shintonsghost Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Absolute desperate for some January midfielders. We defend well and Gayle's banging them in, but in the middle.... ergh. Who would you go for mate? Im struggling Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collage Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Delph? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NG32 Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Lampard as cover for shels. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveItIfWeBeatU Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 There's got to be some quality players not getting games in the Premiership that we can loan. The African cup of Nations will be a problem though as players who weren't getting games probably will if they have teammates going to the African cup of Nations. I'm not too worried about squad building for the future. We need players good enough to get us promoted now. I thought having Rafa as manager would have meant we'd have a better choice of player to loan at least. Being on target for promotion will hopefully make us an attractive option for fringe players at Premiership clubs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmoset Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 How many players are we allowed to loan at one time these days? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoveItIfWeBeatU Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 How many players are we allowed to loan at one time these days? According to the following article from last season, there's no limit to how many players a club can loan but only 5 can be in a match day squad. http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/football/football-news/coventry-city-how-many-loan-10461342 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Can't wait to see who Rafa buys next for the bench. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Dear me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanj Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Love that Dokko's avatar is Rafa too Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Love that Dokko's avatar is Rafa too Love the guy but he's making a meal out of this season. He's been great off the pitch, but questionable tactics, signings and poor results is spoiling the love in for me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest firetotheworks Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Signings? They've all been excellent in their positions in the squad except Diame who's been some good, some bad, but still better than the player that was there before him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanj Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Genuinely think if we sign a proper LW, A CM and better #10 we're fixing the issues we currently have in the inconsistent wing play (this assumes Atsu and Ritchie get their act together), better experienced partner for shelvey (and hopefully ends the over-reliance on him), and our often weak link #10. Rafa needs to play Yedlin more RB and get Lazaar on the pitch to play LB. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Signings? They've all been excellent in their positions in the squad except Diame who's been some good, some bad, but still better than the player that was there before him. Excellent? Seriously? Only Gayle can be labelled that. Hayden by some distance behind in second place then the rest have either been average for the price paid (Ritchie, Hanley, Clark, Yedlin) or a total waste of money (Sels, Gamez, Lazaar, Murphy, Diame ) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Menace Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Clark hasn't been average. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Signings? They've all been excellent in their positions in the squad except Diame who's been some good, some bad, but still better than the player that was there before him. Excellent? Seriously? Only Gayle can be labelled that. Hayden by some distance behind in second place then the rest have either been average for the price paid (Ritchie, Hanley, Clark, Yedlin) or a total waste of money (Sels, Gamez, Lazaar, Murphy, Diame ) Clark's been our best defender. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Genuinely think if we sign a proper LW, A CM and better #10 we're fixing the issues we currently have in the inconsistent wing play (this assumes Atsu and Ritchie get their act together), better experienced partner for shelvey (and hopefully ends the over-reliance on him), and our often weak link #10. Rafa needs to play Yedlin more RB and get Lazaar on the pitch to play LB. Aye there isn't that much pace in the typical first XI and very few people who can beat a man. Shelvey can bob around players - Hayden and Diame too, albeit only very occasionally in their case. Gayle has pace but he's average when it comes to dribbling, and whatever speed he has is mostly wasted in games like last night. Would like to see Yedlin get a couple of starts, certainly at home. If we're definitely going to finish top of the league, we need: / A winger who is faster than Ritchie/Gouffran and as much of a goal threat. / A centre-mid who's better than Hayden, but not necessarily better than Shelvey. / A striker who has more talent than Murphy and whose face fits better than Mitrovic. Big ask for January, like. I doubt we'll get all of the above. Considering the amount of changes necessary in the summer, our recruitment was pretty remarkable, so I think anyone would be mad to beat Rafa with a signings-shaped stick. It obviously wasn't going to be perfect because we needed to build an entirely new squad. We are still comfortably above the play-offs like. Think there's a few people here who still think we should be pissing it purely based on evidence of our last sojourn down here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Clark hasn't been average. Tbf He's been a bit above average, would say Yedlin less than average. think the bar was set low when Clark was bought, most people wrote him off without kicking a ball for us, so easy to say it's a better signing than it really is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanj Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Genuinely think if we sign a proper LW, A CM and better #10 we're fixing the issues we currently have in the inconsistent wing play (this assumes Atsu and Ritchie get their act together), better experienced partner for shelvey (and hopefully ends the over-reliance on him), and our often weak link #10. Rafa needs to play Yedlin more RB and get Lazaar on the pitch to play LB. Aye there isn't that much pace in the typical first XI and very few people who can beat a man. Shelvey can bob around players - Hayden and Diame too, albeit only very occasionally in their case. Gayle has pace but he's average when it comes to dribbling, and whatever speed he has is mostly wasted in games like last night. Would like to see Yedlin get a couple of starts, certainly at home. If we're definitely going to finish top of the league, we need: / A winger who is faster than Ritchie/Gouffran and as much of a goal threat. / A centre-mid who's better than Hayden, but not necessarily better than Shelvey. / A striker who has more talent than Murphy and whose face fits better than Mitrovic. Big ask for January, like. I doubt we'll get all of the above. Considering the amount of changes necessary in the summer, our recruitment was pretty remarkable, so I think anyone would be mad to beat Rafa with a signings-shaped stick. It obviously wasn't going to be perfect because we needed to build an entirely new squad. We are still comfortably above the play-offs like. Think there's a few people here who still think we should be pissing it purely based on evidence of our last sojourn down here. Pretty much agree with you on everything you've written. I think we can definitely sign the players we need if Rafa presses for them and we pay the price (it could be a premium given January). Our team was ruthless last time and some of our opposition last time were absolutely horrendous. No surprise Brighton is doing so well given they were so strong last season and fell off at the end, and their manager truly does have first hand experience in winning this league. But ah well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 The league is stronger and our team is weaker/newer, yet we're still top of the league (until tonight). Teams who finished in the play-offs last time were Forest, Cardiff, Blackpool and Leicester. I can remember each of those games and we were extremely comfortable against all of them. Sheff Wed were significantly more organised last night than any of those previous opponents in 09/10. This year we don't have anyone with the penetration of the likes of Jonas, José or Routledge. No one as utterly comfortable at the back as Colo. No goals from midfield like Nolan. On top of that, a striker in similar form to that of Gayle (in the season's second half anyway). Important to bare in mind that these players had all already played a season or more together, unlike our current lot. That first team would beat this one and beat it well. The landscape is totally different. Not excusing the performance or overly negative tactics, but the point is we were never going to walk it like we did last time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest neesy111 Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 The league is stronger and our team is weaker/newer, yet we're still top of the league (until tonight). This afternoon. Brighton are already 2-0 up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest firetotheworks Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Signings? They've all been excellent in their positions in the squad except Diame who's been some good, some bad, but still better than the player that was there before him. Excellent? Seriously? Only Gayle can be labelled that. Hayden by some distance behind in second place then the rest have either been average for the price paid (Ritchie, Hanley, Clark, Yedlin) or a total waste of money (Sels, Gamez, Lazaar, Murphy, Diame ) Clark's been brilliant, Gayle's been excellent. Hayden, Yedlin and Ritchie have been impressive and far more useful than what we had before. Diame's been hot and cold, but miles better than Perez. Gamez, Lazaar, Murphy, and Hanley were bought as back ups and they've stayed back ups which is a testament to the players who are starting. Sels has been admittedly shit. Seriously though, his signings and him are why we are where we are, some people just enjoy whinging. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ElCid Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Signings? They've all been excellent in their positions in the squad except Diame who's been some good, some bad, but still better than the player that was there before him. Excellent? Seriously? Only Gayle can be labelled that. Hayden by some distance behind in second place then the rest have either been average for the price paid (Ritchie, Hanley, Clark, Yedlin) or a total waste of money (Sels, Gamez, Lazaar, Murphy, Diame ) Clark's been our best defender. Been very consistent to be honest although he (and the rest) were very poor last night. As for Gayle you can't knock his goals record and that's what he is there for - the one problem is that with him being a lone striker his hold up play is not the best. Think Diame has certainly been more cold than hot and Ritchie has been rank average after a promising start. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyt Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 As if someone has said Clark has been average this season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanj Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 The league is stronger and our team is weaker/newer, yet we're still top of the league (until tonight). Teams who finished in the play-offs last time were Forest, Cardiff, Blackpool and Leicester. I can remember each of those games and we were extremely comfortable against all of them. Sheff Wed were significantly more organised last night than any of those previous opponents in 09/10. This year we don't have anyone with the penetration of the likes of Jonas, José or Routledge. No one as utterly comfortable at the back as Colo. No goals from midfield like Nolan. On top of that, a striker in similar form to that of Gayle (in the season's second half anyway). Important to bare in mind that these players had all already played a season or more together, unlike our current lot. That first team would beat this one and beat it well. The landscape is totally different. Not excusing the performance or overly negative tactics, but the point is we were never going to walk it like we did last time. the frustration itself stems from the 6 losses, 4 of them at home which should have really been wins or draws - we just haven't played with the same intensity or plan as we do away from home. Our away form / points return is f***ing brilliant like - 2 loss and 1 draw and the rest wins. Rafa has absolutely turned that around, we play with far more purpose and better management of the match in those matches. Home form is correctable, we're about around the New Year and we've got to fix it via signings, quality ones who are going to start. We should be mitigating the losses via the world class management of Rafa, is what I'm assuming most of the gripes are with people on here, and I 100% agree with that. Matches we've lost, I've felt he's not set us up right to win, and instead played it safe or relied / trusted players who have let him down (see: Sels, Colback, Mbemba, Perez, etc.) and a simple mistake has been costly. Rafa's world class management should have us comfortably (even if not exciting) beating these teams we've lost to BUT that's where I say the quality of the players we have in our squad is still lacking and unable to execute his plans. It's on him to fix that via signings, tactics at home, and steadying the very unbalanced and emotive fan base we have Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeyt Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 We've lost 2 games away from home and 4 at home Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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