I'd be on the phone to Preston asking how much they want for Alan Browne, I thought he was fantastic today.
Having at least one midfielder with some height and strength helps a lot actually, yes. Seri and Slater were very lightweight today and didn’t win hardly any of the loose aerial balls. Having a player who can is very useful. Today we lost the ball in midfield quite a bit purely because of Seri’s lack of strength and size.
Hopefully we’ll see at least one signing before the Norwich game. Creativity is the major deficit in the squad.
I asked why it's suddenly important this season specifically, when we were seemingly fine with a small midfield for the last two years.
I think it's more physicality than height. Smallwood wasn't massive, but he very rarely got pushed off the ball. We saw multiple times today Seri and Slater get brushed off it and theres a really danger they could be bullied by better sides. The midfield is significantly better already this season, but if we really want to push for top 6 we need a partner for Seri
Was Smallwood small? 5’11 doesn’t strike me as particularly small for a defensive midfielder. Seri and Slater on the other hand are small and lightweight.
I don't think there's ever been any suggestion that Smallwood was ever winning loads of headers. If maintaining possession of the ball is ultimately the issue, I think we can be fairly confident that Seri and Slater will do that much better than Smallwood ever did.
We need a cross between Souness and our very own Ronnie Pickering. Any liberty taking in the middle of the park will result in being offered out for a bare knuckle fight.
