As we currently stand


Stronger. Semedo looks like he can score goals albeit I’m not denying we need another striker or even two if Stewart buggers off but we at least have a target man to draw defenders away from Clarke and Roberts and I think he’ll score just as many goals as Amad. Is he as gifted? No, not on present early evidence but I see our game plan changing around actually having a striker.

We definitely won’t be letting as many goals in this year so even if we aren’t running away with games I foresee a stronger points average.

I personally think top 8 has to be a minimum expectation this year.
 
Stronger. Semedo looks like he can score goals albeit I’m not denying we need another striker or even two if Stewart buggers off but we at least have a target man to draw defenders away from Clarke and Roberts and I think he’ll score just as many goals as Amad. Is he as gifted? No, not on present early evidence but I see our game plan changing around actually having a striker.

We definitely won’t be letting as many goals in this year so even if we aren’t running away with games I foresee a stronger points average.

I personally think top 8 has to be a minimum expectation this year.
What have you seen to suggest we wont be concending as many goals as last season?
 
More height in the team for one. The amount of set piece goals given away due to lack of height was ridiculous last year.
 
What have you seen to suggest we wont be concending as many goals as last season?
We've signed some unknown defenders, keep up.
Seriously though, if we can keep Ballard, Hume, Huggins and Cirkin fit we'll definitely be stronger at the back.
 
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Stronger. Semedo looks like he can score goals albeit I’m not denying we need another striker or even two if Stewart buggers off but we at least have a target man to draw defenders away from Clarke and Roberts and I think he’ll score just as many goals as Amad. Is he as gifted? No, not on present early evidence but I see our game plan changing around actually having a striker.

We definitely won’t be letting as many goals in this year so even if we aren’t running away with games I foresee a stronger points average.

I personally think top 8 has to be a minimum expectation this year.
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We've signed some unknown defenders, keep up.
Seriously though, if we can keep Ballard, Hume, Huggins and Cirkin fit we'll definitely be stronger at the back.
No chance of Cirkin and Higgins staying fit mate imo. I asked the question cos in pre season, it wouldn't suggest we are going to be more solid like :lol:
 
Stronger today than the second leg at Luton, mainly on the back of our central defenders being fit. Amad obviously a miss, but Hemir an upgrade to Gelhardt.
 
We were a completely different team playing style wise at the start of last season compared to the one that finished it, we look like we have more strength in depth in certain areas although the depth are mainly unproven youngsters so it could go either way.

Upfront does look weaker and the loss of Amad is massive as his goals weren’t just tap ins, he could pull a goal out of nowhere. Next season will definitely be tougher, we’re not an unknown quantity anymore and the expectations on the youngsters is much bigger than it was last season.
 
Much weaker. Seems lessons haven’t been learned.
Much weaker is an exaggeration. The only significant players that have departed are Geldhart, Michut and Amad. I liked all three but Hemir looks more capable of playing our system than Geldhart, Bellingham and Rigg will get the games Michut would have and develop and are arguably better suited to our needs.
Amad is a loss, clearly, but we will be trying to sign a couple of similarly talented lads on loan.
 
As it stands I’d say we are unquestionably weaker but the time to judge imo is at the end of the window.

Amad will be a big miss but I’m hoping his absence will be mitigated by another quality loan from a top flight club.

I fear we may lose Clarke this window too and think his replacement may also come from the loan market (maybe the Brighton lad we were linked with recently).

Hopefully we’ll sign Bishop from Man Utd to provide cover / competition for Patterson and an experienced defensive midfield player to replace Evans.

Two strikers at least are also a necessity.

So lots of work to do in the next few weeks and then hopefully we’ll be able to gauge whether the squad looks better equipped to sustain a promotion bid.
 
Slightly weaker due to the Amad loan. The problem being that if he doesn’t come back you could argue quality wise we’d still be weaker as he’ll be very hard to replace. Still plenty of time to address that and I think Bennette may be a dark horse this season for us 🤷
 
Weaker. Losing Amad and one inexperienced striker is not good enough. Need at least one more striker in before the start of the season. Preferably someone with proven quality
 

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