Transfer Rumour January transfer window (11 Viewers)

Jimmy87 · Jan 5, 2025

Nick said:
I also don't think we have somebody who can play that pass in behind / the channels so he can be in one on one with the defender to get it.

Spot on. I think we all can see we are massively lacking this season. Twice at Millwall Rudoni could've slipped him in with a simple pass, but chose to over play and run into trouble.

I've seen the same happen to Wright, real simple passes and he would've had the defenders for pace. Instead, sideways backwards we go.
Since Lampard came in, EMC and Tats had been loading the area, coming in at the far post, and we were getting so many more crosses in the box, ideal for the type of player Simms is.

Now EMC is injured and we've lost that little upturn in form we we're seeing. Having no choice but to revert back to the start of season emptiness. This window is vital.

Evo1883 · Jan 5, 2025

wingy said:
He didn't get to play the following game's post Luton and Watford, I can't remember Watford unfortunately but Luton he beasted it for me.
To answer the question for Evo I think the pressure to play Bassette probably comes via the owner.

I would be extremely annoyed if our owner is having any influence on team selection

rob9872 · Jan 5, 2025

Evo1883 said:
I would be extremely annoyed if our owner is having any influence on team selection

Especially this early on because if FL listens to such limited football knowledge then there's little point in him sticking around.

Sick Boy · Jan 5, 2025

Evo1883 said:
I would be extremely annoyed if our owner is having any influence on team selection

Me too but I very much doubt it’s the case.

Mucca Mad Boys · Jan 5, 2025

Frostie said:
He started 8/12 under Robins, including 6 of the first 7.

He's shown in patches what he can do but needs to do more. He's clearly a complex character that needs to be properly coached.

I agree he needs to do more.

The frustrating thing for him must be that he started those opening 5-6 games and wasn’t great and was dropped and hasn’t had a consecutive start since.

He had some good games v Watford, Luton and NYD v Cardiff and was dropped each time. Comparing it to Haji, he scored 2 v Oxford and had a 5 game drought and then he couldn’t stop scoring. If Robins decided (at the time) to rotate Wright and EMC, every other game it probably would’ve stifled them both. Rotating 3 strikers over one starting berth is just not good for consistency for any of them.

It’s not quite the same but people probably forget that Gyokeres had a 10 game goal drought in the 22/23 season. If that happened this season, he wasn’t dropped because we literally didn’t have anyone else to come in.

Mucca Mad Boys · Jan 5, 2025

Jimmy87 said:
He's frustrating to those who only want to see the bad in him. When you take him for exactly what he is, what type of player, and watch him off the ball, you may change your mind.
His touch is not always brilliant but he has other good attributes and he's just turned 24 years old, he's years from his peak and needs coaching and time.
He's not afforded that here, because everyone expects us to replace Gyokeres with a finished article.
Wright was our big money signing, the rest need to be managed correctly and coached properly.
He's proved he can hold his own against premier league opposition.

He makes intelligent runs, and countless times I've counted he's not been fed in, really simple passes. Instead we turn around and go backwards or sideways. It's really infuriating.

What's really frustrating is what it must feel like to be one of our strikers at the moment.

People have very short memories, Gyokeres was not spoken fondly of when he arrived here, nor for the first season particularly. He left a better player and the fans got behind him. That can make a massive difference to a player.

Robins is no longer here, but a comment he made in one post-match interview was that the players were ‘taking the easy way out’ and not being bold in our passing really resonated with me. To me, it’s one of those things that, once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it.

It also sums up our season so far. The amount of times our strikers make really smart runs and the player in possession just doesn’t gamble on themselves or the runner to make the pass. Against Cardiff, there was at least 4-5 times where Simms, Bassette or BTA made a run. 2 times, we sent it to Simms which led to the goal from nothing really. The other times, we took the easy way out and gave up the opportunity to shoot in their final third before conceding possession.

Why was our 22/23 team so good? Defensively, we were cohesive but Hamer really was our most important player. The amount of times he’d pick the ball up and either drive the ball through midfield or pick a pass out from deep just gave us so much attacking impetus.

Unfortunately, for all of their positive attributes, that doesn’t describe Sheaf, Eccles, Torp or Allen. Particularly, Eccles and Sheaf play their best football when they’re holding the ball and giving to a more creative player, be it COH, Hamer, Palmer or whomever. Eccles has had some really good games trying to be like Hamer in his passing, but it’s not consistent enough.

Last season, I felt like had we kept Hamer, we would’ve been comfortably a Top 4 team he’s that good and would suit our players.

Frostie · Jan 5, 2025

Mucca Mad Boys said:
I agree he needs to do more.

The frustrating thing for him must be that he started those opening 5-6 games and wasn’t great and was dropped and hasn’t had a consecutive start since.

He had some good games v Watford, Luton and NYD v Cardiff and was dropped each time. Comparing it to Haji, he scored 2 v Oxford and had a 5 game drought and then he couldn’t stop scoring. If Robins decided (at the time) to rotate Wright and EMC, every other game it probably would’ve stifled them both. Rotating 3 strikers over one starting berth is just not good for consistency for any of them.

It’s not quite the same but people probably forget that Gyokeres had a 10 game goal drought in the 22/23 season. If that happened this season, he wasn’t dropped because we literally didn’t have anyone else to come in.

Agreed. As @Jimmy87 said, we have been so disjointed & those early games he really wasn't getting a sniff in the build up. He is in the bottom 15% of all forwards in the division for total touches yet when he does get it, he's dangerous. Top 15% for Carries into the Penalty Area & Top 3% for Shots & Shot Creating Actions. Even off form he's awkward to defend against & the goal at Cardiff is testament to that.

He wasn't dropped after the Luton game tbf, he got injured.

How on earth Bassette has started so many under Lampard when he offers almost nothing is baffling.

higgs · Jan 5, 2025

If we have a fit emc and mve and tats and play simms and wright through the middle with rudoni and sheaf in the middle with kitch thomas and bidders and dovin we should start to pick up a few more points

Sent from my SM-A528B using Tapatalk

Mucca Mad Boys · Jan 5, 2025

Evo1883 said:
I would be extremely annoyed if our owner is having any influence on team selection

Robins actually managed Bassette best imo.

Frostie said:
Agreed. As @Jimmy87 said, we have been so disjointed & those early games he really wasn't getting a sniff in the build up. He is in the bottom 15% of all forwards in the division for total touches yet when he does get it, he's dangerous. Top 15% for Carries into the Penalty Area & Top 3% for Shots & Shot Creating Actions. Even off form he's awkward to defend against & the goal at Cardiff is testament to that.

He wasn't dropped after the Luton game tbf, he got injured.

How on earth Bassette has started so many under Lampard when he offers almost nothing is baffling.

My bad, I keep forgetting his injury!

I’m glad the stats corroborate what I seem to be seeing. The central issue this season is that our strikers are not getting touches in the box. Of course a striker is going to struggle if they’re not getting touches in the box.

Honestly, Lampard is sticking with the status quo in his early days and will figure his best team. Bassette’s energy is being brought on to pressure tired defences on and off the ball, imo. As for BTA, I’m not sure what I’d do with him. He needs game time and if we continue playing 5-3-2 would like to see him partner Wright but I just think he’s destined to be a role player for us.

Even Haaland of all players, was being slated for not scoring in 7 games or something. He is the best example of a player who isn’t a good footballer in terms of passing and touches in the game but he is the best in the world at using his athletic ability to get behind defences and score in the box. Which is why he sometimes gets badly criticised when playing for Norway as they don’t have as many players on their team to service Haaland.

Skyblue Bangkok · Jan 6, 2025

Mucca Mad Boys said:
Robins actually managed Bassette best imo.

My bad, I keep forgetting his injury!

I’m glad the stats corroborate what I seem to be seeing. The central issue this season is that our strikers are not getting touches in the box. Of course a striker is going to struggle if they’re not getting touches in the box.

Honestly, Lampard is sticking with the status quo in his early days and will figure his best team. Bassette’s energy is being brought on to pressure tired defences on and off the ball, imo. As for BTA, I’m not sure what I’d do with him. He needs game time and if we continue playing 5-3-2 would like to see him partner Wright but I just think he’s destined to be a role player for us.

Even Haaland of all players, was being slated for not scoring in 7 games or something. He is the best example of a player who isn’t a good footballer in terms of passing and touches in the game but he is the best in the world at using his athletic ability to get behind defences and score in the box. Which is why he sometimes gets badly criticised when playing for Norway as they don’t have as many players on their team to service Haaland.

Haaland ilhas a great goal scoring record for Norway. Man City probably sold their best player at linking up play ie Alvarez.

shmmeee · Jan 6, 2025

Mucca Mad Boys said:
Robins is no longer here, but a comment he made in one post-match interview was that the players were ‘taking the easy way out’ and not being bold in our passing really resonated with me. To me, it’s one of those things that, once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it.

It also sums up our season so far. The amount of times our strikers make really smart runs and the player in possession just doesn’t gamble on themselves or the runner to make the pass. Against Cardiff, there was at least 4-5 times where Simms, Bassette or BTA made a run. 2 times, we sent it to Simms which led to the goal from nothing really. The other times, we took the easy way out and gave up the opportunity to shoot in their final third before conceding possession.

Why was our 22/23 team so good? Defensively, we were cohesive but Hamer really was our most important player. The amount of times he’d pick the ball up and either drive the ball through midfield or pick a pass out from deep just gave us so much attacking impetus.

Unfortunately, for all of their positive attributes, that doesn’t describe Sheaf, Eccles, Torp or Allen. Particularly, Eccles and Sheaf play their best football when they’re holding the ball and giving to a more creative player, be it COH, Hamer, Palmer or whomever. Eccles has had some really good games trying to be like Hamer in his passing, but it’s not consistent enough.

Last season, I felt like had we kept Hamer, we would’ve been comfortably a Top 4 team he’s that good and would suit our players.

This is absolutely spot on. Been saying this all season: how frustrating it must be to be a forward in this side. And the frustrations from the crowd are mostly that we can see obvious progressive passes on and the players never take them.

Mucca Mad Boys · Jan 6, 2025

Skyblue Bangkok said:
Haaland ilhas a great goal scoring record for Norway. Man City probably sold their best player at linking up play ie Alvarez.

He does, as does Lewandowski for Poland. They also play a lot of games v inferior opposition.

Both strikers get a lot of criticism from the media at times. Lewandowski is criticised for his performances at major tournaments and as for Haaland:

Erling Haaland rated 2/10 and slammed by former manager on internation | Football | Sport | Express.co.uk

The Manchester City striker served up a stinker during Norway's 'embarrassing' result against Kazakhstan.

www.express.co.uk

https://en.vijesti.me/amp/525295/criticism-on-the-account-of-Halland-does-not-behave-like-when-he-plays-for-Borussia

There’s more but I think this makes the point enough.

Mucca Mad Boys · Jan 6, 2025

shmmeee said:
This is absolutely spot on. Been saying this all season: how frustrating it must be to be a forward in this side. And the frustrations from the crowd are mostly that we can see obvious progressive passes on and the players never take them.

Awww, it’s nice we’ve made up now! x

This is why I think the issue(s) with the team are ability rather than application. The players we have are generally good at their jobs. As a team, the right pieces aren’t quite there yet.

The defence is too loose and whilst I’d like to see the back 4 from last season return, we still need another quality CB to add to the group, preferably an experienced player with a track record in leadership. That’s probably the highest priority because conceding as many goals as we do is a cancer for this team.

Next, is midfield, we just miss a player that creates chances from all over the pitch. Not only did Hamer create a lot of chances, he also carried the ball and worked his way into the box. Which is why he was one of the best midfielders in the league that season for ‘touches in the box’. Which brings me to my last point, Eccles, Sheaf and Torp don’t score enough goals. They only seem to score screamers but they don’t actually get in the box to score anything. Eccles and Sheaf particularly do the same thing and recycle possession v well, it’s just a case of ‘too many chefs’.

shmmeee · Jan 6, 2025

Mucca Mad Boys said:
Awww, it’s nice we’ve made up now! x

This is why I think the issue(s) with the team are ability rather than application. The players we have are generally good at their jobs. As a team, the right pieces aren’t quite there yet.

The defence is too loose and whilst I’d like to see the back 4 from last season return, we still need another quality CB to add to the group, preferably an experienced player with a track record in leadership. That’s probably the highest priority because conceding as many goals as we do is a cancer for this team.

Next, is midfield, we just miss a player that creates chances from all over the pitch. Not only did Hamer create a lot of chances, he also carried the ball and worked his way into the box. Which is why he was one of the best midfielders in the league that season for ‘touches in the box’. Which brings me to my last point, Eccles, Sheaf and Torp don’t score enough goals. They only seem to score screamers but they don’t actually get in the box to score anything. Eccles and Sheaf particularly do the same thing and recycle possession v well, it’s just a case of ‘too many chefs’.

Too many Sheafs.

I put all out post PO problems down to no Hamer. But I loved Hamer almost as much as my kids so there’s some bias there.

Would love to know the story of our midfield rebuild. It’s all seemed so haphazard. Torp was sort of the replacement I guess but a completely different profile and signed in Jan.

I just want the chubby little fucker back. You’ll never convince me it was worth losing him even for £15m.

fernandopartridge · Jan 6, 2025

Mucca Mad Boys said:
I agree he needs to do more.

The frustrating thing for him must be that he started those opening 5-6 games and wasn’t great and was dropped and hasn’t had a consecutive start since.

He had some good games v Watford, Luton and NYD v Cardiff and was dropped each time. Comparing it to Haji, he scored 2 v Oxford and had a 5 game drought and then he couldn’t stop scoring. If Robins decided (at the time) to rotate Wright and EMC, every other game it probably would’ve stifled them both. Rotating 3 strikers over one starting berth is just not good for consistency for any of them.

It’s not quite the same but people probably forget that Gyokeres had a 10 game goal drought in the 22/23 season. If that happened this season, he wasn’t dropped because we literally didn’t have anyone else to come in.

Even the games Simms started under Robins, he was hooked after an hour or so a few times.

Gyokeres had a fairly long goal drought the season before that too.

Sky Blue Goblin · Jan 6, 2025

Stolen from X but transfer market seems pretty sure on this one.

Maybe it’s the CM Jimmy was talking about?

CovLad94 · Jan 6, 2025

Sky Blue Goblin said:
Stolen from X but transfer market seems pretty sure on this one.

Maybe it’s the CM Jimmy was talking about?

View attachment 40560

Might be one that's been fast tracked given Sheaf is injured again, is Transfermarkt reliable or is it just based of Internet rumours.

Sky Blue Goblin · Jan 6, 2025

CovLad94 said:
Might be one that's been fast tracked given Sheaf is injured again, is Transfermarkt reliable or is it just based of Internet rumours.

Don’t personally know, I know we had interest reported previously in him. But since Rob Holding isn’t on there from what I could see, assume it doesn’t post any on there?

Jimmy87 · Jan 6, 2025

Sky Blue Goblin said:
Stolen from X but transfer market seems pretty sure on this one.

Maybe it’s the CM Jimmy was talking about?

View attachment 40560

I don't really like to mention names incase they don't materialise. My wife did tell me yesterday though that his football agency had started following the club on Instagram.

SkyBlueDom26 · Jan 6, 2025

Sky Blue Goblin said:
Stolen from X but transfer market seems pretty sure on this one.

Maybe it’s the CM Jimmy was talking about?

View attachment 40560

Hopefully we stay well clear, need proven championship midfielders not some randomer

Sky Blue Goblin · Jan 6, 2025

Jimmy87 said:
I don't really like to mention names incase they don't materialise. My wife did tell me yesterday though that his football agency had started following the club on Instagram.

I’m taking this as 100% confirmation I hope you realise this

Sky Blue Goblin · Jan 6, 2025

SkyBlueDom26 said:
Hopefully we stay well clear, need proven championship midfielders not some randomer

I don’t mind a random 6ft 4 international midfielder who seemingly loves a run up field from centre midfield especially when it was reported Boro and Norwich wanted him.

Of course I’ll delete this post if it goes tits up as is the custom

JSL · Jan 6, 2025

6ft 4 means long legs to get tangled up

shmmeee · Jan 6, 2025

SkyBlueDom26 said:
He’ll have no pace

Come on mate even I’m excited about this one.

Sky Blue Goblin · Jan 6, 2025

Found the instagram follow

Sky Blue Goblin · Jan 6, 2025

shmmeee said:
Come on mate even I’m excited about this one.

If we can’t be excited for a random international none of us have heard about then who can we be excited by ffs

SkyBlueStallion_89 · Jan 6, 2025

Sky Blue Goblin said:
If we can’t be excited for a random international none of us have heard about then who can we be excited by ffs

Not seen you this excited since the time you pushed for Ian Evatt to be manager

CovLad94 · Jan 6, 2025

Seems he has interest from Valladolid too

Sky Blue Goblin · Jan 6, 2025

SkyBlueStallion_89 said:
Not seen you this excited since the time you pushed for Ian Evatt to be manager

If only Doug King listened (outing myself as a club director there )

SkyBlueStallion_89 · Jan 6, 2025

Sky Blue Goblin said:
If only Doug King listened (outing myself as a club director there )

I'll put you forward for DOF mate

ProfessorbyGrace · Jan 6, 2025

Deity said:
Wright is a CF who we forced out wide to play Simms as well. Their combined goal contribution proved that to be the right decision.

Now I’d like to see him through the middle with EMC left and a new fast right winger

He was not forced out wide, it’s his preferred position. He’s not a conventional striker, more a wide forward as part of a 3 in attack.

He’s been 100% more effective as a wide forward than part of a two man attack.

Sky Blue Goblin · Jan 6, 2025

SkyBlueStallion_89 said:
I'll put you forward for DOF mate

Poor poor Lampard when I get in

SkyBlueStallion_89 · Jan 6, 2025

Sky Blue Goblin said:
Poor poor Lampard when I get in

Evatt pack ya bags for Cov lad, Goblin is at the wheel

edgy · Jan 6, 2025

Here you go Clive:

edgy · Jan 6, 2025

ProfessorbyGrace said:
He was not forced out wide, it’s his preferred position. He’s not a conventional striker, more a wide forward as part of a 3 in attack.

He’s been 100% more effective as a wide forward than part of a two man attack.

Agree with this. Wright looked pretty ineffective through the middle. He doesn't seem to like the roughhousing involved there and since his move to the left forward he flourished and that's the role he now plays for USA when he gets the nod.

Transfer Rumour January transfer window (11 Viewers)

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