briansol

Of course a manager would say compete publicly. You always leave room for an existing player to think he can raise his game and keep the shirt, even if the new one is thought to be a starter. Even so, there are different categories to players you bring in. Some are expected to be starters, some are brought for potential and some are brought as backups (reserve goal keepers). Common theme is if you perform well enough, you should keep your shirt.

The club has a 1 year option on Dacks contract, which you'll imagine they will exercise, so it's basicly 2 year left.

I'm wondering what pigeons WBA is using. It's been a week since they were supposedly signing Kipre, still no confirmation.

They did a brilliant move there. Watkins already had a season there as Forward right. They changed him to central striker and brought in Mbeumo in his position. Played out well for them. Worth noting they brought in Watkins from league 2 for a good sum at that level (2.5 mill) I think, and he hit the ground running immediatly. They are very good at keeping track of the lower leagues.

No doubt Brentford is best in class in finding potential gems, and operative with net negativ spend. They do however have a pretty high turnover of players. For every gem there is also at least 2-3 duffs. Last year they bought 11 players, where Mbuemo is the best. The most impressive thing seems they manage to keep at coherent, exciting team even when having to replace key players each season. Benharama and Watkins is expected to leave, so it they need to find good replacements to have a similar seasons. They just bought Ivan Toney for 5-10 mill which is probably a replacement for Watkins. Benharama will take some genious work to replace though.

Could be Scandinavian-based. Seasons here are within calendar years, so contracts here often expire in 31th of december. Might apply to other leagues as well.

I don't think passing has to be the main criteria for a centre-back. I'd rather have a defender with position awareness, who can defend. The main miss from Tosin might actually be his pace. He was able to get back on occasions when strikers were through, which is a bit rare in centre backs. Anyway they should force whoever they get to watch the this video from defensive maestro Maldini:

Agreed. Love him as an impact sub, put we should be careful to not put too much expectations on him. Now he is playing without pressure and everything is a bonus. Too many young players have struggled badly with coping. Thinking of Danni Cadamatri, Francis Jeffers, our own Jay McEvely etc. Some pointed out that he gives you the "Duff" feeling when watching, which agree on. Credit to the recruitment team for bringing him in. Think he was going to Carlisle before Rovers came. There is a lack of leaders in the team.With Graham, Mulgrew, Downing out of the picture, there is seems to be few "men" left in the building.

He came on a free according to soccerbase.com

You are absolutly playing this transfer window right! I remember when I grew up and read about completed transfers in the weekly football paper (this was before transfer windows), much easier days. Internet and social media has ruined it.

I don't think it matters what a local journo writes. Any modern agent would be hawking his client out to every club to get as much money as possible. There is so much underhanded discussion going on, that I can't imagine any club wrapping up any signing without another interested party knowing.

The point is valid as Peter Ridsdale once said 'Show me a club's annual wage bill and I will show you their final position in the league table.' Of course you are right that there will upset to the balance, and especially relegated teams seems to struggle to adapt event with parachute money. Bielsa proved that a world-class manager can turn dust into gold. The large turnover of managers in Championship shows that most clubs are not able to find their Bielsa. Wage wise I think we are mid-table which is quite good, considering the large decifit the club is running each year. We are going to punch above our weight it's either by being very good at player trading like Brentford or getting a top top manager like Bielsa.

Good reflexes and distribution is still an upgrade on Walton. I can't remember last we had a keeper that was claiming his box. That was Raya's weakness as well. Probably the curse of the modern keeper. Thinking about I can't remember an opposition either having a keeper dominating their box since Konstantopoulos of Boro. He was a massive unit that one.

Might be because he just became available? He started their first league game 9th of August. Phillips also has a mistake in him:

Good workout and another win. Much more dominant today than vs Fleetwood. The starting 11 is probably close to the team starting on Saturday and probably should've been 3 or 4 up at the break if Armstrong had finsihed like he use to. Ben Brereton looks like an upgraded version, much stronger and fitter. 2 excellent finishes and a good allround performance. Rankin-Costello has a wonderful engine and was a constant outlet on the right, which allowed Brereton to join in as a striker at times. Much better than Nyambe offensively, but not as good defensively. Thought Wharton was pretty good, looks much more like a man and had decent distribution as well. The back four however didn't operate as unit and was Feeney was given a golden opportunity when Bell was 10 metres behind the rest of the line preventing offside. Bell looked off-pace in general and wasteful in possesion. Left-back is an obvious weakness to be addressed. Dolan had another great showing. Started with tracking back 50yards at full sprint which prevented a dangerous opportunity. Very quick, good dribbler and really good work-rate. Pretty certain he will be preferred to Chapman who only bothers when the ball is in his feet. Dolan seems to have similar qualities but with work-rate. Thought Davenport looked good when he came on. Dictated the play, tackled and generally looked busy. Dan Pike came on for his debut and gave a solid impression, especially since he is usually a right back. He is only 18, so a bit suprising he has been involved with the seniors. Think this will be his first full year for the U-23. A proper full-back who competes and generally is very depdendable.

I actually saw Brewster and Vale matchup last year, when the U23 went to Anfield and gave Liverpool a lesson. Vale led the line superbly with hold-up play and intelligent running while Brewster was in Tyler Magloire's pocket all game. Butterworth was the star player that night and the Liverpool commentators was certain that he would become a PL player. Also seen Vale give 30 mill pound Mangala of Man City the run-around. Vale certainly has potential and I agree that a 19/20 year old can make an impact. A much better option than keeping Samuel around for sure. I know the coaches worked with his confidence when he was younger.

If we can afford someone like Whiteman, Garner would be very good choice on loan. All-action midfielder with senior experience from United. Regular England youth international as well.

I remember Jonathan Walters was here, scoring goals for fun as an 18-year old, and the main man of the team that reached FA Youth final. Had to be let go after stealing from team-mates. So incredible stupid on his part, but we missed out on the player he became later on.

While I think Buckley is better than Mols, I'm genuinly curious about what you think about him as a player, regards to his strengths etc? The times I've watched him he has always been a 7 of 10. Good energy, decent feet. What is his best position? Seen him played at the wing but strucks me more of an attacking midfielder.

I think that is a fair constructive point.

Having watched Buckley dominating U-23 football against your Liverpool, Arsenal etc, I'm very confident that he has the talent and ability to become a great player for us. Several of the senior players have publicly said they are big fans of him (including Dack). I will agree he might need to fill up a bulk up a bit, but I think the biggest transition from U-23 football has been the tempo. You have less time on the ball which resulted in him playing himself into positions where he was outmuscled. There was improvement post-covid, and I think he is a type of player which just need time and experience to adapt. His best position will probably as an offensive midfielder or a deep 10. I don't get negativity on here. He is been at the club since 8, and probably the biggest offensive talent in a few years. Give him a chance without expecting him to be a world beater in his first season. Modric is fine example on how a slight player can grow with experience.

I have no problem with that on account that we have a lot of other positions to fill. Samuel and Graham didn't to much last season, and it opens up for Vale and Butterworth.

Have to agree, a 3 year contract for a 32-year old shouldn't be allowed unless you are Messi or Ronaldo.

Yes I think he went back to Barrow where he was on loan. Think it's fair since there is several youngster higher rated and a raft of centre-back talents coming through from the U-18/U-23 as well.

Westwood would be a very decent signing. Could get a couple of good years out of him and a chance to groom a number 2. Appearantly a lot of Wed supports still rate him as the best keeper in the Championship. An experienced vocal keeper would improve the young defence as well. Probably not worth to get the hopes up..yet