Summer transfer window 2024 (31 Viewers)

[Perennial Lurker]

It is strange to not get a midfielder in when we targeted Browne and stamenic
I wonder if that was to enable sheaf to be sold

Don't know what happened with Browne but Stamenic took us for a ride . And yes with certain rumours up to yesterday you have to wonder whether we were considering selling Sheaf or another one of our star assets

 

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[Brighton Sky Blue]

Problem is he doesn’t appear to be livid.

MR said they don’t want players in due the sake of having bodies, but sometimes that’s what squad depth is about - having a body that you can throw in to try to change the course if a game. Palmer for all his inconsistency got us a goal last week and now we don’t even have that. Big deal if he was on the last year of his contract. We let COH walk out as a free agent didn’t we? We must be desperately short of cash if we needed to sell Palmer who mustn’t have cost much.

If they don’t want bodies, then what are Allen. Eccles and Torp who cannot string 2 forward passes together? We have 500 strikers to sub in and out for the attacking third but nothing for midfield and defence. This will not hold until Jan I’m afraid. But at least MR will have his readymade excuses on why we dropped points.

Everyone else was busy signing players and we couldn’t even make a stopgap loan deal. That’s very disappointing.

I think it’s more likely Palmer was sold because we just wanted shot of him.

 

[quinn1971]

Dear god I expected some nonsense to have been written by some but crikey !

I see the combined meltdown has started

Eccles - not good enough , yet for two seasons he consistently has been

Allen - Missed last season and we missed his energy

Torp - Came with a big reputation, granted hasn't delivered consistently but there is definitely a player in there

Rudoni - Still settling in but there is a star in the making I'm sure of it

Lati - Don't want to see him regularly in midfield but can cover at times

Andrews / Dausch - Both have shown ability and both clearly well thought of

Yes we needed a CM and we are not quite there without signing one but 90% of clubs don't have a perfect squad with cover for every eventuality.

Personally I think we will hover around the top 8 -10 till January and strengthen again.

Enjoy the ride #pusb

Absolutely nail on the head, would loved to of seen us add to the squad but why chuck money away on just filling a gap, didn’t we get torp in January, that squads still capable of grabbing a play off spot

 

[HuckerbyDublinWhelan]

I think 4-4-2 would suit us down to the ground tbh. Sheaf and Rudoni/Torp as the 2 CMs, Sakamoto as RM, either EMC or Haji as LM, and Simms and Haji/Asante up top.

Considering we have such strong attacking options in our wingers (depends if you count Haji as able to play LM or not) compared to our midfielders, I think 4-4-2 is the way to go imo.

We’re not going to play 4-4-2. Nobody in the modern game does.

you negate MVE to a purely defensive Role. The central midfield gets overrun by 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1.

the wide players are seen as more deeper - so again you’re negating the attacking prowess of Wright and whoever is in the right.

further to that as there’s nobody behind the strikers there’s a massive gap in attacking midfield that is usually mopped up by a DM. The strikers would be totally isolated

 

[Perennial Lurker]

I think it’s more likely Palmer was sold because we just wanted shot of him.

He was an expensive luxury to have on the books

 

[Perennial Lurker]

Absolutely nail on the head, would loved to of seen us add to the squad but why chuck money away on just filling a gap, didn’t we get torp in January, that squads still capable of grabbing a play off spot

We aren't perfect but how many squads across any of the divisions are ?

 

[Tommo1993]

He was an expensive luxury to have on the books

Said all along he was a luxury signing. Got shot down many times, but I was right.

 

[David O'Day]

We’re not going to play 4-4-2. Nobody in the modern game does.

you negate MVE to a purely defensive Role. The central midfield gets overrun by 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1.

the wide players are seen as more deeper - so again you’re negating the attacking prowess of Wright and whoever is in the right.

further to that as there’s nobody behind the strikers there’s a massive gap in attacking midfield that is usually mopped up by a DM. The strikers would be totally isolated

Emery at Villa did for a lot of the time last season.

 

[steve101]

Bugs me this notion of whether a player is 'top 6 material' in order for them to be of value. Top 6 teams don't have a squad full of top 6 players. They do have a system that works; team spirit; a goalscorer; and some luck.

 

[Perennial Lurker]

Said all along he was a luxury signing. Got shot down many times, but I was right.

I would've liked to get another body in but not just anyone , we've moved way past them days

 

[mmttww]

Forget our shit past. Since then we’ve been told of a 5 year plan. Completely sobering to commit (lose) another season to Allen, Torp and Eccles.

FYI we signed a bloke called Jack Rudoni a while back, and this Ben Sheaf fella is apparently pretty decent. Don't let me stop you from pissing your pants, though.

 

[Perennial Lurker]

Bugs me this notion of whether a player is 'top 6 material' in order for them to be of value. Top 6 teams don't have a squad full of top 6 players. They do have a system that works; team spirit; a goalscorer; and some luck.

Danny Drinkwater won a premier league medal , won England caps and made a fortune . And he was dreadful
Sometimes combinations of players suit and get the best out of the team without being brilliant individuals

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

He was an expensive luxury to have on the books

If we switch to playing with a flat 3 in midfield it’s

Rudoni
Sheaf
Torp
Eccles
Allen

Which is just one player short of where it needs to be. Palmer doesn’t help us there.

 

[djr8369]

I remember going to Huddersfield a couple of seasons ago. We had about 3 fit midfielders at the club and had to start Howley. Everyone was flapping. We won 4-0.

I get the lack of depth and injuries will be an issue, but we have options and there is more to come from Eccles, Torp and Rudoni for sure.

Yeah it’s a funny old game. Everyone is moaning about the midfield but who knows what will happen. Could end up with all 3 keepers injured!

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

I think too many people convinced themselves we'd be having a crack at the autos, which was never realistic.

Agreed and this a process, the team is capable of getting playoffs and with some additions in Jan, we should be capable of pushing on.

There’s no point over spending and this all ending in tears like it did at Derby. We’ve kept our star players and added some good depth in forward areas. All in all, it’s been a good window, a grade B.

 

[HuckerbyDublinWhelan]

Emery at Villa did for a lot of the time last season.

I stand corrected. It’s a more fluid 4-4-2 at Villa. I’m sure he plays two players that drift in to almost have a 4-2-2-2

even in that situation - ironically we’d need to have kept Palmer.

 

[SkyblueTexan]

I can't agree with that, is it frustrating? Yes, but after seeing what we've built in the last couple of years, I wouldn't say it's incompetence. We've signed good players, and it seems the right ones weren't available in our price range to go for this window. We need to trust in the recruitment team and go again in January.

They will squander that opportunity too saying Jan window doesn’t offer many deals. Even if they find a player like they did with Torp, the whole “gelling” excuse will be brought out when the new player doesn’t hit the ground running.

 

[Perennial Lurker]

If we switch to playing with a flat 3 in midfield it’s

Rudoni
Sheaf
Torp
Eccles
Allen

Which is just one player short of where it needs to be. Palmer doesn’t help us there.

And we still have Andrews, Dausch and Lati .
It's a player short of what we all wanted but it isn't the end of the world by any means

 

[fatso]

Fair enough, and I don’t feel like I’m in hysterics over this window, but are Lati, Eccles, Andrews, Dausch top 6 material? They’re just championship players rather than anything special and I think that’s the main concern, where’s the standout quality in midfield that’s going to propel us into the prem? Sheaf is good and Rudoni probably will be great in time but we’re really light on playmakers in midfield.

There's a great chance for someone to step up then.

Any midfield with Sheaf and Rudoni in it will be good enough, the issue for me is a lack of cover for those two.

But if we can "manage" their work load and fitness till January, we can address the situation then, and become stronger for the run in.

In the meantime we could try EMC as an attacking midfielder, or even push Sakamoto in there and play BTA wide right or if necessary go 2 up front, maybe Eccles or Torp really shines when Sheaf plays, or Bassette slots in, there's plenty of possibilities, it's not the end of the world.

I fancy us to beat Norwich comfortably today, then the mood on here will improve.

 

[mmttww]

I’m more annoyed the club did tweet it’s not mail busy has concluded tweet.

disrespectful tbh. Lost all respect for admin. Been up all night waiting for it

This is a bit mad. You choose to stay up all night for something no one has said they'll do. You get the hump with the club. Full weird.

 

[Sky Blue Pete]

Such a huge amount of bollox on here

 

[Sky Blue Goblin]

Hoping we’re looking at the free agents market using palmers wage.

 

[djr8369]

If we switch to playing with a flat 3 in midfield it’s

Rudoni
Sheaf
Torp
Eccles
Allen

Which is just one player short of where it needs to be. Palmer doesn’t help us there.

Arguably add Lati to that list.

Few general points on the panic, for all we know if we’d got a CM we might have let one of those go to free up the wages. While I would have liked to see a midfielder come in Robins might see things differently and we don’t know all the constraints he’s working with or what systems he might be trying to cater for. The fact we have more attackers than expected probably means we’re going to do something a bit different.

 

[ceetee]

Some of our very best players are wide players and you think the solution is to not play them and instead push the full backs on ??

But we do push the full backs on. They are playing like wing backs even though we only have two central defenders. That's part of the problem.

 

[fatso]

It's worth remembering that under sisu we'd probably of sold one of our bigger stars and still signed no one.

 

[Deity]

Despite the opinions on here of Nixon he got 100 transfers right this summer. Seems to compare pretty well to the accuracy of our ITK’s

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

Arguably add Lati to that list.

Few general points on the panic, for all we know if we’d got a CM we might have let one of those go to free up the wages. While I would have liked to see a midfielder come in Robins might see things differently and we don’t know all the constraints he’s working with or what systems he might be trying to cater for. The fact we have more attackers than expected probably means we’re going to do something a bit different.

Being honest Allen is not what we need in that part of the pitch either. What concerns me is there's yet another parallel with England in having a defensive manager in charge of a group that's imbalanced in favour of attacking players.

 

[Winny the Bish]

As you suggesting we play Tats and Wright as wing backs ??

Not at all

As you suggesting we play Tats and Wright as wing backs ??

Not at all


Edit: I forgot about Rudoni. He’s got a better engine than Torp so you can switch them.

 

[SkyblueTexan]

fuck up is harsh. Im sure we tried and yes I have criticisms also. Such as why not exploit the loan market if budget is tight. But we didn’t lose our best player and captain Ben sheaf. It’s not the management teams fault he is made of glass. But when we have him we know we are a very good team.

The frustrating thing is everyone knows he’s made of glass yet we fail in securing depth for that position again and again.

 

[HuckerbyDublinWhelan]

It's worth remembering that under sisu we'd probably of sold one of our bigger stars and still signed no one.

Doesn’t mean we should sit here and think “well it could have been worse”

 

[fatso]

Doesn’t mean we should sit here and think “well it could have been worse”

But it ain't the end of the world is it.

According to many on here, a month ago, we were going to win the league with this squad, so surely it's still good enough for top 6!

Let's get behind the boys today, get the 3 points and start flying up this league.

 

[steve cooper]

The problem is, we have had at least 2 players all but signed for the midfield position. Browne and Stamenic that we know about. We have been unlucky and / or a bit naive but we can't really be blamed for not getting one of those. We can't, or won't pay what most players of that calibre want, so that leaves us trying to find an undiscovered gem. Something rare and what every club is looking for. We will get there in time.

 

[Perennial Lurker]

But it ain't the end of the world is it.

According to many on here, a month ago, we were going to win the league with this squad, so surely it's still good enough for top 6!

Let's get behind the boys today, get the 3 points and start flying up this league.

We're in 9th already so let's hope we fly higher

 

[Otis]

It's fine as it is for now. But you do have to wonder how it's going to all pan out if we get a couple of injuries in midfield at the same time.

Not sure anyone has too much faith in Ankles as a pair do they. That's Allen and Eccles.

If Sheaf can stay fit for most of the season, we should be fine.

 

[Perennial Lurker]

It's fine as it is for now. But you do have to wonder how it's going to all pan out if we get a couple of injuries in midfield at the same time.

Not sure anyone has too much faith in Ankles as a pair do they. That's Allen and Eccles.

If Sheaf can stay fit for most of the season, we should be fine.

Rudoni is key for me and getting the best out of Torp