Had a sniff of respect for him not now. Idiot. A true, sniffer of doom to carry on his pretent insight into the financials of safc.
He’s been very good since Neil came in but he was all over the place today, covered more ground than usual. Good to see. Got his usual booking like, 3 in 3 games for the season now, will be suspended soon…
Evans has looked fitter ever since Neil has come in. Been watching a few players from PL teams as possible signings/loans and a few players that I think would be worthwhile are: Dujon Sterling RB - Permanent signing as in last yr of contact (Chelsea) Claudio Gomes CDM - Loan or permanent (Man City) Jan Paul Van Hecke CB - this would be incase Ballard's injury is really bad (Brighton) Harvey Vale Forward - Loan (Chelsea) Connor Coventry CDM - Permanent (West Ham) Just a few names that I think would improve our squad
Alex Neil said yesterday that another centre mid/cover for Evans was low down on our priorities. I suspect he’s bluffing and/or managing expectations. From the links you know of, what do you reckon? Is it a position we’re looking to strengthen?
He is just putting the pressure onto the recruitment team to close deals. Not surprisingly given 2 have fell at later stages.
I’ve said all along Evans isn’t the issue in the middle, people need to remember what his role is in that midfield. He was getting unnecessary flack at times last season because other players were leaving him exposed.
Wouldn’t be disappointed with any of them, Gomes and van hecke are the two that jump out both played a good number of games at this level last year too
He also said the bench lacked like for like replacement and Evans is the most obvious example of that.
I missed that. Was that yesterday? I know I said Neil had said about it being a low priority yesterday but I meant in his press conference which was the day before I think. I'm not one of these people that hang off every word a manager says and takes everything literally or as gospel. Johnson outlined it well as soon as he arrived - whenever he's talking to the media he's talking to at least three or four different parties - the fans, the players, the board, other clubs etc. Different messaging to try and achieve different objectives.
I saw your post about not breaking the structure. Are we missing signings because our structure is too tight / unrealistic in your view?
You obviously watch a lot more football than me mate, as I had to google a couple of those. I think 3 games has given us an idea of how we want to play this year and who the likely starters are. The one thing that I'm really happy about is that I think as a first 11 we can be competitive. I'd stretch that to maybe 15 players, but beyond that we start to look threadbare. I think we could still do with adding some experience to the squad as well as youth. Obviously, fitting in with the model, those over 24 will most likely be free or nominal fees. I think the Ballard injury makes a CB who can play on the right of a 3, the top priority. The suggestion that he may be out for months is worrying. Michael Hector might be a good option for this role. He's had worryingly little game time in the last couple of years, but he's strong, quick and versatile and has bags of experience at this level. Plus he's available on a free. A midfielder is sort of joint top in the priority list. AN has shown that he doesn't really trust any of our other midfielders beyond Evans and Neil at this level. Winchester needs to move on, Matete could do with regular football at League One level on loan, Embleton isn't disciplined enough for a CM role and O'Nein isn't effective enough to be a regular starter. James McCarthy is an excellent choice for this position in my opinion. Yes, injuries are a concern, but his ability is unquestionable. His experience is predominantly at a Premier League level and a player of his talent wouldn't ordinarily be available to us. He'd be a brilliant rotation option with Evans and Neil. A 3rd striker option is a must but it's a tricky position to fill. I can't imagine a Premier League club wants to loan us a future star if they're not going to play games. We also don't want to spend a big fee on someone to warm the bench. That's sort of why the Moreno loan rumour from City makes sense in my opinion (though I've never really seen him play and his record looks poor). Lys Mousset makes sense for the same reason. A fit Matej Vydra would have been the perfect option. I'm struggling to find the right and realistic kind of choice for this position though. After that, it's more about depth, though if the option to sign Daniel Iversen comes up, I'd still pay decent money for a new number 1. In addition to those I've already mentioned, another CB and CM are also needed. These would maybe be loans to fight for places (Van Hecke and Gomes?). Your suggestion of a right back is interesting. I've not seen enough of Sterling but it sounds like he can play wing back and has done well at this level before. I think AN is quite happy with Gooch and I'd really like to see Hume break through this season (plus we still have Huggins) so I'm not sure this is an area we'll target, but I wouldn't be against it.
