(That long since we've had any, couldn't find the thread)

Alan Nixon: "Top Liverpool starlet Cameron Branagan will Ben allowed out on loan in Jan.

Bolton lead the race for the 20 year old midfielder"

Edited December 11, 20169 yr by Ratwhite

Etete needs a lot of coaching. v Reading he was facing the wrong way half the time for a hold up man. 

2 hours ago, noxid said:

We can still agree loan deals can't we?

Maybe a midfielder via that route is still on cards 

Pretty sure you can only do "emergency loans" outside the window, like if all 3 of our keepers got injured.

Edited February 4, 20251 yr by Cheese

2 hours ago, gonzo said:

Gonna be interesting to see what happens with Santos now.

I personally hope there's a way back for him. 

Absolutely not in the middle of 3 centre backs mind.

 

Get him fit and get his head straight and he's a huge plus for us.

I'm glad he hasn't left.

I think playoffs is a bit of a stretch tbh, but having him available would be a real boost.

And just ask him to defend.

1 hour ago, Zico said:

the lack of bastard in midfield is notable but it is what it is

hopefully that will be addressed in the summer

I get this, it's what our fans have been asking for for sometime, but am I the only one who feels that we are okay in that department?

We have a bunch of "hard bastards" or players that are willing to put their foot in, I don't think that is an issue.

Look, 2 of our midfielders have been suspended now for the very reason of putting their foots in.

Matete loves a tackle and has been suspended for 2 games for doing a stupid one. And just as he's coming back, Thomason goes and picks up his 10th yellow card of the season and is now banned for 2 games.

I've seen that we have picked up the most yellow cards in the division and by some distance as well (13 more than 2nd place), make of that what you will.

I think our squad is more than fine, like Schuey said he's ecstatic to have the talent there at his disposal and I think we are covered in every area. 

If it was football manager though, I would be getting another proven goal scorer striker to prevent over reliance upon Collins but that's that.

Edited February 4, 20251 yr by Lostock Whites

11 hours ago, desperado said:

Arfield to Falkirk.

While it would have been nice to get another forward in, I wasn’t expecting it.

Squads big enough.

In terms of numbers we’ve cover everywhere.

Lets see what SS can do with the tools he’s been given 

I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops - formations, who are the automatic picks, who become surplus to requirements, how he uses subs etc.

My gut feeling is we won't win many games without Collins being a big influence, either assisting or scoring.  That's been the general pattern for a while now.  If he plays like he did at Rotherham (hardly had a kick) or Reading (poor or unlucky finishing), I wonder where the spark will come from.  Its in the lap of the gods which games he "turns up" in, but with Charles gone he has to play every league game realistically.

I don't see a lot of alternatives for pure creating/scoring, there's only so much influence the other players will have, collectively they don't score/create enough.  That's why the next 17 games are a free hit for SS for me (barring Crawley at home of course, no excuses in that one 😀).

 

28 minutes ago, Lostock Whites said:

I get this, it's what our fans have been asking for for sometime, but am I the only one who feels that we are okay in that department?

We have a bunch of "hard bastards" or players that are willing to put their foot in, I don't think that is an issue.

Look, 2 of our midfielders have been suspended now for the very reason of putting their foots in.

Matete loves a tackle and has been suspended for 2 games for doing a stupid one. And just as he's coming back, Thomason goes and picks up his 10th yellow card of the season and is now banned for 2 games.

I've seen that we have picked up the most yellow cards in the division and by some distance as well (13 more than 2nd place), make of that what you will.

I think our squad is more than fine, like Schuey said he's ecstatic to have the talent there at his disposal and I think we are covered in every area. 

If it was football manager though, I would be getting another proven goal scorer striker to prevent over reliance upon Collins but that's that.

Matete wasn't suspended for a tackle. He stamped on someone who was already on the ground. The daft bugger.

39 minutes ago, Lostock Whites said:

Look, 2 of our midfielders have been suspended now for the very reason of putting their foots in.

most of GTs bookings are stupid and make him look like a fucking idiot who can't tackle, he's just very busy and clumsy in that respect

Matete's was ridiculous, he literally put his foot in, that's not what we need him to do

we all know what happens when other midfields get stuck into ours, they wilt and dissappear

hopefully SS can address that

but having a player who knows how to play the game and not shy away would make us much tougher in the middle

 

1 hour ago, Wanderlust said:

For now we have George and Matete to stick a foot in when required - and they both can, although neither of them are the P. Viera we'd have in an ideal world. But the more defence minded set up we have now in conjunction with a "target man" discouraging the opposition back line getting too far forward to join their attacks makes that less of a problem than it was under Evatt.

Also...and I know that many on here lacked the vision to see it ...but we still have Santos at the club and he's not necessarily needed in the centre of a back three. Given that he has to retrain for a new system anyway, I'll throw in the idea of retraining him to play DM again.

Laugh away, but I still think it's worth trying - he could be that midfield bastard as he has the attributes.

Not for me.  So many attributes you want in a midfielder that Santos doesn't possess.

If anyone was ever suited to only one position its Santos.  All the other defenders we have, have a bit of flexibility to play on right of a 3, the left of a 3, in the middle or even at full back or wing back at a stretch.  Not Santos, if he's not playing as a CB stopper he's a fish out of water, and absolutely never a midfielder, IMO.  If we had to put a CB in midfield I'd choose Toal, Johnston or Forrester before Santos.

2 hours ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

In that case, I hope they throw the disciplinary book at him.

he'd probably read the flight of the throw wrongly and it'd sail past him.

14 hours ago, nantwichwhite said:

I always thought Williams needed a damn good wash

SICKING 

1 hour ago, Lostock Whites said:

I get this, it's what our fans have been asking for for sometime, but am I the only one who feels that we are okay in that department?

We have a bunch of "hard bastards" or players that are willing to put their foot in, I don't think that is an issue.

Look, 2 of our midfielders have been suspended now for the very reason of putting their foots in.

Matete loves a tackle and has been suspended for 2 games for doing a stupid one. And just as he's coming back, Thomason goes and picks up his 10th yellow card of the season and is now banned for 2 games.

I've seen that we have picked up the most yellow cards in the division and by some distance as well (13 more than 2nd place), make of that what you will.

I think our squad is more than fine, like Schuey said he's ecstatic to have the talent there at his disposal and I think we are covered in every area. 

If it was football manager though, I would be getting another proven goal scorer striker to prevent over reliance upon Collins but that's that.

Agree on the over-reliance on Collins, there was a list above of about 8 alternative strikers and for one only 1 or 2 can play at once realistically, and so a  lot of them will hardly start any games, and secondly we know there is only Collins that will get more than an odd goal here and there.

Agree also on Matete, he's the tackler and distributor of easy passes we need in front of defence.  But Tomo hasn't been suspended for putting tackles in, he's suspended for pulling players back, conceding needless free kicks and generally not being good enough or sharp enough to win the ball cleanly.  A poor excuse of a "ball winner" and rightly has to miss games because he doesn't play within the rules in any game.

13 hours ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Assuming we don't get a midfielder in, then there will have to be some business in the summer.

Matete is on loan, Dempsey will have had another long spell out, and Sheehan will be starting the final year of his contract. 

SS may see Sharples-Ahmed as part of his set up, we'll have to see, but we could be well short in that department. 

Sheehan just signed a new 2  1/2  year contract 

2 hours ago, noxid said:

We can still agree loan deals can't we?

Maybe a midfielder via that route is still on cards 

No

Much the same as Maghoma last season. Kick Collins out the game and we've had it.

There's a lot sort in that department.

2 hours ago, Lostock Whites said:

I get this, it's what our fans have been asking for for sometime, but am I the only one who feels that we are okay in that department?

We have a bunch of "hard bastards" or players that are willing to put their foot in, I don't think that is an issue.

Look, 2 of our midfielders have been suspended now for the very reason of putting their foots in.

Matete loves a tackle and has been suspended for 2 games for doing a stupid one. And just as he's coming back, Thomason goes and picks up his 10th yellow card of the season and is now banned for 2 games.

I've seen that we have picked up the most yellow cards in the division and by some distance as well (13 more than 2nd place), make of that what you will.

I think our squad is more than fine, like Schuey said he's ecstatic to have the talent there at his disposal and I think we are covered in every area. 

If it was football manager though, I would be getting another proven goal scorer striker to prevent over reliance upon Collins but that's that.

We haven't picked up the most yellows in the Division because we're a team of nasty, cynical, hard bastards. It's because of the opposite, we're lightweight, get bullied off the ball in duels then commit panicky, desperate fouls because we're out of position. Dozens of those yellows have been for shirt tugs, ankle taps, legging someone up who's getting away.

The system and risk level of the way we've played under Evatt has also been a factor, inviting opponents to steal the ball in dangerous areas. A lot of Thomason's fouls are due to him being caught out of position or trying to redress a team mate's mistake in an understaffed midfield, similar with Matete.

Edited February 4, 20251 yr by ianofcleveleys

Just weighing in on the Santos as a midfield enforcer debate. 

I think he moves the ball much too slowly to be trusted with it in that part of the field. 

57 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Agree on the over-reliance on Collins, there was a list above of about 8 alternative strikers and for one only 1 or 2 can play at once realistically, and so a  lot of them will hardly start any games, and secondly we know there is only Collins that will get more than an odd goal here and there.

Agree also on Matete, he's the tackler and distributor of easy passes we need in front of defence.  But Tomo hasn't been suspended for putting tackles in, he's suspended for pulling players back, conceding needless free kicks and generally not being good enough or sharp enough to win the ball cleanly.  A poor excuse of a "ball winner" and rightly has to miss games because he doesn't play within the rules in any game.

You're right about Tomo, for all those reasons. Only my view but I also don't particularly think Matete's that good at it either. Better than Tomo but it's a low bar. Maybe working under SS might bring more out in him.

3 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

You're right about Tomo, for all those reasons. Only my view but I also don't particularly think Matete's that good at it either. Better than Tomo but it's a low bar. Maybe working under SS might bring more out in him.

I'm another one that's not convinced with Matete. His distribution is poor and he gets rolled too easily for a defensive midfielder. 

2 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

You're right about Tomo, for all those reasons. Only my view but I also don't particularly think Matete's that good at it either. Better than Tomo but it's a low bar. Maybe working under SS might bring more out in him.

I think for a L1 team Matete is as good as we'll get, we all pick up on different aspects of a player and he was stupid with that challenge against Charlton but generally when he goes in for a tackle I expect him to come out with the ball most of the time, unlike any other of our midfielders. 

I also trust him to take the ball in tight areas facing his own goal (despite the brain freeze at Stockport), whereas I expect everyone else to either get dispossessed or cough up possession (not always their fault, we cause our own problems putting players under unnecessary pressure 20 yards from goal).

Don’t we have a striker in Lolos? I thought he was a CF at Crawley before Evatt tried to turn him into another midfielder to keep his four favourites up top instead?

15 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

I think for a L1 team Matete is as good as we'll get, we all pick up on different aspects of a player and he was stupid with that challenge against Charlton but generally when he goes in for a tackle I expect him to come out with the ball most of the time, unlike any other of our midfielders. 

He's also liked by the manager, who signed him in January transfer window in 2023 for Plymouth and picked him 19 times in the run-in.

8 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

Don’t we have a striker in Lolos? I thought he was a CF at Crawley before Evatt tried to turn him into another midfielder to keep his four favourites up top instead?

Good point 

Could Santos be the hard bastard midfielder we want?

34 minutes ago, Traf said:

He's also liked by the manager, who signed him in January transfer window in 2023 for Plymouth and picked him 19 times in the run-in.

Indeed, possible that working with SS and him knowing how to get the best out of him might help him finish the season strongly. 

What he did at the end the other week was a daft aberration, more interested in how he goes about things generally. 

42 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

Don’t we have a striker in Lolos? I thought he was a CF at Crawley before Evatt tried to turn him into another midfielder to keep his four favourites up top instead?

 

33 minutes ago, noxid said:

Good point 

he's always been an attracking midfielder/forward

def not a striker