brassmonkey
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I would say we need a new starting cm. Macguane isn't good enough.
Transfer Window January 2024 Transfer Window Thread
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Leysboy
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No.
It was clear as glass in August that we were desperate for a striker. What we really needed was someone that could start immediately. Especially with fixtures coming thick and fast. Goodwin has great potential, and great re sale value. £400k is a BIG deal for us, we don’t normally spend such money on transfer targets. I hope he’s worth the wait, we are 3 weeks into the window, and still a striker short.
He was poor, but at least him coming on (combined with Leigh coming off the bench) meant we stumbled back into a system that actually made sense.
Hopefully we’ve got a decent right winger coming in as we’d look much better for it.
werthersoriginal
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Yes, and we looked a lot better with Smyth playing as an orthodox right back. Basically nearly all our dangerous players are injured and it's not fair to judge Des in those circumstances, but it was clear the setup in the first half wasn't working.
For a team that stayed up by the skin of its teeth last year to be in the play-off places with 20 games left is - frankly - a hell of a turnaround.
I've said elsewhere that every single one of us would've taken this position in July, and that expectations were unrealistically raised when we got out of the blocks quickly against teams like Derby and Barnsley, who were expected to be challenging for the automatic slots but who themselves got off to slow starts.
Of course it would've been great to capitalise on that strong start, but I think even the most positive among us would've said back in November that we were only ever a couple of injuries away (in an injury-prone squad) from our lack of depth being exposed, and so it has proven.
Last year we under-performed, and for the first dozen games of this season we over-performed. The last 8-10 games is probably something of a levelling-out, and an indication of where we are overall in terms of the League.
Hope and expectation are two different things, and while there's no harm at all in hoping that things go your way, those of us who expected us to be comfortably in the top 6 were extremely few and far between.
I desperately hope we can pick up our form once we start getting some impact players back from injury, hopefully get another couple of players in before the end of the month, and that we can continue to push for a play-off place come the end of the season. However, my expectation is that we may fall short this time around.
You can't overhaul a squad in the way that was needed at the end of last season in just a couple of windows, but we have seen the squad improved by the players who have come in, and it is far more balanced that it was at the end of last season. One of the main positives of the last 10 months has been our recruitment, and with some highly paid, injury prone players out of contract in the summer, that gives me genuine optimism that we can strengthen again regardless of where we are. It's rare that teams can bring in wholesale improvements, so the vast majority of clubs have to be realistic and look to improve incrementally each window.
But football never 'finishes', you just have to keep trying to get better and we are doing that. Have we improved? Yes. Have we improved enough to go up? Probably not. Is that a surprise? No. Uncontroversial answers, I think.
Rome wasn't built in a day, and while it'd be amazing if we can get into the play-offs this year (and I'll obviously be disappointed if we don't), I won't be surprised because if you'd told me last year that we'd even be in with a shout, I would've laughed at you.
I've said elsewhere that every single one of us would've taken this position in July, and that expectations were unrealistically raised when we got out of the blocks quickly against teams like Derby and Barnsley, who were expected to be challenging for the automatic slots but who themselves got off to slow starts.
Of course it would've been great to capitalise on that strong start, but I think even the most positive among us would've said back in November that we were only ever a couple of injuries away (in an injury-prone squad) from our lack of depth being exposed, and so it has proven.
Last year we under-performed, and for the first dozen games of this season we over-performed. The last 8-10 games is probably something of a levelling-out, and an indication of where we are overall in terms of the League.
Hope and expectation are two different things, and while there's no harm at all in hoping that things go your way, those of us who expected us to be comfortably in the top 6 were extremely few and far between.
I desperately hope we can pick up our form once we start getting some impact players back from injury, hopefully get another couple of players in before the end of the month, and that we can continue to push for a play-off place come the end of the season. However, my expectation is that we may fall short this time around.
You can't overhaul a squad in the way that was needed at the end of last season in just a couple of windows, but we have seen the squad improved by the players who have come in, and it is far more balanced that it was at the end of last season. One of the main positives of the last 10 months has been our recruitment, and with some highly paid, injury prone players out of contract in the summer, that gives me genuine optimism that we can strengthen again regardless of where we are. It's rare that teams can bring in wholesale improvements, so the vast majority of clubs have to be realistic and look to improve incrementally each window.
But football never 'finishes', you just have to keep trying to get better and we are doing that. Have we improved? Yes. Have we improved enough to go up? Probably not. Is that a surprise? No. Uncontroversial answers, I think.
Rome wasn't built in a day, and while it'd be amazing if we can get into the play-offs this year (and I'll obviously be disappointed if we don't), I won't be surprised because if you'd told me last year that we'd even be in with a shout, I would've laughed at you.
dickwalton1964
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Can't agree that Burey didn't look interested, that was great tracking back in the closing stages to thwart a Barnsley attack. Didn't offer much going forwards but we couldn't isolate him and get him on the ball in some space, it was just too congested and well managed by Barnsley.
Hard to disagree with Smyth being one of our best performers in the last run of games. Brannagan is way out in front. I know he cares deeply but it's like he has added motivation at the moment - is he trying to attract someone before end of Jan? Who could blame him. After that you'd probably say Smyth has been the one who can hold his head highest. Critical goal at Charlton and just a string of notably positive performances.
I don't mind him at right back one bit. I remember suggesting we throw him in there in pre season and got scoffed at. In fact, he's looked so comfortable of late that I'm not quite sure why you wouldn't push him in to his preferred position now and see how he goes. I think playing him behind McGuane and Brannagan might unlock something in that midfield - it certainly won't cost us anything bar one of the attacking mids, all of which were totally ineffective last night anyway.
Des likes a 451 and has the players for it so I'm not sure why he's resisting it. Rodrigues could play wider or up top as long as there are willing runners beyond him. I think Rodrigues as the central striker and Harris making runs past him from out wide might be worth a try and then put one of the more direct 1v1 wingers on the other side. Tyler isn't a starter for me, not at the moment. He's much too flaky and would rather we use him when the game opens up. I know it's experimental but that's where we are now as we are creeping in to insanity. Same thing is getting us the same result in terms of performance and the better sides don't find that difficult to play against. We are well short in the squad, yes, but there's more we could be trying with what we have and that's the frustration.
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Osleroad
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He passed the signing on medical and the minor issue flagged up in a scan which he could have played with and possibly made 10x worse.
Thing with Tyler is that he wants to constantly cut in from the left, which is absolutely fine if you have players making the pitch wider otherwise it all gets narrow and congested. You look at how Pep used Sterling for years and now Grealish to stop this happening to his teams.
No point at all playing Tyler with defensive wing backs and a no 10 on the other side.
SirAndyOfCrosby
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24th January and still no available alternative to Mark Harris up top.
Make all the excuses you want, it's negligent at this point.
We were absolutely desperate for options going into January. It was known for weeks in advance. Realistically we should have had another striker ready to go before Coventry - and most definitely before Carlisle
You can queue up to patronise us of the tribulations of the infamous 'domino effect', but I don't see how anyone can conclude anything other than our management and/or recruitment being largely culpable for this.
Even a bog standard target man would make a massive difference (as Sam Cosgrove did for Barnsley last night).
Some people on here seem to think that January fixtures are free hits, but fail to win either of the next two and it won't be Derby and Peterborough we need to worry about, it'll be Blackpool.
Make all the excuses you want, it's negligent at this point.
We were absolutely desperate for options going into January. It was known for weeks in advance. Realistically we should have had another striker ready to go before Coventry - and most definitely before Carlisle
You can queue up to patronise us of the tribulations of the infamous 'domino effect', but I don't see how anyone can conclude anything other than our management and/or recruitment being largely culpable for this.
Even a bog standard target man would make a massive difference (as Sam Cosgrove did for Barnsley last night).
Some people on here seem to think that January fixtures are free hits, but fail to win either of the next two and it won't be Derby and Peterborough we need to worry about, it'll be Blackpool.
MustardYellow
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This is spot on
arthurturner
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As others have said, we ask too much of MM. It's not that he isn't good enough, both he and CB need some help in the form of an effective DCM.
It seems blatantly obvious but I've seen no suggestion that's on the menu.
Has anyone told Des and Ed that buying players is exactly like popping to the shops for a pint of milk? That what you want is just *there* and readily available?
And that if the shop does happen to be out of milk, you can just get some Lucozade to put on your cornflakes because the wrong thing *now* is better than the right thing tomorrow?
dickwalton1964
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It was negligent last summer, never mind now. I know we have Goodwin
We definitely need a shake up in midfield. I was mixed about Kane when he was here, started brilliantly and faded badly, but he was superb in the first half last night. Industrious, always in space, always wanted the ball. He doesn't over play and always seems to be in the right position to make a probing pass - very often one touch. Someone like McGuane is the opposite, his instinct is to get the ball and hold on to it. Cam is a bit the same. If I was DB I'd be prioritising that central midfield area to find something different - someone who can set the tempo and control midfield better than either McGuane or Brannagan.
SirAndyOfCrosby
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If you're dying of thirst and someone offers you a pint of crisp, refreshing, clean tap water, would you say 'no ta, I'm holding out for the possibility of a bottle of evian later this month'?
Shosho
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Andy1505
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Many on here have been saying we've needed more in central midfield for months even years but it's never been addressed and I think it's a major failing on our part.
A proper central defensive battling midfielder would free up Cam/MM/RR and enable them all to go and do their job a bit further forward....Cam can play there but is blunted when he does, and I still don't think it suits MM, he won't really dig in and battle when the going gets tough.
Yes we need a (fit!) wide wide player or two and the extra striker obviously, but I fear we won't get the nasty midfielder we're crying out for and that is an error in my view, i really believe it could transform the way we play.
A proper central defensive battling midfielder would free up Cam/MM/RR and enable them all to go and do their job a bit further forward....Cam can play there but is blunted when he does, and I still don't think it suits MM, he won't really dig in and battle when the going gets tough.
Yes we need a (fit!) wide wide player or two and the extra striker obviously, but I fear we won't get the nasty midfielder we're crying out for and that is an error in my view, i really believe it could transform the way we play.
TailsWeWin
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It’s ALREADY Blackpool, Orient and Northampton we should be worrying about. Our paths are about to cross very shortly, as are our league positions if we’re not careful.
There are already nervous tics in the January window department; not helped by the manager’s cautious “we HOPE to get in ….” and no real sign of the replacements we required some time ago.
Where is the striker, up and ready to fire? Where is the replacement right back to cover what is clearly a weak link in the team? Where are the pacy forwards who might actually stay fit? Where is the big strong holding midfielder it is obvious we need? Where is the genuine back-up to our overworked MM and CB?
Why are we so dependent on this “domino effect” when other quality teams in our league seem to be recruiting very successfully? Now.
Why is it, that with only a few days to go before the window closes, we are STILL gazing around wondering if we can improve a group of FIT players which - quite honestly - looks poorer than the one we started the season with??
MustardYellow
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We've had the same problems for years and 3 managers have failed to address them. Maybe aside from LB/RB which Manning did address, we've had a lack of powerful CM's and all realm of injury prone wingers. We keep making the same mistakes.
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