One answer only. Mine has to be a goalscorer. Our highest goalscorer is 4 and that's from Jackson who many want replaced, I would be surprised if any other team in the divisions highest goal scorer was 4 after 20 games.
A central and left sided midfielder are essential in the window.I think our strikers are good enough,we just need more creativity in midfield.
I agree. LM and CM are priorities. If we sell Stephens then a second CM too. Not totally convinced our strikers are good enough, but to buy one whom we could be reasonably confident would do better would cost 5 million, money we don't have. Almost every match we drop points it is because the midfield is not supplying enough quality ball to the forwards. Between the 5 of them we should be able to scrape up enough goals if the service is there. In fact if we had enough good midfielders I would play 4-5-1 with Kermorgant or Hulse or Fuller sharing the striker spot depending on fitness and form. That means one of our three substitute options would be "pre-booked" each match, but as CP is reluctant to use them anyway we wouldn't lose much. How about this for a midfield: Wilson, Dean Cox, Hollands, Wordsworth, George Boyd? (Assuming we sell Stephens and Hollands gets his act together).
Dean Cox would be my choice as well, eddie, then we really would have someone who was only five foot three... Convinced Stephens will go, and if we can even get close to Villa's final bid in the last window, IMO we should bite their hand off. I also believe Green will go, to Swindon. The reluctance to play Harriott defeats me, surely he would provide the dynamism the midfield needs?
I think this is a case of "the grass is always greener''. I remember at the beginning of last season when Euell was training with us to regain fitness, we all said how wonderful it would be if he signed for us, but of course we couldn't possibly afford him. How did that turn out? Then we were agonising over how much we should pay for Danny Green to supply the bullets for Benson. How did that turn out? Recently from the posts on here you would think we only had to sign Frimpong to win the European Cup. How is that turning out? I don't doubt he is naturally gifted, but it is becoming increasingly clear he is only here to gradually build up fitness, and we will be lucky if we see him on full throttle before he leaves, and leaves us with the same defensive midfielder hole to fill. I have just been looking at a list of 650 former players and it reminded me of all the brilliant juniors we have had who couldn't make the step up. Now we are comfortably midfield with little prospect of promotion or relegation, it wouldn't hurt to at least try Harriott in a couple of substitute cameos and see how it goes, but don't put too much on his shoulders at 18.
Who we sign depends whether or not we wish to make a surge for the play-off's or are just happy to finish mid-table this season I guess. Personally I'd like to see: In: -A CM to fill the Frimpong sized gap we'll have -A decent left-mid Out: -Kerkar -Evina (loan) -Wagstaff (loan) -Pope (loan to a League Two side) -Azeez (loan)
They had a bad weekend last week: http://www.cafc.co.uk/news/article/20121211-loan-watch-537699.aspx Today Swindon and Hollands won away, Wimbledon and Mambo lost at home, Newport and Smith had a day off. Leon Clarke is back with us and will score a hat-trick against the Massive Club.
No chance of CP letting Kerkar go, when he has been playing him a lot and is on a recent contract, but keeping Wagstaff who cannot even make the bench, especially as Kerkar is our only senior OL whereas Wagstaff is at the back of a long queue to play OR. Neither are Championship standard but at least Kerkar fills a need as cover. Thinking about Kerkar, I think his problem is not that he is in the wrong division, but in the wrong country. I could imagine he would do quite well in the Dutch or Danish First Divisions where it is slower and not so physical. No-one is going to pay a fee for him and we would have to pay up his contract, so not much gained by getting rid of him.
I know CP wouldn't get rid of Kerkar, hence why I said its what I'd like to see. Similarly with the Wagstaff situation - I think he could become a great player if he can just find his correct position - he's not confident enough to go past the full-back and can't cross, thus not a winger, he can score but wanders around too much when played up front. Personally I feel if he can play just behind the striker he'd do well to scare opposition defenses/drag defenders out of position, but the team needs to play the right style to do that. If we were to sell him, it would probably be to a League One team, and I'd hate to see him lost to the game. I think you're right about Kerkar though, he'd do well in league such as the Dutch (or even back in France). Though judging by his tweets he'd clearly rather be in Scotland....
If we're going to sign any strikers we need to off-load one or two. I'd like to see BWP given a start but if you look at who we have Haynes-injury prone Fuller- " Kermit- not yet fit Hulse- on loan and still he doesn't get a game he can't have a future here. Listening to the commentary it didn't sound as though Kermit is fit, so he shouldn't be playing, cult figure or not. Get fit first, then match fit.
I'd be surprised if there was any major transfer activity in January. The object this season is consolidation in the Championship which we seem to be achieving. Hopefully more funds will be made available in the summer to make a push for promotion, but in the meantime I'd like to see one or two of our youngsters involved, from the bench to start with. I'm sure it wouldn't be a disaster to give Pope a game, after all Hamer is our only goalie with first-team experience(Sullivan has disappeared from the radar). The same applies to Harriott whose contract runs out at the end of the season, so what's the harm in having a look at him? The Cup is the ideal opportunity. Fox and Jordan have improved a lot in the last year and they could feature at some point in the Cup.
I saw george boyd play against us and thought he was class, reminded me a bit of Samaras so would love to get him + i think he was transfer listed
Only three still out on loan. Clarke, Wagstaff and Azeez all back with us. http://www.cafc.co.uk/news/article/20121217-loan-watch-548738.aspx
Personally, i think it is about time the board showed us what they are going for come the end of the season. If staying up is our ambition, then selling Stephens for a healthy sum and using it to strengthen the midfield as a whole is about all we need. We need a midfielder who is assured on the ball, not scared or jumpy with it (Stephens always seems to panic when receiving the ball deep and loses the ball too often as a result). Frimpong is that kind of player, and some of you may laugh but i genuinely could see him staying on a permanent deal if the board decide to go for it. Jackson needs to be in the centre, not out wide, so a left midfielder is also a must. Several players could be brought in very cheaply, or on loan with a view to a permanent deal which i would be happy with. If a push for the play-offs is the boards ambition then we need to see all of the above plus a bit more. For a start, another central midfielder would be perfect, someone on the lines of a Claus Jensen. The strikers we have are more than capable but the style of football we play is predictable and one dimensional to say the least, a spark of creativeness in the heart of the team would mean the wingers we have could solely concentrate on sticking out wide giving us many options going forward. I love JJ and he still has a part to play, but sadly he lacks the pace and fitness levels to play that role himself. Personally, in my opinion we need to go for a play-off push. The team we have currently might not be winning every game but against the bigger tougher sides we have done very well and should have taken maximum points of teams like Blackburn, Birmingham and Leeds. Lets see what happens, in Powelly we trust
If I remember right Slater talked about a 3-year plan to get into the premier league, so on that basis things are going quite smoothly. The thought of promotion actually scares the bejasus out of me, this season at any rate. Outside of our defense, how many of our squad would you fancy in the premier League? IMO possibly Wilson, Stephens and.....and.....er....that's it. Stephens is the only midfielder we have who has the ability to make room for himself on the ball, so I'm not too keen to see him go, and if there is someone of Claus Jensen's ability available then he will cost more than we are prepared to pay. If there is to be an injection of cash into the club this season then maybe we can have a promotion push next season, but otherwise our best bet may be when some of our excellent youngsters mature in a couple of years time.
