Unsworth - “We have a core group of 19-20 players.”

[deyres42]

2 hours ago, Dave_Og said:

I can't imagine we're going to pay Mullin type money and can't really see why signing a L2 player would be a statement of intent.  Grigg may or may not do well at Chesterfield but i think our young and upcoming approach is a better idea.

Not expecting Mullin size signing but someone or 3 like Danny Mayor who went to Fleetwood yesterday would be ideal, ones with known quality and experience higher up the league. The signings so far feel like building blocks rather than game changers.

[Dave_Og]

3 minutes ago, deyres42 said:

Not expecting Mullin size signing but someone or 3 like Danny Mayor who went to Fleetwood yesterday would be ideal, ones with known quality and experience higher up the league. The signings so far feel like building blocks rather than game changers.

I'd say what changes the game is having players who knit together to form a solid team/squad rather than a name.  We'll see if that's what we've got.  Everything we've done s far suggests that a star signing isn't where we want to go.

[yarddog73]

6 minutes ago, deyres42 said:

Not expecting Mullin size signing but someone or 3 like Danny Mayor who went to Fleetwood yesterday would be ideal, ones with known quality and experience higher up the league. The signings so far feel like building blocks rather than game changers.

Plenty players won't drop out of the EFL and you may have to pay a bit of a premium which I don't think we are likely to do, I think Willoughby may surprise a few and could prove a bargain, I think mopping up other teams best players is more than building blocks but it remains to be seen what impact the new lads will have individually, I'm hopeful we will be in the mix from the off even with the squad we currently have and that is still bound to get stronger over the next week or two.

Edited June 27, 2023 by yarddog73

[deyres42]

23 minutes ago, yarddog73 said:

Plenty players won't drop out of the EFL and you may have to pay a bit of a premium which I don't think we are likely to do, I think Willoughby may surprise a few and could prove a bargain, I think mopping up other teams best players is more than building blocks but it remains to be seen what impact the new lads will have individually, I'm hopeful we will be in the mix from the off even with the squad we currently have and that is still bound to get stronger over the next week or two.

Think it might be more of a slow burner myself, wouldn't even be surprised if the manager came under a bit of pressure but we shall see.

[yarddog73]

5 minutes ago, deyres42 said:

Think it might be more of a slow burner myself, wouldn't even be surprised if the manager came under a bit of pressure but we shall see.

I've been one of his biggest critics but even I can see what he's trying to do, I honestly think we will be up there from the start this season, absolutely no reason why we shouldn't, not saying it's going to be pretty but we have a real strong squad.

[Dave_Og]

17 minutes ago, yarddog73 said:

I've been one of his biggest critics but even I can see what he's trying to do, I honestly think we will be up there from the start this season, absolutely no reason why we shouldn't, not saying it's going to be pretty but we have a real strong squad.

 

And a strong squad that for the most part will have had six weeks or so together before the season starts.  Now that's radical!

[oafc1955]

3 minutes ago, Dave_Og said:

 

And a strong squad that for the most part will have had six weeks or so together before the season starts.  Now that's radical!

For us it’s fucking revolutionary!!

[astottie]

3 hours ago, yarddog73 said:

I've been one of his biggest critics but even I can see what he's trying to do, I honestly think we will be up there from the start this season, absolutely no reason why we shouldn't, not saying it's going to be pretty but we have a real strong squad.

Agreed.  His starting line up is almost certainly going to have at least 5 new players.  They will need time to settle.

[Sparkleking]

5 hours ago, oafc1955 said:

Do we know exactly who wasn’t at training yesterday?

Mo Lemsagam

[GKing521]

4 hours ago, deyres42 said:

Think it might be more of a slow burner myself, wouldn't even be surprised if the manager came under a bit of pressure but we shall see.

Yup, I don't think we nearly have enough to mount a playoff campaign. There are currently too many holes in the squad. 

Also, the season finishes 20th April which means this is going to be tough on a squad, especially when they have to also try and fit in the inevitable postponements when dog and duck sides like Wealdstone fail to get their pitch in order after some bad weather.

[Bobledgersheart]

2 minutes ago, GKing521 said:

Yup, I don't think we nearly have enough to mount a playoff campaign. There are currently too many holes in the squad. 

Also, the season finishes 20th April which means this is going to be tough on a squad, especially when they have to also try and fit in the inevitable postponements when dog and duck sides like Wealdstone fail to get their pitch in order after some bad weather.

Have you ever seen us play ??

[hollandspies]

5 hours ago, yarddog73 said:

Yarney, Rooney, McGahey, Leutwiler, Luamba, Windass all definitely missing there may be others. Can't see any playing a part this season and they've probably been asked to stay away and find new clubs.

 

Fondop, Gardner, Hope and Tollitt all in which tells me they will be invoved and to be fair are good squad players on their day at this level.

Burgess also missing. 
Gardner couldn’t be spotted either but my eyesight isn’t what it used to be! 

[Ritchierich]

3 hours ago, GKing521 said:

I don't think we nearly have enough to mount a playoff campaign. There are currently too many holes in the squad.

That’s the spirit

[yarddog73]

3 hours ago, GKing521 said:

Yup, I don't think we nearly have enough to mount a playoff campaign. There are currently too many holes in the squad. 

Also, the season finishes 20th April which means this is going to be tough on a squad, especially when they have to also try and fit in the inevitable postponements when dog and duck sides like Wealdstone fail to get their pitch in order after some bad weather.

Even though we've made four quality signings and added them to a squad which would be top of the form table in 2023 now County and Wrexham have gone, if you remove the County and Notts results from each team since Christmas we would be even further ahead.

 

As for it being tough on the squad we are equipped more than most and have cover in almost every position, some NL teams couldn't name a full bench the back end of last season, we on the other hand could probably put out two decent elevens with the players available at the minute.

 

Norman

Sutton

Hobson

Hogan

Kitching 

Sheron

Lundstrum

Ward

Shelton

Reid

Willoughby 

 

Hudson

Yarney

McGahey 

Couto

Green

Gardner 

Rooney

Tollitt 

Hope

Fondop

Nuttall

 

That second eleven is probably on a par with the team Shez put out early last season, I think we are going to get another 2 or 3 in as well to replace those that are deemed surplus.

 

 

 

[League one forever]

15 hours ago, deyres42 said:

Think it might be more of a slow burner myself, wouldn't even be surprised if the manager came under a bit of pressure but we shall see.

Aye, I know where you’re coming from. 
 

There does seem to be an expectation now that this is a title challenging squad- which may have some merit. But I think it’s more likely Unsy will have us top 7, not top 3 and will that be enough for fans? 

IMO. 
 

Top 3 is good. 
 

Top 7 is bare minimum. 

[Hemel latic]

1 hour ago, League one forever said:

Aye, I know where you’re coming from. 
 

There does seem to be an expectation now that this is a title challenging squad- which may have some merit. But I think it’s more likely Unsy will have us top 7, not top 3 and will that be enough for fans? 

IMO. 
 

Top 3 is good. 
 

Top 7 is bare minimum. 

If I was going to the fans forum tomorrow night my question would be what's the target in the league this season?

 

If I was the CEO setting the target in consultation with the manager, the target range would be 2nd-5th.

[TheBigDog]

1 hour ago, League one forever said:

Aye, I know where you’re coming from. 
 

There does seem to be an expectation now that this is a title challenging squad- which may have some merit. But I think it’s more likely Unsy will have us top 7, not top 3 and will that be enough for fans? 

IMO. 
 

Top 3 is good. 
 

Top 7 is bare minimum. 

For me the question is: “Will there be six teams in the league better than us?”

 

An impossible question to answer at this early stage.

 

So it’s all conjecture really but I would expect Chesterfield, Bromley and possibly Hartlepool, Ebbsfleet, Fylde etc to be up there with us  - in Unsworn we trust

[Steve_R]

24 minutes ago, Hemel latic said:

If I was going to the fans forum tomorrow night my question would be what's the target in the league this season?

 

If I was the CEO setting the target in consultation with the manager, the target range would be 2nd-5th.

Nah, we’ve got to be in it to win it 

[LightDN123]

1 hour ago, Hemel latic said:

If I was going to the fans forum tomorrow night my question would be what's the target in the league this season?

 

If I was the CEO setting the target in consultation with the manager, the target range would be 2nd-5th.

I hope they would politely ignore your question and give the usual narrative that the league will be competitive and we are going to do everything we can to compete in this league.

 

I expect us to be minimum top 7 throughout the season after the league table settled around 10 games in. But I think we all need to chill out with this added pressure on the club / players. 

[astottie]

59 minutes ago, TheBigDog said:

For me the question is: “Will there be six teams in the league better than us?”

 

An impossible question to answer at this early stage.

 

So it’s all conjecture really but I would expect Chesterfield, Bromley and possibly Hartlepool, Ebbsfleet, Fylde etc to be up there with us  - in Unsworn we trust

I would have said Solihull as well before their manager left. They had made some really good signings already.

[Dave_Og]

1 hour ago, TheBigDog said:

For me the question is: “Will there be six teams in the league better than us?”

 

An impossible question to answer at this early stage.

 

So it’s all conjecture really but I would expect Chesterfield, Bromley and possibly Hartlepool, Ebbsfleet, Fylde etc to be up there with us  - in Unsworn we trust

 

Nobody can really explain why but Boreham Wood will be up there.  Doesn't seem to be much confidence at Hartlepool from a quick scan of their forum.  Any stattos have figures re how well teams promoted from NLS & NLN generally do?

[Hemel latic]

33 minutes ago, Dave_Og said:

 

Nobody can really explain why but Boreham Wood will be up there.  Doesn't seem to be much confidence at Hartlepool from a quick scan of their forum.  Any stattos have figures re how well teams promoted from NLS & NLN generally do?

No one's pulled up any plants in recent years. You'd have to go back to 18/19 when Stockport and Torquay were promoted. Might expect Fylde to do best out of this year's crop, with their financial clout.

[yarddog73]

46 minutes ago, LightDN123 said:

I hope they would politely ignore your question and give the usual narrative that the league will be competitive and we are going to do everything we can to compete in this league.

 

I expect us to be minimum top 7 throughout the season after the league table settled around 10 games in. But I think we all need to chill out with this added pressure on the club / players. 

It's not added pressure it comes with the territory, do you think Lundstrum has signed to be involved in a team that finishes seventh, I don't he's come here because I assume he thinks we can win the league, I'm sure we've learned plenty from last season and the results from Christmas would suggest the coaching team now know what's required, we shouldn't be fearing anyone this season and anything other than top 3 would be failure for me.

 

Looking back on last season we were piss poor for the majority, threw countless points away but somehow finished about three wins off seventh, nobody can deny we got stronger as the season went on and look well equipped to mount a serious challenge this season, we'll need to fight for everything, we'll also need some luck but I cannot have us out of a top 3 this season which I suspect will contain ourselves, Chesterfield and one other.

[League one forever]

1 hour ago, yarddog73 said:

It's not added pressure it comes with the territory, do you think Lundstrum has signed to be involved in a team that finishes seventh, I don't he's come here because I assume he thinks we can win the league, I'm sure we've learned plenty from last season and the results from Christmas would suggest the coaching team now know what's required, we shouldn't be fearing anyone this season and anything other than top 3 would be failure for me.

 

Looking back on last season we were piss poor for the majority, threw countless points away but somehow finished about three wins off seventh, nobody can deny we got stronger as the season went on and look well equipped to mount a serious challenge this season, we'll need to fight for everything, we'll also need some luck but I cannot have us out of a top 3 this season which I suspect will contain ourselves, Chesterfield and one other.

There’s a lot of presumption in that.

To be top three-

 

All the new signings have to settle and play well/contribute 

 

As you say - We need luck with injuries to key players. 
 

Most importantly Unsworth and the team need a big mentality shift from. ‘Stay in the game, and nick something’ to ‘Go out and dominate and win the game’ 

 

Not beyond the realms of possibility, but no team grinds to top 3. 

 

 

 

 

[Dave_Og]

42 minutes ago, League one forever said:

There’s a lot of presumption in that.

To be top three-

 

All the new signings have to settle and play well/contribute 

 

As you say - We need luck with injuries to key players. 
 

Most importantly Unsworth and the team need a big mentality shift from. ‘Stay in the game, and nick something’ to ‘Go out and dominate and win the game’ 

 

Not beyond the realms of possibility, but no team grinds to top 3. 

 

 

 

 

 

Mourinho's record says otherwise