The new signings

I do wonder if the limited activity in January was because we didn't want more contracts on the books ahead of the fairly comprehensive clear out this summer, which has in turn allowed us to focus upon a better standard of player. The short term contract/loan for the fullbacks we've signed would also indicate that we're trying to keep the squad more agile and flexible year-to-year, but we're also going to continue to try to secure young talented players such as Cleary and Kelly long term, in the same way we did with Connell and Phillips. It's certainly been a good window so far, if we can get a solid CB and CF I'd be really pleased. I think predictions we'd struggle this year are way off the mark.

 

For 2 years at home we've played the ball across the backline going nowhere giving teams time to reorganise their defence. That is not happening under Connor. (And you could see that developing even in the friendlies) Which sets em off guard. And these wide players we've brought in, torment the backline pulling em all over the place. Good to see.

 

I think that's exactly what was happening in the first half. Poor movement and slow transitions allowing Burton to get back and defend with ease, coupled with shambolic defending. It was exactly like last season. The fact that as a collective, CH and the players were able to identify what was going wrong and rectify it, is a huge, huge thing. Last season there's no way on earth we'd have got anything out of that game.

 

Six points....six goals, two games in.
Players who know their roles, a proper striker and massive uplift on fitness.
Really enjoyed the two results....there will be much tougher tests coming up soon and Mdg and Earl are worrying as they can't defend properly.
Lots of green shoots of promise ...this is going to be emotional!

 

half time i was wondering wtf after last weeks performance but the second half was a lot better, think burton gave it a good go but we were the better side in the second half, onwards we go again and lets keep the momentum going, a wins a win no matter how we do it, couple of hard games coming up v bolton and huddersfax but peterborough shouldnt be a problem, gonna be a good season after the last 2 crap ones

 

The new signings look excellent, said it last week everybody looks to know their role and taking responsibility.
Conor is building from the bottom up, he's got people around him who he trusts and will keep the feet on the floor.
If and it is a big if we can keep Connell, DKD and Phillips and source a CB we could be onto something, we've got players that can frighten and hurt opposing teams Vickers, Cleary and Kelly are a defenders nightmare and in the vision of Phillips, the work and presence of McGoldrick and finishing prowess of DKD it gives us options everywhere.

Very very positive signs indeed

 

No he shouldn't, but that tells me somebody else should have been. Now who could that have been? Goalie only had two choices, both of which would more than likely have been a goal.

 

The difference being he's come from a decent championship club and not Forest Green et al

 

Is he on loan or did we sign him ? From memory we signed Kelly & Watson the other 3 are loans but I might have remembered wrong

 

Sure he signed 2 or 3 year deal with years option.

 

Yeah he was signed permanently, too

 

So, do we think it's been a decent transfer window then?

 

If we get a commanding centre half permanently or loan then yes .

 

So far so good…

 

Adam Phillips

115 league games
30 goals
23 assists

A goal and/or assist every 1.4 games. People say he goes missing, but the numbers don't lie, most games he directly contributes.

 

Now in the BFC all-time top 50 for goal contributions.

He also has a knack for scoring or creating the key, winning goal in games. 47 points he’s earned us across those 115 matches.

Well done to Conor and the staff for realising that to get the best from him, he needs an overlapping option. Don’t have him as the wide player. That’s two games now where his link-up play with Vickers was key to lots of our good work. And then when Cleary came on, they looked like they’d played together for years too. And it was Phillips doing the overlapping at times.

*stats from @gooderzone

 

Totally agree. At the moment I would also credit the board for being firm about our good players. Have always said its a false economy in the long term to sell when the overall team is weakened. Perhaps the board are starting to think that too. They can cash in when there are loads of decent players, not when we just have one or two.
Looks like a rebuild that, at the moment, is going well. CB next purchase needed though.

 

Not wanting to completely turn this into an Adam Phillips thread, but he's only played 59 full games. All the other apps of his 134 were either as a sub or he didn't complete the game after starting. So his effectiveness is really high. He's hitting a goal or an assist every 175 minutes of playing time.

 

We conceded 2 goals at home.
That's where we need to improve.