The 2015/2016 Summer Improvement Thread

[Deleted Cyber]

I don't think we'll win the league or even finish in the top two. My only point here was that arguments about experience (or a lack of) don't hold when you look at what got us promoted under Mick. The average age, general profile of the squad in terms of games played/previous clubs, scope of transfer dealings was really not very different to what we've done this year.

Ok. comparison is a fair one. I was far more confident in the 2008 squad to perform on 1st September than I am in the current crop. We won 7 or of first 8 league games then banging 23 goal in 8 games. We had also played in 2 league cups games going out on pens to rotherham but we didnt really hit a blip til October. We had 3 quality forwards that season and Matt Jarvis supplying ( 4 if you count Andy Keogh Iwelumo Ebanks Blake and Kightly the others) Foley had his best season ever in Wolves colours , Henry was twice the player he was in subsequent years Stearman made an initial impact, Hennesey built on his previous season. I think my angst is that looking how close we came with the squad last May I expected us to show a little more ambition and make us more solid, more attacking, harder to beat , more consistant and I just dont feel we have done that- furthermore I think we are not as hard to beat as last year and thats a backward step

 

[YoungWolf]

This for me will be our strongest side when everyone is fit:

Ikeme

Iorfa
Batth
Hause
Golbourne

McDonald
Coady

Byrne
Wallace
Ojo/Henry

Afobe

Subs: Martinez, Doherty, EEL, Price, Edwards, Ojo/Henry, Le Fondre

With Saville, van la Parra, Bright in reserve, and definitely a loan striker we will try for.

I think that's a fairly decent squad for a top six challenge at least.

 

[Templeton Peck]

This for me will be our strongest side when everyone is fit:

Ikeme

Iorfa
Batth
Hause
Golbourne

McDonald
Coady

Byrne
Wallace
Ojo/Henry

Afobe

Subs: Martinez, Doherty, EEL, Price, Edwards, Ojo/Henry, Le Fondre

With Saville, van la Parra, Bright in reserve, and definitely a loan striker we will try for.

I think that's a fairly decent squad for a top six challenge at least.

I would say that Coady, Byrne and Wallace are/should(!) be an upgrade on what we had before so we are stronger than last season on paper. I'm a little disappointed we didn't bring another player in but Byrne, Wallace and Ojo behind Afobe should cause people some major problems.

 

[slink]

This for me will be our strongest side when everyone is fit:

Ikeme

Iorfa
Batth
Hause
Golbourne

McDonald
Coady

Byrne
Wallace
Ojo/Henry

Afobe

Subs: Martinez, Doherty, EEL, Price, Edwards, Ojo/Henry, Le Fondre

With Saville, van la Parra, Bright in reserve, and definitely a loan striker we will try for.

I think that's a fairly decent squad for a top six challenge at least.

That squad is more than good enough, the position i'm most worried about right now is goalkeeper as Ikeme has made an error in every game so far and we all know about Martinez against QPR.

 

[Lord Knows]

That squad is more than good enough, the position i'm most worried about right now is goalkeeper as Ikeme has made an error in every game so far and we all know about Martinez against QPR.

My concern is the other end of the pitch with the loss of Nouha Dicko because I'm not sure if Benik Afobe can play the lone striker role to equal effect. Maybe Adam le Fondre will be the Ace in the pack.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

ALF is a bloody good forward at this level.

 

[The Saturday Boy]

ALF is a bloody good forward at this level.

He's no Stearman though...

 

[Derby Wolf]

I'm unhappy at Stears being sold but Kenny hasn't give anyone of us to seriously question his judgement so far so I'm willing to give him time to prove my scepticism wrong. Ultimately until the end of the season (unless we bomb) all anything anybody says on either side of the fence is hot air. Jackett has been brave in selling Stearman, only time will tell us if fortune favours him.

 

[Lycan]

IN:

Wallace
Coady
Deslandes
Ojo
le Fondre
Martinez
Byrne

OUT:

Sako
Margreitter
Jacobs
Ricketts
Clarke
Doyle
Kuszczak
Cassidy
Stearman
Evans

On the face of it I'd say that was an above average/good window but then you consider the momentum we had at the back end of last season & compare our transfer dealings with our promotion rivals and it doesn't seem quite as impressive.

 

[slink]

My concern is the other end of the pitch with the loss of Nouha Dicko because I'm not sure if Benik Afobe can play the lone striker role to equal effect. Maybe Adam le Fondre will be the Ace in the pack.

I think Le Fondre showed on Saturday that he can though, he looked sharp. I've previously said i don't think Afobe can play up top on his own after the Cardiff game but thinking about it i think he could as long as we play a creative midfielder behind him (not Edwards). I'm not worried about us so far, it's just typical Championship football. If things aren't going to plan i would get worried if we don't go into the January window and seriously invest.

 

[Parkins left foot]

The 'outs' list may look long, but there are a number who weren't going to make any impression for us this season (Clarke, Doyle, Margreitter, Cassidy) & a couple who we had no control over given the contracts they were on (Sako/Kuszczak).

Evans is only on loan & can come back if we think its beneficial & Jacobs/Ricketts not really any better than we have kept (though Ricketts possibly has a 'leadership' quality that we lack)

Only real question is over Stears, but feel we have as good as (though not necessarily better at this stage) still in the club so not going to get violently upset over that.

 

[Stan Hullis]

Maybe a shout for Gayle on loan as his move to Norwich fell through? He's well down the pecking order

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Or possibly Ulloa

 

[The Bear]

Gayle on loan would be great.

 

[Tony Towner]

I wrote on Sunday:
At this moment in time Stearman is a better centre half than Hause, at least on a par with EEL and I've never seen Iorfa in that position and neither has Kenny in a first team game. He is also the only one who can bring the ball out of defence and into midfield. A 2 of Batth and EEL for example would be solid enough, but a hoof fest.To me it seems counter intuitive to weaken an area of your first 11 to strengthen another. I'm in the Langers wait until Tuesday camp, but I'll be mightily pissed with Morgan and Moxey if Jackett has been forced to sell Stearman to raise the £2m for another area of the team as it goes completely against what Moxey said about investing and both him and Morgan understanding what was required and this costing money at the end of last season. If however he brings in another centre half then I don't have an issue as presumably this would be KJ's judgement call.


This is still how I feel. If Kenny had said "offer too good to turn down, great young defenders are the future of the club etc" then I'd have trusted his judgement, but he clearly linked the sale of Stearman to providing funds for what became the £1m for Byrne. That the Board couldn't find this when we'd spent relatively little this window I think is letting both Kenny and the fans down. That's what pisses me off, not the sale of Stearman per se. For those that say we shouldn't expect them to invest then Moxey should keep his bloody gob shut then shouldn't he because it's him that clearly said at the end of last season that they would. I don't think a net transfer spend of £1-£1.5m demonstrates this.

 

[Langers]

IN:

Wallace
Coady
Deslandes
Ojo
le Fondre
Martinez
Byrne

OUT:

Sako
Margreitter
Jacobs
Ricketts
Clarke
Doyle
Kuszczak
Cassidy
Stearman
Evans

On the face of it I'd say that was an above average/good window but then you consider the momentum we had at the back end of last season & compare our transfer dealings with our promotion rivals and it doesn't seem quite as impressive.

Looking at that, I think we have strengthened in the areas we needed to - the only irreplaceable player there is Sako, and we knew that was going to be a tall order before he left. Otherwise, there have been some decent signings in areas we needed to strengthen in.

I'm still of the opinion that we should have replaced Stearman and added a bit of experience to the back line, but I will just have to trust KJ's judgement on that one. A question for those who are really annoyed with the Stearman sale being 'too cheap' - how much do you think he's worth? Personally £2m potentially rising to £2.5m is more than fair for what he is - a decent Championship centre half.

I really can't understand why some fans are having a meltdown about the window though. It's been satisfactory IMO.

 

[Lord Knows]

Or possibly Ulloa

Or possibly Patrick Roberts from Man City.

 

[Derby Wolf]

Moxey did what Moxey does, a lovely sound bite to reel folk in with the promise of serious investment and then overall a net spend which was anything but.

Replacing Sako was always going to be nigh on impossible, if they would have acknowledged this then I doubt they would be facing so much criticism now but ultimately Wolves raised expectations and have then failed to maintain those expectations.

 

[Langers]

This is still how I feel. If Kenny had said "offer too good to turn down, great young defenders are the future of the club etc" then I'd have trusted his judgement, but he clearly linked the sale of Stearman to providing funds for what became the £1m for Byrne. That the Board couldn't find this when we'd spent relatively little this window I think is letting both Kenny and the fans down. That's what pisses me off, not the sale of Stearman per se. For those that say we shouldn't expect them to invest then Moxey should keep his bloody gob shut then shouldn't he because it's him that clearly said at the end of last season that they would. I don't think a net transfer spend of £1-£1.5m demonstrates this.

Some fair points there, but it might not be the case - haven't we tabled some bids for strikers today? (I've been away most of today so had to skim over the various rumours etc quite quickly). If it was a case of other clubs not selling, who knows how much we might have spent?

As I said on my last post, I think the amount we got for Stearman was pretty fair and I can understand why they accepted it. It's a totally different situation to us turning down mega millions for Afobe.

 

[Tony Towner]

This for me will be our strongest side when everyone is fit:

Ikeme

Iorfa
Batth
Hause
Golbourne

McDonald
Coady

Byrne
Wallace
Ojo/Henry

Afobe

Subs: Martinez, Doherty, EEL, Price, Edwards, Ojo/Henry, Le Fondre

With Saville, van la Parra, Bright in reserve, and definitely a loan striker we will try for.

I think that's a fairly decent squad for a top six challenge at least.

I was on holiday so didn't see the Cardiff game, which from what I read was a blessing, but reports on here were that Afobe looked isolated playing on his own up top. Do you think he can do it?