Transfer News Transfer Window Summer 21

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Interesting approach to attracting new players.

Daniel Levy warns Harry Kane: ‘We will do whatever is right for Tottenham’

Daniel Levy has warned Harry Kane he will protect Tottenham’s interests in the transfer market this summer

www.theguardian.com

 

[Carpy]

All this talk of Clare needing to prove himself is quite laughable to me, he impressed while playing for Hearts as a midfielder enough for us to pay money for him, he then comes here and we try and convert him to a RB and that fails, we then loan him out to a team battling relegation and he is then a big part of them being in the top 6 form teams in the same league as us while playing in midfield, what more proof do you need?!

Play him where he is comfortable and he's quite clearly a decent player.

 

[QR]

All this talk of Clare needing to prove himself is quite laughable to me, he impressed while playing for Hearts as a midfielder enough for us to pay money for him, he then comes here and we try and convert him to a RB and that fails, we then loan him out to a team battling relegation and he is then a big part of them being in the top 6 form teams in the same league as us while playing in midfield, what more proof do you need?!

Play him where he is comfortable and he's quite clearly a decent player.

I'd add to that by saying when he did play for us in midfield, albeit fleetingly, he played well. What more can the bloke do?

 

[Jster]

Henry our best midfield player since Magilton, I think. Obviously Jimmy a long way ahead. The most recent side to play in the second tier didn't really have brilliant midfielders (Smith, Gray), relying more on the wide players. And since then there's been a real paucity.

 

[Marked Ox]

All this talk of Clare needing to prove himself or not being up to it is quite laughable to me, he impressed while playing for Hearts as a midfielder enough for us to pay money for him, he then comes here and we try and convert him to a RB and that fails, we then loan him out to a team battling relegation and he is then a big part of them being in the top 6 form teams in the same league as us while playing in midfield, what more proof do you need?!

Play him where he is comfortable and he's quite clearly a decent player.

Clare was already playing right back/wing back at Hearts in his final season there after Christmas, hence I'd imagine why we considered signing him as a right back, not as a midfielder. Your proof isn't proof.

And it may not be his footballing ability that is the issue but his attitude, or that of his agent, that is a problem. I don't know on this last part other than speculation based on this article.

 

[Scotchegg]

All this talk of Clare needing to prove himself or not being up to it is quite laughable to me, he impressed while playing for Hearts as a midfielder enough for us to pay money for him, he then comes here and we try and convert him to a RB and that fails, we then loan him out to a team battling relegation and he is then a big part of them being in the top 6 form teams in the same league as us while playing in midfield, what more proof do you need?!

Play him where he is comfortable and he's quite clearly a decent player.

Better than Brannagan? Better than McGuane? Better than Gorrin? Better than others we might look to bring in? Better even than Henry and Sykes who were also part of a top 6 form team?

(Incidentally, what period of form are we using? Last 10 games, Oxford 2nd Burton 7th. Last 12 games, Oxford 6th Burton 13th. Even from Clare's first game, Burton picked up 41 points, Oxford 46 points)

What is laughable is the way that people are using a really sensible comment by Robinson as a stick to beat him with. Clare, it would appear, has said that he wants to play in the number 8 role. Robinson has said that he will have to prove himself good enough to play there, but if he, or anyone else doesn't want to stay then they can leave. Clare was playing as a right back when we signed him, and clearly knew that where he would be asked to play. It didn't work out, that's fine. But he's not exactly Iniesta and no one should allow their interests to be put before the club. THAT would be laughable.

 

[LeftSideBoy]

the same fans always jump on Henry’s back the second he’s off form. Yes he’s not a young athletic, strong player but he is without doubt one of our best players no debate about that. If he leaves that’s a huge void to fill both on the pitch and no doubt in the dressing room.

You can’t spend 95% of the season playing shite football, and expect to be classed as one of our best players. I’m not writing James off, but if he comes back from pre-season and plays like he did for large parts of last season, there will be no excuses left.

 

[Scotchegg]

You can’t spend 95% of the season playing shite football, and expect to be classed as one of our best players. I’m not writing James off, but if he comes back from pre-season and plays like he did for large parts of last season, there will be no excuses left.

95%?

 

[Ovaltoyou]

"What is laughable is the way that people are using a really sensible comment by Robinson as a stick to beat him with. Clare, it would appear, has said that he wants to play in the number 8 role. Robinson has said that he will have to prove himself good enough to play there, but if he, or anyone else doesn't want to stay then they can leave. Clare was playing as a right back when we signed him, and clearly knew that where he would be asked to play. It didn't work out, that's fine. But he's not exactly Iniesta and no one should allow their interests to be put before the club. THAT would be laughable."

Spot on

 

[LeftSideBoy]

95%?

Yes. 95% of the season, James Henry was poor. I can only think of a handful of games that he played well and looked back to his best.

 

[Marked Ox]

Yes. 95% of the season, James Henry was poor. I can only think of a handful of games that he played well and looked back to his best.

Talk us through which 95% of his games were poor?

 

[Carpy]

Clare was already playing right back/wing back at Hearts in his final season there after Christmas, hence I'd imagine why we considered signing him as a right back, not as a midfielder. Your proof isn't proof.

And it may not be his footballing ability that is the issue but his attitude, or that of his agent, that is a problem. I don't know on this last part other than speculation based on this article.

I'm not suggesting we shouldn't have tried to convert him, but we shouldn't blame Clare for it failing, in my mind that isn't his fault. At the end of the day, his position is a CM.

Better than Brannagan? Better than McGuane? Better than Gorrin? Better than others we might look to bring in? Better even than Henry and Sykes who were also part of a top 6 form team?

(Incidentally, what period of form are we using? Last 10 games, Oxford 2nd Burton 7th. Last 12 games, Oxford 6th Burton 13th. Even from Clare's first game, Burton picked up 41 points, Oxford 46 points)

What is laughable is the way that people are using a really sensible comment by Robinson as a stick to beat him with. Clare, it would appear, has said that he wants to play in the number 8 role. Robinson has said that he will have to prove himself good enough to play there, but if he, or anyone else doesn't want to stay then they can leave. Clare was playing as a right back when we signed him, and clearly knew that where he would be asked to play. It didn't work out, that's fine. But he's not exactly Iniesta and no one should allow their interests to be put before the club. THAT would be laughable.

Brannagan who knows, he had a poor season by his standards last year, I would put him ahead of Henry on form in that position last year too, and Sykes is unlikely to be here next season so to me, he's in the top 2 or 3 of our current midfielders, you can't simply ignore his performances for Burton because it avoids the fact you failed to turn him into a right back

And on the attitude, you're making a lot of assumptions about what has and hasn't happened, I'd be concerned if Clare didn't come back and say he wants to play CM, he wants to do the job he is capable and trained to do

 

[LeftSideBoy]

Talk us through which 95% of his games were poor?

Yeah okay mate, I’ll spend my Sunday writing an in depth analysis of nearly 40 games of football. James Henry was well off it for large parts of the season, and if you can’t see that, that’s on you. I’m certainly not alone in thinking this..

 

[Scotchegg]

Yes. 95% of the season, James Henry was poor. I can only think of a handful of games that he played well and looked back to his best.

He started the season badly but was in good form after coming back from an injury around Christmas and looked good during most of the time when our form improved. His form was comparable with many of our squad who had some really good games, some pretty poor but mainly 6/10's. Henry was no worse over the season than Taylor, Brannagan, Gorrin etc.

 

[Carpy]

Yeah okay mate, I’ll spend my Sunday writing an in depth analysis of nearly 40 games of football. James Henry was well off it for large parts of the season, and if you can’t see that, that’s on you. I’m certainly not alone in thinking this..

How is this even in doubt, he was worse than every other season he played for us

 

[Marked Ox]

Yeah okay mate, I’ll spend my Sunday writing an in depth analysis of nearly 40 games of football. James Henry was well off it for large parts of the season, and if you can’t see that, that’s on you.

Don't make a claim like that to back your point up then....

And he had poor spells undoubtedly but he had very good spells as well. He can't have been that bad for large parts considering he played 37 Lg 1 games in a side that made the play offs scoring 7 and with 9 assists. If you can't see that, that's on you.

 

[Scotchegg]

I'm not suggesting we shouldn't have tried to convert him, but we shouldn't blame Clare for it failing, in my mind that isn't his fault. At the end of the day, his position is a CM.

Brannagan who knows, he had a poor season by his standards last year, I would put him ahead of Henry on form in that position last year too, and Sykes is unlikely to be here next season so to me, he's in the top 2 or 3 of our current midfielders, you can't simply ignore his performances for Burton because it avoids the fact you failed to turn him into a right back

And on the attitude, you're making a lot of assumptions about what has and hasn't happened, I'd be concerned if Clare didn't come back and say he wants to play CM, he wants to do the job he is capable and trained to do

You have absolutely no idea of his performances at Burton. You are only going by the collective results of the team whilst he was there. However, Oxford out performed Burton over the last 10, 12 and 20 odd games yet you dismiss the performances of the midfield who contributed to this.

 

[Carpy]

You have absolutely no idea of his performances at Burton. You are only going by the collective results of the team whilst he was there. However, Oxford out performed Burton over the last 10, 12 and 20 odd games yet you dismiss the performances of the midfield who contributed to this.

And you do know all about his performances? Just as I celebrate them, you discount them?

Also, point to where I discounted our current midfield?

Brannagan wasn't as effective as previous seasons... think most would largely agree with this
Sykes isn't likely to be here, I make no mention of his performances
Henry wasn't on form for at least 2/3 of the season
Gorrin, I made no mention of his performances
McGuane, I made no mention of his performances

My argument is relatively simple, he has proved he can play in CM at this level, how can you try and object to this?

 

[Foley]

All this talk of Clare needing to prove himself is quite laughable to me, he impressed while playing for Hearts as a midfielder enough for us to pay money for him, he then comes here and we try and convert him to a RB and that fails, we then loan him out to a team battling relegation and he is then a big part of them being in the top 6 form teams in the same league as us while playing in midfield, what more proof do you need?!

Play him where he is comfortable and he's quite clearly a decent player.

Proof? Really?
He was playing as a right back when we signed him.
Oxford were better than Burton when he played at Burton. Our midfield was better.

 

[Marked Ox]

I'm not suggesting we shouldn't have tried to convert him, but we shouldn't blame Clare for it failing, in my mind that isn't his fault. At the end of the day, his position is a CM.

My point is that the conversion had already started so we didn't sign him as a midfielder as was clear in the interviews when we signed him.

He is partially to blame if he wasn't putting sufficient effort to develop/correct his recurring errors (we don't know if he was or wasn't) and I use Josh Ruffels as a counter to this who was also a converted central midfielder as he clearly worked at his new position. I'm not sure blame or fault is the right word for anybody in the process of converting a player's position anyway as it would involve ups and downs. And whilst a player may have all the attributes, sometimes it just doesn't click.