Summer 2014 Transfer rumour thread - Part II

You may be surprised.

 

No, no and thrice no. Bale was at the top of his game and dragging a club forwards on his own. Luke is an 18 year old with bags of potential and just had his first full premier league season. Do you think Luke is worth 85m today?

 

True. I should have said "I was"

 

Not at all, it's just that posters were using Neymar as an example of a player worth such and such, and I thought Bale was a better example because a club actually paid £85M for him, his game originated from the same position [he's ex-Southampton academy, but that's... academic [sorry]] and both took or are taking the game by storm. One can only hope that Luke gets to be as good as Gareth.

Luke is worth however much Saints want him to be worth. If [I said IF] he leaves Saints in a few seasons, I'd expect him to be the costliest defender ever. Though I think he may well have moved into midfield by then. It's his natural progression, I feel.

 

He practically plays as a winger anyway. If he had anything like the end-product Bale does, he'd be just as valuable.

 

Ok, thought you were saying valued the same as Bale; I see your meaning now.

 

Nah, not yet. To me, he doesn't play like a winger really as he doesn't bomb on enough. I would say that in most games this season, I have come away wanting him to have pushed on further and the next part he needs to add to his game. Where I sit at St Mary's is in his slot when we attack the Northam and seem to spend the first half most games begging him to go that extra 20 yards with his starting position. If you take the Cardiff and Villa games as examples recently, then it may be that he has been told and is starting to do it more as he certainly did in those games; over the season though, not enough for my liking.

IF he had Bale's end product, yes I would agree he could be just as valuable.

 

Shaw's crossing is still his weakness. It has improved a hell of a lot as the season has gone on tho. It's one of the reason I want to see Targett given a game, his passing is much better and he is great from dead ball situations.

 

Fair enough. Was referring more to his starting position but I take your point about him being a bit hesitant to take on the full-back sometimes. I guess there's always the lingering thought in his head that he'll have to get back if he loses the ball. To be fair to him though, the Cardiff game is pretty good evidence that he should be checking back and recycling the ball; every time he made an attacking move it came to nothing. Hopefully he works on his final ball over the summer, if he can improve that he could be a real weapon next season.

 

His attacking play/end product is a long, LONG way behind Bale's. I don't think he's shown enough attacking-wise to convince me that his future is in midfield, while he's one of the best defensive fullbacks around.

 

I think Shaw's speed is one of the causes of the inaccuracy of his crossing. Several times I have seen him go past his full back and cross on the fly, only for the cross to miss anyone coming on to it. Part of the problem, fair enough, is that he is so quick that the others just can't keep up with him, but that isn't the whole story. Another issue is that he is very left-footed so if he gets to the byline and cuts in, he only has one option for a cross, as opposed to checking and crossing with his right foot. If you compare him with Rodriguez, who was getting into similar positions, or Lallana, when he goes down that wing, the number of chances he creates just isn't anywhere near enough. Something to work on over the summer. Those other England boys he'll be with can give him some tips.

 

If he does go to the world cup he should be studying Baines' every move very closely!

 

Absolutely agree. I'll praise him all day for his ability to drive past a player and keep the ball, but his end product is still disappointing. His crosses look good, they go into areas where you'd think they'd be dangerous. Problem is, there's no player there. Sometimes you have to look up instead of just clipping the ball across the face of the goal. How many assists does Luke have..?

Another point which I made earlier this week, but it's worth repeating as it is relevant is about the chances created against Villa. On 2-3 occasions, Luke drove down the left and crossed the ball just behind the onrushing striker, so that he had to check. Both Lambert and Lallana were criticised on MOTD for not scoring from those crosses, and I thought that was unfair. More precision and those chances would have been goals.

As to Targett, yeah I agree. He is coming along nicely. He may not have Luke's flair and speed, but he's more precise

 

Agree again. However, I was watching the Hull 4-1 [favourite matches..?] game last night and I noticed Luke kicking and flicking the ball with his right foot and well enough too. So it isn't that he very left-footed, it's just that he favours his left foot because it is so much better. He needs to be like Adam and keep practising his weaker foot.

 

Yes, that's the problem, he just doesn't trust his right foot enough, so he needs to work on it, preferably in a nice Brazilian training camp before he goes on to ping a few match-winning chances on to Rickie's head.

 

Indeed.

I thought you meant very left footed in the same sense as say... Fabrice Fernandes might be left footed, i.e. his right leg accidentally grew at the same time as his left, so that stopped him falling over.

 

Good to read that statement. Hopefully it reassures everyone, although I have a feeling it won't stop the rumours in the press!

The conversation has moved on a bit from press briefing but I found this article last year quite an interesting read on the topic:

http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/truth-behind-transfer-window-rumour-mill

 

Do I read that as you saying his crosses haven't been great because he crosses before people get there? I wasn't sure. If so, I disagree. Too many of his crosses hit the first defender, whether someone is in the box or not.

 

same as I said on Chilco's post. Villa apart, I don't think his crosses have been good enough over the season. Too many times he hits the first defender.

 

It's a problem with both full backs whether it's Clyne or Chambers at RB. Clyne should not be looking to cross from in front of the left back, he should look to drive down the line more often. It frustrates the hell out of me when he keeps checking back.