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Thread: BWFC squad 2021/22 - good enough for promotion?

  1. #1
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    BWFC squad 2021/22 - good enough for promotion?

    Ian Evatt made it clear he wants two players for every position and if Xavier Amaechi joins he's just about there now.
    But he also said that he expects to contend for promotion to the Championship when many fans would be content with a) the fact we still exist, and b) a season of further stabilisation in League 2.
    I was wondering if promotion a realistic ambition?

    Currently the squad is:

    GK: Matt Gilks, Joel Dixon and Matt Alexander
    CB: Ricardo Santos, Alex Baptiste, George Johnston, Adam Senior, Reiss Greenidge, Liam Edwards, Will Aimson
    WB/FB: Declan John, Harry Brockbank, Brandon Comley, Gethin Jones
    Midfield: MJ Williams, Kieran Lee, Antony Sarcevic, Lloyd Isgrove, George Thomason, Andrew Tutte, Denis Politic, Ali Crawford, Josh Sheehan, Finlay Lockett
    Forwards: Doyler, Delfuoneso, Dapo Afolayan, Ronan Darcy, Amadou Bakayoko and maybe Amaechi?

    Plus the young lads who've been just been given contracts.
    Not sure how that works if the squad size has a maximum of 25 but I suspect Crawford will be gone and there are a fair few U21s who don't count towards that total. Definitely a good team in there somewhere.

    So is it good enough given that for the most part it was a League 2 team last season?

    Positives:
    Plenty of cover and experience in goal which was a worry last season - problem sorted
    The defence looks solid and robust enough to cope in League 1
    The retained players were the better players of a promoted team
    Loads of midfield options and what look on paper to be good signings
    A bit more pace, power and trickery up front

    Concerns:
    Better quality opposition who will give our defence new challenges
    Creating enough chances
    Tactical naivety - not sure it will be so easy to play the expansive game Evatt prefers in this league.

    Promotion? I wish - but I think the bookies have got it about right i.e. in with a shout of the playoffs if all goes well.

  2. #2
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    Now there's apparently interest in Phil Jagielka - a player we nearly signed from Sheff Utd before his move to Everton donkey's years ago.
    Undoubtedly a great player in his prime but he's 38 now FFS! Must be in good nick though.
    Could be a strong influence in the dressing room and a decent back up but I have to wonder why he's needed when we already have senior pros like Baptiste and Gilks to help bring on the youngsters. Maybe Jagielka is looking to develop into a coaching role?

    Of more interest is the rumour about interest in 23 year old Kabongo Tshimanga from Boreham Wood in the National League. A prolific scorer at that level he started at MK Dons but never really made it - but Evatt has history when it comes to improving talent from the lower leagues.

    With the pre-season coming there'll be a few trialists I guess so it will be interesting to see who makes the final 25 with not many places left.

  3. #3
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    Phew!
    Just asked to train with us.
    Meanwhile England 2 Germany 0 and the pub went berserk.

  4. #4
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    Jamie Sterry on the radar to compete for the RB slot. It's definitely "triallist" season despite the majority of the squad being in already place.

  5. #5
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    Can't read too much into the first preseason game against Longridge and sending out a different team in each half, but the fairly comfortable win against a decent 9th tier NW Counties side at least showed the talent has reasonable quality.
    Clearly a lot of work to do on fitness and team-building though.
    Atherton Colls are a couple of tiers further up the pile and should provide a sterner test tonight, but hopefully the team will now be starting to take shape - it needs to as there's only one game after that against T7 opposition to get it right before we face two Championship clubs either side of T4 Barrow.
    If Evatt is serious about competing at the top of L1 we've to be ready enough to try to hold our own against the Championship clubs and that will be a better indication of where we're at going into our opening game of the season proper.

  6. #6
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    Atherton Collieries 0 BWFC 4 - slightly flattering scoreline TBH.
    Noticeable that the Tier 7 defence presented a similar problem to Longridge - how to score against a parked bus - which is something that will have to be faced in L1.
    A good run out for just about the whole squad though and there are signs that the new players are starting to get how Evatt wants them to play.
    Jury is still out on Ameachi though. Evatt reckons he isn't fit enough yet but he may turn out to be another "attractive on paper" loanee who gets sent back. We'll see.
    One more warm up against lower league opposition - FC United - and then it will be a completely different set of problems when we face the Championship teams and we'll learn more about our defence who've not had much to do so far. Hopefully the Covid lads will be back for those games.
    So far, so good but there's a lot to sort out before the season starts.

  7. #7
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    Absolutely appalling performance at FC United suggests there's little chance of promotion unless discipline improves dramatically.

    The players should be ashamed of themselves and as a Wanderers fan I can only apologise to FC United for the complete lack of respect our lot showed on the day. They turned up expecting a stroll in the park and even when they realised they'd got a game on their hands they failed to raise their performance to the standards they are capable of. As the manager said, FC United deserved to win and our late equaliser was irrelevant to the overall performance.
    Show that lack of fight, effort and urgency in League 1 and we'll be staring at relegation in no time and unless they sort it out before Tuesday, Preston will humiliate us.

  8. #8
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    Tonight's "friendly" with PNE should be sobering given that they look to have a squad ready for a push on to the Premiership.
    They played really well to beat Celtic last week and although Ched Evans looked off the pace Scott Sinclair clearly still has it.
    If we can keep the score down to three I'll be impressed.
    If we actually score a goal, even more so.

  9. #9
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    I'm impressed on both counts.
    Downside are the injuries to Amaechi and Jones.
    But that was a proper performance.

  10. #10
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    Another unconvincing win.
    OK it's a win and it wasn't the first team, but I'm wondering if there's an attitude problem where they only get up for the "bigger" clubs?
    Could be an issue.

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