January 2018 transfer window thread.

[cronullasharks]

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...

Worth a thread in itself that. We've had a few flops

 

[bluestevon]

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?










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.

As a starter - not clubs that are effectively battling relegation every year mate, we IF serious should be able to attract players from any club outside the very elite 2-3 clubs in each major league, we should be able to attract ANY player from any club outside of those major leagues.

Spurs who where not much better situated than us at the time, took Ajax most talented young player in Erickson, took Romas in Lamela, took an Athletico Madrid back up and rated cb in Alderweireld, took Vertonghan from Ajax who at the time was their best player.

All players who where pretty coveted and all of whom had tremendous potential and where at decent sides already.

We took a player from the second tier of Belgium, a player from a dross spanish team and the Ajax captain - whom many had doubt over if he could make a step up in leagues.

 

[Fansince1988]

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.

So the fix is who? Gueye been playing and he's the closest to what you said McCarthy and Barry do/did. Also I disagree Baines isn't quite on his last legs in our early euro games he attacked quite a lot. But I still think our main problem (if we are going to play that way is a striker that can hold the ball up, DCL can do it but but not at thins level, he produces very little.

 

[bluestevon]

Worth a thread in itself that. We've had a few flops

Generally we have been too cosy as a club for a long time, jobs for the boys etc, and i think ti transfers over into scouting and transfers, we do well when in our confort zone usually, anything involving outside of that bubble we suck balls, either failing to get deals over the line or just bringing in players who everyone else has swerved with just reason

even the 3 i said where arguably succesful, 2 of those we loaned first Pienaar and Yobo, the other we bought because we failed to get the one we wanted and panic bought him luckily

 

[Fansince1988]

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

Its totally illogical.

Sam has got it to work though, whether you like the style personal system or not, we are not conceding goals. Also who are our attacking threats? Rooney,Sigs Niasse when he gets a chance that's about it.

 

[bluestevon]

So the fix is who? Gueye been playing and he's the closest to what you said McCarthy and Barry do/did. Also I disagree Baines isn't quite on his last legs in our early euro games he attacked quite a lot. But I still think our main problem (if we are going to play that way is a striker that can hold the ball up, DCL can do it but but not at thins level, he produces very little.

We don't have a fast team in attacking/creative areas, so we need to be able to play a high line, only Kenny and Holgate have the pace to do that, Williams and Baines will get exposed horribly and have been when they have pushed the line up, so you need a new left back and a new left sided cb who is able to defend in space and with space behind him.

No striker in football could hold the ball up long enough or well enough to make a difference mate, because most times they have no one within 40yards of them and no one trying to getv in support because it's pointless.

Gueye does cover those areas well, but on the left hand side we are an absolute shambles, meaning our record signing most games is effectively filling in as left back cover as Martina is awful and Williams not capable of providing that cover

 

[sheedys left foot]

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.

Shored it up by playing Ghana and Morgan holding hands with the Center half’s. He’s not a magician that has made Williams and martina great overnight, he’s overcompensating for their weakness which has a knock on impact further up the pitch.

Do you even watch football??!!

 

[blue to the bone]

Shored it up by playing Ghana and Morgan holding hands with the Center half’s. He’s not a magician that has made Williams and martina great overnight, he’s overcompensating for their weakness which has a knock on impact further up the pitch.

Do you even watch football??!!

The previous managers could not do it though could they... Yet people wanted rhino to get the job

 

[Fansince1988]

Shored it up by playing Ghana and Morgan holding hands with the Center half’s. He’s not a magician that has made Williams and martina great overnight, he’s overcompensating for their weakness which has a knock on impact further up the pitch.

Do you even watch football??!!

Yes I do and I'm pretty sure all the players fans want out, a lot won't be going anywhere any time soon. For a start I expect Williams and Martina to be here next season and I'm sure with in the club Mori is rated quite highly, perhaps we will get a LB in January but I'd expect it to be cover for rather than replacement. The quick fix for the time being is still improving our attackers, like I said our only threats are Rooney,Sigs and Niasse (who rarely plays) but most importantly we still need a regular goal getting forward, yes perhaps an attacking LB with help us get goal chances but ultimately we still need someone to put it in the net regular and Sandro or DCL aren't going to do that any time soon.

 

[Fansince1988]

The simple answer but hard to achieve thing is we need a fair few players to take us forward, Koeman messed things up big style, Sams come in and got points that was the most important thing. Let's waits and see how he plays the January window, it's hard to judge him until he has done that.

 

[KaiserEFC]

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

Then we can expect plenty more results like yesterday. He has to drop the uber defensive policy after he brings a few players in or the fans will be calling for his head before the season is through

 

[Bluewolf]

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.

Mate baines is done. Was never a good defender but his attacking always made up for it. Now his legs has gone and he can't attack anymore and he's giving away stupid fouls, not tracking his man, never stops the cross, walks out to cover his man in second phases of set pieces and just and players are just walking past him. If you think we dont need a new LB you are high.

I always find it a suprise the way football fans always seem to be remember players at their peak and are blind to their current level. I will always be thankful to baines for his loyalty and ability for our club but im not sentimental. When a player is done their done.

 

[sheedys left foot]

The previous managers could not do it though could they... Yet people wanted rhino to get the job

Give me a mid table finish under Martinez over a mid table finish under fireman sam any day

 

[LiamG]

Worth a thread in itself that. We've had a few flops

It'd been bloody awful. Let's not pretend otherwise.

If I was Moshiri that would be the area I would be looking to make the biggest change.

 

[LiamG]

The previous managers could not do it though could they... Yet people wanted rhino to get the job

But at what expense. For a while we have either been able to defend or attack not do both.