Confirmed Signing Jake O'Brien

[Nymzee]

Dont ruin it!!!

"Guaranteed 20 goals trust me larrr"

 

[Dario Terracotta]

Heard Bologna like Beto. Gonna sign up on their forum and tell them what he's like.

A latter day portuguese version of Shearer?

 

[PeregrineT]

I like to see "poor positioning" as one of the main knocks. Thats the easiest thing to fix with coaching. Im not saying he will turn out to be great, but whenever you sign players some things can be fixed, and some cant be and good DOFs/managers focus on whats coachable.

 

[Dwight K Schrute]

I'm surprised at the Lyon fan's assessment of O'Brien's abilities tbh. Made a point of watching him a couple of times after we were linked in January.

I agree that he is definitely slow on the half-turn, which, after years of enduring Michael Keane is terrifying, and he isn't superb in the air for a huge lad (he's okay though) - lots of tall players have this. For example, Distin was very poor in the air, he just used to head the ball up a lot and not get any distance on his headers.

But, from what I saw, I thought O'Brien read the game well. Always seemed to be in the right place to nick things and cut out passes and crosses. Think I watched about 4 games he played in, and was fairly impressed with that aspect of his game - which made me less concerned about the lack of pace on the turn as it means that he doesn't have that ridiculously poor combination of that and an inability to read the game that Keane has.

Not saying the guy is wrong at all - he's presumably a proper fan, and I've watched a handful of games. But that was my take on what I saw, for a bit of balance.

 

[davek]

It's good to see there's a realism abroad about this lad. Expecting a Branthwaite type performance from him is not on.

We have to understand that Branthwaite is an exceptional once in a generation talent who's come through in the space of two years to being one of the best CBs in the country and will go on to be one of the best in Europe if not the world. He's that good.

If we get a Tarkowski-O'Brien CB partnership this season it'll have to be treated as a work in progress, as Tarkowski uses his experience and teaches O'Brien the PL ropes.

 

[Wat Tyler]

Crisis clubs: Lyon's malaise - £400m debt, an ownership feud and plummeting form

Lyon had everything going for them, but trauma on and off the pitch means the future is more uncertain

www.nytimes.com

Weird. They’ve been spending a lot this summer

Olympique Lyon - Transfers 24/25

Transfers: Overview of all signed and sold players of club Olympique Lyon for the current season.

www.transfermarkt.co.uk

 

[Victus]

Weird. They’ve been spending a lot this summer

Olympique Lyon - Transfers 24/25

Transfers: Overview of all signed and sold players of club Olympique Lyon for the current season.

www.transfermarkt.co.uk

French Everton.

 

[Blast_of_Cannock]

You’re writing this as we’re about to sign a 5th centre half to the squad… ironic.

I wouldn't call what we're doing stockpiling. It's more a case of waiting for Dinorod to flush Keane & Holgate past the ubend.

 

[Wat Tyler]

French Everton.

L’Everton. En Haute Le Bon Bons

 

[GoldenToffee]

For £15m we shouldn't be expecting too much to be honest. Michael Keane was £25m and that's before the football World went bonkers. He appears a relatively low risk signing so it's all good with me - surely he won't be handed Keane-style wages right away.

 

[Glasshalffull]

L’Everton. En Haute Le Bon Bons

There's a variety of grammatical and spelling things in that that I'm not sure about from my French O Level of 54 years ago, but it still might be spot on. Excellent post, mate. Made me smile. Allez les bleus!!!

 

[Exeter_Gently]

Forest offered more money but he wanted to come to the Mighty Toffees according to L'Equipe.

Good lad.

 

[GlosBlue]

Is he better than that Greaves lad we were linked to? Based on absolutely nothing, this was one transfer I was keen on. Maybe just the hope that it brings an end to Keane/Holgate.

 

[blueblue]

They won't/hopefully won't.

But the poster said "we can't stockpile players" and "we can only buy if we sell"

And O'Brien goes against both of those things

We will have three centre halves that can be played, how is that stockpiling.

We sold Onana last week. We then sign O Brien just a few days later, we brought in Lindstrom just after selling Onana.

We sell and then we buy.
We sold Godfrey and Dobbin before we signed players.
It is clear and obvious.

We still have a tiny squad there are several positions that need cover but we can't afford to buy or couldn't until Onana left...I think that is generally accepted.

 

[Miško]

I'm surprised at the Lyon fan's assessment of O'Brien's abilities tbh. Made a point of watching him a couple of times after we were linked in January.

I agree that he is definitely slow on the half-turn, which, after years of enduring Michael Keane is terrifying, and he isn't superb in the air for a huge lad (he's okay though) - lots of tall players have this. For example, Distin was very poor in the air, he just used to head the ball up a lot and not get any distance on his headers.

But, from what I saw, I thought O'Brien read the game well. Always seemed to be in the right place to nick things and cut out passes and crosses. Think I watched about 4 games he played in, and was fairly impressed with that aspect of his game - which made me less concerned about the lack of pace on the turn as it means that he doesn't have that ridiculously poor combination of that and an inability to read the game that Keane has.

Not saying the guy is wrong at all - he's presumably a proper fan, and I've watched a handful of games. But that was my take on what I saw, for a bit of balance.

The key is consistency. He shows quality most of the times, but he makes horrendous mistakes, which in my view, is a major flaw for a CB. And he repeated some of them several times which is even more frustrating. But as I said in my first post, opinions differ here about him: I find him not good enough at the moment with a lot of work to do to improve whereas others are sure he'll be a beast for the next ten years. The one thing makes everyone agree is that he is a top bloke, and that he is a hard worker.

He was given a chance when we hit the bottom of the league, and he boldly took it. Despite all the limitations to his game, he was still better than all the other options in central defence. And he was a sort of lucky charm, he brought back a smile to the team, the results followed, and the end of the season was unbelievable. We all will remember this for decades. I really hope it'll work alright for him with you.