So, ten games in. What are people’s thoughts unit wise in comparison to last season?
GK - no doubt Brynn has been excellent. Surely comparable to Wollacott. Behind him though we obviously need cover. Squad wise last seasons Wollacott-Ward is superior to Brynn-Brann.
RB - looked to be in a right state pre window closing. Hutton has found some form over the last few apps, and Lavinier has looked okay with lots of potential. Few weeks back I would have said Hunt walks into this team, not clear now. Think Egbo was probably the most complete RB so I guess last season shades it.
CB - Baudry was a big part of our late season winning run, so glad he stayed on for another one. Very happy with Clayton, MacDonald is good at the defending part, not great in possession, opposite complaints of Conroy. The loans last season were all pretty competent though. Not sure about our depth here this time around, seems there are one or two that won’t cut it. Leaning towards last season again.
LB - Really like FBT, really like Tomlinson last season. Think he would start given the choice. Again not sold on our depth here. Good to have Ellis back but was never my favourite position for him. Pretty even with last year.
Seems like I’m leaning towards last seasons squad having the edge iin the back line, yet wasn’t our strong suit last season. Am I being overly sentimental? Deluded? Miserable cunt? Did we just underachieve last season?
Brynn is a better keeper than Wollocott and won’t miss games due to international call ups. I agree the depth isn’t as strong as last season but I guess the flip side is we shouldn’t need the depth as much.
Egbo was good and highly rated but it was an extremely small sample size. If he could consistently play as he did the back end of last season then I’d agree he’s a better player than our current right back…but…would he have lost form as some point? Got injured?
Centre back we are better off. MacDonald is a better defender than Conroy ever was, as is Clayton. Baudry was great the back end of last season but similar to Egbo could he keep those levels up over another full season? Good that he is still here *probably* also good he isn’t first choice.
Left back Tomlinson was class but was clearly only ever going to be here for the short term particularly with his parent club looking likely to drop down a division (and doing so) whilst we are weaker I don’t think Tomlinson was ever more then a short term ‘get football’ loan.
Obviously the main difference in the back line - I’m guessing is the instructions. We are definitely dicking about less and defending more. I said on the match day thread we have defenders who defend first, play football second. It was the opposite last season and much more emphasis on the footballing part.
I think because he hit a few decent Hollywood passes occasionally people forget just how inept Conroy was as a defender.