Transfer Rumour Frank Onyeka (135 Viewers)

StrettoBoy · 2026-02-02T10:02:40+0000

Para1140 said:
Everyone banking on Onyeka being the magic answer to our awful performances since xmas.

It does seem to be expecting a lot for one player to turn our fortunes around and yet, in this instance, I am cautiously optimistic that he could.

I say this because (a) I think it might herald a change in formation and in our excessively gung ho approach and (b) if Onyeka is the player we believe him to be then, for me at least, he fills an obvious gap in our squad. We clearly have some very good players by Championship standards but we don't have a battling, tough-tackling, energetic, ball-winning midfielder.

If he can help us to win the next two games then it could help restore some confidence in the team, which has understandably been lacking lately.

PUSB

Speedie's Head · 2026-02-02T10:07:13+0000

Otis said:
Yeah, agree.lnand that was vey poor. I am saying our general play wasn't poor though. It was just ridiculous mistakes. All three goals against Birmingham were mistakes.

The list is too long just to brush them off as personal mistakes though. They come from being overstretched in the middle of the park and playing too high a line. There was good reason that playing two wingers went out of fashion as pitches became much better and I think we are seeing the downside of that approach.

Lamps · 2026-02-02T10:08:31+0000

StrettoBoy said:
It does seem to be expecting a lot for one player to turn our fortunes around and yet, in this instance, I am cautiously optimistic that he could.

I say this because (a) I think it might herald a change in formation and in our excessively gung ho approach and (b) if Onyeka is the player we believe him to be then, for me at least, he fills an obvious gap in our squad. We clearly have some very good players by Championship standards but we don't have a battling, tough-tackling, energetic, ball-winning midfielder.

If he can help us to win the next two games then it could help restore some confidence in the team, which has understandably been lacking lately.

PUSB

I haven't seen our last couple of results being because of a lack of confidence. More like a weak link between the defence and midfield with mistakes costing us goals.

Brighton Sky Blue · 2026-02-02T10:11:44+0000

Lamps said:
I haven't seen our last couple of results being because of a lack of confidence. More like a weak link between the defence and midfield with mistakes costing us goals.

The attacking play has looked disjointed and poorly executed. Defensively it’s as porous as a sieve.

6 points thrown away from winning positions in two games because our manager makes no effort to shore things up after going in front. He’s done it again and again and again with no reflection that maybe his instructions are part of the problem.

HuckerbyDublinWhelan · 2026-02-02T10:15:33+0000

Lamps said:
I haven't seen our last couple of results being because of a lack of confidence. More like a weak link between the defence and midfield with mistakes costing us goals.

this is how I've seen it. The performances are woeful because everyone has figured out we overload the box. This leaves the middle of the park empty. The blue print is - compact the box, win the ball back > Press Grimes/counter down the wings and flood the centre.

If a slight tweak leads to potentially putting a man there, and shielding Grimes we'll be more effective. I like the idea someone on here suggested and switching to 4-3-3, rather than 4-2-3-1. I'm sure the 4-3-3 we had last season benefitted Rudoni, If i recall the wingers came inside as Rudoni started deeper and roamed. usually switching with EMC on the left.

On the right we tended to keep shape in the centre, whilst MVE went down the Right as Sakamoto (Or in this season's case Esse) would come inside.

Liquid Gold · 2026-02-02T10:17:19+0000

Lampard is the opposite to Robins.

MR would shut up shop so completely after going ahead we'd have no attacking threat at all. FL will not change his attacking instincts no matter what leaving us wide open.

Skybluefaz · 2026-02-02T10:18:48+0000

Liquid Gold said:
SBT collectively deciding to drain a reservoir tonight is it?

Came here to say that.

AI slop all over the shop.

edgy · 2026-02-02T10:20:08+0000

Who was it that first called the Onyeka saga? Was it the Daily Mail ??

Lamps · 2026-02-02T10:21:21+0000

Brighton Sky Blue said:
The attacking play has looked disjointed and poorly executed. Defensively it’s as porous as a sieve.

6 points thrown away from winning positions in two games because our manager makes no effort to shore things up after going in front. He’s done it again and again and again with no reflection that maybe his instructions are part of the problem.

Our gameplay has been attack the best kind of defence all season. Teams have worked out to leave players up front when we attack so to hit us on the break.

This is for the whole game. Should we gamble on getting the first goal then play defensively? It's been player mistakes costing us recently.

Brighton Sky Blue · 2026-02-02T10:24:23+0000

Lamps said:
Our gameplay has been attack the best kind of defence all season. Teams have worked out to leave players up front when we attack so to hit us on the break.

This is for the whole game. Should we gamble on getting the first goal then play defensively? It's been player mistakes costing us recently.

I think tweaks are needed for both when the game is level and when we’re ahead. To be clear, I also think individual performances have dropped but what players are being asked to do really isn’t helping.

It’s no exaggeration at this point to say that Lampard’s managerial career now rests on his ability to pick this group off the canvas having blown a bigger lead than any team in this league’s history. He will not do that by flogging these dead horse tactics, part needs to come from him recognising his own mistakes.

trueskyblue12 · 2026-02-02T10:24:30+0000

The media team will be dragging this out for maximum effect no doubt.

Sky Blue Pete · 2026-02-02T10:25:11+0000

Liquid Gold said:
Lampard is the opposite to Robins.

MR would shut up shop so completely after going ahead we'd have no attacking threat at all. FL will not change his attacking instincts no matter what leaving us wide open.

It’s stubborn isn’t it?

larry_david · 2026-02-02T10:27:17+0000

trueskyblue12 said:
The media team will be dragging this out for maximum effect no doubt.

If they are thye should read the room and get it done.

Having aid thta, this year they've been shite and announcements. Half the time it doesn't even have a quote from FL so looks like he's not even aware of it

Trueskyblue20 · 2026-02-02T10:27:17+0000

I don’t mind attack is the best form of defence if we are scoring bucket loads of goals. Unfortunately we aren’t scoring many and in turn conceding too many

mark82 · 2026-02-02T10:28:30+0000

edgy said:
Who was it that first called the Onyeka saga? Was it the Daily Mail ??

Technically I was first. I was just throwing a random name out, but I'm claiming it anyway.

Brighton Sky Blue · 2026-02-02T10:29:02+0000

larry_david said:
If they are thye should read the room and get it done.

Having aid thta, this year they've been shite and announcements. Half the time it doesn't even have a quote from FL so looks like he's not even aware of it

Hey, this lad is the best Nigerian to wear the shirt since Bright Enobhakare

Mcbean · 2026-02-02T10:31:54+0000

Don’t fret - will be setting up a separate bed wetters / meltdown thread at 5 ish

rob9872 · 2026-02-02T10:35:35+0000

Sky Blue Pete · 2026-02-02T10:35:58+0000

If we were going gung ho we’d be much quicker
Do things quicker!!!
So many (and it’s lack of confidence) take too many touches. Obviously not esse lol
Emc Rudoni grimes Dasilva always holding on to the ball seemingly not knowing what they are doing

That said Emc has been the out ball for a long time and expecting him to cause something to happen

Otis · 2026-02-02T10:37:26+0000

Speedie's Head said:
The list is too long just to brush them off as personal mistakes though. They come from being overstretched in the middle of the park and playing too high a line. There was good reason that playing two wingers went out of fashion as pitches became much better and I think we are seeing the downside of that approach.

I know and I am not brushing anything off

There's just a difference between putting a poor performance in all round and having games where it's just some aspects that are very poor.

Against QPR we were poor defensively and just poor all round. Hardly a single positive to take away from the game. We didn't deserve anything out of that game. Birmingham, we deserved at least a draw.

Against Birmingham, we controlled a lot of that game and were let down by three individual errors.

I don't enjoy any defeat, but there were some aspects of the Blues game where I thought we looked pretty decent.

At QPR we just looked completely poor.

prufrock · 2026-02-02T10:42:26+0000

If we are continuing to try and play in the opponents half I'm hoping this signing means that it is Onyeka charging back to plug holes when we lose the ball in transission rater than Grimes. Such a waste of talent to see Grimes running back at full pelt- he always looks just a sprint away from doing his hammy too- he really puts everything into these recovery runs. If Onyeka can break play and be positionally sound with decent recovery pace he could be all the difference.

In the championship I'm thinking his passing will be much better than people expect too. Sure it might not cut it against Man City and Arsenal so Brentford want a bit more from a player but but you don't get multiple seasons in the Prem/top German league and full Nigerian international caps by not being able to move the ball at all

Marty · 2026-02-02T10:49:45+0000

Otis said:
We were excellent against Southampton and clearly shouldn't have lost at Birmingham and only got a draw at Charlton. Don't think we were particularly bad in those two games and when we got to 2-2 against Blues, we looked like the only side who would go on to win it

Yup, we have been poor in quite a few games, but others, we have thrown points away due to stupid individual mistakes, but not looked that bad

It's definitely a concern, but I think it needs tweaking rather than ripping up and a signing or two can completely change our fortunes

Didn't they score immediately after we made it 2-2??

edgy · 2026-02-02T10:51:01+0000

Medical this morning, wasn't it?

Ccfcisparks · 2026-02-02T10:51:46+0000

edgy said:
Medical this morning, wasn't it?

Yeah think that was the last stage we were waiting on.

alexccfc99 · 2026-02-02T10:52:12+0000

edgy said:
Medical this morning, wasn't it?

The rut we are in at the minute his leg has probably fallen off en-route

SonofErnie · 2026-02-02T10:53:09+0000

It does feel increasingly like this will be our last signing (if it happens), with an announcement at 6pm stating 'and that concludes our business'. I'm not necessarily unhappy with that as an outcome.

Ccfcisparks · 2026-02-02T10:55:20+0000

SonofErnie said:
It does feel increasingly like this will be our last signing (if it happens), with an announcement at 6pm stating 'and that concludes our business'. I'm not necessarily unhappy with that as an outcome.

I think it would make it a satisfactory window.

Not really sold on the Yang signing, and the Dutch bloke is an odd one but we have addressed our biggest concerns at the start of the window.

LB and CB would top it off though

Sky Blue Pete · 2026-02-02T10:57:27+0000

Ccfcisparks said:
I think it would make it a satisfactory window.

Not really sold on the Yang signing, and the Dutch bloke is an odd one but we have addressed our biggest concerns at the start of the window.

LB and CB would top it off though

Shockingly poor given we are top but it is what it is

Ccfcisparks · 2026-02-02T10:57:56+0000

Sky Blue Pete said:
Shockingly poor given we are top but it is what it is

What do you mean Pete

SkyBlue_Bear83 · 2026-02-02T11:00:02+0000

Otis said:
We were excellent against Southampton and clearly shouldn't have lost at Birmingham and only got a draw at Charlton. Don't think we were particularly bad in those two games and when we got to 2-2 against Blues, we looked like the only side who would go on to win it

Yup, we have been poor in quite a few games, but others, we have thrown points away due to stupid individual mistakes, but not looked that bad

It's definitely a concern, but I think it needs tweaking rather than ripping up and a signing or two can completely change our fortunes

We were pretty shit against Charlton and Birmingham

StrettoBoy · 2026-02-02T11:00:16+0000

prufrock said:
If we are continuing to try and play in the opponents half I'm hoping this signing means that it is Onyeka charging back to plug holes when we lose the ball in transission rater than Grimes. Such a waste of talent to see Grimes running back at full pelt- he always looks just a sprint away from doing his hammy too- he really puts everything into these recovery runs. If Onyeka can break play and be positionally sound with decent recovery pace he could be all the difference.

In the championship I'm thinking his passing will be much better than people expect too. Sure it might not cut it against Man City and Arsenal so Brentford want a bit more from a player but but you don't get multiple seasons in the Prem/top German league and full Nigerian international caps by not being able to move the ball at all

I would like to see Onyeka and Grimes playing together - perhaps in a pivot - in front of our CBs and filling the midfield gap that we often see. This will make it more difficult for opponents to mark Grimes out of the game, as we will have two players in that part of the pitch, and - if there is any truth in the suggestion that Onyeka isn't the best passer of a ball - it will give him an outlet to Grimes.

StrettoBoy · 2026-02-02T11:04:27+0000

alexccfc99 said:
The rut we are in at the minute his leg has probably fallen off en-route

I still think we should sign him.

The worst that happens is that he can't hop as quickly as he can run but we aren't buying him for his pace.

SIR ERNIE · 2026-02-02T11:05:23+0000

Otis said:
We were excellent against Southampton and clearly shouldn't have lost at Birmingham and only got a draw at Charlton. Don't think we were particularly bad in those two games and when we got to 2-2 against Blues, we looked like the only side who would go on to win it

Yup, we have been poor in quite a few games, but others, we have thrown points away due to stupid individual mistakes, but not looked that bad

It's definitely a concern, but I think it needs tweaking rather than ripping up and a signing or two can completely change our fortunes

Agreed and we also showed in that second half against Southampton that we can defend when we have to.
We were forced into that situation by the JDS red, re-organised our shape to make us difficult to play though and coped well.

Brighton Sky Blue · 2026-02-02T11:07:47+0000

SIR ERNIE said:
Agreed and we also showed in that second half against Southampton that we can defend when we have to.
We were forced into that situation by the JDS red, re-organised our shape to make us difficult to play though and coped well.

Lampard even said that it looked too open so we tightened it up accordingly. Why he hasn’t used the same thinking since only he knows.

quinn1971 · 2026-02-02T11:12:33+0000

Lamps said:
I haven't seen our last couple of results being because of a lack of confidence. More like a weak link between the defence and midfield with mistakes costing us goals.

And all the room in behind, it’s an easy fix, if we’re sticking with that back 4 away then dont play such a high line, teams have worked us out and use the space behind us, most The goals we concede all our defenders are running back,

Transfer Rumour Frank Onyeka (135 Viewers)

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