The recent acquisitions of Eyoma (loan for a season) and Jackson (permanent) beg the question of who will be playing 1st choice at the back.
Montsma was one of the first in, so has been training longer with the team, he is also on a permanent contract, but he is young and inexperienced of the league one scene. A league that is chalk and cheese from the Dutch league, where I suspect technique is a valuable commodity. Having said that TJ was with us last year, and knows the set-up, the manager, and some of the players. He is also, on loan from a Premier League club who's manager doesn't exactly rate youngsters. So he will want to prove himself. Bolger is the oldest, potentially the most experienced, been with us for a while, but not played that often, due to chances been limited for him, although he didn't do too badly when he played, as long as he can control his temper. Finally, there is our new signing Jackson, who by all accounts is one of the better defenders in the SPL, and Barnsley fans rate him very highly too. I won't mention the youngster Roughan, as I believe him to be one that will possibly be loaned out for a while, at 17, it may be too much of a risk to play him.
So, what I think will happen, especially as the season is going to be a bit more compressed than normal, and the games been played more regularly, is that MA will go initially for a line of Jackson, and Montsma for one partnership, and Eyoma lining up with Bolger for the other., this gives Jackson and Bolger the experienced head in the back required to encourage and where needed bollock the youngsters. It means having a back 4 possibly Lewis and Melbourne as right and left backs, with the non-playing partnership on the bench as back up.
We now have the blend of youth and experience to enable this to happen. This new season will be one where due to game frequency squad rotation is going to play a huge part in getting the right results. Lets get some pre-season games in (there really isn't all that long) and see what partnerships work best. But I do think there MUST be a partnership injuries permitting, rather than one week he plays with him, next game he plays with tuther, then tuther plays with tuther and he plays with him.