January moves? | Page 2 | Vital Football

January moves?

I would try and give Lang game time from either flank or up top, half an hour each time and the odd start. My rationale is that he's training with superior players and just sending him out to have a go at a tired full back might be better than playing minutes at a lower level now.

I agree that the contracts of key players need addressing.

The transfer targets I suggested seem to fit into the business model but as far as how much they'd cost I wouldn't like to make a guess on that.
 
jeffs right said:
What a daft statement, well part of it. Especially so last season yes because very few of them made the starting line up. The side was predominantly made up of Caldwell's players. Who of Cookies signings played regularly? Elder and the keeper. Massey and Dunkley were signed before he came and the rest were already here!!
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I think criticism of the manager is the daft bit. We are missing our best players and I’ll say it once again, I don’t anyone could do better with the players at his disposal. Time the critics on this forum stuck to Football Manager on their computers and left the real stuff to Mr Cook.
 
The players at his disposal are the players he signed. Most of the first choice players were not signed by Paul.
This thread is about January targets so we may see quite a bit of movement but can we afford better players than Grigg, Powell, Jacobs, Massey, Burn, Byrne, Morsy, Dunkley? Or can Paul make Windass, Garner, Naismith, Roberts, Vaughan, better than the aforementioned? Either way thats where we need to be aiming after all we have jumped up a massive level
Don't get me wrong Paul Cooks hands have been massively tied with this elongated takeover but Whelan left because he reckoned he couldn't take us any further (despite being one of the richest men in the country) and believed these newcomers could, so let's wait with abated breath and see what happens in January.
The next window will go some way to show us their ambitions.
 
Not exactly like that Kenneth. It's just how you like to interpret things. You conveniently forget that I have added that Paul Cook has been severely limited in who and what he can sign because of the takeover hovering over our club. That is why they are squad members rather than there to replace Grigg Powell Jacobs Burn Massey etc.
 
Anyone can see (even through rose tinted specs) that Caldwell made better signings to date than Cook.....Bloody obvious that.
 
No 23 said:
Anyone can see (even through rose tinted specs) that Caldwell made better signings to date than Cook.....Bloody obvious that.
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(Credit to KDZ for the original list) these are Caldwells signings ( with a parachute payment budget) who I don't rate:

O'Donnell
Lavercombe
McNaughton
Murray
Whitehead
Coulthirst
Odelusi
Davies
Revell
Hiluwa
 
The thing is we don't know who signed who. We know certain ones were picked out by Caldwell and others by his staff and others by recruitment team. Same with Cook. So it's hard know who's judgement was good or bad.

But overall as a set both Caldwell and Cook signed a lot of duds. Cook is clearly a superior manager and has got more out of some of those players Caldwell signed. But there are certainly question marks over his eye for a player. Almost like the opposite of MacKays signings - he actually had a good recruitment drive but was a hopeless manager.

Im massively looking forward to thr recruitment department overall promised by our new owners.
 
I don`t want to see a big turnover of players again it dose not work as we have seen so many times ..
Nor do i want to see any more loan deals , we need to spend on proven players and some good youngsters to develop
First off we need to get back to winning ways and bring the feel good back ..
 
mightytics said:
I don`t want to see a big turnover of players again it dose not work as we have seen so many times ..
Nor do i want to see any more loan deals , we need to spend on proven players and some good youngsters to develop
First off we need to get back to winning ways and bring the feel good back ..
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The problem with signing young players Mighty is that people want immediate results and are not happy waiting for players to develop. Lopes is a perfect example of this, Paul Cook has been heavily criticised for his signing as he has not yet played him regularly. They expect a manager to buy a player and shove him into the first team straight away and are so short sighted that they do not understand that sometimes a player is not yet the finished article but shows promise. It is these type of players that clubs such as ours are looking to buy as the cost reflects the risk being taken as some prove to be the right move and others flop. Some people don't seem to understand this and then post lists of players to criticise the managers recruitment policy.
 
I've heard people suggesting that Weir, Asgaard and Gelhardt are thrown in. I don't agree with that at all. The situation with Lopes is a little different - he's played a lot of football at a good level. He's shown in his brief cameos a bit of quality. I can see why people are asking why he isn't playing. I'd still introduce him from the bench, or find a place on the right for him, a ln area we have struggled due to injury to Gavin Massey (I wouldn't rush him back either). I'd like to see Lee Evans and Sam Moray together. I'd like to see Shaun McDonald behind them, to release them further forward. I'd be happy to see Alex Bruce alongside Cédric Kipre, as Dan Burn is gun-shy. I'd love the club to buy Karlan Grant and Jack Whatmough, two young, improving talents doing well at their respective clubs.

It's easy to make knee-jerk reactions to what amounts to a bit of bad form due to nasty injuries to good players. Take Raphael Varane, Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos and Marcelo out of Real Madrid. Take Eden Hazard, Jorginho, N'Golo Kante and Cesar Apzilicueta out of Chelsea. Take Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané and Jordan Henderson out of Liverpool. They would not be the same. We should not forget how much of an impact this has and to suggest that anyone should be able to replace the players we have lost to injury doesn't understand the momentum of playing regularly together has on a side.

Another point to consider - other clubs will increase their valuation of their players to test our new ownership's nous. We've had a very high turnover of players in the last 10 years. I'd rather see a couple in and a couple out. We are not that bad really!
 
Okay guys, here are a couple of players who I think we could realistically look at signing, both of whom are currently playing for Barnsley:

1) Kieffer Moore (striker) - natural goal scorer that we're desperately in need of, and as another user mentioned, we need someone with a physical presence that can put themselves about a bit. He's 6"5, so this satisfies that criteria. He did very well for Rotherham in 2017-18, scoring 13 goals in 22 games, and hasn't done too badly for Barnsley either, with 13 in 36 for the Tykes at a goal to game ratio of less than 1 in every 3 games. Okay, these samples are both from League 1, but I believe he has the physical presence required to succeed in the Championship.

2) Alex Mowatt (midfielder) - this guy has really impressed me. I went to a Barnsley match a few weeks ago as I live nearby and he scored a wonderful goal. I was very surprised to see him playing in League 1. In 2014-15 he played for Leeds and looked every bit the Championship midfielder; not afraid to run at defences, good awareness and physicality, with pace. Remember him scoring a stunner against Wolves in April 2015. So we'd be signing someone fairly young (he's 23) and who not only has Championship experience, but has done well at this level. I also believe it's a realistic move as we could pay higher wages than Barnsley and with us being in a higher division and not doing too badly he may be inclined to join us. Only disadvantage is he did strike me as a bit similar to Sam Morsy and Lee Evans in the way he plays, so possibly we may have too many players of the same style.

Thoughts?
 
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I think all of the players we have would do well in L1, it's a huge step up to the Championship where you get a lot less time on the ball
 
Didn’t Mowatt score a good winner against us at the DW a few seasons back?
He was very highly rated back then and I’m surprised to see him down in League 1 but given he was revered at Leeds and touted as a likely Premiership player, he must have slipped a long way back in the betting since then.
 
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