Now that the International break is upon us may be there's a few debates we can have: Will Derby take back Chris Martin in January as it seems we didn't tie him down for a whole season? If that is the case should we wait till the summer to get a permanent replacement and just go for another loan in January. Any suggestions who that could be, or can Woodrow step up. Will a Premier Club come in with an offer the club won't refuse for Tom Cairney. Could LVC if given the chance play the same role or would Jokanovic put Jozabed in that central position ? What positions do you think we need to improve in the transfer window and do you have any candidates ?
1. Will Derby take back Chris Martin in January as it seems we didn't tie him down for a whole season? If that is the case should we wait till the summer to get a permanent replacement and just go for another loan in January. Any suggestions who that could be, or can Woodrow step up. As I understand the loan deal, all three parties (that is Derby, Fulham and the player) would need to agree before he'd return. And to quote the Gaffer from last week: “He will stay with us until the end of the season. Our intention was to sign him permanently. I can't go in so deep as to why we didn't. We believe he'll be an important for us. I'm not interested in what the Derby fans think. Ask Fulham fans about what is better for us. He's going to be with us this season and that's it. There isn't any chance that this will change.” 2. Will a Premier Club come in with an offer the club won't refuse for Tom Cairney. Could LVC if given the chance play the same role or would Jokanovic put Jozabed in that central position ? After the last two games the press started speculating that offers were inevitable. However to again quote the Gaffer: "I guarantee he will stay with us, he's a very important player. I've said many times he's a Premier League player but I don't expect us to put him on the market." At the moment Cairney's £3m purchase price is looking like a real bargain and of course there's always the possibity of an offer/profit the money boys won;t refuse. Should that horror happen, Jokanovic has a number of options to try and fill his boots. * Aluko could revert to his preferred position but that seems a retrograde step since he's now thriving at running the opposition from wide and cutting in. * Jozabed has the skill and passing but the big question mark has to be whether he's robust enough for the Championship. In his favour the Club (well, Huw Jennings) have always said that foreign players need 6 months to settle in, become acclimatised (the Gaffer has commented on his need to do better with learning English) and so on. * Adeniran, although tending to be played more defensive mid, has the ability - could he become the new Dembele (the first one)? Probably too early in his career. * Then there's the more natural choice - LVC. But ... right now he seems down the pecking order. 3. What positions do you think we need to improve in the transfer window and do you have any candidates ? As much it would depend on whether we lose any. Piazon is at the end of his loan by January - I'd be tempted to go for Josh Small of Scunthorpe to replace him. Ream has fairly publicly said he'd like to return to the MLS and I'm not sure I'd be too bothered - I'd look perhaps to Adam Webster Ipswich or Sean Morrison of Cardiff if Ream does go. Guess we also have to consider injuries and/or suspensions. Most positions are reasonably covered, except CB and striker. I've already mentioned CBs. So, up front? Frankly we could do with covering this spot in any event since neither Smith or Woodrow are good enough if we want to push for a play off place, or better! What about a cheeky offer for Scott Hogan of Brentford? Taking your question more literally SuperBri - what positions do we need to improve? One is goalkeeper. Button has proved his worth as a stopper but he's suspect in the air and we've had a go about his distribution often enough. Struggling a bit but seem to remember Tomasz Kuszczak of Birmingham had a stotter when we played them. Getting on a bit so presumably wouldn't cost too much.
1. Per the Fulham website, we have Martin for the season. I think the confusion is around whether or not we have the ability to exercise an option to sign him permanently in January. However, to answer the other question, I do not think we currently have a replacement for him at our club. 2. If we are in the upper parts of the league, I doubt Cairney would go. However if he keeps up the form of his last few games, he'll likely be in the Premier League next season. Jokanovic seems to have no confidence in LVC, which is a shame as I think he'd be good for our new higher tempo football. Jozabed is the new Kasami - he seems to have something good about him, but Lord knows where his best position is. 3. In January, assuming we don't have many injuries in the next two months, I don't think we need much. It would be good to go and find another good striker, or maybe another central midfielder or defender, but that is not essential. We might be better off scouring the upper Premier League clubs for more players like Piazon 4. An unasked question, but I'll answer anyway - we should extend Piazon's loan for the rest of the season. He's good enough at this level and his confidence seems to be growing. It can only help him to play regularly in a team like ours and there is a very real chance that he'll be available permanently in the summer (whilst Kalas will sadly go back, unless we get promoted). We really need to keep up the momentum from the last few games and keep growing the confidence. The fans feed off it, so do the players, and if we can be in a good position by January then we're far more likely to keep players like Cairney.
At some point during the season the club will have to look at the managers contract. Will the January Transfer window give us an indication on what they're thinking is and what their ambition is for this season. We have seen the Riverside project come to a stuttering Holt. Will they wait until they see us put in a challenge for the top 6 by the end of the season. I'll always be of the opinion that we need a top class keeper. For me he is part of that spine in a team that needs to be a class above the Championship level. I look through the team and look at what backup we have for each position. At present we have a good partnership between McDonald and Johansen that moves the ball quickly out of defence, if we had to revert to a Parker Tunnicliffe partnership we'd slow play down again. So for me we have to look to be getting in replacements. Is Adeniran go enough to be the replacement Box to box player ? Do we have enough height in our center-backs, could we go 3 at the back with Madl, Sigurdsson and Kalas with wing backs when required. I've been disappointed with Ream since he came to us, I was expecting more, his concentration and tackling are poor. The fullbacks we seem to have sufficient backup, all seem to be able to play the wingback role, some more than others. Crossing balls on the run is erratic. Our present style of 3 attacking midfielders behind a lone striker is producing results, but injuries or loss of form to either Aluko or Cairney will mean a change in style as replacements Ayite and Jozabed aren't at the same standard yet, the same could be said for Martin replacements if they were Woodrow or Smith.
And not to forget we're liable to lose Ayite and Kebano to the ANC in January. Kebano probably not so much of a problem at present - based on the Gaffer's current selections - but Ayite will be missed since he's looked as if he's got his August form when coming on as a sub in the last two games. Aluko thankfully won't be joining them, although I'm fuddled how Nigeria managed not to qualify! However, potential injury (that knock on the knee against Brentford is a tad worrying) has to be factored in. Hence my call for considering Josh Small of Scunthorpe as cover. Like Surlyc I do hope we extend Piazon's loan but if not then we will be thin among the front three.
Haven't really heard of Josh Small, thought Webster had only just joined Ipswich. I tend to look at our squad at present and feel there are very few players who have the calibre to play in the Premier. My policy would be to get a spine of a team who are at Premier level and build round them, because if by some luck we get promotion in the next few seasons, we already have a platform to build on. At present we seem to have a policy of buy cheap and unknown potential based on analytical performance. Loans would be great if when we find a gem like Kalas that we could persuade the player his best path is a permanent move to us.
