Can't see us doing business with Villa. I thought the summer debacle didn't end amicably between us and them? Imo it would be odd anyway, as he was underwhelming for us (yet we were reportedly trying to sign him permanently) and it looks like he's been even more underwhelming for Sheff Utd?
yea i agree outside the playing side, the barry thing was what started all the problems i also dont want us to sign him
Yeah, this is a bit of an issue with the Turkish league for us because there are some brilliant players, but the ones good enough to play in the Championship are currently out of our price range and we have to rely on favours from other owners/chairmen to get some of them in. We should have been in for Osayi-Samuel who was also available on a free, would have provided cover all along the right hand side but instead he went to Birmingham. Tufan is an obvious example of somebody from those leagues that made a difference, same with Joao Pedro and there's a case to be made for Pelkas, Lincoln, Destan and Omur, the latter perhaps came with big expectation and did look half decent but wasn't consistently involved in the squad. There have been flops of course, Sinik famously didn't manage to get off the physio table, Traore was meh and spent the first season here injured, Tetteh was the Ghanian version of Joseph but with less goals and Akintola just hasn't coped with the Championship. We also have to remember though that outside of Sinik, Omur and Tufan, we didn't pay a fee to take Pelkas, Lincoln, Akintola, Destan, Pedro or Traore outside of whatever wage contribution we offered (which knowing Acun was probably unfair to the other club and beneficial to us). So for our money we've had one good, one meh and one poor signing, with the poorest being the most expensive.
Am I the only one who thinks we'll struggle to get any new signings in January with our transfer restrictions. Summer is hard enough with restrictions but January will be much harder. I imagine the amount of players out of contract is very limited and most loans especially in January will want a fee. I think it will be extremely hard for us to bring in new players especially any that are better than what we've already got
Laalaoui isn't a DM though, he's more in the mould of Slater/Puerta. Zambrano I'm not sure suits the sitting deep role either. I don't necessarily think the personnel are the core issue at the moment, it's more the tactics we're playing. Our main philosophy (when everybody is fully fit) seems to be "get the ball to the wings and whip it in for McBurnie". Without Oli, we rely more on balls over the top for Gelhardt to run onto because we don't have faith that Destan/Joseph will be there. Oli also does a lot of work dropping deep to start attacks off and then gets up the field, which help out the midfield if we're being swamped. Whatever we do, our midfield is often completely bypassed when we attack and when we are out of possession, the opposition attacks often come down the wing so the central midfield isn't directly involved. Outside of the mistakes we seem to keep making in the back line, most of the goals we concede seem to come from our full back positions, usually because Giles and Coyle have pushed on and left a gap, while the wingers aren't getting back to support them. What our midfielders need to do is press to choke the middle of the park so that the ball goes out wide, but we can double up on their wingers by having our fullbacks and wingers mark them. At the moment, our midfield is very static, so once the ball goes past them, they can't get back in time. They're reactionary as opposed to being proactive. Crooks for me is the weak link when he plays further forward - the fella can pass a ball great but when he tires, boy does he tire out quickly and becomes very sluggish. Slater has the energy and technique, but often rushes when a simple ball will do. Hadiziahmetovic can pass the ball brilliantly, but is too causal and used to being given more time. Gyabi seems ok when coming on as an impact sub but from the start he often looks lost. There isn't really anybody in the midfield who acts as that dominating force or focal point for everything. Seri came close to that most recently, a player that in both attack and defence dictated what our midfield would be doing. What we need is to repeat that - somebody who has experience, technique AND defence awareness but is also mobile enough to get on the ball when we need to drive on. And with an embargo in place, that's going to prove very difficult unless one of the current lot can take on that role. Slater seems the obvious choice, but it'll take a lot of conditioning to make it happen.
the last point sounds simple but its one of the hardest roles in football, and the top level ones at that role always stand out
With Palmer going, it's going to free up a spot in the squad. If we manage to offload Omur (assuming Sergej doesn't want to bring him back), then that's two spots and a decent wedge of wages we can spend on other areas of the squad. Emmanuel Dennis is available on a free transfer - a striker isn't the main priority, but with Oli only just coming back and now Gelhardt out too, goals are going to be a seriously difficult thing to come by so decent cover wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, even if it's on a short term deal until the end of the season. Dan Barlaser is available at Boro - can play in the #6 or the #8 role. Can't get in their team, would be a decent option on loan. Luke Mbete is also available for loan from Man City - a solid, young centre half with decent passing. If we had to dip in to Turkey's pool of divine randomness, Bartug Elmaz has just finished a loan at Maribor - he's apparently currently banned from playing in the Europa League for eight games and isn't in Fener's registered squad, but he's an upgrade on anything we currently have in our midfield and could help us instead, if he doesn't turn out to be a ****cunt.
Absolutely, but if you look at teams that have gone up from the Championship in recent seasons, they've all had one. Morsy at Ipswich, Leeds had Tanaka, Sunderland had O'Nien and Southampton had both Armstrong and Downes help them go up. When we flirted with the playoffs, we had a solid midfielder in Seri, backed up by the energy of Morton and it worked well. That team had a spine of Greaves, Seri/Morton, Delap running through it. That's the level of quality that gets you up to the top end of the league (which was only let down, in my opinion, by the quality of the goalkeeper). At the moment, you could argue we have Pandur, Hughes and McBurnie, with potentially Matazo being the missing piece (though don't want to put too much on him having been out for so long). But, Hughes looks like he's in the same spot Greaves was the season before Rosie, simple mistakes as the spotlight starts to pick him up and McBurnie has been out with injury. We've got the flair players out wide, we've got defensive cover, I think what we lack is that one midfielder to hold it all together. With a fully fit team and that final player, we'll do well. What I'd also like to know is given we've spent zero pounds this season, how will that lack of spending impact our FFP? I imagine it'll give us much more breathing room in Summer.
Dunno then, maybe Boro are recalling him in January? Was talking to one of my football team mates about us needing a CM and he said Barlaser would be available to loan in January, surely he would have known that? I'd forgotten he was there to be honest.
I think it'll depend on whether he's getting in Maribor's team or not. If he is, no reason to bring him in now if he's coming in Summer.
Maybe, maybe not. Will just depend on how much we've saved as to how narners he goes in Summer. I feel like if we manage a top half finish this season, then we've done incredibly well. Despite the recent "blip", I've been incredibly impressed with the manager and the team and even with Acun, I find myself a bit more amenable given that he's kept his mouth shut when in previous seasons he'd probably have been going out and telling everybody how we're getting promoted. We seem a lot more grounded this season, there isn't the hype there was when Rosie was here, perhaps because we can't make so many marquee signings due to the EFL watching over us. It's helped temper expectation and it's a sign of how well Sergej has done that people are disappointed to find us dropping out of the playoff places at Xmas. We're in no danger of relegation, we're troubling the top six and we're beating promoted teams. If we can sort this injury blight once and for all, things will be looking good. Which, in turn, also makes me suspicious that Acun has been so quiet for that reason, because that suggests what he was doing has forced him to keep his head down and not draw attention to anything. .
