Someone on the Pinkun has just said something interesting in relation to this. Apparently Dion Dublin has said in regard, to Lambert and Holt going to Villa and their pursuit of Wes, that when managers are under pressure they like to have players they know and can rely on. I think they call them 'comfort players' Whilst not against that I would not want us bringing in Hughtons 'comfort players' only for him to be sacked at the weekend. So surely the priority is not if Hughton feels comfortable with them but if they actually improve our squad.
True, he would be an upgrade on Fox and looks like a reasonably cheap and fairly reliable way of adding depth. It would also accord with Hughton's comments that we are not looking at anyone that has not already been on our radar. I do strongly think we still need another midfielder of, or close to, Fer's level (but not the same style as him) to walk straight into our starting line-up. There were a couple mentioned by Cove which I forget, but they would be perfect and sounded within budget. It's either that or Hughton goes for a drastic change in formation to get us out of this either/or dilemma of overrun-in-midfield/one-striker-with-no-support which appear to be our only two options: .......................Ruddy ...........Martin..Bennett..Bassong-Nguena Guttierez.........Johnson..............Olsson ...................Fer....Tettey .............RvW..............Hooper
i'm praying that we get a new centre back, with our best one out injured and bassong's form, we really need a rock at the back.
I tell you what, I've been intrigued by the 3-5-2 for a while, and I like that so much more just for the inclusion of Gutierrez instead of Whittaker!
This times a billion billion billion I've been ranting about it to the point of tedium since Lambert attempted it against Chelsea (and it failed because Whitbread got injured). Hughton isn't brave enough, but we have the squad to do it. Gutierrez has to start on Saturday IMO.
cameron mcgeehan joins conference leaders Luton Town on a one month loan. hope he gets some game time
Agreed! As to the midfielders Cove reccommended, Davy Propper of Vitesse was the one that stood out for me. 22 year old CAM who can also cover wide and deeper roles. Stats: 5 goals, 3 assists in 20 games so far this season, an astronomical rise on 2 goals in 33 games last season. Career stats of 13 goals and 11 assists in 126 games. Transfermarkt value him at £650,000, and he's out of contract this summer. Then there's this video: [video=youtube;nmweVpX4ev0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmweVpX4ev0[/video] His control and footwork are stunning to begin with. Then there's his range of passing and vision, and the quality of his shooting from seemingly anywhere. He's also shown to put the occasional tackle in too, which makes me think he could rival Howson in the 4-3-3 and maintain the fluidity. He'll fit in nicely with the rest of our Dutch contingent, and no doubt already speaks English well enough. I know Vitesse have got some money behind them now, but I still can't see him costing more than £4m due to his contract situation.
Some slightly bad news. If Gutierrez scores we won't see the Spiderman mask. Apparently it used to get him booked, so he's stopped it.
reading a few reading fans comments, guthrie is not that highly rated, but it's a minority of comments. he's got a stupid mohican too!
He also missed Reading's last game through injury, can't find any details of how long a lay-off it is. He can't be that bad if he's played nearly every game this season for them.
Skybet Brazil (of all places) reckon Reading would want £1-2m. For a player to add depth to the squad that's not too bad, but I still think we need an impressive midfield signing. I don't think Guthrie is as good as some of the players we've already got. Seeing as Hughton reckons we're only interested in players we/he knows, is it time to go through the squads of Spurs, Birmingham and Newcastle in the relevant years and pick out who might be on his radar?
I want Hoolahan and Hooper at the weekend. No Elmander and no RVW (unless we have to right at the death)
Like DH, I like Davy Pröpper, but I doubt we will see him, or Maher either unfortunately. Not overly enthused about Guthrie, but if CH and the scouts rate him, i'll wait and see.
I think Guthrie makes sense as a slight improvement on Fox, which is good in that it gets more of our squad closer to PL standard and more likely be used, but isn't going to dramatically change our fortunes this season. If he cost £1m and we recouped half of that selling Fox, it's not too bad business. Would love to see Pröpper, or someone who plays like him, join us in this window and really feel it could make a difference. I was trying to think of players that Hughton 'knows' who could still be brought in. Presumably he means a player he's worked with before. 07/08 Spurs squad (last one CH worked with) includes Younes Kaboul, Chris Gunter. 08/09 Newcs squad: Ryan Taylor, Steven Taylor, Joey Barton , Danny Guthrie 11/12 Brum: Liam Ridgewell, Scott Dann Anyone there take anyone's fancy?
Joey Barton! I know he can be an idiot, but isn't that bad. I also wonder if QPR would of struggled so much if they had him last season. I know he wouldn't be popular, but may bring some drive and passion?
