Squad comparison to last season = sadly board's fault (merged)

[greenrunner]

Truejanner is on the money with his post. Whenever we get to the Championship (tier 2) we almost always struggle and finance is always given as the reason/excuse. Argyle have spent 31 seasons in tier 2 since the Second World War and finished top eight 3 times, middle eight 8 times and bottom eight 20 times. That is going to be our lot for the future as well as the past unless there is a massive change in the financing of the club and I for one can't see that on the horizon at the present time.

 

[Deacster]

You have to say, our recruitment radar has been off for a while now.
Pre-season 2022/2023 has to be one of our best ever recruitment drives with Morgs, Bali, Finn, Cossie, etc brought in and then this Summer was great but included re-signing 3 of those players, so we already knew them.
The last 2 January's haven't been great at all and we are lacking forward bodies. I get that we want a certain quality of player for the level but sometimes you need a certain type of player to change a game.
Tom Eaves is no world beater at this level bit look at his impact as a sub against us for Rotherham this season, we really needed a new target man to replace Cossie and haven't.

 

[Greenfox]

There is a lot of blame flying around at the moment. My view is that even if $$ had stayed we would have found the second half of the season very difficult. We probably would have lost Azaz anyway, and maybe Butcher, but Cundle would have stayed. We might possibly have brought in different players, as the youngsters were those known to IF.
So the bottom line is that we were shafted by Schuey at the worst possible time, and IF inherited very much a poisoned chalice.We have 8 cup finals left, and must give him all our support(and keep our fingers firmly crossed)

 

[Guiri Green]

I've said it before but, I think the board had a p*ss poor January.

While I don't blame all of our current plight on IF, I certainly don't think he was the right appointment, especially if we were going to continue with the ethos of expansive, attacking football. Having said that, would we still be as sterile to watch if we'd manage to hold onto Azaz and Cundle for the rest of the season?

That's the main area where the board messed up though. Despite having the $chumacher compensation money they made no serious attempt to adequately replace either of those players or strengthen our attacking options. That's the real reason we're in the position we find ourselves. They kept the purse strings tightly closed and no doubt earmarked that money for other purposes.

I'm sure the board have their reasons for their course of action but it's come back to bite us on the arse and for me it stinks of 'same old Argyle!'

Let's not forget January is usually awash with available top class in demand strikers and midfielders. All the top players are usually looking for a move in January and the far SW is often their destination of choice.

Why the board and recruitment team didn't snap up one of these multitude of raring to go ready to play superstars I'll never kmow. It's quite unforgivable really and they should be ashamed.

 

[Guiri Green]

It is the clubs fault that we didnt get in another decent striker as an alternative to Hardie over two transfer windows when we obviously needed one - I would blame that on the recruitment team, a rare error for them, but I have to say a rather blindingly obvious one. I know people say we tried but the right people were not available. I dont buy that as an excuse, we should have a target list long enough that we eventually get to somebody available even if they are not our first or even fifth choice and if we have to divert more of the budget that way (and perhaps away from overloaded areas of the squad) so be it.

Following that logic, we'd have re-signed Luke Jephcott for a stupid amount of money.

 

[Said old Green]

In fairness a squad capable of getting 100 points in league one should be good enough to survive in the championship there is not that much difference between the leagues. We didnt fluke our way out of league one, we smashed it out of the park. I think the loss of attacking options since then has been huge though. I have consistently said a key to our success last season was being able swap around Ennis and Hardie as suited. Hardie has been a revelation but he is streaky, he runs so hard he cannot play for 95 minutes and some opposition teams know how to snuff him out. The failure to bring in a decent alternative to Hardie has been a huge and frankly obvious mistake, it should have been given higher priority. The squad is lopsided with a bewildering number of full/wing backs/wingers and only two genuine strikers, one of whom was not good enough for league one, never mind the championship.

I think you massively underestimate the difference in quality between L1 and the Championship. I said it after we were promoted and most on here were dismissive and said we would stay up.with ease.

 

[Green Flash]

I think you massively underestimate the difference in quality between L1 and the Championship. I said it after we were promoted and most on here were dismissive and said we would stay up.with ease.

No I have not. I think if we had kept Azaz and got in Ennis and Cosgrove equivalents we would not be in danger of relegation.

 

[Balham Green]

Without Ennis Matete Cosgrove even Butcher without even mentioning Azaz we are inferior to last season. Will be nothing short of miraculous if we do stay up.

 

[The Pasty Kid]

Totally agree, we used Ennis during the run in when Hardie stopped scoring. I turned to people around me late in the Leeds replay when he had nothing left and said he could be done for the season, and he is. We've no Cosgrove to bring in for something different and win nothing in the air up front. We've no Matete type to bring in for a bit of physicality, and obviously Azaz, though he was MIA second half of last season due to injury followed by struggling to find form. We're probably as good at the back, but that's it.

 

[lansim]

The forwards options are far less than last season in League 1. I think Hardie didn't play so many minutes are the end of last season and Ennis stepped in to score a few vital goals. We don't have that or even Cosgrove now for different options. However, midfield is also woefully short now 2 newbies are injured and Butcher was sold.

 

[mutley marvel]

Hindsight is a wonderful thing
Midfield has been our bugbear- we needed a solid midfield pro who has been around the block - we got one who has spent more time off the pitch than on it
We had Darko who unfortunately got injured & his season curtailed
Can't help but think we should have kept hold of Butch but he wanted regular football & was sold
Our gamble on Forshaw appears not to have paid off- but our budget dictates the calibre of player we can bring in

 

[Nobby]

Gibson, Phillips and Pleggy are better than Wilson, Gillesphey and Lonwijk.

Forshaw is better than Butcher, albeit it injury prone. Gyabi is better than Matete, but also unfortunately injured. Bundu is better than Tyreik Wright.

The only area we are weaker is the forward area. We are missing the variety offered by Ennis and Cosgrove. But Cosgrove is not good enough for this division and Ennis has spent 70% of it injured. Azaz loss speaks for itself.

The only thing miraculous about our survival will be that we still stayed up despite the upheaval of January. These players are good enough to keep us up and have shown across a whole season they are capable of competing in this division. The absence of a capable manager for five months has had a big effect on that.

 

[Greenscombe]

I guess we could kind of turn it on its head and say what do we need for next season (irrespective of which division I think - obvs for Championship better quality but still same positions)

GK - no change
Wing Backs/Full backs - need 2 I think, one either side. Assuming Miller moves on and Edwards sees reduced minutes, leaving Mumba and Sorinola as the two options.
CB - 1 right sided player, 2 if Galloway leaves.
CM - Think we need 2 here, specifically a ball winner. Forshaw not reliable, Houghton, Randell ok but wont move us any higher up the table as a pairing.
AM/10's - need at least 2, 3 if Morgs is sold.
CF - 2, maybe 3. Someone similar to Hardie that can run in behind and a couple that can hold the ball up, back to goal.

So I think we need 9 to 12 players - can we afford that many at Championship quality? Probably not, I think it will be 5 more loans, a few free agents and spending either investment money or profit on MW for the rest.