Summer window

Dont think cirkin will leave, he left to play regular football and hes getting it - he doesnt get that at spurs

Plus if he did go we would havr to replace him with a natural LB

 

I don’t agree with you, Gooch is a decent player, he may not be first choice in any position but he can cover many positions.

I doubt Gooch or O’Nien will hold down a place ahead of any of our specialist centre backs, full backs, wingers or midfield players but football isn’t just about the best starting 11, it’s about having a balanced squad with readily available cover for all eventualities.

We would have been up **** creek last season but for players like Gooch and O’Nien covering the injuries and suspensions we had.

 

That'll will get them going

 

Not at all. We’ve plenty of players who somewhere in between.

But if you watch him he’s just piss poor both defensively, because he’s not a full back so you can’t blame him for that, and going forward - he’s decision making in the final third is shocking at times. Lost count of how many times he could put the ball into the box and it gets wasted then he runs back and kicks someone to give a free kick away.

As I’ve said nice lad to have in the dressing room but if we’re serious then we need to stop accepting below par because someone’s a hard worker. He’s genuinely the one player I hate seeing on the team sheet.

If we were playing Stoke next season and Gooch was marking Clarke we all know how would it go and which side of the pitch we’d be playing attacking on.

 

Just following on from my ramblings about Dan Neil. I can understand why people want an experiences defensive midfielder. It is really only the second half of last year Dan played there and you could see him developing game on game. I think he might end up as that modern day defensive midfielder, ala Rodri at Man City. He learned so much about cutting off passing lines last season, which is the big part of that role now. He was also good physically in a one on one I thought. His tackling stats were excellent. I also remember him smashing someone in ome game, turning round to bollock someone for not doing their job and shrugging he got a yellow. I cant wait to see him play another full season and see where he progresses to. 21 years old and 100 games. He could be an outstanding holding playmaker and it makes me salivate thinking about what Ekwah and Rigg and Bellingham may be allowed to do if Neil acts as an anchor. Man we have some young players on our hands.

 

Gooch always does a good reliable job wherever he's asked to play (maybe not CB but there are limits), sometimes he makes a mistake, sometimes there's a moment of brilliance but he was reliable and versatile in league one and is no different in the championship.

 

FFP rules change between league 1 and the championship. Last year was our first year of the 3 year cycle.

The limits are quite strict, but theoretically we could spend £40 million this year in a stupid gamble to go up then if you miss it have a fire sale to recoup and get under the limits at the end of the 3 year cycle.

It would be suicidal to even consider it, but clubs have tried in the past and have failed miserably. I'm quite happy to keep the spending to sustainable levels

 

People forget he's one of the only players with premier League experience as well.

He's never going to set the world alight, but he's done a decent job in whatever league we've played in

 

He may not be first choice in any position, however he is second and third in about 3 positions, that's the sort of player you want on the bench

 

He’s absolutely not garbage like.

 

They can't just buy him back because they decide they want to

 

He's been called garbage for years and each new manager comes in, evaluates the squad and plays him in the starting eleven ...

... either they're all wrong or some of the supporters are.

 

I don't disagree with the sentiment at all, but by my reckoning we have a 27 man squad at present and that doesn't include young Rigg, Watson or Johnson.

We're also on a tight wage budget and Gooch will be one of the higher earners. I think there's a need to be ruthless and Matete, Gooch, Embleton, Pritchard and Stewart are the possible departures for me. It might come down to one or the other in some instances.

 

Might be wrong but I was under the impression that players under a certain age needn’t be named in the squad so you can have more. Not matchday squad obviously

 

Is that from Joseph Brown?

He’s not the best of sources, bless him.

 

Made up rumours, even if the they wanted him back, the player has to agree to it

 

Plus the fact he’s just signed a contract extension so he wants to be here for the time being. Can’t even see him going back there in the future.

 

I'm not talking about it from a registration perspective. I'm talking about it from a wages and opportunities perspective. You can't give 30 people playing time.

 

Not been funny, cirkin hasn't shown himself to be worth 6m. We can all see the potential in him, but until he's robust enough to get through a season, he'll not be commanding that sorta fee

 

To be fair to him 2 of them injuries have been when he has been brave enough to stick his head in and at least once taken out deliberately.