January 2018 transfer window thread.

[kenada_blue]

Not a fan of Shaw but if he can hit previous levels it would be good. Not going to come cheap though.

Shaw/tierney/sessegnon would be my 3.

He's not going to fix anything and you'd be buying him for the future to develop rather than putting him straight in.

 

[COYBL25]

Gueye is easily replaceable. He's decent but got zero quality on the ball. Let's not kid ourselves.

Sorry Tim, but he`s not easily replaceable.

When he`s on form, it`s like having two players on the pitch.

The problem as I see it, is that his form has suffered badly, as has others, due to us being an utter basket case of a club this year.

Once ( if ) the team gets some quality in and settles, you`ll see the old Gana back.

He may be 29, but that`s generally the peak age for his type of midfielder.

 

[windymiller]

Gana is a bad passer of the ball. Loosing him would only be an issue if McCarthy cant get healthy for longer periods, as i think James is a more compleate footballer. He presses hard, is bigger and stronger and a better passer.

I like Gana, but we should really sell him for 30m. If we can get something like that for Morgan too, Id be happy.

Lol, you Irish boys crack me up.

 

[Papa Shango]

He’s not a defensive midfielder, he’s more box to box. So he should have a lot more influence in the final 3rd

He's not though. He is a player who is supposed to break up play and then give it simple, 5 yard passes and the like. More of an engine to the team than anything else. He does that well but nobody else whats to take any responsibility when it comes to the other stuff. McCarthy is similar. Our players have got to stop hiding from the ball when we are in possession.

 

[Papa Shango]

Personally I don't agree. He's a good player, certainly not a great player. And if someone offered 30m or more then I'd certainly not lose any sleep. He hasn't a creative bone in his body. His style has its pros and cons too. Yes he at times wins it high which is great, but equally it's his achilles heal and he lacks discipline on a regular basis. His passing matrices are not good either, he's not an effective pivot.

Hes not supposed to be the creative one though, that's the point! Like many players these days he is a system player put the right players around him and he is very effective. As we have not done that he has had to push on and make things happen himself which he can do every so often (He does have some creativity, he has shown that he can play some cracking balls every once in a while) but he cant do it all the time as its not his strength.

We have no great players. Pickford in a few years maybe.

I have no idea what that last sentence means to be honest. I don't go for that kind of thing. Football is an easy game, it doesn't need that much thought.

 

[Papa Shango]

Personally, I honestly think he's been no where near the level he hit in his first 10 or so games for us (pre ACON)
Couldn't care less if he leaves or not. He'll be sold for a significant profit and should be easy enough to replace.

You could say that about the whole team.

We couldn't replace a 60 year old Gareth Barry, what makes you think we can replace Gueye?

 

[Llyrap]

We seemed to have had a pre-occupation with two defensive midfielders. Takes a lot more effort to track, intercept and tackle. Prefer if we could retain possession. Takes pressure off defence and midfield.

The Barry/McCarthy martinez combination were in their own way as ineffective as Schnides/Gueye

 

[Abraders]

He's not going to fix anything and you'd be buying him for the future to develop rather than putting him straight in.

Better than nothing.

How's that young lad we signed at lb, Gibson I think?

 

[ADT]

well at least he's here

 

[Deulofeumygod]

Why are we linked to one lb?!

 

[COYBL25]

He's not though. He is a player who is supposed to break up play and then give it simple, 5 yard passes and the like. More of an engine to the team than anything else. He does that well but nobody else whats to take any responsibility when it comes to the other stuff. McCarthy is similar. Our players have got to stop hiding from the ball when we are in possession.

Absolutely 100% spot on

 

[kenada_blue]

well at least he's here

Ooooh

 

[Nymzee]

Why are we linked to one lb?!

We've been linked to several?

 

[DanB90]

Why are we linked to one lb?!

How many do we need?

 

[kenada_blue]

We seemed to have had a pre-occupation with two defensive midfielders. Takes a lot more effort to track, intercept and tackle. Prefer if we could retain possession. Takes pressure off defence and midfield.

The Barry/McCarthy martinez combination were in their own way as ineffective as Schnides/Gueye

Gana is a ball winner and a very good one.

What we really need to that Graveson/Arteta/Fabregas player. One who will help out defensively, but when we get the ball they can dictate play and create attacks.

Kinda like Matic and Pogba or Herrara (off the top of my head). One disrupts, the other should be able to get the ball and take us up the pitch.

While Barkley wasn't the best in that deeper role, once he got it past the halfway line, he'd dictate our attack. We don't have that.