Tooling up: The summer 2024 transfer thread

[Mar]

It's a strange one with Dan. Presumably we would've signed him for potential and if it didn't work out we'd be looking to transfer and recoup some money on the transfer fee.

As it stands though we've had him injured for the loan spell and injured for vast swathes of his time at the club. So much so that the chances he would've been allowed means that he's on the selling list prior to getting a decent crack. Business terms it's probably a time to sell to get some money rather than him leaving on a free later down the line.

There's also the case for Evatt having seen him in training and knowing what he can offer. Dan looks like he's able to contribute but hasn't lived up to it. If that's the case in training then I suspect we may have been hearing different stories in the media.

Dan seems like a nice guy. He seems talented but there's all to often times we've seen him struggle to get the ball under control. Physically he looks the part. Mentally he looks a decent squad player. In terms of aggression and really putting a marker down during the game as a fighter, he seems too easily outmuscled.

I suspect his lack of involvement is either to try to coerce him into seeking football elsewhere via lack of football appearances or to keep him available for transfer without cup tieing him, be it on loan or permanent. Were football rules different, we may have seen him already.


I hope he comes good and shows us what he's capable of. His story of coming here and struggling, signing for decent money and getting injured is a crap legacy to leave behind. I'd much rather him get back into the fold and be the difference this year.

[BWFC_Insane]

The biggest issue we have isn't Dan. If he goes or stays, we need a ball-carrying #10 who can create through the middle.

Dan stays and we've got a 3rd place lad who could be more. If he goes, we'll need someone else in (younger) who can do that job.

Dion, Vic, McAtee, Collins and Dempsey are our "known quantity" options in the more attacking positions.

Lolos looks talented, but is now out for a good while. Arfield may or may not be over the hill. CMG, god knows. Nlundulu clearly needs football.

That's roughly a 50/50 mix, which isn't ideal. You'd really like more of them to be known quantities for a promotion push. Joys of League One, though.

If Dan going helps us add that creative #10 who fits into the "known quantity" pile, great.

Broadly I agree.

My only caveat is I think we need someone who wants to operate out wide and has pace. Our system is too narrow and I think we need a ‘number 10’ who will drift in and out and find space ideally isolating full backs and wide centre halves and beating them. We are trying to do way too much ‘through the middle’.

[Worthy4England]

My worry remains the Vic rumours. It's a tough ask to carry someone that good at this level who really isn't going to start. If he has a good few games he'll get a go, but all things considered he's being Dion. He goes, Dan is back in the mix, but isn't good enough (being generous, yet).

On point, I broadly agree we're a 10 short, but to pay devil's advocate, your view was we wouldn't sign a CB last year because we had numbers on the books. Add Lolos and CMG to what we have, we're not short on numbers

Yeah, but they're "defenders"....ROI isn't as good, so why bother, we barely need 'em anyhow?

[TANGODANCER]

My only caveat is I think we need someone who wants to operate out wide and has pace. Our system is too narrow and I think we need a ‘number 10’ who will drift in and out and find space ideally isolating full backs and wide centre halves and beating them. We are trying to do way too much ‘through the middle’.

We place too much emphasis on the "known" and too little on the unknown roles in team description. The De Bruynes' of this world (few granted) are a constant threat because of their unpredictability and "will o' the wisp quality. We all know two and two make four, but what if the the puzzle said "two and ? make four? Two and five minus three equal four, so does two and 1 + 1. It's the thinking bit, the Scarlet Pimpernel element, that causes questions and is the fly in the jam pot. Kevin De Bruyne, Paul Scholes, Luca Modric, even our own Dappy could all be said to fill this role over time. Their unknown games and actions define their roles in it all. Thomason and Dempsey are the nearest we have right now.

Our basic game is fine, but right now we may as well give printed hand-outs as to how we're going to play. We need to change that. We also need to score goals early rather then later, but even the car park attendants know that.

[GhostoftheBok]

your view was we wouldn't sign a CB last year because we had numbers on the books. Add Lolos and CMG to what we have, we're not short on numbers

Yeah, but they're "defenders"....ROI isn't as good, so why bother, we barely need 'em anyhow?

Not quite.

My view was we wouldn't block Johnston's pathway back into the team and we wouldn't invest heavily there.

That's broadly correct, no? Our preferred back 3 is the same as it was two seasons ago. We've got a utility player covering Johnston (Iredale), a younger lad we signed to develop (Forrester) and a free transfer we brought in this season (Forino).

The plan remains Johnston - Santos - Toal, from what I can tell. Evatt want's more of a ball-playing option on the right for a lot of games (likely to be Jones), but otherwise it's likely to be those three.

The difference at the back is we don't rotate our defenders the same way we do our forwards, so we don't have the same issues with the bench. It's not a returns issue, it's that we can't play with the required intensity without a lot of forward players on the books.

That means they actually need to be able to play football and we will spend money to achieve that, because otherwise we can't play the system.

We're spending a lot more money this summer than I thought we would, but it's not going on defenders. It's going where it was expected to go - on improving the press and wide attacking options.

The issue isn't not needing defenders, it's recognising that we actually have good defenders on the books and the issue we've had was as much tactical as it was anything else.

At this stage, in an ideal world, Evatt would probably swap Iredale for a player less ravaged by injuries - just as he'd probably do the same with Dan, or even Dempsey. However, we can play Evatt's brand of football with the defenders we have. We are still a bit short in attack.

[GhostoftheBok]

What I did think was that Forrester, who is a better ball-playing centre half than Toal, would get used a lot more than he did.

Evatt has recently said that didn't happen because of injuries, which is unfortunate.

Toal has improved on the ball a lot since we got him (as you'd expect) and we'll probably see that happen with Forino too, if we can keep him fit.

Johnston gives us the best of both worlds. He's an excellent defender and he's really good with the ball. I was hoping Forrester might give us a right-sided version, but at the minute the lad does seem cursed.

Forrester and Iredale are both weaker options than I expected them to be this summer. Both due to injury. Same goes for Johnston, but less so as he seems to have come back well. So we're not as strong at the back going into this season as I'd hoped we would be.

So it's not all roses.

[Worthy4England]

Well, yes, that's what happened and we were poorer defensively overall (not putting it all on the back three). That's a pick that the management made and here we are still in L1.

We can make a case for "if we score more it's all strawberries and BJs" but if we'd just managed to pick up from corners and defended a bit better, we may have made it also.

The forward bit requires additional personnel (and a lot of 'em). The defending bit requires better coaching and capable players doing their jobs - we have the second bit, we just need to get full value out of it.

[GhostoftheBok]

Well, yes, that's what happened and we were poorer defensively overall (not putting it all on the back three). That's a pick that the management made and here we are still in L1.

We can make a case for "if we score more it's all strawberries and BJs" but if we'd just managed to pick up from corners and defended a bit better, we may have made it also.

The forward bit requires additional personnel (and a lot of 'em). The defending bit requires better coaching and capable players doing their jobs - we have the second bit, we just need to get full value out of it.

I'm not a huge fan of strawberries.

I did note that against Wrexham we were defending corners far better.

Hopefully that's us improving and not just Wrexham being predictable. Their rate of scoring from set pieces would suggest that we did do well.

[Worthy4England]

Well, yes, that's what happened and we were poorer defensively overall (not putting it all on the back three). That's a pick that the management made and here we are still in L1.

We can make a case for "if we score more it's all strawberries and BJs" but if we'd just managed to pick up from corners and defended a bit better, we may have made it also.

The forward bit requires additional personnel (and a lot of 'em). The defending bit requires better coaching and capable players doing their jobs - we have the second bit, we just need to get full value out of it.

I'm not a huge fan of strawberries.

I did note that against Wrexham we were defending corners far better.

Hopefully that's us improving and not just Wrexham being predictable. Their rate of scoring from set pieces would suggest that we did do well.

We did a decent job defensively on Sunday. Looked tighter, limited them to 2 on target. So happier with Sunday's defensive display, than the week before when we looked way to open - like you, I still have the question around whether we just nullified one team or oppo had a poor day attacking and hopefully the basis for more solidity.

Charlton have bagged 6 points from 7 shots on target - 4 in total on or off v Wigan...Both their goals have come from fairly speculative punts, so we're going to need to remember how to head, too!

[GhostoftheBok]

Charlton have bagged 6 points from 7 shots on target - 4 in total on or off v Wigan...Both their goals have come from fairly speculative punts, so we're going to need to remember how to head, too!

I'm hopeful against Charlton. I do think they've had it easy in their first two league games, but they're still a lot better than they were before Jones and they give up very little.

We may well struggle to break them down.

An early goal for us would really help (when doesn't it?). One for them...eek.

[BWFC_Insane]

In theory away from home might suit us initially.

[GhostoftheBok]

In theory away from home might suit us initially.

It's possible.

We've had fun against Charlton lately precisely because they've tried to play expansive footy and got shoed.

If Jones' side give us more space to play in, because they want to show off to their own fans, great.

I do worry this is a game where that lack of a lock-picker at #10 will bite us, but we just have to find a solution. You can't always have the perfect set of players.

[GhostoftheBok]

Dan is being "managed", according to the BN.

Screenshot 2024-08-22 173126.png (95.78 KiB) Viewed 1345 times

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Yeah was just reading that. CMG "two to three months from steppung up his recovery" - two months would be end of Oct, three would be end of Nov, and that's "stepping up" not "banging on Evatt's door".

Same report - Evatt says of Matete “They are getting back to where we need them to be. Jay, in particular, his physical data has been really pleasing in the last couple of games so he is not a million miles away now.... Probably post the international break, everyone will be on a level playing field and ready to kick on.”

[GhostoftheBok]

Evatt in his prematch (from which the BN has taken the quotes) says we have had loan offers for some players to whom we can't offer minutes and it might be best for them to go and play. "Not as a goodbye", he says, but rather as a chance to develop.

[Worthy4England]

An "opportunity," as it were...

[GhostoftheBok]

An "opportunity," as it were...

Yeah, it's doesn't tell us much new other than that there have been active offers.

Same list of potential exits come to mind. Same reasons for needing each of them remains true.

Presumably a lot depends on who we are targeting and how sure we are we'll get *something* done.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Would like to see Michael Obafemi on our list of potentials, but that's a difficult deal to do.

Gone to Plymouth for the season.

In this morning's write-up of yesterday's presser, Evatt says: “We are getting phone calls all the time about some of our targets and how things are changing. If players had aspirations of playing at a higher level and that hasn’t materialised, they (might become available) in the last week of the window. We will see what we can do there, but I would think most of the movement would be through the exit door.”

Read that how you will but I suspect that, for example, if a player like Obafemi (not actually him now, obvz) becomes available to us rather than going second-tier, we might go with it... and thus cause an exit (temporary, permanent, loan-to-perm, whatever).

[GhostoftheBok]

Read that how you will but I suspect that, for example, if a player like Obafemi (not actually him now, obvz) becomes available to us rather than going second-tier, we might go with it... and thus cause an exit (temporary, permanent, loan-to-perm, whatever).

That's how I understood it.

I think it's obvious a couple will go if they can, regardless of incomings - Matheson, etc.

We do have a squad that can't be registered in full. 25 overage outfielders, including Matheson. So something has to give somewhere.

[Worthy4England]

We should tell Chelsea.