It's been a high turnover of players that have been a big part of the core in recent years. Losing Sam Morsy was a massive blow, but losing members that you would've assumed were part of the senior heads/leadership team like Chaplin, Luongo and Burgess makes it a tough task for the current crop to step up and fill those boots.
Off the pitch you would imagine those names would be the ones offering advice and giving support to new players to settle in etc, lifting the standards in training and just keeping things under control. On the pitch, they would bring composure on the ball, be vocal and just raise their game to lift others around them.
They were leaders on and off the pitch and if you saw those names on the team sheet, we all felt comfortable in the stands. Even if we lost a game, you felt the leaders in the squad would make sure we'd get it right the following week.
I look at the squad now and I don't see enough leadership quality. It's a squad that's trying to regain its confidence with big pressure to get promoted back to the Premier League. Big money transfers haven't got going and don't look better than what we've just let go this summer - certainly in an attacking sense. Early days on a couple of them, but I think you know who I'm talking about.
O'Shea, Young, Walton, Cajuste, Davis, Palmer, Hirst - these names spring to mind about who could be the leaders in the squad, but a couple of them I'm putting in half heartedly. Are there any other leaders? It doesn't feel like a strong leadership group.
Maybe I'm being a bit OTT, but it kind of feels like we've gone back to the summer when Paul Cook brought in a whole new squad and it took time to build connections between fans and players, the squad took time to come together etc. We saw what happened that season. I hope I'm wrong, but it feels like a massive gamble. There's definitely more quality on paper this season compared to our previous season in the Championship, but they're yet to show that on the pitch. I guess football is a high risk/high reward business and we will see what happens. |  |
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