Squad experience / lessons learnt (hah!)

I thought someone on here made a post about Knight-Percival being our second-leading goalscorer, but can't find the post now to comment. But that inspired this broader thread.

With time to kill, I thought it might be worthwhile to look at experience levels in this year's squad as it now stands, now that the transfer window has closed.

What do we have? Decent levels in a group that would just make up a starting eleven, in a 4-3-3 I suppose: O'Donnell; Mellor, O'Connor, Knight-Percival, Chicksen; Reeves, Akpan, Wright; Payne, Doyle, Scannell. All have over 140 appearances in the EFL/Premiership, Mellor and O'Donnell are over 200, and Scannell and Wright are over 300. (I note that sub appearances loom large for several players, especially Scannell.) While we can question their quality -- would they make up a promotion-type side? -- they at least are not raw rookies, and should not be a relegation-type side.

After the first eleven though, yikes! Raw rookies is being generous. Only Miller and Jones have a season's worth ( or close) of appearances, and most of the rest struggle to hit 20. Unless the kids surprise us, injuries / loss of form / suspensions / disciplinary issues will cause problems. A promising player sidelined due to off-field issues doesn't help, either.

Goal-scoring will be another problem, based on the players' records. Take out Doyle, and we're getting close to counting on own goals! We'd better tighten up the defence and go for boring 1-0 wins...if the coaching staff can do that. All rather different to the visions of attacking football some had foreseen...

RCB

 

Agreed on McGowan, with his 90+ apps in Scotland not to mention overseas; Knight-Percival also has more apps in non-league (Wrexham & Histon) than league. I just wanted to simplify, and look only at EFL/Premiership experience. I also left out McCartan as he's out on loan, but he has another 150ish league appearances under his belt, though roughly half are as a sub.

RCB

 

Added another point...

RCB