In less than a month....... | Vital Football

In less than a month.......

MadAmster

Vital Squad Member
........ the transfer window opens.

What, is any, additions would you make.

Do we leave Lowe and Thomas out on their loans to continue to get regular first team football? I would. Neither would be first choice this season and both they and the club will benefit from their staying at their current clubs.

Incoming?

2 full backs? Not impossible IMO. a left and a right. However, McDonald is having a very good season at left back with the U23s and is a more than reasonable cover player, IMO, should Malone suffer injury, suspension or loss of form. Malone also needs to work on his right foot as, when challenged with his back to the sideline he can only play the ball backwards, taking the sting out of the attack. Right back? Wisdom has been less than convincing in his occasional games this season. Nowhere near the player he was in his loan period with us and definitely not the player who won the League and Cup double with Red Bull Salzburg at centre half.

Do we need a centre half? We have Keogh and Tomori starting and Pearce on the bench. Hudds and Wisdom who can also play there. Is that sufficient if we are aiming for promotion?

Midfield. We have a plethora of small(ish), fast players but only BJ and Bryson of any physical prowess. For games against the likes of Stoke, Leeds, Millwall etc do we need another physical presence? Thorne now he is starting to look good again in his U23 performances?

Up top, again we have small(ish) fast players for the wide berths and Marriott/Nuge/Waghorn for the central roles. I don't see the need for another forward.

From the 23s, I have already mentioned McDonald. Another who I think is capable of making the transition to the first team is Louis Sibley.

Possibilities enough to talk about.
 
By the time the window opens we’ll have played another six matches, at least four of them against other promotion contenders, MA. How we do in those matches may determine how generous Mel feels.
Six or less points and frankly I think he’ll be reluctant to spend anymore at a time when the best deals are rarely available. Ten or more and I’m sure he and Frank will be thinking...’let’s go for it’!
Being able to ship out one or two will also help but, imo, our first requirement, especially as we are going to be missing Davies’ leadership skills for the remainder of the season, is a leader...and preferably one who takes the form of a midfield general. It’s what we’ve been missing for years and Bryson - for all his heroics of nearly five years ago - is not going to be the answer.
Ideally I’d like a couple of full backs too but there’s always a limit and a midfield leader along with a big, mobile forward would be my two main priorities.
Abraham and Bannon would be wonderful but it ain’t going to happen so two of that ilk please. No idea who, but I’d never heard of Stimac and Leon Osman before they arrived so there is hope.
 
What about Butterfield for the midfield role. Personally, I would never play him again after his comments last season and his loan move but he is supposedly an asset, so use him or ship him out I say. He is a fairly robust sort of player, who did score a few goals at one point, maybe his time in the wilderness has prompted a re-think about his position and time here at Derby. One way or the other we need to utilise him I think.
 
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I couldn’t care less about the ‘comments’, Bloomer...people say things in the heat of the moment...just move on. Heard conflicting reports about him and the future...playing well in the U23’s...the only bad attitude in the club...off to Hull in January...make of it all what you will.
Agree about the ‘use him or ship him out’ bit but whatever else JB is...he isn’t that much needed leader imo.
 
I couldn’t care less about the ‘comments’, Bloomer...people say things in the heat of the moment...just move on. Heard conflicting reports about him and the future...playing well in the U23’s...the only bad attitude in the club...off to Hull in January...make of it all what you will.
Agree about the ‘use him or ship him out’ bit but whatever else JB is...he isn’t that much needed leader imo.
Maybe not, but with different management, playing partners, he may be a stop gap for now, although I would like to see what Thorne has in his locker after recovering from injury/loss of form etc
 
Thorne is starting to look himself again in the 23s. If he can repeat that at SBC level, FL will have a real headache. Does he play Hudds, Evans or GT in the DM role and where would that leave BJ?
 
Don't think we should buy anyone without selling personally, Johnson & Butterfield must be worth a few quid. The team seems reasonably settled, if Evans comes back and does as well as hoped, I can't see the need for anyone else, I think we go as we are, and maybe bring in a luxury type player on loan who might be able to change a game for us with a 15 min sub appearance.
 
Don't think we should buy anyone without selling personally, Johnson & Butterfield must be worth a few quid. The team seems reasonably settled, if Evans comes back and does as well as hoped, I can't see the need for anyone else, I think we go as we are, and maybe bring in a luxury type player on loan who might be able to change a game for us with a 15 min sub appearance.

I’d love to share your enthusiasm and for George Evans to be a massive success, Adi but he’s played nineteen matches in the last one and a half seasons and just 124 in the last five and a half. Thorne is brilliant at his best and Evans may come good but can we rely on them?
 
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