Transfer News January 2023 Transfer window thread

[Fred]

The service to Taylor has been generally poor, but his lack of energy has stood out all season. I don't think Taylor staying would have made much difference.

 

[AbsoluteZero]

In addition to those that have been moved out as earlier listed in this thread, since the last transfer window we have also lost and not replaced:

Gorrin - injured
Baldock - didn't make it back at the end of September as promised except for a token gesture on the bench for a single game, does anyone really believe he is almost fit
Browne - is forever injured and seems to play 5 miss 10 and can't be relied upon
Golding - on loan just as he was around the first team squad
Spasov - on loan as well having made a few brief first team appearances and did OK in them
Murphy - who can't be bothered

And we already hadn't filled all the available squad spaces. The squad is seriously thin and whether Taylor was going to contribute or not at least he was a body in the building. As long as we get another 15 points I suppose.

 

[NewburyYellow]

Murphy does have a tear for those complaining about his lack of effort

 

[Yellow2K22]

I’m not sure Taylor going is a problem at all…. He used to be great and we owe him a lot of respect but my god this season he has been dire. Poor blokes legs look completely shot, we can’t blame lack of service completely, Joseph has scored 2 more and been out for 2 months. He is not the answer if we want to progress sadly / rightly as hard as it is to take.

 

[Mad Dog]

Why has the world turned into one big game of catchphrase? I am s**t at it.

Say what you see

 

[werthersoriginal]

I’m not sure Taylor going is a problem at all…. He used to be great and we owe him a lot of respect but my god this season he has been dire. Poor blokes legs look completely shot, we can’t blame lack of service completely, Joseph has scored 2 more and been out for 2 months. He is not the answer if we want to progress sadly / rightly as hard as it is to take.

He really has done nothing this season. Bodin has played less and has been rubbish but has scored twice as many, and he's not our centre forward. I bet he does OK alongside Ellis Harrison though. Wouldn't it have been easier for us simply to have signed Harrison or similar?

 

[Front Post]

Murphy does have a tear for those complaining about his lack of effort

It's a micro tear, similar to Nathan Holland.

We knew about it, we knew it would need to be managed sensibly, and we knew it would impact on his ability to feature for 40+ games, but we did expect to be able to manage it to have him available for a good 30 or so.

Whether it has been managed properly is up for discussion.

Personally, I'd say 70mins v Cambridge after barely any football in pre-season was utterly mental. And rather set the scene for the rest of the season.

 

[Yellow2K22]

He really has done nothing this season. Bodin has played less and has been rubbish but has scored twice as many, and he's not our centre forward. I bet he does OK alongside Ellis Harrison though. Wouldn't it have been easier for us simply to have signed Harrison or similar?

Spot on the fact that bodin, of all people has outscored the ‘talisman’ striker is enough information for me

 

[Northernyellow]

I'm not so sure Taylor's legs have gone. I think it's more likely that: a) we have been lumping long balls to a bloke who's 5.8 expecting him to win in the air against 6.2 centre halves, and: b) we are just not creating any chances for him- the quick balls through the channels have completely disappeared this season. He's a very good L1 player and, given the right service, he'll still score goals. But I expect KR has considered all this, and thought it all through very carefully, as he always seems to do.

 

[yellowbow]

Good review unification.

Apart from the Taylor loan which I fear may be a mistake, there is another glaring failure in the window and that is the lack of a defensive midfielder signing. The center of our midfield has been physically weak all season and this has not been addressed I think this means we could still ship goals, my hope is now we may at least score some.

For me overall this window has been barely adequate. The squad is still paper thin packed with too many waste of space players. We have little cover outside of the first team bar youth players. Currently a lot rides on Smith to provide goals I hope this works, or we further strengthen. We should barring a bad run finish somewhere mid-table.

At the end of this season we face the mother of all rebuilds as this squad is pretty poor, or on loan (and even then we may be stuck with some of our waste of space players who were signed on stupid contracts). There are still massive questions for me over the commitment of the owners to the club and ther plans to take it forwards (especially on the playing side). The manager issue is the big question regarding their commitment or even competence to take us forwards. One thing is true we certainly aren't "going for it" any more we seem to be in a rather minimal cost holding pattern.

Millman, your Posts are always ones I respect and take notice of. You don’t post a lot but when you do they raise good issues.

Your last point is one that I think a lot of people are too ready to dismiss. The owners have done a lot of good for the club and it seems almost disrespectful to criticise anything they do, but what you say can’t be ignored. There seems to have been a shift in the strategy in the last few months and things don’t feel quite right.

With the recruitment it’s hard to see where the blame really lies. The squad is now paper thin and a muddled mess. Is that down to KR or the owners? If Karl’s hands are now tied I don’t think for one minute he’d take the rap for it and not call it out. But conversely, if it’s all down to KR’s ineptitude why are the owners putting up with it?!

So many unanswered questions at the moment. I’ve lost a lot of faith in both GF and TW.

 

[RyanioBirdio]

It's a micro tear, similar to Nathan Holland.

We knew about it, we knew it would need to be managed sensibly, and we knew it would impact on his ability to feature for 40+ games, but we did expect to be able to manage it to have him available for a good 30 or so.

Whether it has been managed properly is up for discussion.

Personally, I'd say 70mins v Cambridge after barely any football in pre-season was utterly mental. And rather set the scene for the rest of the season.

Yup.

People also point to Yanic not having an injury record prior to arriving, but he was thrown into a game of football 24 hours after flying into the country on the back of no meaningful pre-season conditioning. He hadn’t trained at all with us. He asked Chris Williams to give him photos of the team with their names on it so that he could learn who everybody was, as he was going to be playing the next day. It’s all good and well saying he had a good injury record until then, but I would wager he wasn’t previously thrown into games without being anywhere near fit. Injuries can be created; it’s not all about the player’s past when bad decisions are made in the present.

Browne’s been rushed back previously and was playing with a tight hamstring for weeks and weeks before he got properly injured again, and Gorrin was never fully fit either. Baldock playing on the plastic pitch and immediately disappearing for the next seven months and counting, Ciaron Brown constantly playing through knocks and strains which thankfully we seem to have gotten away with… I’m not sure injuries can keep being pointed to as unlucky and impossible to predict in many cases.

Here’s hoping that Tyler Smith stays fit.

 

[holdsteady]

I'm not so sure Taylor's legs have gone. I think it's more likely that: a) we have been lumping long balls to a bloke who's 5.8 expecting him to win in the air against 6.2 centre halves, and: b) we are just not creating any chances for him- the quick balls through the channels have completely disappeared this season. He's a very good L1 player and, given the right service, he'll still score goals. But I expect KR has considered all this, and thought it all through very carefully, as he always seems to do.

Us being shite hasn't helped but he has been part of that, he has lost a yard of pace and his game was about getting in front of the defenders to nick a goal, he can't do that anymore so has had to try and change his style of play, it hasn't really worked for him.

I don't have a problem with him going, I do have a problem with us only bringing in one player to replace him and using Baldock as a reason for that, now his legs definitely have gone.

 

[Nadi-]

Like a trial or just training to stay fit? It's a strange thing to do mid season still.

They’ll be having a look as no doubt we have/are

 

[Swaby39]

For me it's not Taylor specifically that is the cause for concern as unless we're going to play to his strengths it's pointless having him. My issue is simply that there's one less pair of legs in the squad when we haven't got the luxury of numbers. We are so badly lacking not only in depth to rotate but in the options to change games. I find it odd that his game time would be reduced so heavily by the arrival of one player so that tells me all KR's eggs are in the Tyler Smith basket and regardless of whether he sinks or swims, he's going to play ahead of Taylor.

Controversially, if a striker arrives here in the next week or so to take Taylor's place who offers us a different attacking dimension then I'm actually broadly OK with this change. If not, the time to let him go would've been at the end of his contract. The flippancy of KR to say his injured cherubs are all of a sudden going to play regularly when they haven't for nearly a year is laughable and I take offence at how stupid he thinks our fan base is.

 

[ThatSlopesATwelfthMan]

Good review unification.

Apart from the Taylor loan which I fear may be a mistake, there is another glaring failure in the window and that is the lack of a defensive midfielder signing. The center of our midfield has been physically weak all season and this has not been addressed I think this means we could still ship goals, my hope is now we may at least score some.

For me overall this window has been barely adequate. The squad is still paper thin packed with too many waste of space players. We have little cover outside of the first team bar youth players. Currently a lot rides on Smith to provide goals I hope this works, or we further strengthen. We should barring a bad run finish somewhere mid-table.

At the end of this season we face the mother of all rebuilds as this squad is pretty poor, or on loan (and even then we may be stuck with some of our waste of space players who were signed on stupid contracts). There are still massive questions for me over the commitment of the owners to the club and ther plans to take it forwards (especially on the playing side). The manager issue is the big question regarding their commitment or even competence to take us forwards. One thing is true we certainly aren't "going for it" any more we seem to be in a rather minimal cost holding pattern.

Spot on. A disciplined CDM is necessary for KRs version of 4-3-3 to work in L1. Gorrin, at his most effective, was to all intents and purposes a third defender spending as much time scanning and covering for the main two as progressing the ball. That he could break up play and get a tackle in *slightly* further forward was important too but it was his enabling role for others that made the most difference and allowed us to be swashbucklers elsewhere. At one point this worked so well Sam Long and Josh Ruffels looked like Brazilians. For the last year we've mainly played Herbie Kane then Marcus McGuane in that position with predictable and disastrous results. All while continuing to sign attacking wingbacks and lightweight, technical midfielders. Watching McGuane consistently take up the wrong position at the wrong time every time is almost becoming a joke now. Forces Brannagan to try and play three different roles, leaves no room for Bate to move and find a positive pass, and crucially provides no leeway for our central defenders to cover the gaping holes on each wing. All extenuated by swapping energetic devils like Sykes and Williams who could be relied upon to at least buzz around and make life difficult for the opposition with cultured but less sparky replacements. Without a proper CDM joining this window (again) we simply have to stop flip flopping, look at the players we actually do have and adopt a back three as our default then get settled into that shape. We'll still concede a few and won't have the same type of threat that came from Dickie/Atkinson etc. but at least that would give us a shout. Personally I'd start with Moore, Long (as a pseudo CDM in possession) with Findlay on the left due to his aggression and selflessness but understand the case for Brown.

 

[Hook]

One important thing to remember is Taylor was clearly happy to take the opportunity to move on at this point.
I expect, he would have only gone to Vale with Clarke being the manager and to play with again one of his best pals/strike partners across his career in Ellis Harrison.

The suggestion on the grapevine was that he was told there was no certainty on a contract for next season and that his gametime would be decreased in the final 18 games, with the other options that have come in and the expectancy that the injured players will be back for selection to impact on a reasonable number of the remaining games. And if he wanted more regular game time, then it would need to be elsewhere.

I do wonder if he or his agent put a little nudge into Darrell Clarke to see if there was any chance that Vale could create a deal that works for everyone.

What we do in the summer if he goes and scores a few goals now will be interesting.
Though this does feel quite final and if he does well at Vale, I'd fully expect him to take a contract there, probably a 2 year on less money than we pay.
I couldn't see us offering more than a 1 year with an option anyway and based on his season so far - that would be completely understandable.

It feels like the classic example of someone having the opportunity for a new chapter, and the fact it can be with a manager who he did so well under before, it's pretty ideal for Taylor.

I already can't be bothered with having to read about what a wrong decision it was after he's bagged a few this month.

Was an attempt made to bring in another striker to replace Taylor. In truth, I think we needed two anyway, without Taylors departure. Is it likely an OOC player rocks up in the next few days?

 

[Chippy]

I thought about the Taylor scenario long and hard and the more I think about the more bizarre it is. I wonder if we’ve got a loan fee? If not in wages terms we’ve saved about what £30k?

An out of contract player now will possibly cost us nearly as much or more than that saving no doubt and should have been in the door weeks ago. It was thought we needed two new strikers even with Matty staying in case his supposed knee injury from Sat was serious. It turns out that knee injury must have been a total fabrication. So we’ve got one striker in and one out now, simply bonkers. Konate is not a striker, but more a Browne or Bodin type player.

Agree Taylor has not been at his best, but that’s down to awful service and the number of games played. It also actually stems from when he was forced to play the full game against Leyton Orient reserves when we were already winning easily and he got injured, another ridiculous management decision from KR.

We have now put enormous pressure on the two new signings to deliver immediately with this move (especially Smith), and pressure on GO’D too. All we had to do was keep Matty, he’s contracted to us and would easily have found another club at the end of this season anyway. He could have been tried in a 2 with Smith if we wanted or been a super sub and there if anyone was injured. We’re stretched as it is and now we’ve put pressure on new and young players, and aggravated the already toxic atmosphere round the place. Port Vale clearly wanted him more than any of the out of contract options, that tells a story!

 

[DavidB]

It’s all about service. When did we last see a winger get to the bye line and pull back a cross into a dangerous area?

Tyler Goodram against Ipswich?

 

[Foley]

Far too much rationale for this forum, FP, please reconsider in future, only hysteria is allowed!

Indeed

 

[bazzer9461]

Had time to take this in now

We all agree that Taylor is past his best, however we have to point out that a player like him thrives on service. He is not a loan striker who you hit long balls to,which we have been doing all season.
Now you have to play to the strengths of the man you have as your main goal scorer, last season we did that this season we haven’t.

If we are now replacing Taylor with an out of contract player which surely is what’s happened,it has to be a completely different sort of striker.
Connor Wickham isn’t that man,so again I assume that KR will bring in someone who we will say fair enough he is a decent replacement.

If not and there is no replacement or like for like player KR’s position is untenable and he has to go

It’s his (KR) thing playing the loan striker and it doesn’t work……he will never learn.