With the new season less than a fortnight away a question. How will next season pan out?

In my opinion, of last season's best starting XI we have lost four. Butler,Franks, Day and Poole. The question which arises from this is how many of the four would be selected if available now. All four and our best XI is probably diminished, two and it's about the same, none and we are probably stronger.

Now I know it's not that simple. You would have to take into account the strength in depth of the squad and other such matters. Also whatever our views now, by October and certainly by December we will have a much better idea of the abilities of the summer signings.

And finally and perhaps most important of all, football is a team game and often a team can be better than the sum of it's parts.

This is a right or wrong question but my initial view is that we are not as strong as we were last season. What do others think? As ever I look forward to reading your views.

And by way of making us all look stupid, come October and December I will trawl this post up to see just how right or wrong we all were.

I still stand by my earlier statement

Finish 10th
No Cup run this season (3 in a row would be beyond belief)
Operating cost`s showing 300,000+ pounds loss
This is the reality of where we could be at the end of the 2019/20 season.

Our strength or otherwise is relative to the teams around us. It's entirely possible to have a stronger squad than last year, yet finish lower down the table, because what we can't legislate for, is players signed by or competitors.
I say ten games is a fair idea of where we stand in relation to others.
Whether the team is better I couldn't say, nor can anyone, but I'll go by how hard we are to beat, how many clean sheets we keep, how many away wins in relation to home wins, all those boring bits I record every season.
But we could finish 3 places lower with what might in fact be a better team.

flat4 wrote:I still stand by my earlier statement

Finish 10th
No Cup run this season (3 in a row would be beyond belief)
Operating cost`s showing 300,000+ pounds loss
This is the reality of where we could be at the end of the 2019/20 season.

My question only relates to the strength of the team. Cup runs and operational matters are different topics. Unless I have misunderstood you I'll take that as slightly weaker.

I think it’s all still depending on the last few additions. I liked Day and Butler but felt they both had shortcomings, Day wouldn’t “come” and his distribution was poor, Butler’s offensive qualities in my view were sometimes negated by his lack of defensive ones. Having not seen their replacements makes it a difficult judgement and undoubtedly the loss of Poole and Franks is a negative so in short I agree, we look weaker.

A more active midfield could help both the defence and the attack so in my view that’s where the difference can be made : if Labadie stays fit and now Bennett should be freed from the back line, a couple of really good MF signings in the next week or so could really alter things. I hope Flynn’s signings from the lower leagues and his gamble on the injury-prone ( at least three of the squad ) come good because that’s crucial. I certainly hope they contribute more than Azeez has done! That’s my hope. My optimistic prediction? Upper mid-table.

With over a third of the first team no longer with us, its going to take at least half a season to gel, that`s if MF stops tinkering and sticks with a settled side when possible (injuries aside) i think that is most unlikely given his current method that he believes in.
Who knows they might surprise them self's, as well as harmony at RP.

I am quietly optimistic as ever at the start of a season. Given the strength and number of defensive signings i don't think the loss of Frank's will be too bad. Could be wrong though.

I think I will leave my overall prediction until MF brings in the 'four' more players wants. Hope this thread endures. I will make my prediction at the end of next week. Absolutely fabulous to be talking footy again.

Looking forward to it all getting started again... seemed like a long break because of no World Cup or Euros.
Most teams in League 2 will be in the same boat as us, lost a few of their better players, loan players back with their parent clubs etc.
Big few weeks for the boss, getting the right loan players in to complete the squad.
One extra hurdle we may have to overcome... expectation... let's be honest, in recent years we have started the season amongst the favourites to go down, this year there appears a general sense of optimism, from bookmakers and supporters alike..

Stan A. Einstein wrote:
In my opinion, of last season's best starting XI we have lost four. Butler,Franks, Day and Poole. The question which arises from this is how many of the four would be selected if available now. All four and our best XI is probably diminished, two and it's about the same, none and we are probably stronger.

Not sure you can count Fraser as he didn't play after January and we managed to get into the play-offs as O'Brien came in and was solid.

Stan A. Einstein wrote:With the new season less than a fortnight away a question. How will next season pan out?

In my opinion, of last season's best starting XI we have lost four. Butler,Franks, Day and Poole. The question which arises from this is how many of the four would be selected if available now. All four and our best XI is probably diminished, two and it's about the same, none and we are probably stronger.

Now I know it's not that simple. You would have to take into account the strength in depth of the squad and other such matters. Also whatever our views now, by October and certainly by December we will have a much better idea of the abilities of the summer signings.

And finally and perhaps most important of all, football is a team game and often a team can be better than the sum of it's parts.

This is a right or wrong question but my initial view is that we are not as strong as we were last season. What do others think? As ever I look forward to reading your views.

And by way of making us all look stupid, come October and December I will trawl this post up to see just how right or wrong we all were.

Just out of interest what do you consider to be last seasons best XI?

I think last years best 11 should be classed as:

Day, Poole, O'Brien, Demetriou, Butler, Wilmott, Bennett, Sheehan, Labadie, Amond, Matt

Personally, I wouldn't include Franks and Poole in our best eleven as they weren't ever in the same team. The team was pretty consistent as the gap closed in the final ten matches so realistically that was our best eleven, although somewhere I'd want to include Labadie. Although his appearances were limited his performances always impressed. He seemed to make others lift their effort.

I think we are a little stronger and got a bit more depth to the squad. A couple of good loans could be a good season, quietly optimistic

I'm more optimistic than other posters thus far, in that I think we are stronger than last year.

Each of the four you mention were not without faults. Day was a very good shot stopper but didn't communicate well enough with those in front of him and didn't come for crosses as often as perhaps he should. Butler was good going forward but usually left a hole in the place he should of been and unable to get back to defend. Franks was a perfectly decent CB for Division 2 but would have struggled above that level. Poole was playing out of position because the two RB at the club appeared to have lost the trust of MF et al. He did his best but he was a CB playing out of position and IMHO it showed.

So in goal we either have Townsend who looked decent enough if a little short for my liking and Tom King who is slightly taller and largely inexperienced and whom I have yet to see in action. In this department we are possibly weaker.

Defence. Poole and Franks have been replaced by Howkins, a giant with limited experience, a Serb who sounds like he's uncompromising but again limited experience and someone from non-league who might be a full-back or a CB (or might even end up as a defensive midfielder) and goes by the moniker of "Marvel". Promising springs to mind. At FB/wing backs we have two experienced at League 1 level and a youngster from Bristol (whom have sent us some decent talent the last couple of years). This area I would definitely say is stronger than Butler and Pipe/Hornby-Forbes (in defending at least)

Midfield. Pretty much as last year. I thought Sheehan was getting back to the standard he showed in his initial loan spell towards the end of the season and hopefully with a decent pre-season will continue to flourish. Labadie again with a full pre-season should be an improvement on last year. So better than last year.

Attack. Matt and Amond are still here and like last season without much to challenge them. Whitely is apparently nippy and hopefully Touray will be kept and gain experience from the bench. Will Amond/Matt have a similar impact this coming season? Unlikely. So possibly slightly weaker.

So weaker, stronger, stronger, weaker. But with some more loans to come in.

I think we are stronger in defence and midfield and that overall makes us stronger than last season. That means play-offs or above for this coming season...

At the end of the season we will be somewhere in the league
We will still be blathering on about a new ground
We will only have two years left at Rodney Parade.
95% of the refs and lineos will be a bloody disgrace (especially those from east of the Severn)
Jamille will have backed into a defender 147 times and won a penalty twice
The majority of our games will be won with a single goal margin
Our G D will be vastly improved
Someone will figure out that long throws are a waste of time
Doris will at last get her hip replacement.




As posted before I think we will have a good season and make the playoffs with a bit to spare.