Skipp is official: Interesting that he's pictured wearing 20 on his training kit. That was Drmic's number last season. Although Roberts has vacated 7, and Leitner's 10 shirt could be up for grabs if Drmic wanted those.
It's not just Webber's record Rick, it's Webber & Farke's record. It's clear that Skipp is not coming to sit on the bench; he could do that at Spurs. And we surely wouldn't fork out £1M just to tell him he'll have the same chance as everyone else to force his way into the team. DF is going to have to play him.
Yep, he is. To sum him up, think Scott Parker but with a little less grit though a bit more technique. The grit will improve too with more experience. Can never guarantee how a player will do on loan but he’s our joint best academy prospect at the moment so hopefully he proves it with you lot, you’re due a good one from us. Should've played more for us last season, especially when Winks and Sissoko plus an overweight £55m new signing are some of our other options.
I noticed he's not the tallest, how is he with the physical stuff? We've lacked a tough-tackling presence in midfield at times. Is he someone who can take on the responsibility of being the main/only defensive midfielder? A 4-1-4-1 has been discussed lately...
He won't bottle a challenge put it like that. He's one of those players who'll just chase you down and he can use his low centre of gravity to get out of ****ty situations, it's why I'd compare him with Parker as he weren't the biggest either but has probably been our best DM in the Premier League era. The Dutch U21 team are seen on camera talking about how annoying it was to play against Skipp and one compared him to Frenkie de Jong, which ain't a bad comparison, even if he didn't have the best of debut seasons for Barca. Yeah I think he can play at the base of that formation, we primarily play 4231 but that can switch in-game to a 433 and if Skipp's playing he'll be the deepest of the midfielders.
Thanks Dier, good to know. We have massively lacked steel in midfield this last season. I'm confident it's a key reason why we got relegated - teams worked out we could be bullied easily and after lockdown ended, we lost all confidence. Part of that was having a team of midgets, so I think a lot of us would say bringing in a small DM is not necessarily what we need. But I like the sound of how you describe his persistence and, ultimately, we can't have a team of giants who also fit our ball-playing mentality. So his low centre of gravity and ability to extract himself from pressure will no doubt be key to when we have possession too. We will need to find some height elsewhere.
Do you remember when some young lad called Harry Kane came on loan? Terrible he was. Missed a sitter against West Ham and we got relegated that season by the points we missed out on that day. Did he ever come good?... (EDIT: I actually think I am muddling Hughton seasons and he didn't cost us survival, but that would ruin the joke...)
I think Kane was injured for much of the time he was here. As for Max, I've read that Jose thinks he's too short. I hate to be blunt about it, but I honestly think Max is a liability when covering the far post because of his height.
Quintilla will apparently join with an obligation to sign him for a €3m fee if we get promotion. Presumably a loan fee as well. Not a huge risk, and could be a bargain if he's our first choice LB in a promotion winning season. Nice that we appear to be getting deals done right as the squad return for pre-season.
That has been a problem with both Aarons and Lewis, but both are two inches taller than Skipp. Contrary to DD's 19 games last season, Soccerbase shows that Skipp had 7 appearances in the PL last season, 6 of which were as a sub. He also started 2 cup games. I want to be hopeful about new signings, but last season's loans and the memory of those last 10 defeats in a row after the loanees buggered off make me reluctant to be sucked into hopeful views again. I'll wait and see how these new loans pan out once the season starts.
I'm with you on that. A couple of years ago it looked like Webber/Farke had a magic touch. After last season they'll have to convince me again.
You make it sound as if the loanees "buggering off" was a factor in our miserable end of season performance Rick. How so? Rather than anyone "buggering off", I'd say it was down to someone "f****ing up"; and it certainly wasn't any of the loanees!
A huge part of our success is our home form , we probably have the worst away record in the Premier League it's woeful. Without the atmosphere at Carrow Road playing in an empty stadium there isn't much point . Corona and all the political nonsense destroyed the game I haven't bothered watching any of the EUROPEAN games either I have no interest whatsoever. I'm trying to get excited about the new season but without us the soul is ripped out. I'm just hoping the BLM nonsense has stopped and Extinction Rebellion or some other political movement doesn't swallow up the game .
It was certainly dismal, Robbie, and there were a lot of factors involved. The first was SW choosing the wrong players on loan (Amadou and Roberts) for our situation. The nature of loans creates a split in loyalty between loan club and parent club, where the player's future lies. Then there's the pressure the parent club and/or player puts on getting enough game time, compromising DF's ability to choose the best line-up for that game and also creating tensions within the squad. We'll never know all of the factors behind Amadou and Roberts and to a lesser degree Fährmann, but clearly there was dissension leading to them leaving, which in turn impacted on squad solidarity. All of this is what concerns me about these new loans.
The Spanish guy has the incentive to play in the Premier League if he performs well or get sent home if we don't, and the young English kid knows Farke is happy to play you if you are good enough and he's seen that with our 3 England u21 boys , he no doubt discussed it with them on International duty . He looks a great player and way out of our league transfer fee wise . I'm happy with both signings .
Certainly I hope both come good, but I've given up expecting it. I agree that Quintilla has the incentive of playing in the PL if all goes well and let's hope that makes a difference. On the other hand, let's hope Skipp didn't talk to Roberts about last year.
