(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

1 minute ago, SalCity Biggie said:

Could Santos be the hard bastard midfielder we want?

Load of Pictures of yesterdays training session 

no Santos anywhere 

Arfield was training to Yesterday 

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?

Scored 15 goals last season, is tall enough, quick enough, direct enough and has an eye for where the goals are scored. Been asked to fart about too much outside the box by Evatt. 

7 minutes ago, SalCity Biggie said:

Could Santos be the hard bastard midfielder we want?

Have you lost your mind?

Santos in midfield?

I've seen milk turn quicker.

I'd rather put lofty there.

3 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Santos in midfield?

I've seen milk turn quicker.

I'd rather put lofty there.

It'd be like watching an old bloke lost in a Tube station at teatime

12 minutes ago, ianofcleveleys said:

It'd be like watching an old bloke lost in a Tube station at teatime

Liam Trotter all over again.

I may be looking at this different to everyone else but I’m fairly pleased we didn’t bring anyone in.

It would have been rushed and the squad is already too big.  I think the big issue we have is the positions being lob sided and probably over stocked in some and under stocked in others.

Schumacher will have this time till summer to have a proper weigh up of the squad.

Im not writing this season on off but a little bit of me thinks it may not be a disaster if we stay down. Schumacher has proven he can deliver a 100+ season and if we can then I’m all for that. We then get a stronger team going into the championship. 

Id take promotion now obviously just can see the benefits of him getting more time.

Hopefully he can get every single one of em on board for the run in as I’m sure everyone will play their part at some point till the end.

Still think Mcatee is our big asset to unlock. Schumacher needs and hopefully will get a tune out of him.
 

 

I'd be happy with making a fist of reaching the play offs, having a bit of fun along the way, and beating Wigan and Blackpool.

 

Edited February 4, 20251 yr by gonzo

1 hour ago, little whitt said:

Load of Pictures of yesterdays training session 

no Santos anywhere 

Arfield was training to Yesterday 

No sign of Mcatee either.

1 hour ago, ianofcleveleys said:

Scored 15 goals last season, is tall enough, quick enough, direct enough and has an eye for where the goals are scored. Been asked to fart about too much outside the box by Evatt. 

He hit a real purple patch from mid Feb, scoring 9 in their last 15 league games.

The way he took that goal against Barnsley suggests he does have something that none of our other strikers (aside from Collins) have.  I'm a bit undecided really, what his best position is and if he's good enough to get regular starts, but happy to leave that to SS.  When he's picked to start I never think "oh no" put it that way, he seems to increase our chances of creating or scoring.

2 hours ago, kent_white said:

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

They rarely play together. 

For me, having just one leaves them overworked in that department. 

Hence silly fouls etc.

Tomo isn't the most agile and stupidly over commits.

It worked for a while with 2 of the three as attacking/creative midfielders, then teams sussed it.

Playing with just 2 in there made it worse.

SS now has to work out how to make it work.

3 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

He hit a real purple patch from mid Feb, scoring 9 in their last 15 league games.

The way he took that goal against Barnsley suggests he does have something that none of our other strikers (aside from Collins) have.  I'm a bit undecided really, what his best position is and if he's good enough to get regular starts, but happy to leave that to SS.  When he's picked to start I never think "oh no" put it that way, he seems to increase our chances of creating or scoring.

Well based on what else we’ve got and hopefully leaving out Etete until he’s properly ready, it’s surely worth giving him a go up top with AC? As you say we’ll leave it to SS who is in a far better place to judge than we are but since it’s goals we need and we don’t look like getting them from Victor I hope he’s at least given a chance.

3 hours ago, little whitt said:

Sheehan just signed a new 2  1/2  year contract 

Aye, was thinking it was an 18 month job.

Still not convinced that we need so many, at the expense of a more physical presence.

We'll see in the summer.

16 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

Well based on what else we’ve got and hopefully leaving out Etete until he’s properly ready, it’s surely worth giving him a go up top with AC? As you say we’ll leave it to SS who is in a far better place to judge than we are but since it’s goals we need and we don’t look like getting them from Victor I hope he’s at least given a chance.

It's not goals we need though. Only Birmingham, Wycombe and Stockport have scored more than us, and their GD's are +27, +25 and +16. Ours is 0. We need to stop conceding so many.

Edited February 4, 20251 yr by Cheese

On 03/02/2025 at 14:35, bwfc6ix said:

If it was a permanent transfer i'd agree as you've got time to bed in. But this is effectively a 3 month loan from the end of Jan so when you take it all into account, I'd argue being match fit is huge factor.

He's apparently near to full fitness 🤷‍♂️, who knows(?) he could easily be fit enough to score the winning goal in the play-off final.

11 minutes ago, JOGLER said:

He's apparently near to full fitness 🤷‍♂️, who knows(?) he could easily be fit enough to score the winning goal in the play-off final.

He could indeed.

SS has stated he isn't fully ready and will need to be used carefully initially. 

Of course we will have to see, but I'd prefer someone ready now, who might score the goals that get us to the play offs. 

Or someone to solidify us and help us stop conceding so many goals to the same effect. 

59 minutes ago, Cheese said:

It's not goals we need though. Only Birmingham, Wycombe and Stockport have scored more than us, and their GD's are +27, +25 and +16. Ours is 0. We need to stop conceding so many.

I honestly don't know which I'd prefer - I'd like us to keep a few clean sheets as you say, but under IE we couldn't score in a big game to save our lives.  We've missed out on "limbs" moments under IE because we are so impotent up front.  Scoring 4s and 5s v Reading, Northampton, Stevenage or 3 against the 10 men of Mansfield and Lincoln is nice at the time but nobody's taking away any great memories from them.  The 1 goal at Huddersfield was celebrated more than all those others put together.  IMO we very much need goals, we haven't been able to lay a glove on the better teams.

Mad innit.

We came 3rd last season and 90 minutes away from promotion yet only 2 real special moments spring to mind.

GT goal v Blackpool and Collins v Barnsley.

13 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Mad innit.

We came 3rd last season and 90 minutes away from promotion yet only 2 real special moments spring to mind.

GT goal v Blackpool and Collins v Barnsley.

And this season Collins v Huddersfield, Collins v Blackpool, arguably GT v Blackpool.  I sense a pattern.

To be fair most of the 8 goals we scored against Barnsley last season were big goals too, even the Ashworth equaliser.

3 hours ago, ianofcleveleys said:

It'd be like watching an old bloke lost in a Tube station at teatime

Casino?.....

4 hours ago, ianofcleveleys said:

It'd be like watching an old bloke lost in a Tube station at teatime

The lesser known Jam tune

With the amount of grief Santos gets for being a good centre half, imagine the shite he'd get as a useless centre-mid.

Fucking cruel some of you lot.

11 minutes ago, wakey said:

With the amount of grief Santos gets for being a good centre half, imagine the shite he'd get as a useless centre-mid.

Fucking cruel some of you lot.

I’m finding it strange as one of his strengths is apparently speed yet folk are saying he’s slow on the turn. 
 

clean slate as folk have said. Hopefully his game gets back in it. Can’t see folk wanting to pay him big money if he doesn’t play much for the rest of the season 

28 minutes ago, Big E said:

I’m finding it strange as one of his strengths is apparently speed yet folk are saying he’s slow on the turn. 
 

clean slate as folk have said. Hopefully his game gets back in it. Can’t see folk wanting to pay him big money if he doesn’t play much for the rest of the season 

For me, his pace is (or was) in a foot race over a distance, not turning or doing short sharp sprints in the centre of the park - he’d make GT look agile 😉.

Anyway, it’s not even a conversation because he’ll never play centre mid.

I personally hope he doesn’t play for the rest of the season - only because it means that Forrester is playing well week in week out (and he’s our asset). Nothing against Santos, I just want to see Forrester prioritised over a player that’s going in the summer.

One of the best things Big Sam did was create the Campo role 

It's also been one of the worst