Match Thread Brentford Match Thread (6 Viewers)

Sky Blue Pete

Well-Known Member
When you look at that you can see why this seasons going to be a long hard season - we basically haven't strengthened the first 11 at all.

Think we will lose 2-0.

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Other than all the younger players in the squad will naturally improve over time in terms of strength and power. I think one can expect marosi dabo hyam rose mccallum shipley Ohare all to improve on last year and they need to to compete
 

TewkesburySkyBlue

Well-Known Member
It’s concerning we’ve signed 12 players and have basically the same first team.
Let’s not get too disheartened we were very unlucky to lose at Bristol
City should have had at least a draw and they are top. Beat QPR did ok at Barnsley and were bullied out of it by Bournemouth who by the way have gone down big time in my opinion . So overall I think we are doing ok. Looking forward to decent game on Saturday
 

KenilworthSkyBlue

Well-Known Member
That's usually the kids on social media who've been watching too much Greed League on Sky..

As for the match - it's probably the best time to play Brentford as we always have a slow start to the season.

Our best player is Christian Nørgaard who plays in a defensive midfielder role, we were 2-0 up against Preston last match when he went off injured, we then let in 4 goals.....Think he's 50/50 for this match.

Whilst I'm sure Nørgaard is probably of a higher quality, the affect he has on the team and (at times) the result, sounds a little like Liam Kelly for us. Some like to make preconceptions over whether he has the ability to step up to the plate this season, but in my opinion we're undoubtably a poorer side without him as he's the cog to our machine.
 

robbiethemole

Well-Known Member
That's usually the kids on social media who've been watching too much Greed League on Sky..

As for the match - it's probably the best time to play Brentford as we always have a slow start to the season.

Our best player is Christian Nørgaard who plays in a defensive midfielder role, we were 2-0 up against Preston last match when he went off injured, we then let in 4 goals.....Think he's 50/50 for this match.

I hope thats a bee, looks a lot like a feckin wasp to me,
 

shmmeee

Well-Known Member
Sheaf and Kelly is not weaker than the L1 midfield they are just a more defensive pairng

Debatable.
Who are the 12?

From last seasons team we have only bought in 4 new first team players on permanents - Hilssner, Da Costa, Walker and Hamer

O’Hare
Hamer
Walker
Hilßner
McCallum
Giles
Sheaf
Østigård
Dacosta
McGrath
That other kid

My bad it’s eleven. You can say O’Hare etc don’t count because they were here last season but that’s rubbish as they weren’t under obligation to sign and we chose to spend out budget on them. Ditto those signed for the U23s.

TBH my main concerns are Hilßner, Walker and Sheaf who so far don’t look up to the level and all cost (or will cost in Sheafs case) money.

The exact figure isn’t relevant, the fact we’ve spent our entire budget and made no discernible difference to the first team is however. We can’t afford to drop close to £1m on a player who can’t get in the team.
 

SlowerThanPlatt

Well-Known Member
Debatable.


O’Hare
Hamer
Walker
Hilßner
McCallum
Giles
Sheaf
Østigård
Dacosta
McGrath
That other kid

My bad it’s eleven. You can say O’Hare etc don’t count because they were here last season but that’s rubbish as they weren’t under obligation to sign and we chose to spend out budget on them. Ditto those signed for the U23s.

TBH my main concerns are Hilßner, Walker and Sheaf who so far don’t look up to the level and all cost (or will cost in Sheafs case) money.

The exact figure isn’t relevant, the fact we’ve spent our entire budget and made no discernible difference to the first team is however. We can’t afford to drop close to £1m on a player who can’t get in the team.

It’s unfair to include two players who were signed for the 23s squad (and can’t get in there atm). One was released by Birmingham and the other came from Mickleover Sports, I doubt they made a dent in the first team budget.

Hilssner also hasn’t played. game at full fitness according to Robins. I agree with the Walker point though, I think that money could have been better spent elsewhere so far.
 

shmmeee

Well-Known Member
It’s unfair to include two players who were signed for the 23s squad (and can’t get in there atm). One was released by Birmingham and the other came from Mickleover Sports, I doubt they made a dent in the first team budget.

This is a bit weird. Fine call it 9 players, I really don’t see how it changes the point being made.

We’ve spent our budget and it’s not made a difference to the team. I’d rather we bought in two Hamers than Hamer Walker Sheaf and Hilßner if the latter three are going to sit on the bench because they aren’t as good as the L1 players we’ve got.
 

SlowerThanPlatt

Well-Known Member
It’s only 4 games in and Hillsner and Walker have barely played. We don’t know how good (or bad) these two are. Sheaf I think looks okay.

It’s difficult to be overly critical as we are trying to sign Championship standard players on League 1 wages
 

Ccfcisparks

Well-Known Member
There wont be many teams who went up from League 1 as champions who instantly oust players from their league winning 11. Changes will happen over time. The first XI of the season will be different to the last.
 

SlowerThanPlatt

Well-Known Member
There wont be many teams who went up from League 1 as champions who instantly oust players from their league winning 11. Changes will happen over time. The first XI of the season will be different to the last.

That is more down to our budget rather than choice I imagine
 

shmmeee

Well-Known Member
It’s only 4 games in and Hillsner and Walker have barely played. We don’t know how good (or bad) these two are. Sheaf I think looks okay.

It’s difficult to be overly critical as we are trying to sign Championship standard players on League 1 wages

Which is exactly why we should be going for quality over quantity. If the budget is limited it makes even less sense to be stuffing the squad with reserves

The entire point is Hilßner and Walker have barely played and Sheaf looks “alright”. Hamer went straight into the team because he’s clearly good enough. Hilßner can’t even get into the U23s. Walker the same, can’t get more than a few mins at the end of a game.

I’ll always wait and see, but I am concerned that early signs are our transfer activity hasn’t been of the standard required. And now we can’t afford to go get anyone of the standard required because it’s been frittered away on reserves and “might come good”s.
 

Ccfcisparks

Well-Known Member
That is more down to our budget rather than choice I imagine
Luton were the same. Just had a google and they had 7 of the team that played the last game of the League 1 campaign started the first game of the championship season for them. This is after they sold Jack Stacey and James Justin after the league 1 campaign who would have started for them in the Championship.
 

shmmeee

Well-Known Member
There wont be many teams who went up from League 1 as champions who instantly oust players from their league winning 11. Changes will happen over time. The first XI of the season will be different to the last.

Other than Hamer, who do you expect to break into the team?
 

Ccfcisparks

Well-Known Member
Other than Hamer, who do you expect to break into the team?
Osti, Hamer, Sheaf, Giles, O'Hare all part of the first team already. Expect Walker to replace Godden before long. McCallum brought in as backup. If we were to replace the entire 11 it could go well granted, or it could be a disaster where we play a team with no chemistry. Think we have got a good balance IMO.
 
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shmmeee

Well-Known Member
Osti, Hamer, Sheaf, Giles, O'Hare all part of the first team already. Expect Walker to replace Godden before long. McCallum brought in as backup. If we were to replace the entire 11 it could go well granted, or it could be a disaster where we play a team with no chemistry. Think we have got a good balance IMO.

Counting O’Hare Giles and McCallum as new signings is a bit dodgy IMO. Østigård looks like he’ll drop out for Rose, which leaves Sheaf. Who so far has looked like Ben Stevenson’s slightly less fluent brother. Two DMs also means we have to lose arguably our most influential player in Kelly.

I hope I’m wrong but to me it looks like we haven’t improved at all from a L1 side.
 

stupot07

Well-Known Member
Counting O’Hare Giles and McCallum as new signings is a bit dodgy IMO. Østigård looks like he’ll drop out for Rose, which leaves Sheaf. Who so far has looked like Ben Stevenson’s slightly less fluent brother. Two DMs also means we have to lose arguably our most influential player in Kelly.

I hope I’m wrong but to me it looks like we haven’t improved at all from a L1 side.
I completely agree

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Sky Blue Harry H

Well-Known Member
This is a bit weird. Fine call it 9 players, I really don’t see how it changes the point being made.

We’ve spent our budget and it’s not made a difference to the team. I’d rather we bought in two Hamers than Hamer Walker Sheaf and Hilßner if the latter three are going to sit on the bench because they aren’t as good as the L1 players we’ve got.

But we needed more depth in the squad with a higher level of quality. Walker may or ay not turn out to be great, but there was a consensus that we needed more depth in the attack, so we can see why they went for him. Similarly with Sheaf - we know Kelly will pick up knocks, so needed more cover there, and Sheaf fits the model regarding age and sell on value. Buying just one better quality player means potting all your eggs in one basket, hoping they perform well, whilst hoping you don't get injuries elsewhere, which given a compressed season is probably unrealistic. (Edit: Hilssner is a strange one, though we haven't seen enough of him)
 

fernandopartridge

Well-Known Member
It’s unfair to include two players who were signed for the 23s squad (and can’t get in there atm). One was released by Birmingham and the other came from Mickleover Sports, I doubt they made a dent in the first team budget.

Hilssner also hasn’t played. game at full fitness according to Robins. I agree with the Walker point though, I think that money could have been better spent elsewhere so far.
Not sure how either of you can make a judgement based on the little time Walker has played, hopefully setting yourself up to look a bit stupid.
 

shmmeee

Well-Known Member
But we needed more depth in the squad with a higher level of quality. Walker may or ay not turn out to be great, but there was a consensus that we needed more depth in the attack, so we can see why they went for him. Similarly with Sheaf - we know Kelly will pick up knocks, so needed more cover there, and Sheaf fits the model regarding age and sell on value. Buying just one better quality player means potting all your eggs in one basket, hoping they perform well, whilst hoping you don't get injuries elsewhere, which given a compressed season is probably unrealistic. (Edit: Hilssner is a strange one, though we haven't seen enough of him)

I mean take everything with a truck of salt cos I’m prone to over negative reactions, but my worry is “the model” doesn’t allow for the jump in quality between L1 and the Championship. I agree Sheaf and Walker could come good, but we need has come good at least in some measure. If you look at teams that came up and stayed up there’s been a healthy dose of experienced late 20s Championship player that we’re missing. I worry that because those signings (generally on a free) sit outside the model we lose something important.

Aside from that I do think there’s an argument that this is the first season where we haven’t seriously improved the squad under Robins, which is a bit weird considering it’s our biggest jump in quality of opponent in that time.

Anyway, let’s hope we smash Brentford on Saturday and I look like a twat. :D
 

Liquid Gold

Well-Known Member
Walker is a great signing for a promoted team. Better stats in league 1 than Toney who went for bags of cash, young, experience at this level and scored everywhere he's been.
 

robbiekeane

Well-Known Member
Counting O’Hare Giles and McCallum as new signings is a bit dodgy IMO. Østigård looks like he’ll drop out for Rose, which leaves Sheaf. Who so far has looked like Ben Stevenson’s slightly less fluent brother. Two DMs also means we have to lose arguably our most influential player in Kelly.

I hope I’m wrong but to me it looks like we haven’t improved at all from a L1 side.
I see your point but respectfully, I disagree.

O Hare is definitely a new signing - it's an educated guess but I would expect his signing this year had a significantly bigger impact on the budget than last year - I still can't believe we got him tbf. I also think Walker will come good and be a competent player at championship level but the jury is still out.

I think some things to consider are depth - if you look at our bench this year (fully fit squad) it's miles above what we had last year, and potential - a lot of our recruitment is buying players that are perhaps slightly below the level of just being able to walk into the team and perform to the required standard, but with the potential to achieve that and more in the future. With that second point, I expected it to take quite a few games for us to get up to speed.

Just my opinion of course
 

aloisijohnnyaloisi

Well-Known Member
Aside from that I do think there’s an argument that this is the first season where we haven’t seriously improved the squad under Robins, which is a bit weird considering it’s our biggest jump in quality of opponent in that time.

I understand where you’re coming from, but I think the fact that we’ve largely got the same starting 11 this year is because Robbins is happy with it and sees the development potential in lots of the players. We’ve seen before Robins has been ruthless with upgrading players even when the previous ones have been performing well (Grimmer, Mason etc).

In the last 5-10-20 years we’ve become so accustomed to a total overhaul of the squad every summer, which is not an effective way to run a football club in the long run.

So I actually think the fact that we have much the same squad this year is evidence of the fact that the recruitment/development model that Robins has installed is working. Or at least I fucking hope so!

Keep the faith ✊
 
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