For the rest of this season without breaking the bank or worrying about the Premiership Who would you replace? For me I'd get Smithies back
Why would you have Smithies? Lumley has been brilliant. Not that we actually can sign anyone and even if we could we couldn’t afford him but someone who can put their foot on the ball in midfield like McGinn at Villa.
Since Grant Hall now looks to be a good replacement for the L team. The DCM which Scowen did not immediately step up into when Cameron went injured looks better by the game. BOS can replace Pavel attack wise but not defensively Wells Hemed and Oteh look okay. The only player I'm not sure about is Hamalalian for Bidwell. So an understudy left back ..no idea who BUT I would say I do not think we need anyone....I don't mean from that that our replacement are just as good...I don't, but buying someone in and replacing an existing player and getting the newbie up to speed and commitment is worse than what we have.... Sent from my STF-L09 using Tapatalk
Interesting hypothetical Stanley. Thinking it through makes you realise that we are in a strong place. I'm not sure Charlie would be the answer. I think he's a fantastic player, but works best in a two and had his best games feeding off Zamora who was his battering ram, allowing him to poach. I'm not sure he has the legs to so what Wells does and chase and hastle all game, even though he can certainly match Wells for finishing. As such, I'd worry Charlie would require a formation change, and it ain't broke so... If we're assuming just for the rest of the season and not a long term buy, I'd want a CB to play alongside Toni. Jagielka isn't getting much game time. He might break the bank rule however. If not him, perhaps someone like Fuchs at Leicester (who I know is a LB but I think would be extremely solid at CB for us!).
We’d need him to take a significant pay cut, Burnley to not want a fee and his agent to waive a fee. Would be nice though.
Even though we've had this every window for the last god knows how many years I'd probably still take him.
I think in 80 years when Crouch is already dead there will still be rumours about him coming here every transfer window.