I said there would be some fillers signed. It is to be expected. We aren’t going to have a squad of 20 plus hand picked proven quality league 2 players, it just isn’t possible. Quality over quantity, I have read it a lot of times on here and it makes total sense. To do that even on a semi-decent budget you are still going to have to patch up in parts.
As we saw last season this isn’t a great division, littered with very average players. We appear to have built a decent spine and that is a great starting point. The left back position needs sorting and maybe one or two more attacking options and providing MT knows how to set a team up I don’t think we will be far away.
Good point on covid. Seems he had it in December and Walsall game was mid Jan so probaably still suffering given some players at premier league level had it and were still impacted 2-3 months on in terms of fitness.
I think he’ll be o.k given he likely won’t be a first choice player. Someone like Purkiss had a much worse CV and was generally o.k in a higher division. Aside from Leahy and Devlin not really working out I can’t really remember too many bad pick ups at full back over last decade either side.
Said earlier he has CV of mid table league 2 player. If that’s the quality of a backup then the first 11 will be far stronger than previous two seasons and half of it already has the look of that.
I’m interested why you think Devlin didnt work out? As a defender, he had weaknesses, but as an attacking full back, he was, on many occasions, our biggest attacking threat.
Nothing personal. He tried his best but was just a massive downgrade on what came before, Demetriou and McCarthy.
That Oxford goal in Keates final game when he miskicked in six yard box and someone came in to tap in summed it up and that was huge considering it was 1-1 v 10 men at the time so those little differences between staying up and getting relegated.
Same with Leahy coming after Andy Taylor, Rico and even Scott Laird who was pretty solid in 16/17.
As a human being he stood out in what was otherwise a barrel pretty much full to the rim of rotten apples.
As a defender, he was hugely error prone. That Oxford goal was huge as you say. I remember one at Posh too that was Sunday League at best.
As an attacking option he was OK but much like a bowler who occasionally hits a few runs, you have to be good at your primary role before your addendums really mean anything.