Summer window

[cumbrianmackem]

I wonder if Gooch himself, or Mowbray see him as a right back. I am not so sure. He is a utility man these days, in the mold of some of the good old fashioned utility players. He can play either full back role, wide right and even wide left at a push. Maybe in the 9 sub era this sort of player is less valuable, but I wouldnt be selling him just on the basis he is a 3rd choice right back. Not saying you are guilty of this but there are a few who have been on his case for a while now saying he is not good enough. I disagree, he is good enough to be in the squad. People are in danger of seeing off the character in our squad that makes it easy for young lads to flourish anf feel at home. The value of Gooch and ONien extends far beyond 90mins on a Saturday, in my opinion. A squad of 22 or 23 needs a range of characters, Gooch is a leader and a heart on the sleeve lad.

Well said Fell, it isn't always about the 90 minutes on match day.

 

[FellTop]

I was talking about the lack of an attacker at a specific time, namely when Simms and Stewart were out of the team and Gelhardt was missing chances.

If Rigg isn't there to be attack minded then someone hasn't told him. He scored at Fulham because he was in a scoring position and scored in Texas because he made the run beyond the defence.

I made the comment, at the time, that we've lacked that from the likes of Dan Neil who I don't believe would have made the run or scored the goal.

I dont think comparing whether Neil would make the run and score the goal is the right comparison. Neil is the pivot in front of the back 4, and the principle holding midfielder. Rigg plays much higher and has a greater sense of attacking freedom in his play. A better comparison would be with Pritchard, or Embleton, or even Amad from a positional perspective. I regard Neil as just about the best deep lying midfielder in the division, and Rigg looks the best young player I have seen come through for a long long time, maybe ever. Lucky to have them both and will enjoy watching them both this season.

 

[Scout73]

Id prefer that we keep gooch this season, he doesnt start but is a valuable squad player. He can play rb or lb and we have question marks with players in those players in:
Huggins
Alese
Cirkin
All fitness related as all are quality (or in huggins case the potential to be quality) so gooch will be needed

We will out grow him, and probably soon but i think hes a key squad player who still has a part to play this season

He annoys the hell out of me, quality one week then crap for a few games but hes a huge squad player for us

 

[Nozs’ Hat]

I wonder if Gooch himself, or Mowbray see him as a right back. I am not so sure. He is a utility man these days, in the mold of some of the good old fashioned utility players. He can play either full back role, wide right and even wide left at a push. Maybe in the 9 sub era this sort of player is less valuable, but I wouldnt be selling him just on the basis he is a 3rd choice right back. Not saying you are guilty of this but there are a few who have been on his case for a while now saying he is not good enough. I disagree, he is good enough to be in the squad. People are in danger of seeing off the character in our squad that makes it easy for young lads to flourish anf feel at home. The value of Gooch and ONien extends far beyond 90mins on a Saturday, in my opinion. A squad of 22 or 23 needs a range of characters, Gooch is a leader and a heart on the sleeve lad.

Totally agree with this. Many of the young lads will also have dips in form and having an experienced pro to bring in will be invaluable across the season. Still only 27 so plenty running left in him too.

 

[TonyG]

Think "garbage" is significantly hyperbolic but I agree he's third choice, and that's even before you include O'Nien to play there.

I think he's a decent Championship right back. We just have two better ones, one of whom (perhaps both) is definitely going to be PL quality.

I'd keep him in an ideal world considering so many sub options. BUT we have a large, large squad and he'd be towards the top of the list of people I'd be willing to lose.

Find that of a lot of our fans. Someone’s either out of this world or complete and utter garbage.

I’ve personally got a lot of time for gooch meself

 

[Scout73]

I dont think comparing whether Neil would make the run and score the goal is the right comparison. Neil is the pivot in front of the back 4, and the principle holding midfielder. Rigg plays much higher and has a greater sense of attacking freedom in his play. A better comparison would be with Pritchard, or Embleton, or even Amad from a positional perspective. I regard Neil as just about the best deep lying midfielder in the division, and Rigg looks the best young player I have seen come through for a long long time, maybe ever. Lucky to have them both and will enjoy watching them both this season.

Ill go out on a limb and say rigg is the best prospect ive ever seen at us. Whether he has a career like henderson is another thing but he is the most talented ive seen at his age.

Neil probably would have made that run, neil is good with those runs - he just lacks the finishing that rigg has. Neil should be use as that pivot, as youve said, as hes quality there and got better n better in that role as the season progressed

Buzzing to see how neil kicks on this season as such a fan of the lad. Tbf i reckon most of the boys will kick on

 

[SAFC Wilks]

He’s garbage and we have Hume, Huggins and Crompton who can all play there naturally plus O’nien. Probably a decent lad to have in the dressing room but he should be nowhere near our Xl if we’re serious about promotion.

He’s not garbage like, far from it. Very handy player at championship level.

I agree he wouldn’t likely be first choice RB if you’re going for promotion but ‘garbage’ is just complete rubbish.

 

[Southern A]

Objectively I’d like to keep Gooch as well.

But I’d be keen to know who people think we should ship out instead. Assuming we don’t want a 30 man squad

 

[Pure River Slut]

Id prefer that we keep gooch this season, he doesnt start but is a valuable squad player. He can play rb or lb and we have question marks with players in those players in:
Huggins
Alese
Cirkin
All fitness related as all are quality (or in huggins case the potential to be quality) so gooch will be needed

We will out grow him, and probably soon but i think hes a key squad player who still has a part to play this season

He annoys the hell out of me, quality one week then crap for a few games but hes a huge squad player for us

I agree with all of that but if we are to have space for young players to emerge and to strengthen someone has to leave. It’s brilliant that it’s a tough choice. I’d also love to keep Gooch but also 09 and Pritch are class, Evans is a leader. Embo has two good feet and scores goals, Baath is a leader, Matete has promise. I’d say we need to lose maybe 4 to strengthen again or the squad is too big.

 

[Mackem 10.1]

He’s garbage and we have Hume, Huggins and Crompton who can all play there naturally plus O’nien. Probably a decent lad to have in the dressing room but he should be nowhere near our Xl if we’re serious about promotion.

He's not garbage at all, hes a good player, Huggins injury record is terrible, and Crompton is a young lad who has never played a first team game. So they aren't above gooch

 

[Scout73]

I agree with all of that but if we are to have space for young players to emerge and to strengthen someone has to leave. It’s brilliant that it’s a tough choice. I’d also love to keep Gooch but also 09 and Pritch are class, Evans is a leader. Embo has two good feet and scores goals, Baath is a leader, Matete has promise. I’d say we need to lose maybe 4 to strengthen again or the squad is too big.

Totally agree mate, i think with gooch there isnt any obvious youngsters coming through in the fullbacks position thats why i would keep him.

For me one of pritchard or embleton will go, i think both are very similar players n play in positions where we have bellingham, ba n rigg coming through who all have higher upside.

Batth i think will move on at the end of the season, unless he is a stand out again for us as theres high hopes for the 2 new lads n johnson so the club wont want to stand in their way

As you said some very very tough decisions coming up. This is the 1st time i can remember where i like every player in the squad n would hate to see any leave but appreciate some will need too

 

[FellTop]

Ill go out on a limb and say rigg is the best prospect ive ever seen at us. Whether he has a career like henderson is another thing but he is the most talented ive seen at his age.

Neil probably would have made that run, neil is good with those runs - he just lacks the finishing that rigg has. Neil should be use as that pivot, as youve said, as hes quality there and got better n better in that role as the season progressed

Buzzing to see how neil kicks on this season as such a fan of the lad. Tbf i reckon most of the boys will kick on

Neil quite often halts his forward runs at the edge of the box looking for a square ball or pull back. I dont mind that though as it is often a good position to be in. Just he needs to stop the shooting, or get some practice in. More importantly he gives himself a chance to recover if it is turned over. Agree about Neils finishing mind, not his strong point at all. To my eye Rigg looks a much more instinctive player, wheras Neil is much more of a play the situation type. By that I mean he is always thinking 2 or 3 plays forward, directing players. Rigg is off the cuff at this stage. Daft comparison but he has a bit of Gazza about him in that way. The run he makes is Gazza like, jogging forward and then that burst to get beyond the back line. Hell of a ball from Ba mind, makes the finish much easier than it might have been.

 

[Comfy]

I think we all realise players need to be sold and personally think gooch is one of these, he’s served the club well and is well liked but we have Hume, Huggins and onien all better options in the position that gooch plays. I like him but we have to do business in and out and getting a good price for him will help us more I feel

 

[Smug in Boots]

I dont think comparing whether Neil would make the run and score the goal is the right comparison. Neil is the pivot in front of the back 4, and the principle holding midfielder. Rigg plays much higher and has a greater sense of attacking freedom in his play. A better comparison would be with Pritchard, or Embleton, or even Amad from a positional perspective. I regard Neil as just about the best deep lying midfielder in the division, and Rigg looks the best young player I have seen come through for a long long time, maybe ever. Lucky to have them both and will enjoy watching them both this season.

Yeah that's all about right but it was just an example, I could've used Embleton and I think the same would apply imo. Looking back at my post I did say 'the likes of Neil' meaning our current midfield.

I wouldn't class Amad with any of them tbh, in my mind he's an attacker, not a midfield player.

 

[FellTop]

Objectively I’d like to keep Gooch as well.

But I’d be keen to know who people think we should ship out instead. Assuming we don’t want a 30 man squad

It is a good question. Oddly I dont want to ship anybody out. They are all good players. If I was in Mowbrays shoes I would probably let Stewart go if someone wants him, just for the saga being over. I love Pritch but he may be dispensable at this point. Maybe Anderson goes on loan as well. Tough question indeed mate.

 

[123Daveyboy]

Id prefer that we keep gooch this season, he doesnt start but is a valuable squad player. He can play rb or lb and we have question marks with players in those players in:
Huggins
Alese
Cirkin
All fitness related as all are quality (or in huggins case the potential to be quality) so gooch will be needed

We will out grow him, and probably soon but i think hes a key squad player who still has a part to play this season

He annoys the hell out of me, quality one week then crap for a few games but hes a huge squad player for us

 

[ISOE II]

Phillips was a out n out striker, Rigg from what I've seen is a attacking midfielder who likes to get on the ball and make those bursting runs forward

Yep. Although Phillips did drop deep to pick up the ball. He wasn’t always in or around Quinn. Take his strike against Chelsea or the one against Newcastle in the rain. I’ll be more specific. What I see in Rigg is an ability to be in the right place at the right time - like Philips - his movement against SS to then be in the centre was very Phillips like as was the way he scored his goal. I’ve seen 3 cameos and he’s netted 3 times albeit the Fulham goal was disallowed. He just reminds me of him.

 

[123Daveyboy]

Id prefer that we keep gooch this season, he doesnt start but is a valuable squad player. He can play rb or lb and we have question marks with players in those players in:
Huggins
Alese
Cirkin
All fitness related as all are quality (or in huggins case the potential to be quality) so gooch will be needed

We will out grow him, and probably soon but i think hes a key squad player who still has a part to play this season

He annoys the hell out of me, quality one week then crap for a few games but hes a huge squad player for us

I agree with that he is as likely to be either match winner or the opposite.

 

[Nozs’ Hat]

I think we all realise players need to be sold and personally think gooch is one of these, he’s served the club well and is well liked but we have Hume, Huggins and onien all better options in the position that gooch plays. I like him but we have to do business in and out and getting a good price for him will help us more I feel

I think Matete will leave, Taylor and Anderson to go out on loan, possibly Jewy too, depending on location. With a 20 day match squad, we can probably carry an overall bigger squad, but Pritch, Gooch, Evans and Stewart could all be at risk, if we bring in what the club deem to be better options.

 

[Gary Rowell world]

Id prefer that we keep gooch this season, he doesnt start but is a valuable squad player. He can play rb or lb and we have question marks with players in those players in:
Huggins
Alese
Cirkin
All fitness related as all are quality (or in huggins case the potential to be quality) so gooch will be needed

We will out grow him, and probably soon but i think hes a key squad player who still has a part to play this season

He annoys the hell out of me, quality one week then crap for a few games but hes a huge squad player for us

Rumours of spurs new coach invoking 6m buy back clause for cirkin so that would leave 1 full back less