Any news of any incoming loan players other than Graham? Thought we would have heard abiut some Man Utd players after we were linked with a few. Also any outgoing news, I would have thought some of our central midfielders would be going like Cairney maybe Evans & also any kids looking to move to get some games?
I think we should go for that young Nick Powell from Man Utd, or John Guidetti but they seem unlikely now. I think Cairney and/or Evans should be loaned out to a Championship Club to gain some more experience because they're both clearly talents with great potential, but unfortunately don't fall into the squad at the moment.
I don't particularly rate him but at the moment Evans will be firmly within our plans. Our midfield three, assuming we make another signing in there, will be Quinn, Meyler and whoever the new signing is. Beyond that Evans must be next in line? As I say I don't rate him so I'd prefer it to be Cairney but I'm pretty sure Evans will be preferred by the man that matters.
Seen as we have two loan spots free, if the right player is available, Andros Townsend, Livermore, Guidetti, Piazon, Chabaloah, Powell or one of Man U's other talented youngsters then we should use up one more this summer. Leaving us one spot for January. We seemingly haven't spent as much as we were going to at one point (with the Austin deal), so it looks like we might have a couple of/few million in January if we need to use it. We have done our business a lot more sensibly than last time we went up, there appears to be a lot of resale value in what we've bought and what we have already. Should we go down it wouldn't be the end of the world, we haven't outstretched ourselves and with the huge increase in income versus last time we went up, we should be poised to mount a challenge.
There's still Koren/Aluko to play in one of the attacking midfield positions assuming Brucey wants to play with a midfield three combo of Quinn/Meyler/Aluko, Quinn/Meyler/Koren etc. I think Evans will be a bench warmer in all honesty.
Corry Evans should've been playing where Alex Bruce was in midfield last season. He's a cracking little player and I think he'll only ever get better. But as other posters have said, I think we'll see him start on the bench for the first few games. I'm not sure we'll see Koren feature as much this season; I think he'll come on as an impact player but he does have a tendency to win games from nowhere and if he was brought on against Chelsea with 10 minutes to go with the game at 0-0, well... who knows what could happen? I think our midfield 3 will be Quinn, Meyler and Cairney, unless we sign Claasen in which case I think Cairney will drop out. The only reason I've said Cairney is that I think SB has been impressed with him in pre season.
be interesting to see where Aluko fits in. As one of the front 2 playing a little deeper or as one of a central 3 playing a bit further forward. I'd give him the run of the park cause if back to his best he could be our superstar. apologies for going formation crazy but I like 3-5-2 with Aluko at the point of a central 3. Meyler will come good and when Brady and Quinn are in tune down the left they could be a handful for anyone. I'm happy with things as they stand but given an option for Chalobah from Chelsea for the season and I'd snap their hand off.
I've always been a big supporter of TC too but I've lost patience with him. Brucey bigged him up last yr after the injury and he needed to grab the game by the scruff of the neck but he doesnt. Happy to coast through games. Bruce clearly doesnt rate Evans, it should have been easy for TC to make it his own, he didnt. If his contract was up we wouldnt have resigned him.
I heard he had knee injury last season,not a serious one,but enough for us to have to go careful with him.
I want to believe you kk i really do. But i watched him in the Ferriby friendly and he just walked about and let Quinny do all the work. Then he was giving it the big un to some young kids behind the goal when we were defending their corners.
Thinking about it yeah I forgot about Koren and there's also Boyd who can play there too (calm down everyone, yes he can). We'll just have to wait and see who Bruce picks. Evans is no better on the ball than Bruce is. I agree that Cairney will have impressed in pre-season but he does that every year and looks like this will be 'his year' then he gets dropped early on for one not-even-that-bad game and we don't see him again for 9 months until he's our best player in the next pre-season and the cycle restarts. He never got a chance though did he? Couple of sub appearances looked good and then played at Orient and scored the winner but still not good enough. What can he do?
I think Evans has the potential to be a star. He has something about him much in the way Scott Parker did. Quietly gets on with things. If we play 352 next season then (I hope) Aluko is not part of the midfield three. He needs to be up top with one other. As for loanees I'd wait until the season starts. Reading the Secret Footballer article this morning it seems that the bigger clubs come to you with their prospects anyway. We need to see how the first two games pan out, look at who is getting in or around the benches of the top 4-6 teams and then make a play for who fits our needs. It's fine for people to start shouting Guidetti or Powell but are they really players that we want/need? We've just signed Sagbo and Graham on loan to take it in turns to battle with Aluko for two of three slots. Fryatt will get some game time and so will Boyd. Where does another striker fit? Likewise Powell, we've Aluko, Koren and Boyd to fulfil an attacking midfield slot but in reality we're probably going to need to play two defensive minded midfielders and this is our likely need. So, who fits the bill as far as a defensive minded midfielder? I spotted someone make a call on Livermore from Spurs - probably the best shout so far, although probably a London lad and like many don't seem to settle when they move 'up north. So, for DMCs - who are are other options? (other than Cattermole or Palacios who have been mentioned)
