Snog, Marry, Avoid: Summer 2023 Transfer Window

[nicholaldo]

As an aside, as important as he is to us, I'd be surprised if Charles flourished in the second tier.

[Mar]

I'd almost be surprised if there isn't a bid for Charles.

Whether it's anywhere near his pricetag is a different question.

The Wigan game has potentially done considerable damage in that should a big bid come in for Charles and he is sold late in the window the negativity will be absolutely off the charts and the pressure to buy a ready made replacement huge.

I think its absolutely clear that if the club sell Charles we'd need to spend a very large amount on a replacement or accept another failed season. That is probably not up for much debate. And had we not succumbed on Saturday the club might have a bit more cover to operate in. But now....its going to be very very negative should they feel forced to sell. And Evatt and Markham better have some genuinely proven quality targets lined up.

Blimey, you're giving the monster under the bed a machine gun.

My main worry if we sell Charles would not be whether it plays well on social media. It will be whether we play well without him. And for all the need to be a trading club, I suspect Evatt and Markham know that some cogs are harder to replace than others.

There's no urgency to sell. We had a replaceable player being bid for in GT yet we stuck with. I'd imagine the call for Charles to go would be his choice. The timing would be ours but I'd like to think we've put a good shout forward for us sticking with him and going for promotion.

I think it'd be folly to sell Charles at this stage. Even decent replacements would require time to get up to speed.

If the money comes in and its the right amount then of course he'll go but its not gonna help us short term and until we know the situation in Jan we're not going to know whether we'll have the ability to risk the sale.

Seasons on somewhat of a knife edge at the moment. Championship is doable, we just can't afford upsets both on and off the field.

[The_Gun]

I kind of get the hankering for a ‘midfield bastard’, but it’s also reductive, and harks back to a playing style which isn’t really prevalent any more. Karl Henry would look shit in our current team, in my opinion.

The general clamour for more physicality in the middle of the park is warranted. I think Maghoma has a good chance of addressing that to an extent, but if there’s a strong, athletic type, who can also play football, available to us, then it would make sense to pick them up.

I do also think it’s fair to suggest that the current squad is lacking a bit in tough, leader type characters. Dempsey and Charles I think are both fighters (literally in Kyle’s case), but beyond that we don’t have many who seem to have fire in their bellies.

[BWFC_Insane]

I kind of get the hankering for a ‘midfield bastard’, but it’s also reductive, and harks back to a playing style which isn’t really prevalent any more. Karl Henry would look shit in our current team, in my opinion.

The general clamour for more physicality in the middle of the park is warranted. I think Maghoma has a good chance of addressing that to an extent, but if there’s a strong, athletic type, who can also play football, available to us, then it would make sense to pick them up.

I do also think it’s fair to suggest that the current squad is lacking a bit in tough, leader type characters. Dempsey and Charles I think are both fighters (literally in Kyle’s case), but beyond that we don’t have many who seem to have fire in their bellies.

It’s not reductive at all. City just won everything with about 15 centre halves on the park and Rodri who is tidy but also a superb breaker up of play. Chelsea just broke their record on caicedo.

The reality is that football isn’t all one thing or another. Teams are balanced and we lack that option in midfield. Karl Henry at his best would be ideal. Horrible bloke but drives standards and can win it back and then keeps it simple and lets others play. Not too dissimilar to Rodri but a much lower level.

I don’t want some bloke who can’t pass it sideways but we absolutely do need a more physical option. When we sold MJ the idea was to replace him and we haven’t.

[Worthy4England]

What's Maghoma for? I only ask because he may be viewed by Evatt as the response to letting MJ go...

[boltonboris]

feck* Karl Henry! What's the obsession? He couldn't run. Imagine asking him to get the ball off the centre backs in tight spaces and progress you up the pitch

[BWFC_Insane]

What's Maghoma for? I only ask because he may be viewed by Evatt as the response to letting MJ go...

Evatt has used him as a number 8 thus far and I think he’s basically a more technical, quicker and stronger Morley.

But that sort of midfield general type I don’t think he is. We still need that.

[BWFC_Insane]

feck* Karl Henry! What's the obsession? He couldn't run. Imagine asking him to get the ball off the centre backs in tight spaces and progress you up the pitch

It’s just a description of the type needed. At his peak not as an old man.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Didn't Karl Henry collect like 10 yellow cards in 23 games?

Call it Gary O'Neil and we can talk.

[BWFC_Insane]

Didn't Karl Henry collect like 10 yellow cards in 23 games?

Call it Gary O'Neil and we can talk.

Gary O Neil would be a good shout to be fair. Or someone like Speed who will lead by example. That sort of player would be really helpful.

It’s just we sort of need that ‘nasty’ type ideally and one who will rally too. In an ideal world. Someone who in a game like Saturday take a grip of the game and the team.

[Worthy4England]

What's Maghoma for? I only ask because he may be viewed by Evatt as the response to letting MJ go...

Evatt has used him as a number 8 thus far and I think he’s basically a more technical, quicker and stronger Morley.

But that sort of midfield general type I don’t think he is. We still need that.

So someone who can tackle then (and likely better than Sheehan/Morley at tackling)? Or does the badge 8, preclude him doing that?

[Prufrock]

I think we need one more midfielder. And that he probably got selection wrong. I can see why after such a good start, you want to keep the same lads playing and show good performances get rewarded, but if he had a mulligan I suspect he'd have gone with more physicality in midfield.

The mental side is a worry though, you're not going to get very far if you crumble every time it gets tough.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Didn't Karl Henry collect like 10 yellow cards in 23 games?

Call it Gary O'Neil and we can talk.

Gary O Neil would be a good shout to be fair. Or someone like Speed who will lead by example. That sort of player would be really helpful.

It’s just we sort of need that ‘nasty’ type ideally and one who will rally too. In an ideal world. Someone who in a game like Saturday take a grip of the game and the team.

I though of GO'N precisely because he's not that 'nasty' type, and Speedo was more of the same. An organiser, a gee-er upper, a leader by example.

I just think that looking for someone who kicks balls up arseholes is only ever a short-term solution – and in the early part of a season featuring one of refereeing's occasional well-meaning clampdowns on bad behaviour, he'd spend more time in the stands than Derek Clark. (I get that you don't want someone that stupid; I just think that Henry was.)

[BWFC_Insane]

What's Maghoma for? I only ask because he may be viewed by Evatt as the response to letting MJ go...

Evatt has used him as a number 8 thus far and I think he’s basically a more technical, quicker and stronger Morley.

But that sort of midfield general type I don’t think he is. We still need that.

So someone who can tackle then (and likely better than Sheehan/Morley at tackling)? Or does the badge 8, preclude him doing that?

I think our ideal midfield signing would be in his prime fully fit Stuart Holden. It’s that sort of mobile, ball winning, capable of running player who also was very solid on the ball. Admittedly he wasn’t big, and I suspect that some physical stature would help.

I doubt we can get everything in one player.

I look at our midfield and think that Sheehan screens the back three and makes the play but struggles when a team steps onto us. Morley is being asked to play further forward as an 8 but doesn’t suit it and suits the 6 role…and is a little more physical than Sheehan but not as good on the ball and slower….

Maghoma looks like a good number 8. CMG looks like a 10 or striker to me….if not a wide man.

Thomason is a 6 or 8 and I think it’s to be decided which role he’s better in but my guess is 8 for now.

So to my mind we either say that Sheehan and Morley are our 6’s and recruit another number 8 as in the Gary O Neil mould for example, or Stuart Holden.

OR we recruit what I’d prefer and that would be a 6 who can do a slightly different job when required as MJ did, but hopefully better, more mobile and adept at starting our attacks off.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

[Mar]

OR we recruit what I’d prefer and that would be a 6 who can do a slightly different job when required as MJ did, but hopefully better, more mobile and adept at starting our attacks off.

Sounds like you're after the Ivan Campo type. Decent passing range, good at breaking up play and decent at killing opposition momentum by winning free kicks.

[BWFC_Insane]

OR we recruit what I’d prefer and that would be a 6 who can do a slightly different job when required as MJ did, but hopefully better, more mobile and adept at starting our attacks off.

Sounds like you're after the Ivan Campo type. Decent passing range, good at breaking up play and decent at killing opposition momentum by winning free kicks.

Campo probably not as he couldn’t run. We’d need much more mobility than that. The modern game has moved beyond Campo in that role I think generally. But you know City have Rodri, Chelsea have Caicedo, Liverpool had Fabinho, Casemiro etc…these sorts of players exist at the top level and I think we need that sort of option in the squad.

If your number 6’s are Sheehan and Morley you are looking a bit one dimensional in that area…and for a game like Wigan we could need that sort….

[The_Gun]

As recent market activity indicates, those types of players are highly coveted. Maybe there are some lurking in big academies, but then we’d be rolling the dice on youth again.

[BWFC_Insane]

As recent market activity indicates, those types of players are highly coveted. Maybe there are some lurking in big academies, but then we’d be rolling the dice on youth again.

Not sure any more than any other position at our level. Norburn for example would have been the sort. Went to Blackpool in the end I think.

[Worthy4England]

As recent market activity indicates, those types of players are highly coveted. Maybe there are some lurking in big academies, but then we’d be rolling the dice on youth again.

How do some other L1 teams seem to acquire them, then? I'm not sure one dude who can tackle will answer the conundrum set last weekend - although might help alleviate. But we come up against L1 teams whose mentality is to set about our MF and they can obviously find these elusive, not available, players, probably for less wedge than we could spend...so sorry, I don't think I but this...