We're stronger on paper. Yes I know the game is played on grass.
I'd look at it two ways. We've got O'Brien, Iroegbunam, Lindstrom, Ndiaye, Mangala, and now Broja. Onana who never hit the heights out and JB retained. All of them should offer something though I think Broja will just be one of those punts where he gets 2 goals. We lose little if he fails.
DCL in all likelihood leaving on a free is the black mark, that's poor planning and poor management.
With talk of a fire sale before last season ended, they have made a little go a long way. The issue is how much time will these players get and the unaddressed issues of cover, pace, goals, and squad balance. Goals cost money we don't have. When you don't have it you take punts. You need luck and lots of it.
I think they've taken advantage of deals that came up as opportunities rather than necessarily trying to work through a list of targets in different positions. I can understand that to an extent. We are deal takers and not deal makers.
That probably makes for a lack of joined up thinking between Thelwell and Dyche. A disconnect between "here are the players I could get for you" versus any that would have been on a Dyche shortlist.
Overall though I think they have done well. It's simply not feasible to cover off every problem area for a club with our financial and PSR issues.
The question is does Dyche have the wherewithall and flexibility to take the players added and mould them into something better than the sum of their parts? Hmm.
I give them 6.5 / 10. That would have been a "C" when I was in school. I think we have enough to avoid relegation and do marginally better than last year without the deductions.