January 2018 transfer window thread.

[KaiserEFC]

Need to lose about 7 and bring about 5 in. Obviously not going to happen though.

Decent fullbacks who are actually capable of getting up the pitch would be nice, and obviously so would the striker.

 

[blue to the bone]

Two in January. Left back and a striker. Season is pretty much a write off. Might finish seventh even with what we have because the league isn't of a good standard.
Assess the squad until May. And the manager is probably going to be assessed as well

 

[bluestevon]

I will make one exception there - Pickford.

Agree totally, also think as long as we manage to sort the squad out this January and summer that Sigurdsson will go on to prove his worth, maybe keane also.

Problem is though, it exposes the major issues we have - which is a lack of players proven as good players in decent teams, we are paying a premium for the worst clubs best players and hoping if you throw a team of those together you end up with a top 4 quality team, which is a ridiculous method.

Our 'shopping' abroad is absolutely embarrassing, Klassen who even to a casual watcher of him - looked to be the type who could struggle massively in a more competitive and higher paced league, Sandro who is a kid with one good season under his belt, and a lad we couldn't even get a work permit for, who've we've spent 12m quid on and before he has kicked a ball for us now has to recover from a blown out knee - given 6-9 months to recover from that, then to recover his form, we will be lucky to see him qualify for a work permit before about 2020 now.

good chance we spunked 45m+ on players there who will maybe play about 25 games between them in their careers.

As a club i can't think of one with a worse track record of buying foreign players who haven't already played over in Britain prior.

Literally only Pienaar who i can think of who breaks that mould - and maybe Fellaini and Yobo, and two of those didn't exactly prove game changers...

 

[Fansince1988]

Clueless

What are you on about, since Sam has come he has sured up our defence so we have hardly conceded a goal, perhaps individually some are far from the best defenders, but collectively they have been very good. We currently have Keane,Holgate,Jags,Williams,Baines (I don't think far off being fit again),Martina and Kenny, with Coleman to come back quite soon I gather. So imo that's more than enough to take us through to the summer, so if another defender atm is priority for you I think to see the clueless one you need to need to look in the mirror. It's not difficult to see we are in dire needs of attacking players and that's where total focus should be in January.

 

[TheFinnFan]

We need two or three players.

Forward and one wing back...maybe CB.

Summer was so crazy we have to ship lads out and carefully address positions we lack quality and depth

 

[Fansince1988]

Hi all it makes me chuckle that a new LB is mentioned all the time, yes perhaps in the summer we should start looking for Baines cover or replacement, but the whole problem is our left sided midfield player doesn't help the LB defensively enough for the LB to surge on, on the right it's better when Lennon is playing as he tracks back and can defend, if a pienaar type player was still here, no one would be worried about a new LB, we could buy the best LB in the world but the problem of the attacking would still be there. A striker is a must and a decent LM who can attack and defend would be nice.

 

[Fansince1988]

We need two or three players.

Forward and one wing back...maybe CB.

Summer was so crazy we have to ship lads out and carefully address positions we lack quality and depth

A forward and a Left attacking midfielder I think is what we need that would allow Baines to get up the field more, as for a CB I think that can wait until summer, we have 4 fit ones and Mori still to come back at some point.

 

[royvernon39]

He did all right last night but he's too slow in movement, too slow to deliver quick balls, almost never attacks,

Imagine flogging Morgan Scherderlein and bringing in N'gonzo. Immediate up-date. It allows you to play 2 in midfield and 4 forward players.
At present, if Morgan plays you need Gueye to bomb around and a third midfielder, usually Rooney, to pass the round thing up-field.

 

[Fansince1988]

Need to lose about 7 and bring about 5 in. Obviously not going to happen though.

Decent fullbacks who are actually capable of getting up the pitch would be nice, and obviously so would the striker.

We have 2 decent attacking FBs in Baines and Coleman, I know Baines is ageing but he can still do it, the problem is the right and left side midfielders they need to track back and defend to allow the FBs forward, Lennons not bad at it but he lacks offensive qualitys, but it's on the left the FB is exposed a lot.

 

[Azza]

Need to lose about 7 and bring about 5 in. Obviously not going to happen though.

Decent fullbacks who are actually capable of getting up the pitch would be nice, and obviously so would the striker.

Thing is right now Sam doesn't want them going to far forward often as they provide that defensive support we really need.

 

[Pabbers]

Pontus Janson looks a beast for Leeds

 

[bluestevon]

We have 2 decent attacking FBs in Baines and Coleman, I know Baines is ageing but he can still do it, the problem is the right and left side midfielders they need to track back and defend to allow the FBs forward, Lennons not bad at it but he lacks offensive qualitys, but it's on the left the FB is exposed a lot.

Mate no you are wrong, teams don't play wide players whose main strength is to cover the fullbacks when they bomb forward.

IF you play with attacking fullbacks then it's either the cb's job to be able to defend in space - most of ours can't, or the job of one of the central mids to pull wider and cover that area - something we saw a lot with McCarthy and Barry in 13/14

So the positions you don't think needs improving atm, fullback and cb, are far more important than the areas you suggest to fix the fullback problem - as in sign a defensive winger to allow a Baines whose on his last legs to not have to defend anymore.

 

[PhilM]

Our priority is clearly a striker alongside some extra pace and creativity on the width, preferably as a wide midfielder, so we should focus here.

Fairly, people are mentioning the need for improved full backs and centre backs, but I feel that this could possibly wait until the Summer.

We're still unsure what the board's plans are for Sam etc and with inflated prices in the January window, it'd be wise to be cautious in the window.

I'd also like to see an option for some pace and forward impetus in the middle, as unfortunately we can be quite pedestrian from our midfield.

 

[Zatara]

Need about 5 or 6 quality players in reality, in reality though we won't get close to that in, can't afford them, can't attract them either.

Returning injured players won't help much either, Bolasie and Mori for example where not good enough for anything above the level we where already at when they arrived. And I doubt a serious knee injury to both has improved them as players.

We have a squad full of either fading players who where once good enough for a top team (Rooney, Baines, Jagielka) a collection of 'best' players from crap teams, who we've bought expecting them to move that form to a new side, (Williams, Pickford, Keane, Sigurdsson, Bolasie, Sandro, Gueye) whilst ignoring systems and what made them stand out in those sides.
Or simply bought young kids and thrown them into a mess of a side.

The list of players we have bought from decent/good sides, who performed well for those sides, and who the selling club wanted to keep reads as follows - (nobody)

That's the reality of our pulling power, ambition, and recruitment teams ability.

Agree totally, also think as long as we manage to sort the squad out this January and summer that Sigurdsson will go on to prove his worth, maybe keane also.

Problem is though, it exposes the major issues we have - which is a lack of players proven as good players in decent teams, we are paying a premium for the worst clubs best players and hoping if you throw a team of those together you end up with a top 4 quality team, which is a ridiculous method.

Our 'shopping' abroad is absolutely embarrassing, Klassen who even to a casual watcher of him - looked to be the type who could struggle massively in a more competitive and higher paced league, Sandro who is a kid with one good season under his belt, and a lad we couldn't even get a work permit for, who've we've spent 12m quid on and before he has kicked a ball for us now has to recover from a blown out knee - given 6-9 months to recover from that, then to recover his form, we will be lucky to see him qualify for a work permit before about 2020 now.

good chance we spunked 45m+ on players there who will maybe play about 25 games between them in their careers.

As a club i can't think of one with a worse track record of buying foreign players who haven't already played over in Britain prior.

Literally only Pienaar who i can think of who breaks that mould - and maybe Fellaini and Yobo, and two of those didn't exactly prove game changers...

Onyekuru was 7mil. There were also offers on the table for him and his injury (supposedly) isn't that bad. The work permit thing is a nightmare though and why even the Brazilians etc all go to Spain and Russia as they cant get visas here. Sandro also was only 5mil and we should make a profit on both if we sold them I think. Klaassen is the bizarre signing.

What clubs are you thinking of as the 'good sides' we should be signing players from?

What are you on about, since Sam has come he has sured up our defence so we have hardly conceded a goal, perhaps individually some are far from the best defenders, but collectively they have been very good. We currently have Keane,Holgate,Jags,Williams,Baines (I don't think far off being fit again),Martina and Kenny, with Coleman to come back quite soon I gather. So imo that's more than enough to take us through to the summer, so if another defender atm is priority for you I think to see the clueless one you need to need to look in the mirror. It's not difficult to see we are in dire needs of attacking players and that's where total focus should be in January.

Hi all it makes me chuckle that a new LB is mentioned all the time, yes perhaps in the summer we should start looking for Baines cover or replacement, but the whole problem is our left sided midfield player doesn't help the LB defensively enough for the LB to surge on, on the right it's better when Lennon is playing as he tracks back and can defend, if a pienaar type player was still here, no one would be worried about a new LB, we could buy the best LB in the world but the problem of the attacking would still be there. A striker is a must and a decent LM who can attack and defend would be nice.

A forward and a Left attacking midfielder I think is what we need that would allow Baines to get up the field more, as for a CB I think that can wait until summer, we have 4 fit ones and Mori still to come back at some point.

We have 2 decent attacking FBs in Baines and Coleman, I know Baines is ageing but he can still do it, the problem is the right and left side midfielders they need to track back and defend to allow the FBs forward, Lennons not bad at it but he lacks offensive qualitys, but it's on the left the FB is exposed a lot.

To have a system where you continuously attack teams you need;

A -- A good goalkeeper to make the defence comfortable (see Tim Howard throwing goals in) which allows them to push up

B -- Defenders with some pace who are able to play a high line which then allows the midfield to be closer to the attack, ergo closer to the opposition goal

C -- Reliable full backs who allow the more forward players to focus on attacking.

So, to play an attacking system;

Kenny / Coleman means right back is sorted
Holgate / Keane at centre back is good but we need 2 more here
We have no left back who suits this system

Martina / Mori are unsafe defensively
Baines / Williams/Jagielka are either unsafe or winding down


In my opinion, to actually have a very solid defence who can play a high line we need;

1 Goalkeeper - Stekelenburg is awful and Robles contract is expiring in summer
2 Centre backs - Perhaps Feeney as 4th choice means we just need 1.
2 Left backs - There is no way Baines can be relied upon to perform at the top level

So, minimum of a keeper, left back, centre back to come in but ideally 5 players

Jagielka / Baines / Williams / Mori / Martina / Garbutt / Browning / Galloway / Pennington to be moved on.


This is a lot of movement only on defence. Its imperative that at least one left back is signed in January and several more deals are agreed to move players on.

 

[Zatara]

Mate no you are wrong, teams don't play wide players whose main strength is to cover the fullbacks when they bomb forward.

IF you play with attacking fullbacks then it's either the cb's job to be able to defend in space - most of ours can't, or the job of one of the central mids to pull wider and cover that area - something we saw a lot with McCarthy and Barry in 13/14

So the positions you don't think needs improving atm, fullback and cb, are far more important than the areas you suggest to fix the fullback problem - as in sign a defensive winger to allow a Baines whose on his last legs to not have to defend anymore.

I cant understand the shouts for midfielders and forwards from anyone until the defence is improved.

Its totally illogical.