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Richinns wrote: 17 Jul 2018, 08:58 I am sure Owers is more than aware the big piece of the jigsaw is still missing and let's hope he has something lined up in terms of a hold up/target man as if one comes in I think we will all be feeling a lot better about our chances.

Maybe Owers will bring in a loan striker at the start of the new season?

Richinns wrote: 17 Jul 2018, 08:58 What is clear is we have more than enough cover for centre half and central midfield spots (with Essuman and Sokolik also able to play both). Davis also has cover but I wonder who can do the cover job for Wynter at right-back?

Believe Bobson Bawling played right back many times for Crawley.

Rjc70 wrote: 17 Jul 2018, 15:27 Believe Bobson Bawling played right back many times for Crawley.

Good call - believe it was mainly a wing back but you are right he could play there.

What formation are we lining up with from the friendlies?

I would suggest we're looking light on the wings and a target man, but other than that, we seem to have the makings of a good squad.

Do we feel this is Owers making a reasonable budget work, or do we have a fairly big budget for the league?

Well against Plymouth last night we played the first hour or so in a 3-4-3 formation, with Essuman, Koue and Cameron as the three centre backs, Wynter and Davis as wing backs either side of Nabi and Dickson in the middle, with Reid and Banton either side (but never close enough in my opinion) to Williams up top.

We changed things on the hour with the introduction of Gowling and Keating - for Williams and Banton, with Gowling slipping into the back three and Essuman playing as a holding midfielder and Keating playing alongside Reid in a two up top and so it became more of a 3-1-4-2.

Early days I know but I get the feeling that despite the early signings of wingers Bawling and Banton that Owers still favours a system of three centre halves with Wynter and Davis presumably operating as wing backs in that system. Time will tell though, but we certainly have the personnel now to have a great deal of flexibility in the systems we play - but I still reckon it will be a 5-3-2 (or 3-5-2 if you prefer) that will start against Chelmsford on the opening day.

Going back to your posting above Cambgull, we may look “light on wingers” but I don’t expect us to sign any more as I don’t expect to see us adopt a more traditional 4-4-2 system but use wing backs instead and with Wynter and Davis on board and the likes of Bawling and Dickson available as back up ... I think we are now covered in that area.

I do agree though that we need another striker. We trialled another one last night in James Roberts. Is he the answer? Personally, I’m not so sure, certainly isn’t a “target man” type. One rather surprising development though was how sharp and effective J-P Pittman looked on his brief cameo .... could he still come good for us I wonder? It may just be he could be effective for us at this level, in this team.

Finally, who knows what the budget is ? But I doubt that the likes of Dickson, Hall, Sokolik, or even Banton and Bawling come to that will have come cheap ... and on top of that we still have Williams, Davis, Gowling and Pittman on the books. So, given that, and the fact that we are the only full time team in this League, I would be amazed if our budget isn’t in the top three and may even be the biggest .... although Billericay may well lay claim to that!!! Too early for me to say (based on one PSF that I’ve seen) but yes I would say that, based on what I saw last night, Owers has put together a decent squad for the level we are now playing at.

Thanks for that CP Gull.

It's fair to say then, that we should really be contending for promotion. Anything less would be considered an underachievement.

On paper, our squad looks very competitive, and not even bad for the league above in my opinion.

if we are to play 2 up top we are a proven goal scorer light

cambgull wrote: 18 Jul 2018, 07:15 Thanks for that CP Gull.

It's fair to say then, that we should really be contending for promotion. Anything less would be considered an underachievement.

On paper, our squad looks very competitive, and not even bad for the league above in my opinion.

I do like to feel optimistic but my optimism is surrounded with caution... I remember the season we beat West Brom who had lots of premier league players in their team that day...

We then when on to just about survive at national league level...

Fingers crossed.

TUST_Member_Rob wrote: 18 Jul 2018, 10:40 if we are to play 2 up top we are a proven goal scorer light

It worked ok for France - Olivier Giroud didn't score at all..

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