Views from the Sieve

We have nineteen players contracted for the season including two goalkeepers.
In our game against Aveley we also had six trialists involved.
I would imagine that there are one or two players inherited from last season that Lee Bradbury would like to offload if possible.
My question is how many players do we think the Manager might need in total and what particular areas of the pitch are we still weak at the moment?

len wrote: Mon Jul 07, 2025 11:12 am We have nineteen players contracted for the season including two goalkeepers.
In our game against Aveley we also had six trialists involved.
I would imagine that there are one or two players inherited from last season that Lee Bradbury would like to offload if possible.
My question is how many players do we think the Manager might need in total and what particular areas of the pitch are we still weak at the moment?

Based solely on the Aveley game we need a total rehaul in centre midfield... Not interested in how early into pre season we were, the lack of invention and forward passes was a disgrace, especially spending money on a guy up top who scored 30 goals last year and giving him nothing for 45 minutes against a lower league team.

Certainly need another attacker if the shiny new (but injury prone) striker is already injured... Even at this level I'm not watching 20 plus Home games with Umerah starting for us!

Unsure what, if any, depth we currently have at the wing back/ wide positions

In terms of who we've got who I think is actually good enough / new arrivals:

GK:
Howes
Nightingale

Centre backs:
PK
Maghoma
Panter

Wing backs:
Lusala
Young
Vigrass

Midfield:
Marsh
Lawless

Number 10:
Haigh
Khaleel (?)

Forwards:
Umerah
Hemmings
Wilson

Not required:
Rendall
N'Guessan
Harrack
Stephenson

If we are resigned to keeping Rendall and Harrack then we might get away with no further defenders, but I certainly hope at least one can be replaced.

We have no senior cover at wing back / full back / wide midfield depending on formation, and this needs to be rectified quickly.

Centre mid is very light, even if we have to keep N'Guessan we still need something else.

And we probably need another target man option.

Mark wrote: Mon Jul 07, 2025 4:18 pm In terms of who we've got who I think is actually good enough / new arrivals:

GK:
Howes
Nightingale

Centre backs:
PK
Maghoma
Panter

Wing backs:
Lusala
Young
Vigrass

Midfield:
Marsh
Lawless

Number 10:
Haigh
Khaleel (?)

Forwards:
Umerah
Hemmings
Wilson

Not required:
Rendall
N'Guessan
Harrack
Stephenson

If we are resigned to keeping Rendall and Harrack then we might get away with no further defenders, but I certainly hope at least one can be replaced.

We have no senior cover at wing back / full back / wide midfield depending on formation, and this needs to be rectified quickly.

Centre mid is very light, even if we have to keep N'Guessan we still need something else.

And we probably need another target man option.

Will keep going back to Aveley as it is my only route to comment on the current squad, but I felt like Vigrass was given a real run around the other day by his winger prior to coming off early... Concerned about him being a regular starter in the squad. Khaleel appeared to play more in a traditional CM role the other day when he came on, behind (it appeared) Haigh so that may be the route for him next year.

I didn't think Harrack and Stephenson looked terrible at Aveley, despite the result, but Rendall certainly appears to have a decent throw but little else to offer... The cynic in me says Maghoma and Wilson will be injured this year exactly as much as we predicted a month or so ago, and any continuous use of Umerah in a two with Hemmings worries me greatly.

On the plus side, the Aveley formation did suggest we may finally go back to two up front which would be refreshing

Incredibly worrying result for me that, getting battered by a team that finished bottom of this league, last season.

The question for me with Hemmings, and those 30 league goals last season is: What did he have around him on the pitch last season, compared to this ?.

There will have been no point spending whatever they have to get him in, if he is going to receive zero support.

Also having supposed "big signings" out injured before we have even kicked a ball, is deja vu all over again for the umpteenth season.

Looking forward to being proved wrong!

I assessed the summer turnover of players and consequently current state of the squad, in my latest blog post below, for anyone interested:

https://dagnificent.weebly.com/daggers- ... king-shape

Good summary Joel.

I think we’re short on 4/5, possibly more when you add up those that are injury prone, new signings and old.

The club will struggle to get rid of the 4 mentioned that we’re not required, heard that we’ve also tried to shift a couple more due to wages but no takers unfortunately.

Manager has plenty of work to do still, mostly it will be his players so we can certainly judge him on that.

Just some thoughts on some of our players the manager has inherited from last season that we think he may want to offload.
When we signed Rendall it was as a centre half but was then only as used last season as a right back to which he proved to be very poor in most games. Perhaps he would be a decent central defender we just don’t know.
N’Guessan I thought played some good games for us particularly early in the season but along with lots of others struggled after the new year.
Stephenson is in his early twenties and came all the way down from Newcastle area to play for us which is a hell of a transition and could not have been easy. Just wonder if with the right coaching and support there could be a good player there.

Agree I think we’re 4/5 short. 2 wingbacks, a Harrack replacement, a N’Guessan replacement and ideally I’d like to see another target man striker coming in.

Harrack & N’Guessan have to go. They’re shit. But it’s going to be impossible fooling people to sign them. Thanks again James King for the stroke of genius with them by the way!

Stephenson I think has bags of potential and we saw it at times last year. It’s just a case of whether we can make him comfortable enough here, as that was clearly the issue.

As for Maghoma/Wilson/Lawless & Marsh. Undoubtedly they’ll get injured but we will just have to play the loan market when it happens.