Thurrock 2020/21 Pre-Season Report

Hello friends, welcome to my Thurrock 2020/21 pre-season report. I am pretty excited to write this report as i think i have assembled an exciting squad though i don’t know whether it is enough for us to gain promotion to the Premier League. We achieved a mid-table position for three season in a row since promoting to the Championship. Can this season finally see us plying our trade and face those mighty giant in the Premiership? I certainly hope so. First of all, lets take a look at the board expectations this season.

Season Expectations

The board is not very ambitious towards our coming season, expecting us to finish in mid-table position. They give us a transfer budget of 525k and a wage budget of 64k. I have different ideas though telling them that we will be able to finish in top half and as a result, the wage budget increase to 68k. But the cap wage for key player still stands at around 6.5-6.75k. Not much improvement from last season.

Its time to scout for the right players to join Thurrock. As i am using a new tactic which i will be showing later, i am searching for the players who need to be adapt into my new tactic. Lets take a look on who’s in and who’s out.

Players in/out

You can see a lot of players leaving the clubs but most of them are young players who simply can’t make it at this level. Eyong Enoh and Leroy George had retired this season after seeing less playing times. I released Damian Russell who simply cannot perform at this level and Jorge Duarte who wants to leave the club after having problems settling in Thurrock. I hate to say but as you can see i got my new players in this season all without spending a penny. I wanted to buy a new central defender but i am having problems in satisfying their wages. I don’t want to sign any player who is not any better than our existing player. Most of the new players brought in to play in my new 4-2-3-1 formation.

Its time to introduce you my new signings and i hope they will excite you with their abilities. I am quite happy with our transfer dealing this season and i hope they will be able to fire us up to the Premiership. I extended the loan of Gabriel Torje and Gary Lewis as i think they can contribute to our success this season.

New Signings

First signing was secured during last season and his name is Carlos. His contract was expiring with Sevilla and i wasted no time in offering him a contract. No clubs were vying for his signature and he chose to sign for us with us facing no competition. A ball winner in his mold as he has pretty high aggression and bravery. The rest of the attributes is pretty decent but most likely he will be used as a rotation this season. i seem to have preference for Spanish players as he joined Jose Antonio Castellano and Ignasi Miquel in the club.

Another Spanish joining us this season. The Spanish influence is growing strongly. Alexandar Lafuente came out of the youth ranks of Athletic Madrid and was signed by Man City for 3 million in 2015/16 season. He failed to make any appearance spending his time on loan for various clubs. Their loss became our gain. I have been tracking him and as soon as he was available, i offered him a contract which he couldn’t refuse. There was no club coming for him and he is be a Thurrock player. He is perfect to occupy the attacking midfielder position behind John Leonard linking the attack and midfield together.

I am sure you will be familiar with Jim Beardsley as he was on loan with us for the past 4 seasons. Somehow i feel that he is nurtured by me as he played the best football of his life during his times here. He was released by Watford this season and i signed him to become a permanent player. He is comfortable playing in the middle of the park and a striker. He won’t be a first team regular this season but he will be a very useful backup.

Experienced defender Manny Smith was signed from West Brom on a free after his contract expired. I offered him a two year contract as i foresee he won’t be with us for too long. He is judge to have the same ability with Jose Antonio Castellano by my scouts. He is good on his strength and jumping so i will be using him as a stopper in the central defence role. He is not one who can steer up fantasy among the Thurrock fans but probably someone who is down to earth and can do the job well.

Jose Pinto was raised in Braga and stayed there all his life since 2011/12 season and was recently released. He has a all round attributes who is capable of pushing Tristan Hickman for a first team place. I have another Portuguese player in Jorge Duarte and he never settle down here in Thurrock. I hope his countryman will do better though language is certainly an issue for him. I am looking on the positive side that football is a universal language and if he plays his normal game, everything should be fine.

Kieran Robinson joined Everton youth acadamy when he was a kid. He stayed there for two season and joined Huddersfield for a free. He left this season as he wanted to prove himself in a higher level. I gave him a chance to achieve that in Thurrock and he can turn out to be a useful player for us. His strength lies on his high technique, work rate and anticipation. Like Carlos, he will used as a back up in the central midfield area.

The other three players are loanees from Aston Villa and Arsenal respectively. They are Richard Munro and Nils Schwaad both central defenders. They will provide backups for us anytime my central defenders suffer any injuries. The last player joining us is Jose Cosme a young Portuguese winger who provides backup for Moreno Marra in the left wing position.

There you go my friends, these are the new players who will be fighting for a promotion spot for us this season and i would love to hear your comments about them.

Promotion Odds

We have the same odds as last season with us 40-1 to win the league and high chance that we will be fighting against relegation. The media is much better though predicting us to finish in 15th place. Recently relegated Wolves is the clear favorites with Portsmouth and Bristol City not far behind.

4-2-3-1 Formation

This is the new formation that i will be using for the new season. The reason is that i wanted to have more control and allow Gabriel Torje and Moreno Marra to push up and make use of their pace and skills to trouble the opposition. With all the players ready and prepare, i have to decide my first eleven players on the field. I look at the team sheet report by my assistant, there are only three differences in midfield and up front. He thinks John Leonard plays best in the attacking midfielder position and Gary Lewis should be the striker. In the middle, Jim Beardsley is prefer instead of Colin Madden. Lets take a look at my first eleven.

Goalkeeper – David Cook

Right Back – Tristan Hickman

Left Back – Andy Holsgrove

Central Defender – Manny Smith, Jose Antonio Castellano

Central Midfield – Bastian Bruckner, Colin Madden

Left Winger - Moreno Marra

Right Winger – Gabriel Torje

Attacking Midfielder - Alexandar Lafuente

Striker - John Leonard

There are a few talented English in the squad especially Colin Madden. His attributes has increased tremendously since i bought him in 2019. He is currently dubbed the new Frank Lampard and attracted interest from Chelsea, Liverpool and Man Utd. I will appoint him as vice captain this season hoping him to be a legend of Thurrock. Hopefully i can fend off any interest and he is willing to stay with us.

Friendly

My assistant Kevin Phillips arranged eight friendly games for us and we got a nice workout. The players settled to the new formation very well and we got off by thrashing Livingston six goal and remain unbeaten. We finished off the friendly with a thriller win against my parent club Peterborough. Overall i am quite pleased with how the players played and adapting with the tactic.

August Fixtures

We will start our new season at home against Sheff Wed which we always find difficult to beat. After that we will have a league cup fixture against Bournemouth. We will also meet Huddersfield, Rotherham, Swansea and finish off the month with Southampton.

Wrap up

Dear friends, this is my pre-season report and i will finish here hoping to have a good start. Please let me know your predictions in the comment box. Somehow i have a good feeling this season, i like the current squad a lot and i hope we can finally achieve a promotion spot this season. Thanks for being a loyal reader and i will be looking forward to see you soon.