nwgull
Well-known member
The way I see it ...
I think we'll make at least one major sale in January
In terms of players in ....
Goalie still looks a risk to me. The fact that Steele was below Button as 2nd choice when he was here, combined with some very mixed cup performances says to me, we've been pushing our luck, and to be fair getting away with it, for a while. If Rushworth or Scherpen won't be ready to put serious pressure on Bob in the next 12 months, I think we should buy someone in.
RB. Fine
CB. If Van Hecke was going to make it, he'd have featured this season. We can't get Colwill almost certainly. Webby misses a lot of football. No academy players hammering on the door. Veltman and Dunk priceless to us. A LCB is our most likely signing. I don't think we'll wait till summer
Left Back again looks like a risk. We're fine as long as Pervis stays fit etc, but I don't see the academy cavalry coming to our rescue in this position any time soon. March and Colwill could fill in, in a 4 but would be obviously out of position and be doing no more than just filling in.
Centre mid. I think we're ok as long as we don't sell. If we do, I think we should loan in. In this position I can see us being in a better spot once Moder, Koslowski and a number of others on loan return from injury or mature. We just need to buy some time. As for Gilmour, we'll find out tomorrow if RDZ rates him.
Similarly a bit further forward, Buenotte, Enciso and Sarmiento will aid the transition away from the Lallana, Gross, Trossard era, but we might need some short term cover as these players are seriously young.
Up front. For about the 7th window in a row, we're desperate for a striker as, has been said, we're alarmingly reliant on players who are injury prone, undercooked, not going to make it, or likely to leave. We've lots of loan strikers out there, but none scoring. I'm expecting the normal sorry transfer window tale of near misses and another 1 in 10 punt on a teenager
On the Keeper thing, it really is an inefficient use of available money to be spending significant transfer funds and wages on a back up. In 5 and a half seasons of PL football, we’ve had to play the back-up keeper twice, haven’t we?Steele's never let us down. McGill is probably better than you think - wouldn't be the end of the world.
Rushworth should be ready next season - although a year in the Championship or abroad would probably be better for his development
We haven't needed to replace Dunk.
Ed Turns.
So were Pele, Rooney, Michael Owen, Trevor Francis, et al. So is Caicedo.
Desperate? 26 goals in 15 PL matches. More 'would like' rather than 'desperate'. Also .... cough .... Ferguson.
It’d only be worth splashing out if Sanchez was being sold.