Transfer Window January 2024 Transfer Window Thread

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Manning's style of play was about controlling possession at the back, moving the opposition around, and opening up space for Rodriguez/Bodin and our two pacy wingers. When out of possession, we'd press hard and often force the other team to hoof it or make a mistake. He had the players available to do that. Since Des has been here, we've had nobody with pace other than Harris, who's doing most of the pressing by himself, and no true wingers. We're still doing the first part i.e. controlling possession at the back, but there's just no outlet as it's too easy to track our forward players, so it's little wonder that the balls we're playing are cut out or overhit, and that the opposition is able to press us back, and that we're tiring towards the end of games when key players are playing every game and there's nobody on the bench to replace them. It's only when we have a squad of fit players comparable with what we had in September/October that we can really compare the styles. I do think we miss Hogg, perhaps more than Manning, as I think he'd have been an ideal assistant to Des.

Regarding the defensive midfielder, I'm not sure that Des ruled it out completely, just that a striker and a right winger were further up the list. I wouldn't send out Smyth on loan as he's become the useful utility player, a bit like Anthony Forde but more defensive. It'd be good to get Henry and GOD out on loan to free up some space as I don't see either of those contributing much for the remainder of the season. It could just be that Des is playing down the defensive midfielder talk so as not to make out to other clubs that we're desperate for one.
 
We need a new right back the amount of times the ball comes down are right back is ridiculous long and Stevens can’t defend
 
PottersRightBoot said:
Yet they’ve just shelled out big money on a promising striker.

Are you really sure about the ‘football team being a low priority’?

Seems to me the forum blows with the wind depending on whether we’ve won or lost in the previous match.
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See my post that followed. That £400k was doing the rounds right to the end of the summer window unless that went on Sonny Perkins’ loan?

I’m not trying to make light of that investment but I don’t think it should be put down as January ambition from the board. Presumably it formed part of the season’s transfer budget and carried over in to January as it wasn't spent. There's nothing anywhere to suggest Tim has sanctioned a load of extra funding to propel us on for the second half of the season.
 
vapourtrailOX said:
Understandable to find it frustrating definitely. Not think though that given last year's disaster and the bad luck of our successful rebuild getting devastated by Manning's sudden departure and a severe injury crisis contextualises why we need a longer-term goals?

Like many I'm sure, I looked at the league at the start of the season and thought wow this might be as weak as it gets, there's a strong chance of promotion here. In reality, I think the top of the league isn't on the same level as Sheff Wed, Plymouth and Ipswich, but the rest of the league has been really competitive both in transfer muscle and in tactical setups. The marginal gains we had at the start of the season (a clear plan with Manning, a fit Marcus Browne, fresh legs for high-intensity pressing game) have diminished not by design but more by bad luck and we look pretty average as a result.

I don't think this is something a month of a transfer window can really rectify, but I do reckon that we will see other teams experience similar problems later on in the campaign just as we work our way out of the them. Honestly though, unless Bolton, Posh or Derby experience some really bad luck or unexpected form I don't see how we can demand promotion this season. Of course, that doesn't mean we can't demand a clearer game plan and attacking purpose, but our wide options at the moment simply don't have 75 mins+ of pressing and taking on the fb 1-on-1 - something all the other teams around us have.
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In my opinion the whole injury excuse becomes irrelevant now we're in the transfer window and have done very little to replace the injured players. Mills has gone, so we replaced him with Burey which is fine but we've barely played him. We've replaced an injured Edwards with... an injured Edwards. Browne's return date seems to be getting pushed back every couple of weeks, haven't done anything about it. And to top it all off we've brought in an injured striker.

So far for me, it's just been another window of oversight's. I was hopeful, but Des' comments about not thinking we need another midfielder when we clearly do just.... wow.
 
'Josh Murphy will be touch and go as to whether he makes the squad'.....

FFS that cheeses me off so much, have we ever had such a shambolic situation and player in our squad? For what we are paying him he has to be one of the biggest mistakes that KR made, and we've been paying for it ever since he joined!

I don't care if he has the potential to be the 'best player in the league', I hope we get rid of him asap, and get someone in who can play regularly and contribute!

And the same for Browne too! He's been here too long and not contributed anywhere near enough.

We're probably forking out nearly £10k a week for those 2? Ridiculous beyond belief.

Sorry rant over!🤣
 
MustardYellow said:
In my opinion the whole injury excuse becomes irrelevant now we're in the transfer window and have done very little to replace the injured players. Mills has gone, so we replaced him with Burey which is fine but we've barely played him. We've replaced an injured Edwards with... an injured Edwards. Browne's return date seems to be getting pushed back every couple of weeks, haven't done anything about it. And to top it all off we've brought in an injured striker.

So far for me, it's just been another window of oversight's. I was hopeful, but Des' comments about not thinking we need another midfielder when we clearly do just.... wow.
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On the Burey front - when did he arrive and how many games have we played since? He was on the bench the day after he signed and we've played once (once!) since and came on as a sub. That hardly counts as 'barely' playing him. Fair enough the Browne and Edwards comments but you are actively looking for sticks to beat the club with.
 
Big Ron said:
On the Burey front - when did he arrive and how many games have we played since? He was on the bench the day after he signed and we've played once (once!) since and came on as a sub. That hardly counts as 'barely' playing him. Fair enough the Browne and Edwards comments but you are actively looking for sticks to beat the club with.
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Even when we changed to 4 at the back after the Long injury we kept Rodrigues out wide. Why not bring an actual winger on and play Rodrigues down the middle (where he works best)? This is my point. Yes we have injuries but we're not using the window to do anything about them, and the one injury we have done something about by bringing Burey in, we aren't using. I understand he hasn't played loads this season but he hasn't been injured for a long period (to my knowledge) and has been in training - no reason he wouldn't be match fit.
 
bazzer9461 said:
Itt to will be a last minute rush to get someone signed by 11 pm Wednesday and it will show what a shambles that the chuckle brothers are!
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You just wait for the "Gats is looking sharp in training and Bodes is back on grass" pieces in the OxMail Monday and Tuesday - they arrive like clockwork once it becomes apparent we are about to deliver another damp squib of a window.
 
Swaby39 said:
See my post that followed. That £400k was doing the rounds right to the end of the summer window unless that went on Sonny Perkins’ loan?

I’m not trying to make light of that investment but I don’t think it should be put down as January ambition from the board. Presumably it formed part of the season’s transfer budget and carried over in to January as it wasn't spent. There's nothing anywhere to suggest Tim has sanctioned a load of extra funding to propel us on for the second half of the season.
Click to expand...

MustardYellow said:
In my opinion the whole injury excuse becomes irrelevant now we're in the transfer window and have done very little to replace the injured players. Mills has gone, so we replaced him with Burey which is fine but we've barely played him. We've replaced an injured Edwards with... an injured Edwards. Browne's return date seems to be getting pushed back every couple of weeks, haven't done anything about it. And to top it all off we've brought in an injured striker.

So far for me, it's just been another window of oversight's. I was hopeful, but Des' comments about not thinking we need another midfielder when we clearly do just.... wow.
Click to expand...
Fair enough, Edwards does feel like a ballsy gamble (which I think a club of our size feels duty-bound to take to try and get promoted) because if he was a 40 game a season player he wouldn't be playing in L1, same as Browne.

But look at the all the deals in L1 so far in January. They're mostly loans (with the exception of Blackett-Taylor to Derby who freed up funds for Edmonds-Green to Charlton, and Conteh to Bristol Rovers today, and a few lower-profile others). The point being that 400k in the summer probably looks like one or two high-profile loan deals in January (not in real money but in terms of demonstrating ambition and investment in a 6 month return than maybe say a 3 or 4 year contract).

Not just defending our business for the sake of being blindly optimistic! It's more that the January transfer market, as it currently operates, doesn't seem fit for purpose to me. It looks like a toxic environment where wealthy clubs higher up the pyramid stockpile talent and squeeze every extra penny they can out of their assets, so I can understand why any club would take a cautious approach. I'd love to see a big new DM come in, but you have to prioritise in this window - an out and out right winger is the most critical position right now.
 
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