30-01-2026, 11:43 AM
Going back to the chat we were having before on the Europa thread, after seeing the success last night of a few of the more maligned signings. I think you can see how this Europa campaign could've worked (And perhaps had we had consistency in managers it would've done).
You sign a bunch of young, talented players to fill out the squad. Mcatee, Jesus, N'Doye, Bakwa, Hutchinson, Savona. Even if they aren't able to get ahead of established players like MGW and Wood initially, you'd see them get loads of minutes in these games and develop their games with a view to then replacing those established players in the future.
Ultimately we saw last year, the squad was weak, we got lucky with injuries and only suffered at the end with the cup run. We had a starting 11, then sold Elanga so a starting 10. So we had 10-12 players or so capable of being in a Europa squad. We need to sign at least 10 players to fill out the squad properly and we signed players that would likely increase in value or at worst could get our investment back. These guys were always going to take time to settle in and were being signed to eventually replace Wood, MGW etc.
Obviously losing Aina and Wood so early was a bit of a disaster but it's allowed Savona and Jesus to develop quicker. Maybe if you wanted to be hyper critical we needed a more ready made replacement for Elanga but I really struggle to see why it is an issue bringing this many guys in. Sure it would take time for them to settle but we had no-one else there. Surely we needed to fill out the squad? Look at what's happened to Palace and we knew we were more likely to get injuries this year with the extra game (and Ange!)
Side point, one less talked about reason for this required influx of players, maybe this is due to such a quick jump. However Abbott is the only player to break into the squad from the academy since Brennan maybe? That pipeline seems to have dried up for a bit, if we had 4-5 decent academy players then we wouldn't need to sign the likes of Mcatee and Bakwa to essentially do the same thing.
You sign a bunch of young, talented players to fill out the squad. Mcatee, Jesus, N'Doye, Bakwa, Hutchinson, Savona. Even if they aren't able to get ahead of established players like MGW and Wood initially, you'd see them get loads of minutes in these games and develop their games with a view to then replacing those established players in the future.
Ultimately we saw last year, the squad was weak, we got lucky with injuries and only suffered at the end with the cup run. We had a starting 11, then sold Elanga so a starting 10. So we had 10-12 players or so capable of being in a Europa squad. We need to sign at least 10 players to fill out the squad properly and we signed players that would likely increase in value or at worst could get our investment back. These guys were always going to take time to settle in and were being signed to eventually replace Wood, MGW etc.
Obviously losing Aina and Wood so early was a bit of a disaster but it's allowed Savona and Jesus to develop quicker. Maybe if you wanted to be hyper critical we needed a more ready made replacement for Elanga but I really struggle to see why it is an issue bringing this many guys in. Sure it would take time for them to settle but we had no-one else there. Surely we needed to fill out the squad? Look at what's happened to Palace and we knew we were more likely to get injuries this year with the extra game (and Ange!)
Side point, one less talked about reason for this required influx of players, maybe this is due to such a quick jump. However Abbott is the only player to break into the squad from the academy since Brennan maybe? That pipeline seems to have dried up for a bit, if we had 4-5 decent academy players then we wouldn't need to sign the likes of Mcatee and Bakwa to essentially do the same thing.