Transfer News 2022/23 Season Incoming Transfers and a few other things

[Joey]

But if it was someone else taking his squad place - then presumably they'd be seen as fulfilling the same role i.e. back-up when everyone else is unavailable. Whoever has that 4th/5th centre-back role after Moore, Brown, New Bloke & possibly Golding, is going to be there as rarely used cover.
If it was a player who plays a different position taking his squad place, then we'd end up with one less defensive option and be in a worse place?

For me it comes down to the fact that Mous is 36 now, has barely played for two entire seasons (about 250 minutes in the league in that time) and we preferred to play wingers in defence and move full backs about rather than play him for most of last season when we had injury issues. I want all our players to be useful to us and I don't think Mous is anymore, as great as he's been. I've only seen Golding play that one game against Doncaster so don't have much to judge him on but based on that he shouldn't be our fourth choice centre back if we're serious about promotion. Another ready to go centre back could also give us the option of three at the back if they have some pace to them.

 

[mooro]

How about something like this...

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The problem I see with this is it leaves the full backs having to provide all of the width going forward as well as handle all of their defensive responsibilities in an under pressure defence without the cover of a third centre back

 

[Jackinthebox]

Are there any highly rated League 2 centre backs we could try and lure to the club?

Left footed or right?

 

[Scotchegg]

If one thing amazes me more than anything else in transfer windows (and there's some stiff competition!) it is the credence given to Oxford Mail reports!

No disrespect to James Roberts but he's taken two or three quotes from an interview and come up with this story, and likely several more follow up stories in the coming days.

Firstly, let's look at the positives. Robinson (and the club) have kept so much close to their chest this season but is talking about bringing in an established centre back from another country when their window opens. With our previous interests that could point to someone like Stuart Findlay or Danny Wilson (solid signings) or maybe Tyler Blackett who can play centre back or left back and has a decent pedigree.

With other deals barely spoken about, you'd have to think that this was pretty much a done deal bar a few little tweaks for it to be mentioned.

So, established and experienced left sided centre back? Tick.

Then we have the comment about playing 3 or 4 at the back. The reality is that the 3 mainly worked because we had Luke McNally able to drive out of the defence as a surprise package. Once he left it is very difficult to guarantee having a player with the same ability. It doesn't mean that we can't go that way, but does mean that we won't build a team around it. Without seeing who we bring in or how we set up that is a bit of a nothing argument right now.

So we're left with the Mous comment! Yes, he can do a job as we saw at Shrewsbury. No, he can't do this week in, week out or even in consecutive games unless there's been a huge improvement in his knee and fitness in general.

However, I'm not so sure that we won't look to bring in an additional centre back in the McNally development model, OR James Golding will become that developing player. Either way, Mous will be little more than emergency cover and may not even make the EFL rota and will only get game time in the PJT.

Of course there will be those who say that Golding isn't ready, but they were saying the same about McNally last summer and Atkinson the summer before that.

If, Mous is in the squad (and it's still very much an if) then let's wait and see who the other 21 are before we start plans to storm the boardroom. If, as I suspect, we have a couple of u21's in the matchday squad then we may have 24/25 eligible outfield players and Mous is little more than a bonus player if everything else goes tits up.

Either way, we have hundreds of posts on the basis of little more than an Oxford Mail quote that we've given little credibility to hundreds of times before.

 

[Salaghaf]

Like I've said before we need better players to get promoted we've being saying this for last 2 seasons.

Sadly the “money men” aren’t going to invest substantially until they have the green light on the stadium.
So we may have to wait another year until we see the big bucks come out.

 

[tatabanya]

We can be pretty sure that a new CB and a new LB at the very minimum will come into the back line and I’d be comfortable adding those two two Long and Moore so long as they are of the right quality. I’d like to see us bring another RB in, especially if we are likely to be lining up as a 4, but it’s not a priority.

I still think the signing that would really make us a much more solid defensive unit would be a top class No. 1, but it seems like any interest in Jack has unsurprisingly cooled, which is shame.

For all the chat of Mous, where Long will play, which side Moore will play etc, the thing that makes me most nervous about next season at the moment is going into it banking that an inexperienced keeper is going to bounce back to a lever of form we haven’t seen for a while. If we’re looking at risks, this is the one I fear could really cost us significant points next season.

 

[Osei Yaw]

But if it was someone else taking his squad place - then presumably they'd be seen as fulfilling the same role i.e. back-up when everyone else is unavailable. Whoever has that 4th/5th centre-back role after Moore, Brown, New Bloke & possibly Golding, is going to be there as rarely used cover.
If it was a player who plays a different position taking his squad place, then we'd end up with one less defensive option and be in a worse place?

My main points are:

1) we have to register Mousinho if we want to play him
2) recent seasons show we don't play him (and he's only getting older)
3) we have very little cover at the back as it is

Therefore it is pointless to waste a squad place on a player that doesn't play.

And the idea that we unregister him to free up a space for a non-defensive player really is a non-starter. We should unregister him as he's not going to play and register a player who is good enough to improve us.

We should always be looking to improve the squad, both in quality and in balance. I am quite happy that Golding goes out on loan to further his development whilst we get 2 more quality centre backs who may both just be good enough to start ahead of both Moore and Brown.

2 players for every position would be my mantra. We have at least 2 centre backs playing at any time so need at least 4 who can be deemed as starters, Mousinho isn't one of those so don't waste a squad place on him.

 

[mooro]

Since the squad rules changed to 22 excluding keepers, have we actually ever been in a position where we have had to leave a fit, eligible player out of the squad to accommodate Moose?

So given that we can get U21s like Goodrham, Golding, Davis, Spasov involved more this year now that COVID bubbles sre no more without affecting the cap (and any young loanees we bring in) is keeping Moose in the 22 as a low maintenance/cost backup a actually as big a handicap as the tone of the discussion appears to suggest?

 

[battman]

However, I'm not so sure that we won't look to bring in an additional centre back in the McNally development model, OR James Golding will become that developing player. Either way, Mous will be little more than emergency cover and may not even make the EFL rota and will only get game time in the PJT.

Of course there will be those who say that Golding isn't ready, but they were saying the same about McNally last summer and Atkinson the summer before that.

Big difference in experience between McNally & Atkinson and Golding. Atkinson was 22 and had 84 games of men's football under his belt before his first game for us, and McNally was 21 and had played 53 games in Northern Ireland. Golding is 17 and has played 2 games for us and 14 for Banbury. He's at least a year or two further back in his development.

To rely on him as a genuine option (rather than an added bonus) for a side chasing the automatic spots this season is far too optimistic and puts way too much pressure on a player still learning his craft. No doubt you could argue that he might be good enough now, but as we've seen with players like LCP, Nico Jones and Kyran Lofthouse, development of young players is never a straight-forward linear path.

 

[Osei Yaw]

Since the squad rules changed to 22 excluding keepers, have we actually ever been in a position where we have had to leave a fit, eligible player out of the squad to accommodate Moose?

So given that we can get U21s like Goodrham, Golding, Davis, Spasov involved more this year now that COVID bubbles sre no more without affecting the cap (and any young loanees we bring in) is keeping Moose in the 22 as a low maintenance/cost backup a actually as big a handicap as the tone of the discussion appears to suggest?

In my opinion, yes, because we should have 2 players for each position who are good enough to start, which should mean a squad of 20, with 2 spots then up for grabs that should be used for utility players who can cover multiple positions.

If you start a season on the basis that you only have 1 player for certain positions then you're snookered as soon as they get injured, get fatigued, lose form or get suspended. Suddenly you're shoehorning other players into unfamiliar roles and then backfilling them. Like we had to do several times last season, most notably with the defence but not so much with the attack. Which for me is one of the main reasons why we scored a lot and conceded too many (obviously style of play is another).

 

[Wandering Yellow]

If one thing amazes me more than anything else in transfer windows (and there's some stiff competition!) it is the credence given to Oxford Mail reports!

No disrespect to James Roberts but he's taken two or three quotes from an interview and come up with this story, and likely several more follow up stories in the coming days.

Firstly, let's look at the positives. Robinson (and the club) have kept so much close to their chest this season but is talking about bringing in an established centre back from another country when their window opens. With our previous interests that could point to someone like Stuart Findlay or Danny Wilson (solid signings) or maybe Tyler Blackett who can play centre back or left back and has a decent pedigree.

With other deals barely spoken about, you'd have to think that this was pretty much a done deal bar a few little tweaks for it to be mentioned.

So, established and experienced left sided centre back? Tick.

Then we have the comment about playing 3 or 4 at the back. The reality is that the 3 mainly worked because we had Luke McNally able to drive out of the defence as a surprise package. Once he left it is very difficult to guarantee having a player with the same ability. It doesn't mean that we can't go that way, but does mean that we won't build a team around it. Without seeing who we bring in or how we set up that is a bit of a nothing argument right now.

So we're left with the Mous comment! Yes, he can do a job as we saw at Shrewsbury. No, he can't do this week in, week out or even in consecutive games unless there's been a huge improvement in his knee and fitness in general.

However, I'm not so sure that we won't look to bring in an additional centre back in the McNally development model, OR James Golding will become that developing player. Either way, Mous will be little more than emergency cover and may not even make the EFL rota and will only get game time in the PJT.

Of course there will be those who say that Golding isn't ready, but they were saying the same about McNally last summer and Atkinson the summer before that.

If, Mous is in the squad (and it's still very much an if) then let's wait and see who the other 21 are before we start plans to storm the boardroom. If, as I suspect, we have a couple of u21's in the matchday squad then we may have 24/25 eligible outfield players and Mous is little more than a bonus player if everything else goes tits up.

Either way, we have hundreds of posts on the basis of little more than an Oxford Mail quote that we've given little credibility to hundreds of times before.

You really think a 17 year old kid or a 36-year-old crock is acceptable back-up for a team that supposedly has ambitions of getting out of this league?

When can we finally see some NEW talented faces through the door?

We needn't even discuss formations until we know what players we actually have at out disposal. We're about to get into July, so far this window has been abysmal. We have to act fast or a slow start to the season is near guaranteed.

 

[Wandering Yellow]

Karl Robinson is only 41 and had a decent record in non-league, could be a good back-up to Taylor?

 

[Bornyellow]

Are there any highly rated League 2 centre backs we could try and lure to the club?

Fraser Horsfall was available, very highly rated but has taken the money on offer from Stockport instead of moving up a league. This is defiantly a growing theme in the lower leagues players would rather take the easy good money then what appears to be the better career move.

 

[Followtheox1]

I can understand why. The characteristics of McNally are going to be difficult to replace and his qualities really suit a back three. It's also why he shone so well because we allowed him freedom to get forward (you only need to look at the 'highlight reels' to know what people appreciate!). With respect, John Mousinho, Elliott Moore or many more traditional centre halves they can't do that so it definitely blunts us offensively because centre halves are generally more static. Without that offensive centre half with pace and composure to carry the ball through the midfield lines, we are less likely to get the ball forward and transition from defensive unit to offensive, quickly.

He's essentially 'cheating' and becomes more of a winger or direct midfielder which is an incredibly rare commodity. Very simply, we aren't going to find another player in our budget like him barring a miracle. You might find another traditional centre half (an Elliott Moore for example) who isn't a bad player, he just won't have the same attributes as McNally who makes the three at the back so workable and attractive. Maybe that will see a change in style? Who knows.

You might be right and SEgg has alluded to this too in their post but the issue I have is that playing 3 at the back is a pretty common modern formation that lots of clubs use. Therefore the idea that there are no other CBs out there who can play in this formation doesn't make sense. We went to three at the back not just because of how it was defensively but also it worked up top too. I still find it strange that Robinson has seemingly based this whole idea on one player and, therefore, has our recruitment strategy now changed with sale of one player?

 

[Wandering Yellow]

Left footed or right?

Christ they could be no-footed just want to see someone sign at this point.

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

Christ they could be no-footed just want to see someone sign at this point.

Would you rather sign an average player now or a brilliant player in one month?

 

[Osei Yaw]

Is there an upper age limit when it comes to squad places?
Do "over 35`s" count?
Do player/coach roles count?

Why do you ask? Are you thinking of dusting off your boots and giving the club a call?

 

[Wandering Yellow]

Would you rather sign an average player now or a brilliant player in one month?

It depends. An average league one player now would be able to train with us and be match ready for Derby.

I would take the brilliant player, but only if it was CERTAIN we could get him. If we hold out and miss out we are in panic buy territory.

 

[Scotchegg]

You really think a 17 year old kid or a 36-year-old crock is acceptable back-up for a team that supposedly has ambitions of getting out of this league?

When can we finally see some NEW talented faces through the door?

We needn't even discuss formations until we know what players we actually have at out disposal. We're about to get into July, so far this window has been abysmal. We have to act fast or a slow start to the season is near guaranteed.

Sorry, can you have another go, that one is just a load of froth!!!

 

[andystroud]

Sorry, can you have another go, that one is just a load of froth!!!

View attachment 9181

Even you have to admit that this glass is at least half empty