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I struggle to see which of our senior players would accept going out to non league.

How about Jack Stevens, give him half or whole season in the conference and have a youth keeper on the bench, it would be risky if Eastwood was to be injured but would free up a space for another outfield player.
 
So yeah, looking at the bigger picture, I have confidence that going forwards we'll eventually be OK. We're creating a bunch of opportunities - we're just not putting enough away at the moment. But given the talent we do have, I think this group will eventually turn it around and score enough goals to at least, from that perspective, be able to contend for the playoffs in League One.

But the defense? That scares me. We look short on quality and we are definitely short on numbers.
Last year, we got through the whole season with just six (and later five) senior defenders. But we were lucky with injuries and suspensions; and now we've lost by far and away our best defender, and our good ol' senior pro is looking as if his playing days may be numbered.
We're shipping two goals a game and it is not undeserved. The defending on Saturday was horrendous at times and we could and probably should have conceded more than two. Gorrin coming back will help (he supports the back four in a way that Kelly does not) but he's not enough.

At this point, I honestly don't care what position along the back line they play (with Long's versatility, we have options) but we need to bring in another decent quality defender before it's too late. Otherwise I just can't see us being good enough at the back this season, and mid-table will be our ceiling.
Yeah I think they are all fair points. If Dickie & Mous were injured last year we’d have struggled & we’re seeing that this season with the numbers we have. Atkinson looks like a prospect, but he’s not Dickie standard (yet) & we’ll need to see how he develops. We haven’t looked like keeping a clean sheet this season in any game we’ve played so far. So our current back line will definitely hold back our league aspirations. On the plus side, our general play looks pretty good & we’re creating chances, so if we start taking those chances a mid table finish is probably what I’d expect.

We have a very inexperienced first choice back 4 this season (excluding Ruffles), so it will be interesting to see whether KR sticks with that for what may be a bigger long term gain come next season, or brings someone in with more experience & limits the exposure that likely Atkinson gets to first team football this year. If it was me I’d bring in a CB (if available) on the basis that after our start we perhaps need a more experienced head to prevent confidence disappearing. But I think it’s important that Clare, Moore & Atkinson get as much first team football as possible this year. It’s always hard to predict how much a player will develop, but it feels to me like these 3 have the raw ingredients (even if we haven’t necessarily seen it come to fruition on the pitch yet) to become key assets in the next couple of seasons.

Personally I wouldn’t be crying over a mid table finish this season. It feels like we’ve reset the cycle a little bit where we’ve got to wait for some potential to come good. Big season for Agyei to prove himself, to see how well Cooper adapts to league football, to see how Osei develops. We had to wait for Dickie & Brannagan to come good, but the end result is you get to watch players that you’d never be able to sign at their peak. Patience needed.
 
Talk of Stevens, Agyei and Hall going out on loan is madness. All could make a significant difference this season, especially with so many games in such a short space of time, squad rotation will be essential.

Hanson will be a tough sell with having only just come back from injury and playing little last season. But with Brannagan injured, Gorrin only just coming back, McGuane not finding his feet, maybe keeping Hanson around might not be a bad thing.

I would suspect that, if any, Osei Yaw will be the player to go out until January if it means getting someone else in. It would be a shame as his rawness also brings unpredictability which defenders hate. But we've got to play to the regulations that are in place and that means that someone has to make way.
 
How about Jack Stevens, give him half or whole season in the conference and have a youth keeper on the bench, it would be risky if Eastwood was to be injured but would free up a space for another outfield player.
Why not send Eastwood out on loan he’s been a good servant to us but he’s becoming abit of a liability
 
So yeah, looking at the bigger picture, I have confidence that going forwards we'll eventually be OK. We're creating a bunch of opportunities - we're just not putting enough away at the moment. But given the talent we do have, I think this group will eventually turn it around and score enough goals to at least, from that perspective, be able to contend for the playoffs in League One.

But the defense? That scares me. We look short on quality and we are definitely short on numbers.
Last year, we got through the whole season with just six (and later five) senior defenders. But we were lucky with injuries and suspensions; and now we've lost by far and away our best defender, and our good ol' senior pro is looking as if his playing days may be numbered.
We're shipping two goals a game and it is not undeserved. The defending on Saturday was horrendous at times and we could and probably should have conceded more than two. Gorrin coming back will help (he supports the back four in a way that Kelly does not) but he's not enough.

At this point, I honestly don't care what position along the back line they play (with Long's versatility, we have options) but we need to bring in another decent quality defender before it's too late. Otherwise I just can't see us being good enough at the back this season, and mid-table will be our ceiling.
All of this - spot on imho.
 
So yeah, looking at the bigger picture, I have confidence that going forwards we'll eventually be OK. We're creating a bunch of opportunities - we're just not putting enough away at the moment. But given the talent we do have, I think this group will eventually turn it around and score enough goals to at least, from that perspective, be able to contend for the playoffs in League One.

But the defense? That scares me. We look short on quality and we are definitely short on numbers.
Last year, we got through the whole season with just six (and later five) senior defenders. But we were lucky with injuries and suspensions; and now we've lost by far and away our best defender, and our good ol' senior pro is looking as if his playing days may be numbered.
We're shipping two goals a game and it is not undeserved. The defending on Saturday was horrendous at times and we could and probably should have conceded more than two. Gorrin coming back will help (he supports the back four in a way that Kelly does not) but he's not enough.

At this point, I honestly don't care what position along the back line they play (with Long's versatility, we have options) but we need to bring in another decent quality defender before it's too late. Otherwise I just can't see us being good enough at the back this season, and mid-table will be our ceiling.
Totally agree with this - whilst we haven't scored in 3 of our 5 matches, we have been creating plenty of chances and we still have top-class attacking talent for this division with the likes of the exciting Cooper and proven goalscorer Winnall yet to really feature and others (Brannagan, Sykes) yet to really hit form. Admittedly we don't have a like for like replacement for Fosu/Browne (both of whom were targetted by other teams, creating space for others) but we still have enough options to give anyone a game.

The two biggest disappointments for me have been McGauane (solid pedigree but yet to dleiver and Karl clearly doesn't fancy him already) and Kelly (who I rated in his cameo appearances last year but isn't suited to the holding midfielder role in front of a suspect back four). Forde, by comparison, has been a pleasant surprise and our most consistent midfielder so far. Gorrin will help but I agree he's not enough.

Defensively, I really am struggling to see why we didn't replace Dickie and even more so why we still haven't! Atkinson looks a good prospect but it's a big step up from non league to be playing regulalrly twice a week, and he may well continue to struggle to cope physically. Mous was talking about retiring as a player at the end of last season and so it's hardly a surprise that he has gone down injured already.

So we have gone from our best back four last year (imo) of Cadden-Dickie-Mous-Ruffels (fit) to this year Clare (dodgy defending) -Moore (developed really well last year but not so assured perhaps unsurprisingly with multiple partners this year) -Atkinson (work in progress, could be great but raw still) - and an injured Ruffels. Sam Long is Mr Versatility and I've always been a big fan but his best position is defenitely right back. Therein lies our problem. Any team playing us will fancy their chances of scoring (Peterborough could easily have had more) and, to add to our defensive woes, Eastwood has look less assured ever since he came back from injury last season.

A good, solid experienced centre back could seriously turn around our fortunes, they will make Moore and Atkinson better players (spread the workload and learn from their experience) and then we can play Long at right back when defence is more of a priority than attack with Clare potentially a good attacking option off the bench. It would also likely give Easty more confidence. And of all the positions, I have always though centre back was one of the easiest to recruit. Here's hoping!
 
More likely to be Hanson (who needs game time to get match fit) and Osei (noting Karl's post-match interview where he held his hand up at getting one of the substitutions wrong, but didn't want to name the player concerned, although it was fairly obvious who the comment was directed to having watched the game). Would expect him to keep Mous on. No idea who the free agents might be. McCleary? If Cam is out for a while, then Andy King?
 
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