Jaffka's gossip thread on the ins and outs at the 'Bok

[SmokinFrazier]

he looked the best attacking full back we'd had in ages.

I repeat: kid's got promise.

I repeat: imagine how much better he'd have looked if he didn't give the ball away three times in every five.

DSB, you should note that BWFCI believes that strikers who score goals and nowt else are a relic from the past. We now have strikers that don't score goals, but apparently do "other things".

It's no surprise that being able to attack for a full back is an absolute key attribute. Probably over and above the ability to tackle, stop opposition's attacks, head and block the ball and when in possession, deliver it to a white shirt.

It's the future, do try and keep up.

Are they not? Cos I don't see many top sides carrying them in their teams?

There's still a few out there, such as Higuain, Huntelaar, Soldado, Gomez and so on, but I tend to agree with your general opinion.

Players in all positions are now required to do so much more. Look at Chile from the last World Cup. Every player they had was constantly shifting from one position to another. The defenders moved forward when Chile had the ball and became midfielders, the midfilders pushed up to become attackers and there was the opposite of that when they were defending. That fluidity means that players can't be limited to one thing and get away with it like they used to in the past. It's a far less rigid style and requires genuine all-rounders who can attack, be creative, defend and so on. The Chile model from 2010, whilst extreme, is the style that all teams will be using in the next decade or so and I think we'll see out and out poachers slowly removed from the game. It's not enough just to get goals now.

[Worthy4England]

That may be so, but Man Utd played Welbeck ahead of Owen and Berbatov, not cos he would score more goals, but cos he ran his knackers off and stretched teams with runs down the channels.

If you are dominating games then you can maybe carry a Klasnic.....if you're not then picking him is just like playing with 10 men, as we found out all too often last season!

That appears to have completely ducked the question. Wayne Rooney scored 27? goals for them last season, so maybe they could afford to have Welbeck running the channels etc. for a second attaker (Rooney) to pop in and score lots of goals.

The point is you need goals to win matches. Having a couple of midfielders and a second striker, running them ragged down the channels, if no one manages to take the benefit of that and put the ball in the net doesn't work at all, it's pointless.

You need a goalscorer.

3 top ten finishes with Kevin Davies up front on his own most of the time says otherwise........

No it doesn't, but perhaps I phrased it badly - you need goalscorers and there has to be some balance.

Putting aside last season, our 3 top ten finishes all coincided with our highest scoring seasons in the Prem. So people were putting the ball in the net from midfield (and defenders were scoring from set-pieces). So in short we had goalscorers. Without them, we wouldn't have finished in the top 10.

Last season we bagged 52 - our highest tally in the Prem, so lots of goals, but we contrived to let a lot in too. One result going a different way would have seen us top ten again.

I agree you need people to score goals.

But I don't agree that equates to necessarily carrying Klasnic or Michael Owen through a season just because they score a high proportion of their chances.

Clearly we've got to hope Sordell, NGog and Davies get enough between them, but Andrews and Pratley both have decent scoring records in the championship at various points in their careers. So we could get some from midfield too.

And I'd expect Eagles, Lee, Petrov to also chip in as well.

I wouldn't neccessarily advocate carrying anyone through a season either. But how do you tell with attackers that "don't score", whether you're carrying them?

For people who "only score" - and I'm not convinced Owen or Klasnic fit entirely into that category - it's fairly easy to say "Right they're not scoring, drop them" - although in Klasnic's case, I'm not sure when this actually occurred - he generally scored pretty frequently when he played.

How do you tell when it's time to drop N'gog?

[Bruce Rioja]

How do you tell when it's time to drop N'gog?

Oh that's easy. It's when the day has a 'Y' in it.

[Worthy4England]

he looked the best attacking full back we'd had in ages.

I repeat: kid's got promise.

I repeat: imagine how much better he'd have looked if he didn't give the ball away three times in every five.

DSB, you should note that BWFCI believes that strikers who score goals and nowt else are a relic from the past. We now have strikers that don't score goals, but apparently do "other things".

It's no surprise that being able to attack for a full back is an absolute key attribute. Probably over and above the ability to tackle, stop opposition's attacks, head and block the ball and when in possession, deliver it to a white shirt.

It's the future, do try and keep up.

Are they not? Cos I don't see many top sides carrying them in their teams?

There's still a few out there, such as Higuain, Huntelaar, Soldado, Gomez and so on, but I tend to agree with your general opinion.

Players in all positions are now required to do so much more. Look at Chile from the last World Cup. Every player they had was constantly shifting from one position to another. The defenders moved forward when Chile had the ball and became midfielders, the midfilders pushed up to become attackers and there was the opposite of that when they were defending. That fluidity means that players can't be limited to one thing and get away with it like they used to in the past. It's a far less rigid style and requires genuine all-rounders who can attack, be creative, defend and so on. The Chile model from 2010, whilst extreme, is the style that all teams will be using in the next decade or so and I think we'll see out and out poachers slowly removed from the game. It's not enough just to get goals now.

If I look at Chile from the last world cup, I'd find that one of their players was the leading scorer in CONCACAF qualifying. So yes, can do other things, but scores as well.

We seem to get one or the other - N'gog, for example, does "other things", but it's sometimes difficult to tell what they are. I'm not against N'gog, he certainly had some decent games for us last season, but there were plenty of games where he didn't look like creating much either at which point you say to yourself (or I do anyhow) "At least Klasnic might have bagged us a goal"...

[TANGODANCER]

"At least Klasnic might have bagged us a goal"...

[CAPSLOCK]

I remember Stuart Whittaker's debut aswell.

You don't remember it being in the Premier League and him being the best player on the pitch

[Lord Kangana]

I remember thinking he was. Which is kind of the point.

Not that I need to spell it out or anything.

[Tals-biggest-fan]

Do we still have that first pick of loaning Chelsea players because they've got a player called Lucas Piazon and is a definite one of the future, won Chelsea's youth player of the season despite only being there 6 months and would probably be available to have on loan.

[Relentless09]

Haven't read the Sunday People but according to Nixon on twitter we have an ambitious loan attempt for Romeu from Chelsea

[the-Bowtun-Warrior]

Is he a midfielder?

[SmokinFrazier]

Yeah, he's a midfielder who will probably go on to be one of the best in the world, I think. I am confident he'll replace Busquets for Spain in a few years time because he is, by far, Spain's stand out young defensive midfielder. For whatever reason, Di Matteo isn't overly keen on him and didn't give him a chance after AVB was sacked but prior to that, Romeu was one of Chelsea's best players.

A season in the Championship could be very beneficial to him too. It's a challenge for a young midfielder, that's for sure. I'd love to get him. I think he'd be a key player for us - realistically, he'd be a good player for any side out of the top 8 or so in the Premier League.

[Relentless09]

Yeah, he's a midfielder who will probably go on to be one of the best in the world, I think. I am confident he'll replace Busquets for Spain in a few years time because he is, by far, Spain's stand out young defensive midfielder. For whatever reason, Di Matteo isn't overly keen on him and didn't give him a chance after AVB was sacked but prior to that, Romeu was one of Chelsea's best players.

A season in the Championship could be very beneficial to him too. It's a challenge for a young midfielder, that's for sure. I'd love to get him. I think he'd be a key player for us - realistically, he'd be a good player for any side out of the top 8 or so in the Premier League.

If we where still in the premier league we would probably get him but suppose there's no harm in trying and if we get him it would be a top class loan signing. The thought of a fit Holden and Romeu together would be frightening for other championship clubs

[Mar]

Oriol Romeu from Chelsea? Probably not a bad shout but I can imagine this going the same was as Gael Kakuta.

[SmokinFrazier]

Yeah, he's a midfielder who will probably go on to be one of the best in the world, I think. I am confident he'll replace Busquets for Spain in a few years time because he is, by far, Spain's stand out young defensive midfielder. For whatever reason, Di Matteo isn't overly keen on him and didn't give him a chance after AVB was sacked but prior to that, Romeu was one of Chelsea's best players.

A season in the Championship could be very beneficial to him too. It's a challenge for a young midfielder, that's for sure. I'd love to get him. I think he'd be a key player for us - realistically, he'd be a good player for any side out of the top 8 or so in the Premier League.

If we where still in the premier league we would probably get him but suppose there's no harm in trying and if we get him it would be a top class loan signing. The thought of a fit Holden and Romeu together would be frightening for other championship clubs

Yeah, definitely. I think we already have the best midfield when everyone is fully fit but adding Romeu would make it even stronger. Holden, Romeu, Davies/Andrews, Chungy and Petrov is a midfield that would be very reliable in the Premier League never mind the Championship.

[bobo the clown]

Yeah, he's a midfielder who will probably go on to be one of the best in the world, I think. I am confident he'll replace Busquets for Spain in a few years time because he is, by far, Spain's stand out young defensive midfielder. For whatever reason, Di Matteo isn't overly keen on him and didn't give him a chance after AVB was sacked but prior to that, Romeu was one of Chelsea's best players.

A season in the Championship could be very beneficial to him too. It's a challenge for a young midfielder, that's for sure. I'd love to get him. I think he'd be a key player for us - realistically, he'd be a good player for any side out of the top 8 or so in the Premier League.

If we where still in the premier league we would probably get him but suppose there's no harm in trying and if we get him it would be a top class loan signing. The thought of a fit Holden and Romeu together would be frightening for other championship clubs

Yeah, definitely. I think we already have the best midfield when everyone is fully fit but adding Romeu would make it even stronger. Holden, Romeu, Davies/Andrews, Chungy and Petrov is a midfield that would be very reliable in the Premier League never mind the Championship.

Aye ... & while we're dreaming, add the Moo to that little lot !!

[Gail Platz]

Oriol Romeu from Chelsea? Probably not a bad shout but I can imagine this going the same was as Gael Kakuta.

Can understand your point but with Kakuta he was more interested in Ronaldo style flicks and messing about rather than putting the hard graft in that makes players so popular with English fans and their club managers. I've not seen much of Romeu but he doesn't come across as the kind of player to be doing that, I don't think he'd have a problem fitting in the side if it ever did happen.

[Mar]

Trouble is we would be getting a player that didn't want to be at the club. Thats the problem. Hopefully he would come and do a good graft like i've seen him do for Chelsea but i'm not too sure we'd get that.

[Tombwfc]

I've only seen about four games with him playing, but he came across to me as though he'd be a Reo-Coker type. Regardless of whether he gives a feck or not, he can only really play one way.

[scotty]

Yeah, he's a midfielder who will probably go on to be one of the best in the world, I think. I am confident he'll replace Busquets for Spain in a few years time because he is, by far, Spain's stand out young defensive midfielder. For whatever reason, Di Matteo isn't overly keen on him and didn't give him a chance after AVB was sacked but prior to that, Romeu was one of Chelsea's best players.

A season in the Championship could be very beneficial to him too. It's a challenge for a young midfielder, that's for sure. I'd love to get him. I think he'd be a key player for us - realistically, he'd be a good player for any side out of the top 8 or so in the Premier League.

If we where still in the premier league we would probably get him but suppose there's no harm in trying and if we get him it would be a top class loan signing. The thought of a fit Holden and Romeu together would be frightening for other championship clubs

Yeah, definitely. I think we already have the best midfield when everyone is fully fit but adding Romeu would make it even stronger. Holden, Romeu, Davies/Andrews, Chungy and Petrov is a midfield that would be very reliable in the Premier League never mind the Championship.

Aye ... & while we're dreaming, add the Moo to that little lot !!

Why is everyone forgetting Pratley?

[bobo the clown]

I've only seen about four games with him playing, but he came across to me as though he'd be a Reo-Coker type. Regardless of whether he gives a feck or not, he can only really play one way.

Really ? What a useless twunk he must be then.