I doubt O'Nien will ever play full back again in his career. He's first choice centre back and won't be moved to a position that he last properly played 4 years ago unless we're down to the bare bones. We need another full back for certain in my opinion.
Can't get my head around that one personally, he is turning out to be one of the more disappointing signings given the reputation he came with.
OTR lad who gets stuff now and then mentioned Monday or Tuesday for Simic. Found this anyway and all the gossip on one page. Scroll down to interested clubs and they have failed with bids for Simic .Zagreb , Udinese and Bochum . Deals £4-6M ? Sounds about right when there's no new contract agreed with his club. Roko Simic Transfer from Red Bull Salzburg to Sunderland - TransferFeed
every chance he comes good mind, massive injury to come back from mentally and physically shame it hasn’t happened for him as of yet
Ive noticed that our fullbacks need to drop into CB at times, or at least have that awareness to drop into cb Hume n crikin are perfect for that, pembele is shocking at that defensive awareness so not surprised that johnson is ahead of him
Spot on This is exactly what i would be doing Ive heard we are looking at a couple CMs, 1 i know can play CDM n might be possible with the money we got from Clarke Still wouldnt be surprised if Ekwah or Adil move on
With regards to the hypothetical full back position we could always revert to a back three if required, using our midfield strength to advantage. Despite recent evidence I have not given up entirely on Ba and Pembele who look more than useful to play wing back. If anyone can make happen Reggie can. OaU
If a good lian deal or a loan deal without an option to recall, id have Bennett in the squad also....im my mind fantastic opportunity for Mundle this afternoon, think he will be right up for it....maybe so much he might be burnt out by 60 mins, if were still needing goals id have the very direct paced Bennett straight on & give him the opportunity to prove he has a place as an impact sub.....the pace they both have is a nightmare for a fullback as now way anyone could cope with the pair for 90 mins
Reading one of the interviews the fan sites do with a Croatian lad re Šimić and I am desperate to see the lad come in. Not gonna say he sound like exactly what we need, he sounds like exactly what any club needs potentially. The lads glowing description sounded like a Stewart/Isak hybrid. Hate to compare to a Mag, but we all admit he’s a sensational forward and the description put me in mind of him. What you saying scout? Was the touch, back to goal, carry ball parts.
I've often thought with pembele could we do a what spurs did with bale and push him further forward and turn him into a winger? He looks a different player in the final third.
Isak is world class tbf, probably the best striker in the league bar Haaland (and maybe Watkins) in my view.
Going into the summer cdm was my priority after the striker but RLB looks to want a Neil/Ekwah type as the holder so I’m more accepting we don’t look for someone there now. Full back though I think is really important. Pivotal for how we play and for the success of Roberts. Moving a centre back there will hinder us imo, shame about Huggins would have been perfect competition for the full backs.
He is phenomenal mate, we will all admit that, and so the thought of this kid being anything like that is pretty exciting. Clearly not at that level yet but the description puts that picture in my head.
Hes got a bit of everything tbh, i watched some more of his highlights when we were linked with him n was very impressed. He has a lovely touch, moves the ball quickly n his link up play was good - he did force a few forward passes that werent on but i liked that he tried to play forward. He does snatch at chances, not strikinh it cleanly but Stewart was exactly the same. He gets himself into good goal scoring positions but he wasnt found by teammates. In a game against LASK he could have had 3 tap ins / 1on1s if teammates had passed it to him Im really excited by this lad so hope it comes off
Having given it a lot of thought i think selling Clarke was the best result for both parties. 1. It's clear that Jack wanted to play in the PL and we allowed him to leave. That sends a great message to young up and coming players 2. As far as i'm aware the only other club that showed an interest was Leeds (the club he supports) and i'm glad we didn't sell to a rival 3. It removes any chance of him taking the hump, underprtformng and siing his value drop 4. It gives Mundle and others more game time which allows us to develop 5. It provides funds to incrementally improve the squad Am i disappointed that he's leaving? yes and no. He's a talented player and can win a game on his own however at times he appears a bit selfish and doesn't see the pass to a player in a better position. Other teams also know that if they shut Clarke down they shut us down. Just look at the difference from the season before when we had Ba and Clarke and the opposition couldn't shut down both of them
At Cardiff, and again on Sunday, it actually made me laugh out loud the amount of times we left opposition players on the ground or spinning like tops. Some do it with pace but the likes of Neil, Rigg and Jobe use skill to suddenly find space around them ... ... it reminds me of Porterfield who be surrounded, you'd blink and find he'd slipped his markers and was looking up to find a pass. In fact, that's unfair, he usually knew where the pass was before he received the ball. We saw that on Sunday with the fourth goal. Rigg knew Clarke would already be running so, when he took the ball out of the sky, with his right, he already knew where he'd send it with his left. That's all to be expected though, it's what Clarke does and Rigg could do that with his eyes closed. What was really pleasing is that Mayenda knew what would happen. The game is really easy if you don't complicate it and think slightly quicker than the opposition ... ... Bill Shankly said that, or summat close
See I'm now going to be gutted if a player I hadn't heard about 2 days ago doesn't join.... He sounds perfect for us
