| Jan priorities 10:04 - Jan 2 with 2210 views | _clive_baker_ |
I don't see central de-fence as an area we need to do too much with. Tuanzebe, Woolf and Edmundson are all very capable, all at a good age and with 3 players for the 2 positions we should be well covered. We've then got Burgess coming back of course to give us the full contingent of 4. I think we've got nice balance there, good quality, and players that know our system really well. Just feels like change for the sake of change if we tinkered there to me.
Hopefully Davis' injury isn't too bad and he's back fit for Sunderland. Clarke is playing well and looking good, Williams is very capable but presumably there's question marks over his fitness given he was left out yesterday in favour of moving Clarke out of position and playing Tuanzebe at right back. Hopefully he can use this period to get back to his best. There's potentially an opportunity to strengthen at full back.
Chaplin, Broadhead, Burns, Hutchinson at full tilt is a 3 from 4 decision, with Harness and Jackson offering the legs off the bench. 1 upgrade on those and to challenge Burns and / or Broadhead would be good to see, Sarmiento might be that guy.
Central midfield is an issue for me. We've got quantity in Morsy, Luongo, Taylor and Ball but I'm not convinced we have the quality. Ball is as good as done here, he'll be off in the summer. I think this is an opportunity to bring in a partner for Morsy and someone to really push Mass.
The glaring problem area is centre forward though innit, we need 2 in, and ideally 2 that are proven and can hit the ground running. I think we need to work on the basis that we won't have Hirst available much before the end of the season, it's going to be tough for him to recover and get up to full fitness.
So for me we're looking at 5:
CM
Wide man
Number 9 (x 2)
Right back
Likely 3 or 4 of those could be on loan I would think. |  | | |  |
| Jan priorities on 10:13 - Jan 2 with 2159 views | itfcjoe |
I just think the CM replacement is so difficult, are we going to get better than Ball to cover the next 2 matches and that may be it until the end of the season? Think Taylor the one there to push Mass but agree on the rest
If a high quality CM pops up as available then by all means pull the trigger but wouldn’t expend too much energy looking for it |  |
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| Jan priorities on 10:25 - Jan 2 with 2119 views | _clive_baker_ |
| Jan priorities on 10:13 - Jan 2 by itfcjoe |
I just think the CM replacement is so difficult, are we going to get better than Ball to cover the next 2 matches and that may be it until the end of the season? Think Taylor the one there to push Mass but agree on the rest
If a high quality CM pops up as available then by all means pull the trigger but wouldn’t expend too much energy looking for it |
I think it's an area where we have to strengthen, but only if its a significant upgrade vs. what we have. And by that I mean someone who doesn't just cover Morsy short term, but becomes part of the succession plan and the partner for him in the interim. We're not in a position where we need numbers, but Ball and Evans are done here, and Massimo and Morsy aren't getting any younger. It's the 1 area where I would like to see us get the cheque book out either now or in the summer and really invest in some quality to kick us on a level. Just feels like such a good opportunity to do it now given where we are in the league.
I love Massimo, and he's still got a big role to play, but Ball doesn't offer enough for me.
I'm very interested to see who we turn to for a Hirst replacement. Stansfield is the obvious one but I think there will be a curveball. | | | |
| Jan priorities on 12:09 - Jan 2 with 2006 views | southnorfolkblue |
| Jan priorities on 10:25 - Jan 2 by _clive_baker_ |
I think it's an area where we have to strengthen, but only if its a significant upgrade vs. what we have. And by that I mean someone who doesn't just cover Morsy short term, but becomes part of the succession plan and the partner for him in the interim. We're not in a position where we need numbers, but Ball and Evans are done here, and Massimo and Morsy aren't getting any younger. It's the 1 area where I would like to see us get the cheque book out either now or in the summer and really invest in some quality to kick us on a level. Just feels like such a good opportunity to do it now given where we are in the league.
I love Massimo, and he's still got a big role to play, but Ball doesn't offer enough for me.
I'm very interested to see who we turn to for a Hirst replacement. Stansfield is the obvious one but I think there will be a curveball. |
But Ball is only going to play when Morsy is unavailable. We are not going to persuade anyone of any quality to come here and be Morsy’s back up. Ball does a job and doesn’t upset the applecart when he’s not playing. The time to upgrade him is the summer when perhaps El Miz stakes a claim to be part of the squad |  |
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| Jan priorities on 12:16 - Jan 2 with 1978 views | _clive_baker_ |
| Jan priorities on 12:09 - Jan 2 by southnorfolkblue |
But Ball is only going to play when Morsy is unavailable. We are not going to persuade anyone of any quality to come here and be Morsy’s back up. Ball does a job and doesn’t upset the applecart when he’s not playing. The time to upgrade him is the summer when perhaps El Miz stakes a claim to be part of the squad |
I'm not suggesting we try and persuade anyone to come in here and be Morsy's understudy, there's no value in that. I think it's an area where we need to push the boat out in the not too distant future and sign a nailed on starter, to partner Morsy and form part of the succession plan with regards to our central midfield. It might not be in this window, but it's going to be necessary soon, and given the position we're in now if the right player became available I think it could go a long way to kicking us on to promotion. | | | |
| Jan priorities on 12:24 - Jan 2 with 1923 views | Stewart27 |
I agree on all of this.
But to add I’d like the wide man to be able to cover the 3 behind the 9. Chappers is ever present but I’d like somebody to be pushing him for his place or to just take the pressure off him a bit. | | | |
| Jan priorities on 12:27 - Jan 2 with 1894 views | Mullet |
| Jan priorities on 12:16 - Jan 2 by _clive_baker_ |
I'm not suggesting we try and persuade anyone to come in here and be Morsy's understudy, there's no value in that. I think it's an area where we need to push the boat out in the not too distant future and sign a nailed on starter, to partner Morsy and form part of the succession plan with regards to our central midfield. It might not be in this window, but it's going to be necessary soon, and given the position we're in now if the right player became available I think it could go a long way to kicking us on to promotion. |
There's an argument we need a replacement for Morsy/Mass if we are eyeing Prem football too, albeit a cold and calculating one. Can't see January being the time to do that.
I really like Ball and his versatility but he is only going to come in to disjointed sides and it shows. Had we had a more familiar side and he was trying to find Hirst or Burns etc against QPR would he have looked better? |  |
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| Jan priorities on 12:27 - Jan 2 with 1893 views | SomethingBlue |
That's about right, and I agree with you re the midfield, we need to be alert to opportunities there. Up front it would be really good to get a "knows the division" type in, I think. Wouldn't be averse to someone like Kieffer Moore, even if he doesn't quite stretch teams like Hirst, or Sam Gallagher (mentioned yesterday) if we could get him match fit. Both would appear doable in theory. | |
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| Jan priorities on 17:15 - Jan 2 with 1681 views | BtreeBlueBlood |
Saints leeds and Leicester have a bigger strike force than we do.
We did until recently been able to score goals from any position and thought we wouldn’t be relying on 1 player!
It’s worrying that the goals have dried up! Even Moresys goal was deflected.
Our strikers
Not having Hurst
Not being able to totally rely on Ladapo as shown by others being picked in front of him ( Jackson not a striker, scarlet now gone)
So definitely need 2 if not 3 strikers - but who will sell or loan a goalscorer??? |  | | |
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| Jan priorities on 17:24 - Jan 2 with 1622 views | Dubtractor |
| Jan priorities on 12:27 - Jan 2 by Mullet |
There's an argument we need a replacement for Morsy/Mass if we are eyeing Prem football too, albeit a cold and calculating one. Can't see January being the time to do that.
I really like Ball and his versatility but he is only going to come in to disjointed sides and it shows. Had we had a more familiar side and he was trying to find Hirst or Burns etc against QPR would he have looked better? |
No, he wouldn't.
I know I've got a bit of a downer on Ball, but he really isn't suited to the way we play at all. Far too conservative and slow, and I've not seen him have a decent performance for us yet. Someone described him the other day as being like Skuse at the end of his time here - Ok at holding position and recycling the ball, but just far too static. |  |
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| Jan priorities on 17:26 - Jan 2 with 1613 views | jayessess |
Did my transfer window priorities here:
https://jacksaunders.substack.com/p/the-bwn-transfer-window-preview
Since I've written it (a week ago!) several things are not out of date.
1. I didn't think we'd need another full back, but Williams playing 0 minutes yesterday is ominous for his future here.
2. Hirst obviously wasn't the Grade 2 hamstring strain 4-8-week job we'd hoped it was, so that's even more urgent than it was.
3. We're clearly getting Sarmiento, rather than looking at the older players I've suggested.
On the extra centre-mid, it's basically still this situation for me:
"Morsy/Luongo/Taylor: There are two reasonable assumptions here. The first is that Sam Morsy will play every single possible minute in the deeper of the two pivot roles and that anyone else will be filling in during the 2-5 games he might be suspended for. The second is that Jack Taylor was signed for a reason and is being queued up for Massimo Luongo’s spot at some point, which for me doesn’t leave much space to recruit someone into. The question therefore is how good a player can you get to be Morsy’s understudy?" |  |
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| Jan priorities on 17:52 - Jan 2 with 1510 views | Vic |
I think you’ve pretty much nailed it.
But I cannot see us being able to afford getting an upgrade on Morsy or Mass this window. I’d leave that until the summer.
I’d be throwing the kitchen sink at 1 or 2 forwards this window. Not only do we need one now, but we also need one going forward. So someone like St@nsfield for the future and another better, more mature forward for the present. The latter I think will have to be a Prem loan. |  |
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| Jan priorities on 08:24 - Jan 3 with 1178 views | Churchman |
| Jan priorities on 17:52 - Jan 2 by Vic |
I think you’ve pretty much nailed it.
But I cannot see us being able to afford getting an upgrade on Morsy or Mass this window. I’d leave that until the summer.
I’d be throwing the kitchen sink at 1 or 2 forwards this window. Not only do we need one now, but we also need one going forward. So someone like St@nsfield for the future and another better, more mature forward for the present. The latter I think will have to be a Prem loan. |
Agree with this. Forward(s) are the absolute priority. I’d leave the midfield and defence alone and overall do everything to avoid jeopardising squad spirit/cohesion. |  | | |
| Jan priorities on 08:28 - Jan 3 with 1167 views | Kieran_Knows |
Centre back will probably come down to whether Edmundson wants to leave to get more regular football. I don't think McKenna would want to pass up on someone like Hughes from Wigan or Cresswell from Leeds either if a) we are at all interested and b) they're available for the right price given their upsell if they kick on here. |  |
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| Jan priorities on 11:36 - Jan 3 with 983 views | cressi |
| Jan priorities on 17:24 - Jan 2 by Dubtractor |
No, he wouldn't.
I know I've got a bit of a downer on Ball, but he really isn't suited to the way we play at all. Far too conservative and slow, and I've not seen him have a decent performance for us yet. Someone described him the other day as being like Skuse at the end of his time here - Ok at holding position and recycling the ball, but just far too static. |
I agree far to slow and pondous in my view don't give us enough I would play Taylor or Humpreys before him even though they are not holding players | | | |
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