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January 2018 transfer window thread.

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Don't just dump those Christmas leftovers - recycle them into an hutc-goulash-transfer story:

Reported Everton and Tottenham target Dusko Tosic set for England move
Danny Owen @danny8195

Premier League rivals Everton and Spurs look set to go head-to-head to land Besiktas' Champions League star Dusko Tosic in the January transfer window.
Ironically, Everton missing out on one target could help them land another.
According to Croatian outlet Sata 24, The Toffees were interested in signing versatile defender Domagoj Vida but he has just signed a contract with Besiktas instead, joining on a free from Dinamo Kiev.
But Vida is expected to replace Serbian international Dusko Tosic who Vatan (25thDecember, page 18) claim is likely to move to England in January amid links with Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and, most recently, Stoke City.
Tosic has been in exceptional form since moving to Besiktas in 2015, helping the club to successive Super Lig titles and also forming an outstanding partnership with fellow veteran Pepe as they cruised into the knock-out rounds of this season’s Champions League.
But the report points out that Besiktas will accept offers of around £3 million for Tosic who, at 32 years of age, is unlikely to appreciate in value.

Competition
Fanatik stated a fortnight ago that Everton had opened talks with the one-time QPR loanee after Tottenham had expressed an interest. Tosic would likely be a short-term solution to either side, offering depth to an Everton defence that finds itself burdened with old age and injuries this season.
Capable of playing at left-back, the 21-cap international could also offer some back-up for Leighton Baines.
And with Spurs facing a hectic fixture schedule in the New Year thanks to their European commitments, it makes sense that Mauricio Pochettino would want to reinforce his backline to minimise the risk of fatigue.
Considering that Stoke City have conceded 41 goals in just 20 games this season, by far the worst tally in the top flight, it is also a no-brainer that they would be interested with their backline decimated by injuries to Kurt Zouma and Bruno Martins Indi.
 
I dont think its even neccessarily that the players we brought in arent good enough, its that they were seemingly brought in with no cohesive plan to play them together. We brought in players who might do quite well in the premier league, but in certain systems, or with certain types of other players around them, and we fit them with all the wrong players. We paired Siggurdson with slow players. We got Klaassen whos best quality is passing the ball and moving it quickly and yet surrounded him with no one to pass to. We added Sandro who has good pace and supposedly a good finisher but poor touch, and surrounded him with no main striker to give him more space, but instead players and a style that requires a good first touch.

One has to ask what was the point of signing Rooney, Siggurdson, and Klaassen? 2 out of 3 maybe, but all 3 was pointless as they play the same positions and are all 3 slower players that rely on passing and finishing rather than movement.
 
bluestevon said:
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...
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Couldn't agree more, there is something seriously amiss with our scouting for players outside the domestic leagues. I thought that was something that Walsh would begin to address, but on the basis of last summer, patently not. Perhaps the structure is missing, so we do it in a haphazard way, but for a long time and pre-dating Koeman/Walsh, we have struggled in this area for both quality and quantity.

I think the set-up in the Moyes era for transfers/scouting was almost entirely focused on domestic players, as you could sign a Cahill or Arteta without the premium you pay today, and whilst we have money, we have not moved on from that mindset in terms of keeping tabs on the best players coming through in Europe and elsewhere. Nor does it seem we have put in enough groundwork to develop relationships with agents and other clubs, there is so much work to be done. Maybe that's what Walsh was doing in Milan last summer, but it would have been nice to have an end product from it.
 
Fansince1988 said:
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.
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bluestevon said:
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
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sheedys left foot said:
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??!!
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Fansince1988 said:
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.
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Bluewolf said:
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.
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It seems pretty basic and logical to me @Fansince1988

To simplify things. the closer you are to the opponents goal the more chance you have of scoring. To add some perspective, that doesn't just mean having DCL up front alone :)

So, you need your midfield close to your forward(s) and so there isn't a huge gap, you then need your defence close to your midfield. Effectively imagine the defenders on the half way line (If you watch highlights on Andre Villas Boas tactics you will see this in action).

The defence is key to doing this and you need;
1 -- A top keeper so the defence has confidence he will stop shots and act as a sweeper when needed (See Man City)

2 -- Pace to get back in case of any balls over the top of the defence to fast forwards who would be 1-1 with the keeper.

3 -- Attacking full backs with centre backs who are able to cover them when they go up the pitch. For a basic example of this see the last game when Martina was frequently out of position Keane came across.

The midfield is also important of course but to focus on the defence you then have a platform to sit high up the pitch and take the game to the opposition.

If we played Martina--Jags--Williams--Baines with a high line on the halfway line against a team with any pace we'd lose 5 goals each game.

Currently, the only players we have are Coleman (lets see) Kenny, Holgate, Keane who look able to play a high line. Clearly were missing 2 CBs and 2 LBs In the squad.

We could go and sign a superstar centre forward who could be amazing for us...but he'd be isolated unless our defence was solid and playing up the pitch...even look at the old Kevin Keegan sides to see how high their defence was...look at City.

Allardyce hasn't fixed the defence...hes just retrained them to keep things simple...its working. The reason we aren't effective in possession is because our defenders aren't able to play up the pitch so were resorting to long balls while ensuring we get a point at least.

Allardyce will have fixed the defence when he gets them playing a high line and not conceding still...to do that he needs faster defenders.
 

Get rid of one touch Klassen. All he does is smile and kick the ball aka hot potato no hold up play whatsoever. We don’t need Arsenal’s left overs Walcott he will not help us break into the top 6 sorry! Bolasie is a huge gamble and may of lost his pace forever let’s be honest ... We need Wilfred zaha
 
Mathieubleucoyb said:
Get rid of one touch Klassen. All he does is smile and kick the ball aka hot potato no hold up play whatsoever. We don’t need Arsenal’s left overs Walcott he will not help us break into the top 6 sorry! Bolasie is a huge gamble and may of lost his pace forever let’s be honest ... We need Wilfred zaha
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walcott is better than zaha.
 


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