebyUTB]

You were quick to Throw Carrick under the bus and asking for him to be sacked on numerous occasions. We all get it wrong sometimes.

I never once asked for him to be sacked.

The closest I ever got was if we’d have lost to Sheffield Wednesday, the team with the worst start in Championship history.

I’ve held him accountable on numerous occasions, because the start of the season was his fault. As I said at the time when people were blaming Scott and Gibson, they aren’t forcing him to bench out best player and play Silvera ahead of him, they weren’t forcing him to throw 6 new starters in at once and look confused when they play like strangers.

Thankfully he’s seen the error of his ways.

 

[The Card Cheat]

Recruitment isn't an isolated transfer window issue. The recruitment process happens over an endless time period. "Losing players" to the point our squad is massively weakened without bringing in enough funds to improve it again is poor. Each season isn't/shouldn't be a reset. That's just bad planning.

It's not bad planning though is it? Taking on excellent players on loan is good planning, not bad planning. They immediately improve the team. It would be daft to turn them down because we'll miss them when they're gone.
Neither was it bad planning that Akpom was superb last season so attracted interest from a club much bigger and richer than us.
We're playing in one of the most competitive leagues in the world and are currently on a six game winning streak in all competitions and are two points from the play offs despite being bottom a month ago. Everyone at the club deserves credit, as they deserved and got criticism when they were doing poorly.

 

[Transitarmy]

Dieng seems to distribute the ball to the back four a lot better than Steffen. Steffen seemed to hang on a bit too long before passing to the backs, sometimes putting them under pressure from the press.

 

[TheYorkshireTerrier]

Dieng seems to distribute the ball to the back four a lot better than Steffen. Steffen seemed to hang on a bit too long before passing to the backs, sometimes putting them under pressure from the press.

Dieng is also very confident when coming to collect the ball from crosses, something Steffen struggled with.