Challengers next season?

[Mutley]

Not usually one to be negative but I feel we could have a bit of an underwhelming season this year coming. If we don’t get off to a good start the bed wetters will be wanting evitt out. That said I would take mid table after a very good season just gone. m

[Whitesince63]

8 hours ago, Mutley said:

Not usually one to be negative but I feel we could have a bit of an underwhelming season this year coming. If we don’t get off to a good start the bed wetters will be wanting evitt out. That said I would take mid table after a very good season just gone. m

Well thankfully I suspect IE and FV are more ambitious than you are Mutley? As I said earlier to Lusty, even if we didn’t make major signings, which I’m sure we will, I still believe what we have already is good enough to challenge for better than mid table so I’d expect top six as a minimum target this season and automatics as very achievable.

[Farrelli]

8 hours ago, Mutley said:

Not usually one to be negative but I feel we could have a bit of an underwhelming season this year coming. If we don’t get off to a good start the bed wetters will be wanting evitt out. That said I would take mid table after a very good season just gone. m

We are in May😳

[tomski]

Dick Dastardly reign your boy in😂

[ßuggerlugs]

If we can get the keeper situation sorted we can expect top six again I think, proper goalscorer needed as well if we're going up automatically. Would expect whoever loses tomorrow to be up there again with Derby and us, other than that its a free for all for me.  I don't think anyone is fearing the teams coming down

[Whitesince63]

For me it’s not so much the strikers that are our problem it’s the continual failure to take advantage of set pieces, corners and free kicks and it’s been like that since Evatt’s been here. I’m sure if we could work on that and resolve it it would take a lot of pressure off the strikers as well as making the goals for column and points look better?

[QFPants]

12 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

For me it’s not so much the strikers that are our problem it’s the continual failure to take advantage of set pieces, corners and free kicks and it’s been like that since Evatt’s been here. I’m sure if we could work on that and resolve it it would take a lot of pressure off the strikers as well as making the goals for column and points look better?

We scored more set piece goals than Plymouth and Sheff Wed this season

[Leyther_Matt]

48 minutes ago, QFPants said:

We scored more set piece goals than Plymouth and Sheff Wed this season

3 of those were at Wembley though weren’t they? 😂 

[Whitesince63]

3 hours ago, QFPants said:

We scored more set piece goals than Plymouth and Sheff Wed this season

If that’s a fact I’d be very surprised but it still doesn’t resolve the problem that we have in that direction and the fact that the stats tell us that we score less than we should do from set pieces. Clearly then so do they!! 

[London Wanderer]

I think next season will be the biggest test of Evatt's managerial career so far. Lots of expectation this time round and lots of work to do over the summer. I honestly can't predict how it will go. It depends on who we sign, how they perform and adapt to our style of play. And also if this years January signings come good. 

it's a big ask to rebuild and have a team that gels quickly enough for us to be near the top come Christmas. I'll be massively impressed if Evatt can do it. 

[Deanu]

I know Derby have that ex Rotherham manager who knows how to get out this league with some prime parky ball but not sure on their situation are they still "one player in/one player out" under the new ownership? They have a very ageing team & will need some key signings to keep pace the entire season. Barnsley fair enough due to how well organized & horrible to play against with Duff but hopefully they lose one or two of their better players like Andersen. All the three who have come down look deep in the shit, maybe Blackpool now they have Critchley back who's been there & done it with them might have them spring a surprise but they've undone their hard work they initially done under him but at least them three look like they haven't got much money to blow us out the water to signings.

Great to see the back of Ipswich with them spending over a mill each on Davis/Broadhead/Clarke they were literally taking the P*SS at this level my god McKenna literally had unlimited resources compared to the other teams at the level the fact he still didn't win the league is crazy to me. Sheff Weds not going up last season I thought they'd lose players & struggle yet what did they do? keep Bannan in L1 & bring in Rotherham's two best players who'd just got promoted in Smith & Iheikwe so it's probably best they went up to get them out the way. 

Will be our third season now back in L1 so we have the yard stick to gauge, apart from replacing Traff/Brad we're in a strong position with the squad we've built just need to make sure we get this summer recruitment bang on. Full trust in Evo/Markham/FV to mount a serious challenge for autos next season

[Whitesince63]

Well the bookies don’t very often get things too wrong but d question some of those odds personally. Wigan for a start will be lucky to avoid relegation again the way they’re going. Most if not all of their better players will have to go just to cut wages and their owner has already admitted that he’s looking to young players and freebies. Reading will also be in that boat needing to get their costs down and over here Tykes fans are already wondering who will be sold this summer and if Duff will stay or be poached by a bigger club, maybe Huddersfield who are sniffing? So I wouldn’t make any predictions just yet until we know how each team is looking after the window but as for ourselves I’d trust IE to bring in players to make us that bit better than last year and pushing for the automatics from the off.

[desperado]

3 hours ago, Whitesince63 said:

Well the bookies don’t very often get things too wrong but d question some of those odds personally. Wigan for a start will be lucky to avoid relegation again the way they’re going. Most if not all of their better players will have to go just to cut wages and their owner has already admitted that he’s looking to young players and freebies. Reading will also be in that boat needing to get their costs down and over here Tykes fans are already wondering who will be sold this summer and if Duff will stay or be poached by a bigger club, maybe Huddersfield who are sniffing? So I wouldn’t make any predictions just yet until we know how each team is looking after the window but as for ourselves I’d trust IE to bring in players to make us that bit better than last year and pushing for the automatics from the off.

Good post.

Crossing into the other thread a little here, but I’d take it one step further, I think it’s with good justification that we would be in the top 2 to go up, even before we know who we’ve brought in, purely on Evatts record and progress both on and off the pitch.

And this hypothetical argument about whether a player would choose Bolton or Barnsley, really?? If the same deal is on the table for a player this summer, is he going to choose a club that’s on the up, ambitious to get back to where we belong having been away for so long, a club that is presently is playing in front of top level crowds in a top class stadium, a club steeped in history, with a manager who is young, ambitious, progressive, known for playing an attractive brand and who is committed to the longer term project … or Barnsley?

Why can Barnsley not become another club like Charlton and Portsmouth who have been overtaken in the last 18 months by the mighty whites. They (Charlton/Portsmouth fans) must be scratching their heads thinking about our rise and progress against their static mediocrity?

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by desperado

[Wanderlust]

It's almost as if Reading, Blackpool and Wigan have been written off as contenders but all three have quality players that they can retain or cash in on and potentially plenty of investment to back their rebuilding. We just don't know how strong they'll be but having benefited from Championship income and the experience of playing at that level, they do have an advantage.

[W.cramp]

39 minutes ago, Wanderlust said:

It's almost as if Reading, Blackpool and Wigan have been written off as contenders but all three have quality players that they can retain or cash in on and potentially plenty of investment to back their rebuilding. We just don't know how strong they'll be but having benefited from Championship income and the experience of playing at that level, they do have an advantage.

Reading and wiggin will be doing well to start the season.  Not sure where you have read anything about their plenty if investment  to rebuild,  even Wiggins two bob sheikh has released a statement saying their playing staff wage bill will have to be cut by 65% (so make that about 80%)

[Mantra]

Bolton, Blackpool, Barnsley, Portsmouth, P'bro, Derby

Would be my predicted top 6 for next season. (in no particular order)

[meanderson93]

Quite frankly, looking at the quality this league has to offer this year, anything but automatic promotion would feel like a failure to me. 

I'm not sure that should be a controversial opinion, either. 

[Farnywhite]

6 minutes ago, meanderson93 said:

Quite frankly, looking at the quality this league has to offer this year, anything but automatic promotion would feel like a failure to me. 

I'm not sure that should be a controversial opinion, either. 

It all depends what we bring in at the moment and none of us can really judge it till the squad takes shape . 

[Casino]

1 hour ago, meanderson93 said:

Quite frankly, looking at the quality this league has to offer this year, anything but automatic promotion would feel like a failure to me. 

I'm not sure that should be a controversial opinion, either. 

At this stage, theres no reason we should expect to finish above Barnsley

So 1 spot, remains

So id say it could well be controversial

[Wanderlust]

2 hours ago, meanderson93 said:

Quite frankly, looking at the quality this league has to offer this year, anything but automatic promotion would feel like a failure to me. 

I'm not sure that should be a controversial opinion, either. 

I don't think it's controversial but I would add that OUR quality has been poor in many games this season. So frustrating to watch poor passes, poor control and nothing sticking to the strikers for long periods in many of our games. Sure we've played some good stuff at times, but it has been nowhere near consistent enough and in some games we've been just plain awful for 90 minutes.

The most annoying thing has been knowing that when the quality level of the whole league isn't fantastic, we've struggled so often to play at our best where we know a bit of quality would swing the game but we haven't been capable of producing it often enough.

If there is failure, it's been our failure and it needs putting right next season.

[Tombwfc]

We finished 5th and have already lost our goalkeeper and best player. There's no guarantee that Championship sides won't come in for some of the ones who remain.

Not to say we can't get automatic promotion if things break right, of course we can, but I think it's a bit much to have it as a minimum expectation. We can sit here and slag off every other team in the division, but they won't be shitting it about playing us either.

[Whitesince63]

13 hours ago, Tombwfc said:

We finished 5th and have already lost our goalkeeper and best player. There's no guarantee that Championship sides won't come in for some of the ones who remain.

Not to say we can't get automatic promotion if things break right, of course we can, but I think it's a bit much to have it as a minimum expectation. We can sit here and slag off every other team in the division, but they won't be shitting it about playing us either.

I’m not sure anybody’s quoting the automatics as a minimum Tom, just a feeling that if IE gets his summer dealings right we must be in the pound seats compared to the rest who all individually have potential problems. You’d certainly expect Derby to be up there but with question marks against all the others I think I’d rather be in our position than theirs.

[Lostock Whites]

We've got some good players and play a style of football that's probably the best 'footballing" wise in the league. We will average even more possession next year and we've built a reputation that all clubs know about.

Average possession under Evatt

20/21 - 55.9%

21/22 - 56.6%

22/23- 57.1%

It's going to be challenging, but we simply have to be better than last year. Teams are only going to make it tougher, even the likes of Stevenage, Northampton, they will come and make it difficult and we need to get better at what we do with the ball. 

To say summer recruitment is important is an understatement.

I think we need at least 7 players in, but not just numbers most of even better quality than we brought in last year. And even more important, players that are a good fit for our style. Nlundulu, Jerome and Victor really don't fit the way we play, I am interested to see if Victor can adapt. Nlundulu pulled a hammy from just pressing.

The style and foundations can always be improved but I am completely behind what Evatt is building, it's worked each year so far and look how much we've improved in just 2/3 years.

However I think what is mostly holding us back is our need for better players,  who are more capable of implementing Evatt's methodology.

Edited May 31, 2023 by Lostock Whites

[gonzo]

We finished 5th and were generally shite for large portions of last season.

Just wait till Evatt ball kicks in fully this season

 

[Wanderlust]

58 minutes ago, Lostock Whites said:

However I think what is mostly holding us back is our need for better players,  who are more capable of implementing Evatt's methodology.

Agreed and it's no easy path as quality isn't cheap and there is a balance to be found between "good with the ball" and "lightweight" - players with skill AND strength/stamina are hard to come by or already play at a higher level. Keeps coming back to "how much money is the budget?" - and also assumes Evatt won't be lured away by e.g. Leicester.