As ever in football getting the balance is the important thing. I'm always a little concerned about loan signings as they are just a temporary fix and could leave us with a bigger problem in the summer when we need to find a permanent solution. On the other hand at this point in the season where players supposedly begin to tire we could do with great youth talents from "Big" teams to ensure that we stay in the league and reap the financial reward so we can invest more and more in the team therefore becoming more competative in the PL. Another concern about having to many loan signings is that we might loose the identity in our team and that "family ethos" we seem to have. On the subject of blooding our own youth players in the Premier League, I know there's the argument that they have no chance of becoming Premier League quality if we don't let them play but therein lies another balancing act. Would we rather give all our youth players experience in the PL and risk relegation or be competative in the league. The answer is getting this Academy up and running so we have a real professional youth setup, and we'll produce bigger numbers of youth players who will recieve better coaching with better facilities which'll improve our chances of loaning out our youth players to good Championship clubs or even other Premier League clubs.
They main thing I have gleaned from this is Ivor is a football person and Dai just has no idea! You could say we are all entitled to our own opinions BUT to suggest a striker who has probably played there all his life,scored 27 goals from there last year (all be it in a lesser division) and is our current top scorer should be playing in midfield is nonsensical. If he is 'not good enough to play for us as a striker where he has played all his football what makes you feel he IS good enough to play for us in midfield where he has very little if any experience? Is midfield somehow a lesser position?
Forgot to say, reading some comments suggesting that Danny Graham isn't good enough I'm flabbergasted to be honest. I think he's scored 8 goals so far, which as pointed out is more than a 50m striker in the Premier League has managed. With the oppurtunities that he's had, he's shown that he's a good finisher and he works his socks off to hold up the ball and find positions. Before the season started I would have taken 10 goals from him this season and he's well on track to score over 10 goals (touch wood). It's pretty moronic to suggest he's not up to the job.
Agree, his work rate and positional sense is one of the best in the Premier league, if Sky still offered the Player-CAM function they did a few years ago I'd love to watch him close up for a full 90 minutes without the ball! The number of times he makes a fantastic run in behind or off the shoulder of a defender only for Scotty or Nathan to put their head back down and delay the cross is ridiculous, but he doesn't let his frustration get the better of him and keeps making those runs. To be honest the times when he has missed sitters has probably been due to the fact that he has worked so hard that his legs have gone.... Also, if the rest of the team start to have a go from distance, he'll be first to the rebounds and barring injury, I reckon he'll get to 15 goals this year, which is more than ample in his first year at the top level.
Everybody misses sitters , it seems to come to the forefront when trying to prove a personal point of view . As far as I'm concerned Graham's transfer to us was as important as Vorm 's & we all know how important Vorm's was . These two prove the importance of buying IMO . If they stay we have a couple of great players for years . If they go we'll make money or break even . Another thing about loans is usually the parent club wants guarantees of minutes played before loaning them out which can be detrimental to the way the club is run & can cause a manager to do things he didn't want to do . As long as silly money isn't being thrown out in a state of panic I prefer buys .
"To be honest the times when he has missed sitters has probably been due to the fact that he has worked so hard his legs have gone..." Not relevant in today's climate but it was something I always said about poor Pintado. Sousa worked this guy mercilessly and expected him to harry, chase, tackle, cover the midfield then be up front often without a hint of support. I was asked to do this, badly as it turned out, at LOW level (years ago) and it's soul destroying. Chest heaving, lungs burning, legs trembling, is not the best state to be in when a chance presents itself and you are the lone striker against a couple of defensive gorillas. That Graham has succeeded as well as he has thus far, is to his huge credit. As NorfolkSwan says, despite the fact that all too often his runs aren't spotted (or totally ignored) he still keeps making them. And he drops deep in defence to help deal with set pieces. For me, he is a totally honest and talented footballer who is getting better. Let's hope that Josh Mac can find those penetrative passes that will reward his runs, as opposed to our present midfields's habit of first looking for a sideways or backward pass. Now I'm going to find a crash helmet and bullet proof vest in anticipation of Dragon's response to my comment about Pintado.
Don't worry Ivor you can back up your comment about Pintado with facts. He was worth 7 million - FACT!
Give yourselves a 'hug'. It has been interesting reading all your views on the 'loan' situation. Let us hope that Brendan really does know what he's doing, and that whoever comes in live up to all our expectations. For some, I really hope DG can get some decent ball, and for Dai, that he gets a can't miss 'pair of boots' for the New Year. 18 games to go, I reckon we need 18 points, that's err .......? points per game (don't do sums at my age). So as we have 9 home games, but have a tough finish to the season - let's get the wins in early eh? Perhaps we can then get the academy going, put more seats in the ground (if cost effective as opposed to expanding the ground), and of course - keeping a good squad for the 2012/13 season.
I dont know whether some of you went to school or not and cannot understand my point of view that many others can sitting in he stands because its what we are talking about........Point one now get this fellows....we love Danny but what we have noticed He has missed so many chances now that its getting to the point that we have dropped points.....point 2, you still listening........whenever we have dropped danny we have scored goals early....point 3 and my final point is we think danny is wasted up front on his own and is better suited with a partner or playing behind a more of a poaching striker. so guys i know some know what im saying but some just chose to not understand and say that i dont rate danny which is way wrong as i rate him very highly but not as a loan striker where he struggles.....and by the look of it Brendan is looking for a striker that is good on his own as we speak......
Most of us are a little uncomfortable with loans as it goes against our philosophy of being part of our 'Swans family' - that's the type of Club we are. But let's face it they can do a job. Look at Sturridge at Bolton last season. Trouble is when they leave you must have a backup plan. Again - look what happened when Sturridge left Bolton! As ivor says, hence Situ. Whether we like it or not loans are part of modern football and can work to a team's advantage if done properly. As for the DG debate, I cannot believe what I'm reading from some posters. Superswan99: "(he) is no good at this level on his own as the stats say". What utter tosh. If you wanted a striker who gets anywhere near double figures half way through the season it would cost at least 3 times the £3.5M we paid for him. He's been a bargain and is visibly improving every game. If you know anything about football, you can see his movement is fantastic. I'll be surprised if he doesn't get 15 by the end of the season and then be worth well over £8M. My only other beef with some of you lot is the Dobbie debate going on elsewhere! You really do my head in.
@ Dai I'm glad you think highly of DG but do you think any other striker isn't going to miss a few chances as well? He's scored 8 or so goals which have gained us points which we wouldn't have had if he hadn't. So do we chastise him for missing a few chances which may or not have gotten us a few more points or are we grateful for what we've got? To me it draws parallels with Boro sacking McClaren wanting more and not being grateful for what they already had. With regards to the second striker thing, I agree and I think Buck might agree as well. W do have a MF usually or a striker in Moore or twice Dobbie who plays in an advanced MF position just behind him and I think that can work well. Gerrard has done it for Liverpool and reaped rewards. I think Dobbie would do the best job given a run in the team but it seems as though we're trying send him packing to Brizzle.
You speaketh too soon Dragon regarding Danny Graham. I predict he's gonna score 2 at Barnsley, one will be a 30 yard rocket
Dai you rate his so highly that you said 'he's not good enough' on an earlier post. I can understand you not knowing much about football but please stick you your guns. You also said you would play DG in midfield. Bewildering!
I kind of see where Dai is coming from regarding Graham's striking role...he is doing brilliantly on his own but I think he could perhaps do even BETTER if he had a strike partner. His movement is excellent and I can imagine that if he only had one CB to beat rather than two then arguable he could bag more goals. Then again he could do better if the service improves...which a signing like McEachran and Sigurdsson will hopefully provide
Undoubtedly he would score more with a partner but the whole we play is about flooding the midfield and keeping the ball. Playing with 2 up front would more than likely get us more goals but at why cost? Lower possession and conceding a lot more goals?
Exactly that is the problem. Only way we could keep shape and have two strikers on is having Graham play a bit deeper as his work rate and shifts that he puts in defensively could do the job in theory..but given he has never played there before practically it isn't really an option. As i said i hope the new signing provide the improved service that we need.
