Summer 2020 transfers

[GhostoftheBok]

Oh is he? Thought he was taller. Fair enough

Yup. I believe the quote from a Coventry mate of mine was "gobby little short arse"...

[GhostoftheBok]

Interesting to listen to the commentary from the Crewe lot on our game and hear that Shaun Miller had no contact from the club prior to last week and no offers from any other league club, with an expectation he'd have to drop into non-league.

Presumably that says something about the idea that we are "getting every player we have gone after" as Evatt put it.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

BOLTON. Evatt wants more signings. One close.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/1 ... er-update/

We probably need one or two more. We are quite far down the line with one of those, for reasons I can’t really say or speak about he won’t be here just yet. But, in principal, we’re getting there.

We have found it hard at times to be quick with recruitment because players’ expectations have changed. One minute they are asking for the world and we move on, then all of a sudden this player comes back around again because he hasn’t got a club – but because of the salary cap, our places are full.

There are challenges with recruitment, but am I happy with the ones we have got? Yes, of course. Do I want more? Yes, I’m a manager. But we will never put this club’s financial future at risk and we’ll do the best to limit the risk in terms of what we’re bringing into the building.

[GhostoftheBok]

BOLTON. Evatt wants more signings. One close.

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/1 ... er-update/

We probably need one or two more. We are quite far down the line with one of those, for reasons I can’t really say or speak about he won’t be here just yet. But, in principal, we’re getting there.

We have found it hard at times to be quick with recruitment because players’ expectations have changed. One minute they are asking for the world and we move on, then all of a sudden this player comes back around again because he hasn’t got a club – but because of the salary cap, our places are full.

There are challenges with recruitment, but am I happy with the ones we have got? Yes, of course. Do I want more? Yes, I’m a manager. But we will never put this club’s financial future at risk and we’ll do the best to limit the risk in terms of what we’re bringing into the building.

Clearly still hoping Messi can get out of his contract.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

“Do I frequently employ hypophora as a rhetorical device? Yes I do.”

[GhostoftheBok]

More seriously, I'd be interested to hear what people hope the second signing would be (we all know we need and want another forward). I know some want another centre back in.

For me we've two big issues in midfield over the season. We've plenty of legs in there, but not a lot of creative "flair" - that's issue one. I like Crawford, he's a top player for this league, but I don't believe he can play (close to) every game this season and behind him we've not much guile. Sarc looks a threat, but I'm not sure he's the type to beat a man or pick locks.

The second issue is that, regardless of his errors vs Bradford, we've had much better shape with Comley in the side and there's no other lad in the squad who can do that job if he takes a knock.

For all the questions in the defence, I feel like we have the kinds of options we need in theory. Whether we have the quality I don't know yet, but we have 6 players there who look like they've got all bases covered. The only possible gap is the pace issue we've discussed, but that doesn't seem to phase IE given the lads he's signed.

It's weird to say we lack in midfield, because it's probably where we've seen the most promise - but I think a serious injury to either Crawford or Comley could prove a real issue for us over the 46 games and I'm not sure which would hurt us most.

[brommers95]

It’s certainly an interesting one. Up front and in midfield we have starters who should be comfortably good enough to get us promoted, but, like you say Ghost, a worrying lack of cover especially in midfield.

However in defence we have an abundance of depth but a lack of real quality - so I’m hoping we sign a defender of starting calibre.

I have to say I’ve been severely underwhelmed by the defensive signings. Baptiste, yes great experience, but his legs have gone and not a chance he stays fit through the entire season. Taft was an average player for an average League Two side. Santos (the player I’m most high on) would appear to have some pedigree with his LG 1 experience but on first showings he’s not proving himself to be anything other than a National League defender. Lastly, Greenidge - plucked from the Norwegian 3rd Tier after failing to make the grade in England.

I would have loved us to pick up a Jordan Moore-Taylor, Luke Prosser or Jordan Turnbull. I’m still hoping we can.

[GhostoftheBok]

Like Evatt said, you've an issue getting any real quality in now because of the wage cap. We've topped up the squad before it's come in and now have lads who turned us down back interested due to not finding a club, but we can no longer offer the same terms.

You'd imagine that the chances of finding more quality now are reduced by that. It's why I was okay with Tutte coming and, even though I haven't been a fan in the past, happy to see Miller through the door. Solid league players are nothing to sniff at now.

I think we'd all love to get a lad in anywhere who is clearly promotion calibre, but can we finance it? Maybe a loan where we pay a share of the wages or a player who agrees to have his deal terminated for a pay off, to offset coming here for a year on not much? You'd have to assume those are the only ways we could look at Nugent, for example, who we are supposedly in for.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

I wonder who the players are that have now come back with lower demands. I notice Callum McFadzean is still clubless and Graham Carey’s still at Sofia.

[officer_dibble]

Do you know what - I haven’t a clue. I’m not writing Taft, Santos and Baptiste off after 1 / 2 games. Two of those have a strong pedigree at this level. We haven’t seen Greenidge play, and to be fair Delaney has barely played for us either. So on the strength of two games with a new XI, I am not going to say we need a new centre half. He’s signed plenty.

I have my doubts that Gordon is ready - he has attributes but is learning on the job. Will it cost us and if so for how long? What’s the other lad on this side like? Been around league teams for longer but not played much first team - so perhaps left wing back is our weakest area. Right wing back looks strong.

White is more of a McAteer all action type granted but there is Tutte as well - what’s his role? Comley looks like the sitter/spoiler type but I wouldn’t have said (on the basis of 120 mins of football mind) he’s particularly nasty - so a Karl Henry defensive mid type would make sense.

I’m not writing Sarcevic off either - he started the first game in that advanced midfield role - so Evatt thinks he can do it. Granted Crawford seemed more effective - again he had a nasty injury last season and hasn’t done a full 90 before Tuesday - but will he not get fitter and stronger over the next month or so? Don’t forget we have Darcy as well, who looked good in bursts in a higher league. So he would be due a chance in my opinion.

Forward wise I still think we are light a strong, tall player who can hold the ball up and bring others into play. So I think that’s the player we need. Which Would give us very good competition for two places!

[Worthy4England]

I'm not sure I'd be rushing the last one, if the other one mentioned is a forward.

Over the two games, I've seen enough glimpses in midfield and attack to suggest we can create opportunities. Crawford looked good at this on Tuesday (albeit in spurts, both goals came from Crawford balls in), Hickman looked good on the right. A little less sure about down the left, albeit some decent balls in from there too over two games. But other have created chances too - White, Santos!, Taft, Delfouneso, Miller etc. all created good chances for us. Bit more sporadic and certainly not as a "controlling playmaker" but there nonetheless. Sarceivic has often been drawn on peoples team layouts as in that advanced role, but I've seen zero evidence of that and he's looked to play more deep and defensively for me.

Sure another playmaker would be great. But whilst we're looking at 5 defensive bollards, I'd keep my powder dry a little longer. I have to believe that two of them will come good (as we don't have room to sign another 3 ). The other thing I'd mention about the defence, we don't seem to have a defence leader/organiser out there that I've seen thus far. Someone organising them on the pitch and providing some cohesion, might be part of the missing link.

[The_Gun]

More seriously, I'd be interested to hear what people hope the second signing would be (we all know we need and want another forward). I know some want another centre back in.

For me we've two big issues in midfield over the season. We've plenty of legs in there, but not a lot of creative "flair" - that's issue one. I like Crawford, he's a top player for this league, but I don't believe he can play (close to) every game this season and behind him we've not much guile. Sarc looks a threat, but I'm not sure he's the type to beat a man or pick locks.

The second issue is that, regardless of his errors vs Bradford, we've had much better shape with Comley in the side and there's no other lad in the squad who can do that job if he takes a knock.

For all the questions in the defence, I feel like we have the kinds of options we need in theory. Whether we have the quality I don't know yet, but we have 6 players there who look like they've got all bases covered. The only possible gap is the pace issue we've discussed, but that doesn't seem to phase IE given the lads he's signed.

It's weird to say we lack in midfield, because it's probably where we've seen the most promise - but I think a serious injury to either Crawford or Comley could prove a real issue for us over the 46 games and I'm not sure which would hurt us most.

Are we completely writing off Darcy as the back-up for Crawford? I know Evatt doesn't seem to particularly rate him at the moment, but based off what I saw last season he looked capable of being a very good player at League 2 level. Perhaps could do with spending a bit of time in the gym to gain strength, but that's relatively straightforward.

[Worthy4England]

^^ We're not even sure if Evatt's preferred 1st team has Crawford in it yet! Guess tomorrow might help us find out, but my thought too, if we're after two players for each position yadda yadda and Crawford if the first of the AM's, then I think Darcy is number 2 to that, too.

[GhostoftheBok]

Are we completely writing off Darcy as the back-up for Crawford? I know Evatt doesn't seem to particularly rate him at the moment, but based off what I saw last season he looked capable of being a very good player at League 2 level. Perhaps could do with spending a bit of time in the gym to gain strength, but that's relatively straightforward.

I'm not writing off Darcy in the least, personally. I thought we'd just be looking for one more forward and then be calling it a day, prior to Evatt saying he wants two in, and I assumed Darcy would be in the mix in midfield. With IE saying he wants another, in addition to a striker, I've tried to have a look at the team in terms of IE's goal of winning the league (whether we think that'll happen or not, it's what he says he is going for). Where, if you were chasing a championship and given what you've recruited and said, do you put your money?

Being picky, I can see arguments for us having 3-5 different roles we need filling and that's why I'm wondering what other people would see as their priority.

[GhostoftheBok]

^^ We're not even sure if Evatt's preferred 1st team has Crawford in it yet! Guess tomorrow might help us find out, but my thought too, if we're after two players for each position yadda yadda and Crawford if the first of the AM's, then I think Darcy is number 2 to that, too.

This is the thing that made me sit up and pay attention when he said he wanted two more in. I don't think Evatt will know his best 11 yet either, but I do think he'll have an idea of what tools he doesn't have.

We don't know Evatt well enough to know what he's (probably) thinking yet and like with any manager it'll take us a bit to understand how he sees the game. Until then we're all guessing.

[officer_dibble]

Beauty of the internet fans forum. I think we want a big strong target man who can take and give out a kicking, freeing Doyle or Miller up to score. So that’s one.

And I would be shipping Brockbank out and replacing with a right sided centre half for this system - can’t see Baptiste playing that role.

Arguments for a defensive mid hard man as well.

[GhostoftheBok]

Beauty of the internet fans forum. I think we want a big strong target man who can take and give out a kicking, freeing Doyle or Miller up to score. So that’s one.

And I would be shipping Brockbank out and replacing with a right sided centre half for this system - can’t see Baptiste playing that role.

Arguments for a defensive mid hard man as well.

Another striker is a given. In addition I could see arguments for:

Proven goalkeeper
Right-sided centre back
Dominant centre back for the middle
Midfield ball winner
Midfielder with some "spark"

I'd say keeper is the least likely, but like I say it's what I can see arguments for. The others are up in the air, for me.

[officer_dibble]

Forgot about keeper. That was my number 1 this time last week! Certainly a big risk at the moment.

[LeverEnd]

He's talking Greenidge up to an extent that makes me uncomfortable. Just let him play and praise him when he does well FFS!
He's played almost no first team football in this country and for someone of his size and apparent speed, there must be a lot missing from his game. I wouldn't be putting pressure on him right now, that's for sure.

[Worthy4England]

Forgot about keeper. That was my number 1 this time last week! Certainly a big risk at the moment.

Crellin has save us a goal on a few occasions so far - dunno what the back-up's like, but I don't have GK on my "urgent" list from what I've seen so far.