Huddersfield have agreed with Leicester to extend Beckfords loan deal till the end of the season. Had Leicester sold Beckford to us in January, Grayson was rumoured to be after West Brom striker Chris Woods, which is also a target now for Leicester. Meanwhile, Leeds have turned their attention to Saints striker Ricky Lambert. Lambert, 30, has scored 6 times in the Premier league this season, and whilst not disasterous, Saints are thought to be bringing in a big name striker in January. The other rumours doing the rounds are Darren Bent till the end of the season, or the permanent signing of Craig Macail Smith. Thoughts? Do we really need another striker? We have Becchio, McCormack (although not firing on all cylinders) , Diouff and Somma. What about if we managed to sign BOTH Jerome Thomas down one wing and Max Gradel down the other? If another club were to offer us the same money for Peltier that we bought him for,who else thinks we should let him go, and buy a quality left back? Even if we make a small loss? Why not ask Grayson if he is still interested? Warnock has come out today and said "I don`t think we`ll lose anybody we want to keep. I can guarantee that while I`m in charge and they`re in charge there`ll be no key players leaving here - unless we want them to leave. "We need every good player. We want to look upwards, not downwards or sideways. It`s not just Becchio. If I was a Premier League manager I`d be looking at three or four of my players. If anyone calls then I`ll answer my phone but I know what I`ll say and I don`t think the new owners will mind me saying it. No-one will leave unless we want them to." Who else is starting to feel a bit of confidence?
I'd love Mckail Smith, Gradel, Thomas and Tate permanent and Tongue until end of season then get on a free. Definatly need a left back aswel
I imagine Mackail-Smith would cost a lot considering he plays for a rival club for one of the playoff spots, he's got 2.5 years left on his deal (i believe). Very good player, but probably not value for money. Personally i'd be happy with the striking options we have available at the moment, although maybe Neil is worried Somma may not be reliable fitness wise, and possibly Diouf doesn't contribute enough goals and based on what i witnessed Saturday he dropped very deep at times to receive a short pass from the defence to begin our attacks. If by some miracle we did get both Thomas and Gradel, i assume we would be changing back to the formation that served us so well in our first season back in the Championship with Becchio the lone striker. I also think we need options at the back so would keep Peltier, but certainly never play him at LB again. White and Drury should compete for the LB slot, Peltier and Byram for RB (which also gives Warnock flexibility to play Byram in a more advanced role, like the 2nd half Saturday), and at CB we have 3 decent options if we can make Tate a permanent signing.
I think if we're going to play the formation with the two wide players that we did in 10/11, we'd need an attacking central midfielder screaming down the middle like Howson did. While Howson was a bit 1 dimensional and only really thrived in the attacking centre mid role, I don't think we have anyone who can steam down the middle like he did.
Tate, Thomas, Hall and Tonge on permanents, plus a creative playmaker, a pacy forward and a left back, and then with Austin coming back and McCormack due to hit some form at some point I think everything would be looking fine and dandy! Gradel would be amazing but I doubt it'd happen. Also want to see us shift some of the crap, so sell Rachubka, Kisnorbo, Pugh and Varney. I would say White as well if it wasn't through fear of being contentious...
Yeah that's the issue and while you could advocate playing someone like Diouf or McCormack behind Becchio in an attacking midfield role, it would be too attack-minded in my view as at least Howson had an appreciation of what it's like to play in a standard central midfield role and got back when required to put a tackle in.
The closest we have to that kind of player is Austin. I've been surprised by how pacey he is and how skilled on the ball he is. I genuinely think he's our best player and hope he will be there with us all the way to the top. He's so strong in defence, and just ploughs forward with little resistance. We've missed him, he'd have sorted that Hughes out at Derby and provided us with more strength down the middle, which is where they seemed to want to play all the game.
Guys, I think you're missing out a couple of others for the AM role. Green? He's actually been ghosting into the box & scoring already! Byram? You might say he's a bit young for the role, but then so was Howson! I think he's got all the tools to do it & took his goal in such a cool & collected fashion. Btw, another opportunity for me to say that Byram is the closest thing I've ever seen to Paul Madeley in a Whites shirt. I cannot possibly give him a more appreciative accolade.
Why not try Byram in and advanced role similar to Wiltshire at Arsenal we will see how good he is then
He's probably benefited from the more modern approach to football coaching, where kids aren't given a defined position until as late as possible.
Byram is doing brilliant as he is, right back or right midfield. Let him develop there, get Austin back, we have Tonge and Green and Norris too. Things are looking good. Happy Christmas everyone - better go peel some sprouts
Possibly, but I really like him down the right hand side - he's got great energy, he's up and down the flank, helps Byram out defensively (good as he is, he's still only young so it must be good for him to have a midfielder in front of him willing to help him out) and gets up and is always good for a goal!
