Summer transfer window 2021

[jacketspuds]

10 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

I imagine another midfielder will come in. Don’t see the clamour for a DM, think that idea has just spiralled and embedded itself into this forum. 
 

Though that said, our squad is pretty decent and I expect us to push on, anywhere between 6th and 9th I imagine this season. 

Is the 6th-9th prediction based on the current squad, or on the basis of us signing another midfielder?

Right now I could see a similar finish to last season.

[KevinRichardsonsMoustache]

6 hours ago, Jas10 said:

Doesn’t Kamara fit our transfer strategy or profile perfectly? I’d be shocked if he wasn’t on some kind of shortlist…

Already so good at just 21, massive potential, value will rise incredibly, can be bought for a bargain fee… will fit into the team too and should be ready to make an impact…

Knows and has played with Sanson and they can help each other settle… BT’s there to land a hand too as another French speaker… (ooh friends!).

But maybe we feel we don’t need such a player and that we have plenty of midfielders as is… would be an excellent signing for us though… we can replace and sell Nakamba and move Conor out ASAP…

He seems to tick a lot of the boxes of our current strategy.
 

I wonder if there’s another element to all this, though? We have this list of suitable targets but there’s also a development pathway that they have in mind for Ramsey etc: so if Ramsey or others aren’t at x point by a certain time then we move: otherwise, we don’t want to block their development.

Equally, I think this is why they keep people like Conor around: to help those young players along that development pathway. 

[CVByrne]

My assumption about another Midfielder signing was that Ramsey wasn't going to get as much game time this season and would go out on loan possibly. He's impressed in the two games so far this season so unless we go for an upgrade on Nakamba I can see why we might be done for the summer signings.

I think we'll see plenty of games when we're at home with just 2  central midfilders with Watkins and Ings up top. So it'll be hard getting game time for the 5 we have and Chukwuemeka too. 

[bobzy]

41 minutes ago, jacketspuds said:

Is the 6th-9th prediction based on the current squad, or on the basis of us signing another midfielder?

Right now I could see a similar finish to last season.

I’d be fine with that. Ideally 10th+ though.

[Kiwivillan]

1 hour ago, Tommo_b said:

I imagine another midfielder will come in. Don’t see the clamour for a DM, think that idea has just spiralled and embedded itself into this forum. 
 

Though that said, our squad is pretty decent and I expect us to push on, anywhere between 6th and 9th I imagine this season. 

And other forums, podcasts, FB, Twitter. I agree though as far as I think the management is concerned right now. 

Edited August 23, 2021 by Kiwivillan

[Tommo_b]

59 minutes ago, jacketspuds said:

Is the 6th-9th prediction based on the current squad, or on the basis of us signing another midfielder?

Right now I could see a similar finish to last season.

Yeah with the current squad, Bailey, Buendia and Ings with Young are great signings, our goal output has probably increased by a good amount, as good as Grealish is, he didn’t score very many, he just looked good because the alternatives were El Ghazi and Trezeguet who are both woefully wasteful. 
 

We now have TWO goal scorers who will reach double figures, and new players who can score goals, and pick a killer pass and cross a ball. 

i mean, once fully fit and settled, we are going to be dangerous, and that is added to our already strong defensive unit. 

We don’t need a DM, would be be good to have one sometimes, sure, options are always welcome, but this squad is looking real top half quality and we should all be excited for the season ahead.    

[M_Afro]

3 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

Yeah with the current squad, Bailey, Buendia and Ings with Young are great signings, our goal output has probably increased by a good amount, as good as Grealish is, he didn’t score very many, he just looked good because the alternatives were El Ghazi and Trezeguet who are both woefully wasteful. 
 

We now have TWO goal scorers who will reach double figures, and new players who can score goals, and pick a killer pass and cross a ball. 

i mean, once fully fit and settled, we are going to be dangerous, and that is added to our already strong defensive unit. 

We don’t need a DM, would be be good to have one sometimes, sure, options are always welcome, but this squad is looking real top half quality and we should all be excited for the season ahead.    

I think Dean will play a two man central midfield at times. If he does this then we desperately need an athletic, physical and intelligent DCM. I also think having that type of player in a three would improve us and give the other two greater license to get forward.

[Kiwivillan]

20 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

I think Dean will play a two man central midfield at times. If he does this then we desperately need an athletic, physical and intelligent DCM. I also think having that type of player in a three would improve us and give the other two greater license to get forward.

Luiz and McGinn last season we won games. Do they not count?

[Awol]

5 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

Luiz and McGinn last season we won games. Do they not count?

Such a reductive argument. Yes we won some games with them as a two. The question is whether we can more games with those two plus a better DM to break up and recycle play. There’s a reason we wanted JWP. 

[Kiwivillan]

Just now, Awol said:

Such a reductive argument. Yes we won some games with them as a two. The question is whether we can more games with those two plus a better DM to break up and recycle play. There’s a reason we wanted JWP. 

JWP is a CM. Romeu is a DM. Hojbjerg was more a DM before he went to Spurs

[Delphinho123]

14 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

Luiz and McGinn last season we won games. Do they not count?

We finished 11th. The idea is to improve. We won’t be finishing higher than 11th if Luiz plays as much as he did last season.

[jacketspuds]

I think there's a difference between playing 2 CM's in a 4-4-2 vs. a 4-2-3-1.

I can't see how we are going to fit Ings and Watkins in the team together outside of a 4-4-2, especially as it would be crazy to stick Watkins on the left, and I really don't see either of them playing as a CAM in a 4-2-3-1.

I'm not confident that our current midfield options can work in a 4-4-2.

[Awol]

5 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

JWP is a CM. Romeu is a DM. Hojbjerg was more a DM before he went to Spurs

I think the plan was to play JWP as a 6 or at least the deepest lying midfielder of a 3. With McGinn, Sanson, Luiz, JJ and Carney blowing the budget on another 8 to compete with them doesn’t make sense, imo. Not that it matters now, but if we do sign a DM before the window shuts they’ll be playing the role we wanted JWP to fill - imo. 

[Phil Silvers]

I think JWP is in between a CM and a DM(maybe close to a modern dm), his awareness, positioning, covering and short passing(my feeling, no stats to back this one up) were exemplary yesterday.

He is exactly what we need, he has learnt his trade very well and the reason people think he's just a dead ball specialist is that they do not watch him closely enough. He makes you tick and does it so seamlessly that he often goes unnoticed. Him and Bissouma behind our front 4 would lift us to another level. 

[Kiwivillan]

Some of the obsession about other clubs players and writing off our current ones is absolute cringe

[Steero113]

1 minute ago, Kiwivillan said:

Some of the obsession about other clubs players and writing off our current ones is absolute cringe

So much this. 

The way other fans talk of McGinn and Luiz for example is just totally opposite to 70% of the content on their pages. 

[Awol]

9 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said:

Him and Bissouma behind our front 4 would lift us to another level. 

A JWP level player and Bissouma would put us on par with Leicester, imo. 

[Rolta]

6 minutes ago, Steero113 said:

So much this. 

The way other fans talk of McGinn and Luiz for example is just totally opposite to 70% of the content on their pages. 

Because chances are other fans barely watch them. That's not a dig at those two, but both of them have limitations and it's not crazy for people to discuss those limitations. 

[nick76]

3 minutes ago, Rolta said:

Because chances are other fans barely watch them. That's not a dig at those two, but both of them have limitations and it's not crazy for people to discuss those limitations. 

But the players our fans crave are likely the same and we don’t discuss their limitations because we’ve barely watched them and rave about the positives.  So many of the players fans have wanted over the years have gone onto to do nothing at a mid to lower level but at the time fans thought they were perfect for us.

[Rolta]

18 minutes ago, nick76 said:

But the players our fans crave are likely the same and we don’t discuss their limitations because we’ve barely watched them and rave about the positives.  So many of the players fans have wanted over the years have gone onto to do nothing at a mid to lower level but at the time fans thought they were perfect for us.

It works the other way too...a lot of players we're linked to (ASM, JWP) it seems are massively underrated by fans who seem genuinely to have not seen them play. But then I haven't seen them play much either, so what do I know?