And ultimately, the manager should be judged on players that he is able to get signed, not the ones he missed out on.

Be amazed if we paid a fee for a goalkeeper and if he came seemingly to be number 2 when he can do that (if not number 1) at his boyhood club. Think thats an old rumour.

Has he been training with us? i read he was training with Nantwich Town.

The inability to close deals or seemingly work on more than one at once just continues to hinder us. Even if a CB deal has fallen through, we need 2 so why are we only working on 1? Why arent we trying to get a left back in at the same time. You are right, we will end up with a kid on loan.

They had Tom Lockyer, a right footed CB who played all 43 games that he was available, and someone I suggested that we signed prior to joining Luton. Pearce started 35 and was sub the other 11, and Sarr started 26 and was sub 17 times. Charlton played with 3 centre backs quite a lot though, but when they played 2, Bowyer seemed to often trust Jason Pearce who is just a journeyman but a lot more conservative than Sarr. I wonder if Sarr is the player who is going elsewhere?

The words "if they can get them" very much key here.

Its another farce of a transfer window. Under the potent mix of Mowbray and Venkys, it often seems like we struggle to get deals over the line. Was the same last summer. Wanted Bauer, failed to get it done, ended up with a loan. Supposedly tried to get 2 mystery foreign keepers, ended up with Walton on loan. Supposedly made contact over Maher, couldnt get that done. And theres never any urgency. If Kipre was our main target, he moved elsewhere, and then plan B is close to doing the same, that might explain the struggle if we needed one player. But we need 2 CB's, not 1, we badly need a left back, we need another keeper and perhaps a wide man and central midfielder. Why are we only capable of working on and inevitably failing at one deal at a time?

The question would be whether he is a competent enough defender for us. He regularly made errors at Charlton and was often not selected in favour of journeyman Jason Pearce.

Hes half way through a loan, hes a number 10, the rumour was previously dismissed and we arent close to signing anyone so id be amazed.

I dont think that Sarr could be described as "very steady." A risk taking centre back who is good on the ball but error prone. The Sarr rumour seemed to snowball from nowhere amidst a very Mind you, I wouldnt take any notice of that Jaqoub Crooke. He doesnt know anything we dont, his articles tend to just be generic, vague and non-committal summaries of information already in the public domain. He kept saying that we wanted that Dillon Phillips which I think he got from that phoney fake journalist on twitter. Does Lindsay come in as replacement for Adarabioyo and make you think that we can get close to the top 6 though? I also dont think we should be loaning him, for a start, that is him out of 2 games as ineligible. Not sure why there is urgency to sign a right back either. Edwards has been out on the fringes after not keeping fit during lockdown I think but any right back would be second in line and thus is far from a priority. You would think that there is better across Europe than Lindsay, although I have seen nothing to suggest anything but a passing interest. The quarantine reason is just an excuse. Ultimately doing our business quicker would eliminate the problem, like with Kaminski whereby he is eligible for the season opener. The 2 potential 2 week isolation is not ideal even now but if there is someone better, it is still worth just accepting that he will miss 2 weeks depending on where he comes from. If the scouting network is what it is hyped up to be, surely there is a decent centre back somewhere across Europe.

From which games is that Magloire stat from? Stats are only of limited value in isolation, especially from friendlies.

Not at all, a change of scenario may suit him although I dont think he would fill the void left by Adarabioyo. All being said, I read that Stoke want their 2m investment back should they sell so we wouldnt be able to afford him and I wouldnt want him on loan.

He has had a dismal time at Stoke where he has tumbled down the pecking order, so probably not.

Noticed that Lindsay wasnt even in the extended squad in their latest friendly, he is so far out of the picture. Would guess maybe he is in talks with someone but obviously with no new deals in the pipeline, that may well be someone else. Not saying that I would sign him but of course he has been linked through the Lancashire Telegraph.

Brooks made a return to fitness today for Wales, if he plays on Saturday he will be a massive danger, I can only imagine what he will do if we play Bell against him! https://bournemouth-forum.vitalfootball.co.uk/threads/team-v-blackburn.12374/page-2 Looking at their side compared to last year, they definitely miss King and Wilson in terms of attack. Plenty to cause our defence problems I would suggest though, Solanke is a 20m flop really but he started scoring towards the end of last season, Surridge did ok at Swansea, Stanislas was always an irritant when at Burnley and Danjuma is a fast winger that they paid decent money for. Their midfield is very strong, Lerma, Cook, Billing, Gosling are all very good options. They also have plenty of good defenders at this level, Kelly signed from Bristol City last summer and Liverpool were linked with him before signing that Greek left back, Adam Smith, Rico and Stacey are all good full backs, and Cook is a very experienced CB. And Mepham is regularly involved with Wales. Ramsdale is a loss but Travers looked good when he got a chance in the Premier League. Will be a tough game on the opening day, we will have to keep it as tight as we can, hopefully with the aid of some new defenders between now and then, and hope that Armstrong can do something on the counter attack.

Of which 2 started.

Haha I think that it is is a big if to see him get 10 goals but I would love to see you be right because it would be in both of our best interests! Fingers crossed.

The fact of the matter is that if you start poorly, you have to accumulate more points in the remaining games to meet your objective. Say it takes 75 points to get into the play offs. Basic maths, get 15 from your first 6 and you need 60 from the remaining 40 games, only get 5 and you need 70. A bad start is not terminal and a good start wont guarantee that you achieve your objectives. But it is important in the main because we already fail to achieve our objectives in terms of accumulating the amount of points we need, so getting plenty on the board early on is a big boost. There will always be exceptions but Charlton got relegated despite that fast start, not because of it. Would anyone have been happy going into the season with the defenders we have? No.

"Encouraging signs of a player beginning to show the form that would justify his transfer fee" is the phrase that I would take issue with and suggest an element of hyperbole in. Would love for him to justify his fee but he will need to start scoring a few goals in competitive games for him to even show signs of starting to justify any fee. I dont think messages on here involve encouraging or discouraging the players, I just personally thing that whilst I totally appreciate having also seen slithers of positive shoots, a couple of goals in a friendly, the goal v Reading and much more positive running with the ball, he will have to start doing something constructive in front of goal in competitive games before he even begins to ask the question of whether he is indeed starting to threaten to justify the fee, or even play a considerable part in a team chasing promotion. We were 7 points and 5 teams off last season, conceded far too many goals and have a weaker squad as things stand. Of course though and as you touch on, a few real quality defensive recruits and the picture starts to change, we have 2 natural goalscorers which gives you half a chance. But I cant say that I have that the current manager can bring those in and fix this area of the team, for all of the goodwill I have towards him overall, and I also am not comfortable with the consistent dilly dallying that we always do in the transfer window.

I think it is about fair and would presumably lead to the managers job being incredibly difficult to justify? Hopefully, an unexpected few bits of real quality will come in and the picture will change.

In friendlies though. I am basing my selection of Wharton on the fact that he has played 80+ successful games in League 1, and he was decent in the competitive game v Doncaster alongside a shaky Lenihan, last time Magloire played for the first team he looked all at sea, he then had an unsuccessful loan spell at Rochdale, he was decent enough yesterday but it is just a friendly and not enough in my opinion. Ultimately, neither should be starting. The only reason I picked Wharton is because the admittedly not much better Derrick Williams is IMO needed at left back as we cant have Amarii Bell playing. If we had a competent left back, Williams would play next to Lenihan. The Nat Phillips rumour seems to be agent talk linking him to numerous clubs, not sure a player with so few senior appearances himself is the answer to getting a "man" next to Lenihan. He definitely should play, but I dont think he has earnt that title from his first team appearances to date. Competent short term at left back when clearly out of position and let no one down. Lets hope he can kick on this season in a more attacking role.

Yes, and we are very much behind the average, and we had plenty of gaps that needed filling. We saw both of our senior goalkeepers go, we had none. We saw one of only 2 competent centre backs we had leave the club. We had constant issues at left back last season after Cunningham got injured and had to put a right footed winger there for quite a few games. We saw possibly our best midfielder from last season leave the club. We saw a striker who was always involved in our squads leave, as well as one who was very average. Yet, signings seem to be a want, rather than a need. Preston have little money and their fans are not happy either at the lack of recruitment. Warnock has been constantly moaning at the fact that Boro arent getting deals over the line. And Bournemouth are reliant on big money sales although they have plenty of Championship standard players (and higher) and indeed even assuming Wilson and King remain unavailable until sold, they have a striker they spent 20m on who they will use. Most teams that you would expect to be up aiming for the same part of the table than us have improved more than us. Ultimately, I dont think we will ever be proactive under Venkys in terms of recruitment, we will ever appreciate the benefit of a good start, and will always be unnecessarily handicapping ourselves. The crux of the matter is that not one person would have been happy going into this season with the same defence (bar Adarabioyo of course) that we finished last season with, and the one that let in 63 goals, yet there is now a lot of revisionism and a lot of excuses. Ultimately, we always seem to be behind the curve and susceptible to these reasons more than most.

"if Brereton continues with his excellent post-lockdown and pre-season form then we might just have a very good player on our books." Surely this is as hyperbolic a statement as anyone could possibly make?! Or a demonstration how low the benchmark is, to describe his recent form as excellent. Or to suggest that if he continues and not massively improves, then we have a very good player on our books. There is undoubtedly more energy, more enthusiasm and more involvement, and a tidy goal in the dead rubber v Reading. Otherwise, there was him trying to round the keeper v Bristol City and falling over his own feet when gifted a chance. Then he didnt threaten v Wigan. Then he got petulantly sent off at Barnsley. Then pre season, not that it is the best indicator as he scored 2 last pre season, but he scored 2 nice goals v Blackpools second string, either side of which he missed a penalty in one friendly that he spent all half offside, and in the competitive match, he missed an open net. Until he starts scoring a couple of goals in meaningful fixtures and making a proper contribution, it is impossible IMO to start getting overly excited. We need him to contribute regularly for a team chasing promotion. Mowbray has done a good job overall but there is constantly this if statement, if he fixes the defence, we can do this and that. And it never happens and is never prioritised. I dont feel like, although id love to be wrong, that we are anything close to a promotion chasing squad, which has become the expectation. We cant afford to underestimate the priority of a good start too, we already struggle to keep the pace with the top 6 without chasing a deficit as we always have to. He made the same mistake in previous jobs. Including his last one where he had to walk away for not fixing the defence. I fear that whilst I appreciate the job he has done so far, there will constantly be the same ifs and buts and it will become stagnant. If we dont go up this season, I suspect that due to contractual reasons, a few of our key players may push to move on.

To be fair, with our porous defence and against a good side away from home, I think the additional solidity that Evans brings would be necessary.