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With the Window Closed....

Is the squad stronger or weaker?

  • Stronger

    Votes: 34 16.3%
  • Weaker

    Votes: 94 45.2%
  • About the same

    Votes: 80 38.5%

  • Total voters
    208
In answer to the OP, it all depends on AN.

If he carries on with what he's been doing for the past 12 months, then I'm not sure any of these new lads are going to make a big difference.

We have to find a way of creating more chances and having more attempts on goal - only Coventry and Stoke have had fewer efforts than us.

At the moment, we are very neat and tidy, very technical, very boring to watch and very mid-table.

If that's the limit of AN's ambition and ability, then fine.

If he's got something more in his locker (as we keep being told), well, these are his signings, there are no stand-out teams, there's 20 games left . . . now's the time - let's see it, boss. 🤔
 
I have posted already on another thread yesterday

I think this is an 'holding' position till the season ends
I suspect/ Hope we will have a ‘clear out’ of those speculative lower League wage ‘punts’ that have not proved good enough for this level, by that I don’t mean Ledson (who has begun to show some quality) or Bayliss (who has yet to be given a real chance)

As for the Loans

Some of these will only be extended if their parent clubs think it suits, by which I mean principally game time
So we have to think will Iverson be preferred over Rudd or Gordon over Sinclair or Barky personally I doubt it

So we may well not see them here after Xmas when the January window opens
 
Are we stronger or weaker?

We are what we are.

Great thread for the moaners and whingers to have a rant though.

I hope the additions merge together to make us a great team for the rest of this season. Shut a few people up on here.

Cue a few insults as per usual.
 
Time will tell but whoever is the manager going into next season will have a hell of
a job on his hands.
 
Iversen>Rudd
Cunningham>Earl
Davies>Lindsay
VDB not replacing anyone
Molumby and Whiteman>Pearson
Gordon great signing not replacing anyone
Evans=Stockley.
I’d say stronger overall. Obviously Davies will be a huge miss but I think we strengthened in every other area apart from right back also.
I have to say that when you lay it out like that Tom, we probably look slightly stronger..... I guess the real key to it all will be how Lindsay and / or Van Der Berg perform in place of Davies... ( I wrote this after casting my vote : “ About the same” )
 
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All things considered, were about the same I believe. With a change of system we may end up slightly stronger.

Hard to say though before all the new lads have had a couple of games.
Yeah, I voted “ about the same “... I guess it could still go either way - we don’t know how well Lindsay, Van Der Berg and Gordon are going to settle in and gel with the current squad....
 
Iversen>Rudd
Cunningham>Earl
Davies>Lindsay
VDB not replacing anyone
Molumby and Whiteman>Pearson
Gordon great signing not replacing anyone
Evans=Stockley.
I’d say stronger overall. Obviously Davies will be a huge miss but I think we strengthened in every other area apart from right back also.

Good post.

2 of the so called 'big 4' have renewed.

The midfield loanees are different players than Pearson. BUT pearson was often suspended or injured and openly admitted in his Bournemouth interview that he hadn't been motivated to play to his best at PNE.

Anyone who thinks Gordon is a replacement for Harrop...that has to be a joke, surely? Harrop rarely/never played for us and has been harangued by our fans on here.

Then again, our manager very rarely plays with any width, so if/when/where Gordon is going to feature will be interesting to see.

Should also be noted that our manager appears to be the one who has decided that Browne needs to be converted into a right back (or is anyone really going to try and claim that Ridsdale &/or Hemmings have told Neil to do that?).

We should see all these fresh faces as a positive, and we should (quite rightly) be expecting results to improve in the next month or two, after the new lads have settled in (a couple of them have been here for a few weeks already).

We've got a nice new training ground, no mid-week fixtures lately, so let's crack on!

No more excuses Alex.
 
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Man for man it's probably a status quo, optimistic that the gain for us will be greater energy and zip. There is also a more youthful look to the squad so hopefully more ambition and desire. The lad from Everton promises much and Whiteman is an exciting signing. They need a chance before the whingers get their claws into them.
 
forgive me if I am wrong but I was under the impression that Grezza was a CM player (@ Scunny & Luton) before we helped convert him into a RB.

Apparently he was too slow to be a good FB...... and then when he was too slow he became a CM again back in the Prem.

AB could be the same for us.
 
Sure - but I'm pretty confident we won't be seeing Bodin again. Gordon has come in because Bodin - time and time again - has proved he's never ready to come in.
Good post.

2 of the so called 'big 4' have renewed.

The midfield loanees are different players than Pearson. BUT pearson was often suspended or injured and openly admitted in his Bournemouth interview that he hadn't been motivated to play to his best at PNE.

Anyone who thinks Gordon is a replacement for Harrop...that has to be a joke, surely? Harrop rarely/never played for us and has been harangued by our fans on here.

Then again, our manager very rarely plays with any width, so if/when/where Gordon is going to feature will be interesting to see.

Should also be noted that our manager appears to be the one who has decided that Browne needs to be converted into a right back (or is anyone really going to try and claim that Ridsdale &/or Hemmings have told Neil to do that?).

We should see all these fresh faces as a positive, and we should (quite rightly) be expecting results to improve in the next month or two, after the new lads have settled in (a couple of them have been here for a few weeks already).

We've got a nice new training ground, no mid-week fixtures lately, so let's crack on!

No more excuses Alex.
I think he decided that right back was less of a priority than CB and winger because of Browne’s ability to hold the fort. Ideally I am sure he would have liked a RB and striker too but we did manage to bring 8 players in during the window
 
I'd edge towards simply because of the freshness new faces naturally bring and that we've been crying out for, for the last 18 months
 
Iversen>Rudd
Cunningham>Earl
Davies>Lindsay
VDB not replacing anyone
Molumby and Whiteman>Pearson
Gordon great signing not replacing anyone
Evans=Stockley.
I’d say stronger overall. Obviously Davies will be a huge miss but I think we strengthened in every other area apart from right back also.

We don't know yet if Cunningham will be better than Earl - it depends how much of a toll injuries have taken and if he can stay fit.

Not sure how you can say Molumby and Whiteman are better than Pearson. Neither are direct, like for like replacements in any case and neither are better than him - at this moment in time.

I would even question whether Evans is as good as Stockley. I know Stockley hasn't been great but he was at least an option, something different to be used when we needed to get back into a game. Neil didn't even trust Evans with 15 mins against Sheffield Wednesday. He's played a handful of Championship games in the past 10 years and is 5 years older than Stockley.

We also need to bear in mind that we've signed 7 players on loan, most of whom will probably be leaving at the end of the season. As they have no real stake in the club, are we happy they'll be fully committed to the cause? This has been one of the reasons previously cited for the club's reluctance to take players on loan.
 
Hard tell until they perform, assets wise we have dropped a massive bollock losing arguably our top two players.
These new additions will make or break Neil.
Good luck to all the new guys and let's hope they gel quickly.
 
forgive me if I am wrong but I was under the impression that Grezza was a CM player (@ Scunny & Luton) before we helped convert him into a RB.

Apparently he was too slow to be a good FB...... and then when he was too slow he became a CM again back in the Prem.

AB could be the same for us.

Browne is miles away from Alexander both centrally and at fullback.
 
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