Transfer Rumours Summer '23 Transfer Thread

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Kalman said:
My only concern regarding the midfield is that we have a lot of players who are decent in possession (which is fair enough for a possession-based team) but out of possession the midfield is completely anonymous. Selling Woods and getting Bird won’t change that, even if Bird is a good player.

You can see how weak we are in midfield out of possession when we face counter-attacking teams or other teams that dominate possession. We do okay defending against teams that sit deep but against the likes of Boro, Sunderland, Norwich away etc. and Burnley at home last season, we got ripped to pieces in midfield. Even against West Brom at home when we won 2-0, West Brom had like 20 shots and 70% possession. We don’t concede as many goals under Rosenior but we still concede too many chances but the keepers and back four bail us out.

It does concern me because we score nowhere near enough goals to offset this big weakness in midfield. Not scoring enough goals means we draw games we should’ve won and not having a midfield that offers protection out of possession means we lose games we maybe could have drew or even won. Rosenior gets a lot of credit for improving us defensively, which he should, but we still dropped a lot of points under him last season. The draws against Sunderland, Blackpool, Huddersfield and Rotherham at home spring to mind.
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I am worried about this also. This keep-ball system definitely makes us concede less, but also score less. My thinking though, is that the new attacking players, combined with players being more settled with their role (e.g. Tufan, Slater, Traore etc) makes us much more of a goal threat than last season. Of course, time will tell. UTT.
 
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HCAFCHangout said:
Those 4 games you mentioned are when we couldn't unlock a team sitting deep. However, I do agree that a ball winner would be nice to bring in. I just dont foresee it happening. Think they want to bring in technically better players and make them defensively more sound.
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Yes, exactly. We don’t score anywhere near enough goals against teams that sit deep like Cardiff, Rotherham, Huddersfield etc. to warrant having a midfield made up exclusively of players who can make short sideways passes that look nice and fancy with 60% possession and no end product.

But when we’re playing against other teams that are possession-based like Boro, Sunderland, Norwich, Southampton, Leicester etc. a solid defensive midfielder may be the difference between losing and drawing (or even winning).
 
Don’t get me wrong, I think Bird is a good player and would certainly be an improvement on Woods. Seri’s not getting younger either and I foresee him going to Saudi when he leaves us so Bird as a short-term replacement for Woods and a long-term replacement for Seri makes perfect sense as they are all similar players i.e. very technical players who like to sit deep and control the pace of the game. Maybe Simons will be the physicality this season if Rosenior gives him enough game-time. Who knows?

Also, if the rumour that our opening bid was £300k, that really is pathetic as he is worth at least £1.5 million even if he’s only got a year left on his deal. I really don’t know what the club thought they’d accomplish with a bid like that. Just because we’re giving Tetteh away for almost nothing doesn’t mean other clubs will.
 
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Kalman said:
Yes, exactly. We don’t score anywhere near enough goals against teams that sit deep like Cardiff, Rotherham, Huddersfield etc. to warrant having a midfield made up exclusively of players who can make short sideways passes that look nice and fancy with 60% possession and no end product.

But when we’re playing against other teams that are possession-based like Boro, Sunderland, Norwich, Southampton, Leicester etc. a solid defensive midfielder may be the difference between losing and drawing (or even winning).
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FWIW I'm not saying I disagree with you here. I do think we need a player to break things up. However, I think they genuinely see possession based football be the best way. If that means going to a team like Leicester and trying to play them at their game and coming up short I think they'll try. I only base this off the times Rosenior has said in interviews that they'll never fully change system just adapt and trying to play Burnley at their game last year and not doing terribly.

They want more creativity to take advantage of the possession. Bird certainly improves that
 
Kalman said:
Don’t get me wrong, I think Bird is a good player and would certainly be an improvement on Woods. Seri’s not getting younger either and I foresee him going to Saudi when he leaves us so Bird as a short-term replacement for Woods and a long-term replacement for Seri makes perfect sense as they are all similar players i.e. very technical players who like to sit deep and control the pace of the game. Maybe Simons will be the physicality this season if Rosenior gives him enough game-time. Who knows?

Also, if the rumour that our opening bid was £300k, that really is pathetic as he is worth at least £1.5 million even if he’s only got a year left on his deal. I really don’t know what the club thought they’d accomplish with a bid like that. Just because we’re giving Tetteh away for almost nothing doesn’t mean other clubs will.
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He must see Simons as that player. He’s got Doc level physicality with more technical ability. Really hope he comes into his own this season, he only got a 2 year lease on his house so he’s clearly got ambitions. Still springs to mind when he kept up with Dan James in the Fulham FA cup game
 
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Kalman said:
Don’t get me wrong, I think Bird is a good player and would certainly be an improvement on Woods. Seri’s not getting younger either and I foresee him going to Saudi when he leaves us so Bird as a short-term replacement for Woods and a long-term replacement for Seri makes perfect sense as they are all similar players i.e. very technical players who like to sit deep and control the pace of the game. Maybe Simons will be the physicality this season if Rosenior gives him enough game-time. Who knows?

Also, if the rumour that our opening bid was £300k, that really is pathetic as he is worth at least £1.5 million even if he’s only got a year left on his deal. I really don’t know what the club thought they’d accomplish with a bid like that. Just because we’re giving Tetteh away for almost nothing doesn’t mean other clubs will.
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It's an initial bid. Clubs usually start low. All part of the negotiations.
 
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Evington said:
Huddersfield away on a wet and windy day/night should tell us all where we are regarding progress.
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Even my favourite City sides of 03/04 and 04/5 got hammered there, the latter on a warm sunny Sunday lunchtime in August, so that's the last fixture I'd use to measure our progress!
 
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