With the season starting Saturday but the transfer window still open its is interesting to see where we are. My belief is that the squad is still going through a transition and definitely not where we would have hoped in terms of fitness, quality and coverage in the squad. I think we have to be tight defensively and get through the month with points on the board. I see our defence is the most complete so i hope we deliver here and see this as the key area as we start. Build confidence from clean sheets. I don't think we have the combined creative midfield and strikers to be rattling 2-3 goals a game right now (hope im wrong) so i expect this is the area to strengthen next month. its also a chance, maybe not by choice, to teat the young uns in competitive environment. Which of them will be pushing for starts as the season goes. i would be over the moon with anything above 8 pts.
I can see a slow start with plenty of draws. As it stands we could field a team of defenders but lack creativity and goals
I was discussing this with a mate who's a Charlton fan yesterday, and said that we'd probably improve as a team as the season went on. I like the look of Duff as a Head Coach, but there's squad upheaval still to come, with the outgoing business needed to precede the incoming, in terms of anything significant. Gut feel at this stage is that we might get a bit of excitement towards the end of the season as we threaten to sneak into the play-offs, but will ultimately fall short, but then be well placed for a strong push next season. Given that, I'd expect our early season form to be 'consistently inconsistent'. We'll be traditionally abysmal in the first round of the League Cup. I'd expect a draw at best against Plymouth, and have a horrible feeling that the Cheltenham game will be a banana skin like the Crawley Town opener was a few years ago. From there, we'll start to look a bit more consistent as a unit in Duff's scheme, but by then we'll also be rotating in new players to replace Helik and Styles who will have moved on before the window closes. As patchy as that sounds, I'm just looking forward to returning to Oakwell after a long absence and supporting a club where everyone will be pulling in the same direction once again.
Nothing new for us to be short of players come the start of the season infact it’s kind of predictable every season but thankfully unlike the last two head coaches i think Duff is more than capable of getting us a few results until back up arrives.
From what I can make of the squad so far I don't think we're going to concede **** loads of goals where our new coach sets us up. However we have lost 2 key strikers who will be missed. I can see us drawing a few games till we get up to speed. I am looking for a top 10 finish ,kick on next season . These daft 2hats have put us back a long way.
If we intend to play with 5 centre halves and two goalkeepers then the squad is well balanced. Any other formation and someone needs a word with someone somewhere.
Duffs just said in his interview pre Plymouth that he could do with some more fire power. Cant see many goals in this lot cole norwood etc
Quiet start. We will be solid but lack in the final third. We will get some 0-0’s and the odd 1-0 win or loss I’d predict. Signings to come in when we’ve sold one or two more. I’d imagine the ones most likely to still be leaving will be Helik and Styles, with forwards coming in. Hopefully before the very end of the window.
