Who opened the door? My money is on Janus! 2024 January transfer thread.

[GhostoftheBok]

Brommers may have called one here. Tip of the hat...

https://www.footballinsider247.com/sour ... oe-taylor/

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Sources suggest he’s 5ft8 or 5ft9….

Sources close to the player? Because if they're far away it's hard to tell.

Sources looming over the player despite being distant.

[GhostoftheBok]

Sources looming over the player despite being distant.

Nice lad, quite, lives in a dolls house in the local toy shop.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Speaking of diddymen, Joe Taylor's apparently even smaller... knows where the net is though.

Interesting back story. After being released by Norwich at 15 he gave up football for a bit to play rugby and cricket, but gave it another crack with King's Lynn, was loaned to ninth-tier Wroxham and suddenly caught fire. Posh bought him just before his 19th birthday but he barely got out of their U23s before Luton signed him on deadline day last Jan. Came on at Wembley in the playoff final and thought he'd scored the winner but it was disallowed. Couldn't go on the promotion-celebratory Vegas trip because he wasn't 21. Loaned to Colchester this season and bagged aplenty again.

Seems a solid, screwed-on type - has worked as a barman, has happily gone on loan to prove himself, etc. The Brommers clip earlier in the thread shows him closing down oppos for a couple of goals, and he's always on the defdnder's shoulder - a mini-Dion, indeed. Get the feeling Evatt will like him and will ask Rob Edwards for a favourable nudge in our direction, and to be fair that might suit the lad well - he'd probably get minutes in just about every game, unless Dan comes back early and bang in form. You wonder whether he'd want to stay south - maybe with Posh, in the town where he was born, if they sell JCH to clear a space. But I'd say we're in with a good chance if we want him - and if Luton did manage to stay up, we might get him again next season too...

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Meanwhile...
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He hadn't been in the squad since Dec 5th and Chelsea were upset with his lack of minutes. Still, it's a weakener. One might also say he could - as an attacking left-back - be an option for us, but Chelsea might want more minutes than we can offer.

[GhostoftheBok]

gave up football for a bit to play rugby

You can see that in his build. He looks like Ram-Man from Masters of the Universe.

The techy lot at Luton love him and apparently he trains very, very well.

I'm a bit surprised we've gone for that type (if it's true), as Evatt has made a big deal of the fact any combo of our forwards can play together. I'm not sure him and Dion quite fits that policy.

However, as Dion stand-in I'm not sure you'll find much better before Lavery recovers from his ACL injury.

Things to note, though:

His goals per minute a league down is similar to Vic's in this division.
His goal conversion rate is only around 10th in the division.
His XG conversion rate isn't top tier.

There's enough data there to make you think he's probably got work to do on his finishing. Watching some video of him he seems to hit the keeper, rather than corners. Head down, get it on target, etc. Getting a player to pick corners in the heat of the moment can be tricky and the kid is young, but he may frustrate at times. His rates are, however, better than Dion. Hits the target more than Dion does and tucks more away. Nobody is complaining about Dion's finishing at the moment. He's also better at making his own chances than Vic is due to his pace and centre of gravity.

Looks a good loan on paper. A talent.

[BWFC_Insane]

He was excellent on Saturday but I’m not having Vic as some great finisher. Forget stats - our own eyes tell us the lads not dreadful but hardly a great finisher.

If there is an attribute for me we need up front it’s some pace and ability to create a chance. If we could add that it could be very exciting.

On Charles rumours - it’s a horrible one because whilst I can’t see anyone offering £5M for a 28 year old striker who is arguably right now at the peak of his performance and that’s never been higher than this level of football….if someone did test the waters in that region he’d clearly be driven to wherever that was so quickly you couldn’t say goodbye. And fair enough. But it would absolutely wreck the season. You can have whatever plans you like but I don’t see where you get a striker who can play in the way we demand of Charles who is bang in form and scoring goals and is ready to step into the pressure of being the main man in a promotion dogfight at this level.

And that’s what the need would be. And I’m not seeing where one would come from.

[GhostoftheBok]

He was excellent on Saturday but I’m not having Vic as some great finisher. Forget stats - our own eyes tell us the lads not dreadful but hardly a great finisher.

This is League One. When Vic gets a clear chance he almost always buries it. For this level, that's a quality finisher.

He's not going to shape a ball and whip it past a keeper when you didn't see an angle on a regular basis. That's a great finisher. Not many of them about.

He's not some special, generational talent. He's just a powerful, hard working, intelligent forward who can put the ball in the net when presented with a good chance.

If Evatt ever gets hold of a striker who can do all the work we need and is a truly top class finisher then pack your bags, because we're off to the Premier League. The creativity is coming along to feed a player like that 30 a season in the Championship.

There's more to come from Vic, but I don't think he'll bury 30 a season.

[brommers95]

Meanwhile...
.

.
He hadn't been in the squad since Dec 5th and Chelsea were upset with his lack of minutes. Still, it's a weakener. One might also say he could - as an attacking left-back - be an option for us, but Chelsea might want more minutes than we can offer.

Made me chuckle…

[BWFC_Insane]

He was excellent on Saturday but I’m not having Vic as some great finisher. Forget stats - our own eyes tell us the lads not dreadful but hardly a great finisher.

This is League One. When Vic gets a clear chance he almost always buries it. For this level, that's a quality finisher.

He's not going to shape a ball and whip it past a keeper when you didn't see an angle on a regular basis. That's a great finisher. Not many of them about.

He's not some special, generational talent. He's just a powerful, hard working, intelligent forward who can put the ball in the net when presented with a good chance.

If Evatt ever gets hold of a striker who can do all the work we need and is a truly top class finisher then pack your bags, because we're off to the Premier League. The creativity is coming along to feed a player like that 30 a season in the Championship.

There's more to come from Vic, but I don't think he'll bury 30 a season.

We can argue semantics but I think most of the goals Vic scores are the instinctive ones. First time shots or 6/7 yard out keep them on target types. One on ones clean through to my memory he often misses.

Charles is probably not a natural finisher but he’s a decent one I’d say. His workrate means he always has another chance if he misses one.

[GhostoftheBok]

We can argue semantics but I think most of the goals Vic scores are the instinctive ones. First time shots or 6/7 yard out keep them on target types. One on ones clean through to my memory he often misses.

There's really no point carrying this on.

So if you give Vic a chance at a first time shot in the box it's probably going in, but he's not a good finisher.

I'm not sure where else to go with it. We'll see how he does over the next few years here.

[nicholaldo]

I think it's easy enough to understand the distinction, to be fair. There are certain opportunities - such as being through on goal with only the goalkeeper to beat - where a second or two of thought is required before taking a shot at goal.

A good or, probably more accurately, natural finisher has the composure to put them away.

I wouldn't want to claim Vic would or wouldn't score more often than not in such circumstances, but I can understand how it's a different skill than scoring by being in the right place at the right time.

[nicholaldo]

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[Prufrock]

When I think natural finisher I tend to think more the instinctive first timers in the box, tbf.

Not sure what I'd call the 1v1s to be fair. Calm finisher maybe. They're different things but I'm not sure there's a right or wrong.

Unlike chip vs lob...

Or volley vs half-volley....

[GhostoftheBok]

*edit*

I posted a reply, but in truth I can't be bothered.

If we've reached the "What is finishing really?" stage of the Vic discussion I think he's dealt with most of the criticisms levelled at him for the past year.

[nicholaldo]

When I think natural finisher I tend to think more the instinctive first timers in the box, tbf.

Not sure what I'd call the 1v1s to be fair. Calm finisher maybe. They're different things but I'm not sure there's a right or wrong.

Unlike chip vs lob...

Or volley vs half-volley....

Calm finisher might be a better way of phrasing it, I suppose.

I'd be more confident describing Charles as the type to miss those kind of opportunities currently, and I'm an admirer of his.

[BWFC_Insane]

It’s quite a tough one because like I’ve said we are operating on a fairly small sample size for Vic.

When I think of the best finishers at the club I can think of, it’s the likes of McGinlay, Walker, Ricketts, Anelka, Le Fondre, Doyle…all of those were players I’d happily see one on one with a goalie last minute in a must win match at 1-1 and think ‘yeah they will score this’.

But I mean what a finisher is might be different in different contexts. Holdsworth for me was never a great finisher but he was very good in some scenarios in the box with the right delivery. It’s why he scored so many at Wimbledon. But at Bolton where we’d had McGinlay and the ability to sort out his feet incredibly quickly to score all sorts of goals, Holdsworth probably struggled more to have that impact.

It’s also true that we remember all the goals and less so the misses.

I don’t at least anecdotally think we have the same level of finisher as those players on the books but as DSB eloquently put neither do many others nowadays. We aren’t I’d say lacking for goals but I think the dream of a lot of fans is that sort of player who will convert half chances more often than not to add a more ‘clinical’ edge to our possession. It’s not a question of needing it, it would just probably make us unstoppable - IF such a player could be accomodated somehow. And I guess it’s more than just finishing it’s having someone who if isolated in the box against a defender will more often than not get a shot on target. We and everyone else wants that sort of striker.

[The_Gun]

Meanwhile...
.

.
He hadn't been in the squad since Dec 5th and Chelsea were upset with his lack of minutes. Still, it's a weakener. One might also say he could - as an attacking left-back - be an option for us, but Chelsea might want more minutes than we can offer.

In related Posh news, they seem to have a lot of suitors for Ronnie Edwards and are apparently asking for £10m. Not sure whether that's realistic, but if they were able to reinvest that kind of money during this window I'd be pretty worried.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Ilesy is running the Joe Taylor story fairly straight - neither denying nor confirming. "Have been linked with," "Though Wanderers have hinted at it being a relatively quiet January transfer window they have ample space in the squad to bring in new players, if needed, and also have room on their loan quota."

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... oe-taylor/

His tweet says "Lots to like about Taylor - and ticks a couple of boxes for Wanderers. One to watch, methinks."

Story also, by the way, confirms that Dan Nlundulu is "not expected to return until the back end of the season at the earliest."

[BWFC_Insane]

Ilesy is running the Joe Taylor story fairly straight - neither denying nor confirming. "Have been linked with," "Though Wanderers have hinted at it being a relatively quiet January transfer window they have ample space in the squad to bring in new players, if needed, and also have room on their loan quota."

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/2 ... oe-taylor/

His tweet says "Lots to like about Taylor - and ticks a couple of boxes for Wanderers. One to watch, methinks."

Story also, by the way, confirms that Dan Nlundulu is "not expected to return until the back end of the season at the earliest."

From a Bolton point of view it makes sense. Nlundulu out for effectively rest of the season. Loan a young striker in who maybe is different to what we have and also potentially less likely to put noses out of joint. Young player who could develop here if that was the chosen course but could contribute this season and offer something different to what we’ve got.

Whether Luton would see it like that or not I don’t know but he’d develop here even if maybe not getting the same game time he would at other places.

What I’d say is that I don’t think Bod and Vic are a natural pairing and Jerome also feels like he needs to play with a runner….so it’s always felt slightly imbalanced to me that Charles is the only one different.