I’m surprised there isn’t a video because the accusations/rumours are definitely true I couldn’t give a **** what players get upto if they’re performing consistently but he’s just consistently looking overweight and that’s it
I agree with some but not all of that. Not sure we were ever that interested in Chambers. Tan said it was basically Villa offered us him and we said no we've got no headroom, and that was that. And I don't think that the absence of an extra defender has been an issue since January at all, so I'd much rather have Carvalho and Zaroury if that was ever the question. Some of the 2022 recruitment was good in terms of quality, but perhaps still wasteful on the whole. Seri is a great player, but I wonder whether Rosenior would've preferred to have signed say Max Bird in that role for maybe half the wage, and to have spent some of that saved on another area of the pitch. We talk about how many number 10s we have, but it's the ones he's signed that play the most. Tufan and Traore are supposedly on big contracts, not playing as much as you'd hope your top earners would, and I have a feeling Rosenior wouldn't have signed either of those either. That's a lot of guesswork on my part, but it's a fact that several players who are believed to be on big contracts predate Rosenior, and I think it's worth considering how much this affects the shape of the squad we have currently in a way that he might wish it didn't.
There was definitely a lot of money wasted in 2022. Christie is definitely a high earner and he's barely kicked a ball this season and Woods was meant to be on a packet too when he was at Birmingham and he's still got another year left. Come the summer, nothing would really surprise me, I could see Tufan moving on, expecting McLoughlin to leave as well so it's going to be a massive rebuild (again).
Yeah maybe not Chambers specifically, but as an example. Similar case could be made for that CDM we didn't turn down in Shota's summer recruitment because he was too expensive, but then we signed Sinik for a hefty fee and wage in a position where we already had (at the time) strong performing options in Longman, Ally, brought in Pelkas, and had Tetteh and Oscar and then also brought in Vale and Salah to supposedly supplement the attacking options. Hindsight of course says those attacking options (outside of Oscar and arguably Tetteh) didn't produce much, but the fact we had such a scattergun approach to those roles but couldn't justify a hefty wage for a CDM is a hallmark of our recruitment under Acun. For example this summer it'd surely be better to stump up the cash for Delap as a singular striker coming in (supplemented of course by another promising loan and a cheaper back up) than to buy 3-4 options at the expense of other worthwhile positions.
McLoughlin as well? Are we just getting rid of everyone? Greaves will be gone, we won’t bring back any of the loanees bar maybe Giles. Everyone out of contract will go I imagine that’s 9/10 bare minimum.
I'm surprised how 50/50 people are on Giles coming back. It's all but guaranteed. The only reason it was a loan not a permanent was to manage the FFP spend into next season rather than this. The only way I could see him not being here was if he suffered a serious injury.
I can't imagine Macca will be happy not playing, and I don't think he's good enough for where we want to be but he can definitely go and play regularly for some else in the Championship
I'd imagine Ingram and McLoughlin would both be sold for semi-reasonable fees, as both are good enough for the Championship but not good enough for the level we're aspiring to.
We need at least some continuity and McLoughlin is probably the best 3rd choice centre back in the division.
If we're selling Greaves and replacing him with (for example) Chambers, how does having McLoughlin on the bench most weeks affect that?
Would definitely be trying to get Oliver Norwood off of Sheff United in summer. Been there a while now type of experience we need to make a genuine impact in the squad. Not a big midfielder but a ball winner and ball player. A type of player we don’t have
Very clued up on the system to just slot in, as he did at the weekend, (albeit he does play a big part in us playing at a much slower pace).
That's a stretch and then some. Norwich have got a number of proper centre backs, Ipswich have Tuanzebe as 3rd CB, WBA have got Pieters/ Ajayi (he's a bit error prone) and that's without mentioning the parachute clubs
We have a 4m option. It's up to him to justify 4m between now and the end of the season. Realistically it probably is 50/50 at the moment. Unless it's an obligation, not an option.
You seriously think it's 50/50? He's been one of our best performers and alongside Omur a clear win out of the January window. He's more than justified it.
What do his stats say... I can't remember him getting in a cross that has led to a goal, in fact i'm struggling to think of a cross that has led to a proper chance.. and attacking was supposed to be his strong point.. no doubt there will be one that has passed me by, but as we dont score often...
Didn’t he provide the cross for Ohio’s goal but other than that he’s been pretty underwhelming in terms of his crossing, very rarely clears the first man.
We've had no one for him to hit, so he rarely puts any in. According to the stats Giles had three crosses against Stoke with 3 hitting a City target. Can't really be bothered looking game by game. He also got the assist for Fabio against WBA.
