Jake Young?

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Originally Posted by northpie1862

Stop talking complete sense, Chicken will throw his toys out the pram because we didnt do back to back promotions 😂 (neither did stockport and they look a lot better for it now im sure).

I think some are just a bit jealous that team in North Wales on unlimited funds are a league above, we will get there - just not the route that some impatient fellas on here want us to take.

Enjoy the journey, are we all really that desperate to go back to league 1 and get pasted most weeks yet? Foundations need to be built to make sure we can go up and be decent.

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Toys out the pram for seeing moment falter? Sure thing. Stockport were a penalty shootout away from going up, we were not even in playoff contention...

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Originally Posted by LeftPeg_Pie

I can understand the issues people on here have, to an extent, but I genuinely struggle to understand why the issues seem to be so definitive and lacking in nuance, perspective and context around those issues.

For me, we’re a right sided wing back short and a striker/inside forward type short. I don’t think many on here would say the squad is 100% ready to go. We’ve definitely got a better and deeper squad than last season.

It is not realistic to have a squad of 25 top of the range, within a certain age range, pro’s at our level and there is a myriad of reasons for that. That’s why the **** Austin and Chicksen get from some is madness. In a squad game, both add value to that squad.

Added to this is the “square pegs in round holes” argument when it is mentioned that players X, Y and Z can play in more than one position. That is now become unacceptable to some. News flash. Based on their time at Notts, Crowley and Jones have both been “square legs in round holes” so far this season and have been two of our best players. Crowley was phenomenal on Thursday.

From the small sample size of games so far, recruitment looks solid. Defensively we look to have improved; this is something we all wanted. Of course, time will be the key factor in judging this effectively but early doors, we seem to have upgraded in a fair few areas.

Linked to this is the issue with youth players/young pro’s. Unless they’re ready to start, you don’t want to rely on them. Jack Hinchy is a kid out of an academy, looks like he’s got something to me but he needs to play so we can actually work it out. If Ryley Reynolds spends 10 games on the bench this season, whatÂ’s the issue? They need exposure so we know if they can cope. Alongside this they need time something in our current set up we can probably afford. Also, if Reynolds or Hinchy turn out to flourish, weÂ’ll probably improve our league position or even the league weÂ’re in. If they don’t, let’s cash in further down the line.

Finally on recruitment is the window itself. It’s a big window and there’s still time to go. Not many clubs are ready for Day One of the season, especially at our level. It’s the football food chain and we’re, in EFL only terms, at the bottom of it. Patience is needed. I’ll be slightly disappointed if we didnt bring anyone else in, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world because the squad we have has a good range of flexibility to cope.

Injuries is another source of ire. Again, a massive moving feast of an issue. We as fans know nothing about types of injuries in the squad or the timeline for return, this is all factored into the recruitment process too as well as selection. “We’re one injury away from 14th…” if by that we’re alluding to DC or JJ then any club in our league would struggle to replace them. Not just us, massive squad or not.

All these issues feed into one another, but the lack of understanding and balance and ability to think contextually is outrageously frustrating.

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A very, very well reasoned post.
My main priorities are that we keep hold of Jodi & Dan (in that order) and hopefully get someone else up top. That would keep our Chicken happy as well.
I did find it quite amusing that LeftPeg was posting about Square Pegs.

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Originally Posted by Chicken Balti Pie

Also, it's paper thin, look at Tranmere and first 60 mins of Fleetwood. No Palmer or Roberts and we didn't look anything close to being a top end league 2 side

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Did you go to Tranmere?

My view right now on the squad and fairly unfounded really due to the amount of games I've seen but more gut is.

Keepers a massive upgrade

Platt, Bedeau are a lot better defensively than Cameron and Baldwin, Macari has grown as a player from last season. Would need to see the others to see if they're upgrades on the likes of Rawlinson and Brindley.

Hinchy, Edwards and Grant might possibly be upgrades overall on Bostock, Baj and JOB, certainly more legs. Palmer's also virtually back now which is like a new signing.

Nemane going I think will help us defensively, could do with another WB though.

Jatta at the moment is looking as good Macca, seems a wild statement but IÂ’m going on his goals per minutes which is better in L2 and what IÂ’ve seen in how they played their last 6-8 games for Notts, admittedly heÂ’s got a long way to go.

SM - still not 100% sure, I do like some of his ideas. I personally think playing JJ on the right isnÂ’t a negative and Crowley deeper either, that one wonÂ’t be a long term solution anyway.

So on the basis I think we could possibly do well, but itÂ’s still guesswork at the moment for anyone to really have a good idea of what to expect.

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Originally Posted by kill_the_drum

Did you go to Tranmere?

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I did, we didn't exactly look world beaters and only really got going late in the game

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Originally Posted by Chicken Balti Pie

Toys out the pram for seeing moment falter? Sure thing. Stockport were a penalty shootout away from going up, we were not even in playoff contention...

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I do believe we were in for a play off place until the turmoil created by losing our manager.

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Originally Posted by Chicken Balti Pie

I did, we didn't exactly look world beaters and only really got going late in the game

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That’s because we’re not world beaters but nobody around me at Tranmere thought anything other than it was a very good first performance. We looked solid and in control all game and after SM made the changes (utilising that paper thin squad) we were all over them. Tranmere finished that game by time wasting.
The tone on here by many the night before the game was that we didn’t stand a chance. I’m guessing from your more recent posts that you’d have been one of them.
Come on mate, it’s really not as bad as you’re seeing it.

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Originally Posted by Chicken Balti Pie

I did, we didn't exactly look world beaters and only really got going late in the game

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Not many teams, if any, across the whole country are going to look like world beaters on day one or even likely to be. That’s wildly unrealistic.

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Originally Posted by LeftPeg_Pie

Not many teams, if any, across the whole country are going to look like world beaters on day one or even likely to be. That’s wildly unrealistic.

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Not a single team in EFL2 has a 100% record. That tells me all I need to know about these world beaters that CBP alludes too, there isn’t one. Tranmere was a solid away performance. Fleetwood at home we played OK and deserved as a minimum the point we got. Grimsby was better still and we got the win. The players have improved in performance and fitness with each game.

CBP predicted a low mid table finish and relegation battle if we have injuries (though he would review this if reinforcements are bought in). We are currently ahead of his prediction so not sure why he is negative about us.

IMO our squad is better than the class of 23/24 - Macca aside. We still have a couple of days to bring in what I think we all feel we need - a forward and a wide player - I don’t think we will be breaking the bank on either though so expect ‘ones for the future’.

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Originally Posted by kill_the_drum

That’s because we’re not world beaters but nobody around me at Tranmere thought anything other than it was a very good first performance. We looked solid and in control all game and after SM made the changes (utilising that paper thin squad) we were all over them. Tranmere finished that game by time wasting.
The tone on here by many the night before the game was that we didn’t stand a chance. I’m guessing from your more recent posts that you’d have been one of them.
Come on mate, it’s really not as bad as you’re seeing it.

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I think some people are still a bit stuck in the National League mentality of needing to win every game because of the one automatic promotion place. We chucked away so many draws last season overcommitting to win games, especially away from home. Tranmere are going to be a solid upper mid-table team this season probably (they’ve still not conceded a league goal yet), a point there is an absolutely fine result, and performance wise we dominated the game.