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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 24, 2024 14:47:36 GMT
If we're after a League of Ireland player, there's no way it'll be for a player who's going to come into the first-team, you' d think. Possible there's a youngster over there that may be worth £250k or some other small fee as a bit of a project though. There seems to be a few that are attracting attention And its interesting that Fraser Fletcher seemed to say he'd be posting an update to the Bundle/left-back story from yesterday, and that hasn't materialised, with no explanation. Again could all be coblers...Ceejays on the 'Shuey flying Manchester - Dublin' thread, was hinting that the Irish Left Back target was a 'Brummie', Reece Hutchinson (23) of Sligo Rovers fits the bill Yeah. Never say never But doesn't smack of being Championship calibre, does he? Leaving Cheltenham for a small fee for the Irish league less than a year ago. If we're bringing in someone from Ireland, more likely to be a bit younger and one you could plonk in the u21s for a year or two,or maybe loan out. There do seem to be a few making it there now that Prem/Champ teams are willing to pay good 6-figures for www.thesun.ie/sport/11988278/st-patricks-athletic-sam-curtis-hull-city-sheffield-united/Not sure if this bloke has signed anywhere yet, although said to be v close to Sheff Utd And we were linked in passing with another last summer from Bohemians
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 24, 2024 14:32:08 GMT
If we're after a League of Ireland player, there's no way it'll be for a player who's going to come into the first-team, you' d think. Possible there's a youngster over there that may be worth £250k or some other small fee as a bit of a project though. There seems to be a few that are attracting attention
And its interesting that Fraser Fletcher seemed to say he'd be posting an update to the Mundle/left-back story from yesterday, and that hasn't materialised, with no explanation.
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 24, 2024 11:40:05 GMT
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 24, 2024 10:33:16 GMT
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 23, 2024 12:18:52 GMT
Hull are going for it. The problems will come down the road if they don't go up. But that's the same for everyone in this FFP era where you can't chequebook your way out of the league without massive consequences. They're supposedly paying all of Carvalho's wages too, which top £1m for 6 months.
With no chance of going up, it's not really a window for us to push the boat out, is it? And it's unclear to what extent we could if we wanted to anyway.
Still gutted we didn't get Philogene. It sounded like Neil really, really wanted him. Whether we couldn't top their offer or if he just chose them over us, who knows?
Delap was really starting to fire for them before his injury too. It'll be interesting to see where he end up next season. It looks like he could be the player we thought we were getting after all, but early loans are normally a damp squib.
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 22, 2024 11:26:21 GMT
No surprise that striker is winning in Pete Smith's twitter poll
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 22, 2024 8:52:57 GMT
Not sure we do. There was 4 in total wasn’t there? Bae was definitely one, I’m sure Wes was one. Burger will have been one? Mmaee? Would Wesley need one having been playing in this country for last 3-4 seasons im sure Mmaee just about had enough points to qualify for a work permit There was definitely a line in the Sentinel that suggested Wes needed one. And as it was a permanent trransfer, I think it means a new permit is required, and his recent appearances in the Spanish Div 2 didn't quite give him enough points, I don't think. Like Leris, I think he was quite close and in that zone where it's possible he could have got one on appeal. But I don't know if in this era of widespread wild cards, they're less inclined to dole out permits on appeal? So you'd think it'd be 4 of Wes, Leris, Jojic, Bae and Burger that ended up needing them. So at least there may be a space when Wes departs in the summer
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 22, 2024 8:43:15 GMT
So with loans probably off the table unless Halksabanovic, Hoever or McNally depart... Of the 4 areas that have been highlighted all season.. Left-BackProbably unlikely now? And will wait for the summer after his praise for Thompson and Stevens' return to fitness - although was mentioned as recently as about 10 days ago by Frazer Fletcher as a likely arrival, so who knows? Whether Thompson's emergence has wiped that off the table (if it was on) - time will tell. Centre-Back.Unlikely unless McNally goes back maybe. It's a bit of a mess though, with Clark not even making the squad, McNally and Rose both having a big clanger in them and Wilmot getting back up to speed WingerLinked with Mundle, who came on for the last 15 minutes for Standard Liege yesterday. But doesn't seem to be one who'd come into the team this season and make a splash. And linked with Poku, although their chairman seemed to pretty decisively rule out the chances of getting him this season Seemed maybe more likely we'd be looking at a winger (again, Frazer Fletcher said a winger was more likely than striker this window) Doubts about Vidigal continue to grow - and Schuey said Campbell would be used to back Mmaee up, which seemed to increase the chances. Leris had a lively cameo as wing-back but it was his first positive contribution for weeks, and Haksabanovic has been a big disappointment and seems to be increasingly peripheral. StrikerLinked with McGuire, but seems unlikely he could get a permit this month. And more unlikely he could come in and make an impact this season if he did, but could be a useful bedding-in period? Don't think any other names have emerged. All seems as clear as mud with 10 days to go. Thought Fraser confirmed we had one wild card work permit left from the new rules Haven't seen anything from Fraser Fletcher on it - but Pete Smith suggested all the slots were gone www.stokesentinel.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/stoke-city-transfer-steven-schumacher-9008069Stoke are believed to have used their four allotted wild card slots to bring in players from overseas who would not automatically qualify for a visa I can't remember 100% which 4 they were, but I think by a process of elimination, from a line in the Sentinel, it was worked out that Wes needed one. Bae definitely did. And I think Burger did, despite his Europa Conference run. Think Leris was touch-and-go, but didn't quite have the points. Jojic definitely would have needed one you'd think. I think Mmaee was ok through points from a few Morocco caps in the relevant period, and Vidigal was just about okay too.
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 21, 2024 21:10:59 GMT
So with loans probably off the table unless Halksabanovic, Hoever or McNally depart... Of the 4 areas that have been highlighted all season.. Left-BackProbably unlikely now? And will wait for the summer after his praise for Thompson and Stevens' return to fitness - although was mentioned as recently as about 10 days ago by Frazer Fletcher as a likely arrival, so who knows? Whether Thompson's emergence has wiped that off the table (if it was on) - time will tell. Centre-Back.Unlikely unless McNally goes back maybe. It's a bit of a mess though, with Clark not even making the squad, McNally and Rose both having a big clanger in them and Wilmot getting back up to speed WingerLinked with Mundle, who came on for the last 15 minutes for Standard Liege yesterday. But doesn't seem to be one who'd come into the team this season and make a splash. And linked with Poku, although their chairman seemed to pretty decisively rule out the chances of getting him this season Seemed maybe more likely we'd be looking at a winger (again, Frazer Fletcher said a winger was more likely than striker this window) Doubts about Vidigal continue to grow - and Schuey said Campbell would be used to back Mmaee up, which seemed to increase the chances. Leris had a lively cameo as wing-back but it was his first positive contribution for weeks, and Haksabanovic has been a big disappointment and seems to be increasingly peripheral. StrikerLinked with McGuire, but seems unlikely he could get a permit this month. And more unlikely he could come in and make an impact this season if he did, but could be a useful bedding-in period? Don't think any other names have emerged. All seems as clear as mud with 10 days to go. Add to the fact Klopp brought on Beck (who we’ve been linked with) for a massive 7 minutes means he’s either staying, or back on loan to Dundee. Yeah - think that was a pretty old link though. The line in the Athletic was some time over the new year I think, and they didn't say it was a recent one, so may even have pre-dated Schumacher? Just get the impression we may have moved on from LB until the summer. But with Fraser Fletcher suggesting s recently as 10 days ago we were still looking, who knows? Don't think Thompson has been spectacular enough to change any plans if they were there?
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 21, 2024 21:01:44 GMT
So with loans probably off the table unless Halksabanovic, Hoever or McNally depart...
Of the 4 areas that have been highlighted all season..
Left-Back Probably unlikely now? And will wait for the summer after his praise for Thompson and Stevens' return to fitness - although was mentioned as recently as about 10 days ago by Frazer Fletcher as a likely arrival, so who knows?
Whether Thompson's emergence has wiped that off the table (if it was on) - time will tell.
Centre-Back. Unlikely unless McNally goes back maybe. It's a bit of a mess though, with Clark not even making the squad, McNally and Rose both having a big clanger in them and Wilmot getting back up to speed
Winger Linked with Mundle, who came on for the last 15 minutes for Standard Liege yesterday. But doesn't seem to be one who'd come into the team this season and make a splash.
And linked with Poku, although their chairman seemed to pretty decisively rule out the chances of getting him this season
Seemed maybe more likely we'd be looking at a winger (again, Frazer Fletcher said a winger was more likely than striker this window)
Doubts about Vidigal continue to grow - and Schuey said Campbell would be used to back Mmaee up, which seemed to increase the chances. Leris had a lively cameo as wing-back but it was his first positive contribution for weeks, and Haksabanovic has been a big disappointment and seems to be increasingly peripheral.
Striker Linked with McGuire, but seems unlikely he could get a permit this month. And more unlikely he could come in and make an impact this season if he did, but could be a useful bedding-in period? Don't think any other names have emerged.
All seems as clear as mud with 10 days to go.
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 21, 2024 17:20:43 GMT
The worrying thing for me was Schumachers comment after the game, and I quote, “ There are plenty of goals in the dressing room”🤔 Really? Maybe just for public consumption? He can't believe it. And he did say we're "missing a cutting edge" in this interview. So you'd think, while not bringing a forward in at any cost, we'd be looking to get one in if at all possible.
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 21, 2024 13:36:42 GMT
Yesterday felt different to the other 'shit at both end' home fiascos of recent years. Even with our deficiencies, we would have won that one at least 7 times out of 10.
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 21, 2024 13:32:45 GMT
Was saying yesterday that the lone striker role is a really tricky one to fill, especially on a budget.
You're basically after someone who can do a passable impression of both roles in a 4-4-2 - the hold-up, physical stuff and the other stuff.
How many have we tried there since relegation? None have been able to make a fist of it apart from Fletcher, who was a really good £10m player at the tail end of his career.
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 21, 2024 13:27:12 GMT
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 21, 2024 12:00:29 GMT
Strangely he seemed to be doing the pre-match stuff alongside the current fitness coach. So it'll be interesting to see if there's room for them both It’s difficult to know why we generally haven’t looked as fit as other teams for years. The late goals conceded at the end of the AN era is contrasted with the late goals scored by Plymouth under Schumacher. See the last message posted was after Schumacher’s last match at Plymouth and this was a few weeks prior: Article on appointment at Plymouth: www.pafc.co.uk/news/welcome-elliot-turnerYeah - to be honest, I didn't think there was an issue on that side of things yesterday - but he clearly thinks Turner can add something. He was definitely THE fitness guy at Plymouth and head of sports science by a different name, but without knowing what they do 7-days-a-week, it's impossible to know if they can co-exist recoverfit.co.uk/blogs/recoverfit-news/recoverfit-are-delighted-to-welcome-elliot-turner-to-the-teamReading about his responsibilities, to the layman it doesn't seem the kind of thing where you can have 2 people leading that side of the operation I noticed they were taking the same little warm-up session before the game and it seemed a bit strange as it's normally just the main fitness guy putting out the cones and leading the drills
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 21, 2024 11:19:24 GMT
You wonder if there's any chance of all parties agreeing to move on from:
Hoever Haksabanovic McNally
.
Maybe the most likely is Haksabanovic - purely because he can't be happy about his minutes, he's peripheral - and there probably would be takers on the continent?
Schu probably wouldn't lose any sleep over the other two - but the chances of all 3 parties agreeing and finding another comparable move for them (and us finding a good short or long-term replacement in McNally's case) is probably slim.
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 21, 2024 10:48:45 GMT
RIP. Sincere condolences
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 21, 2024 9:36:47 GMT
Yeah, I haven't seen much to suggest Bae is a wide player. It seemed so obvious to play him as one of these 8s he refers to constantly. Can only think he feels he isn't offering the goals/assists - but I haven't seen anything to suggest that won't come given time and a proper run there. I think it's a misstep if he's consigned to the wing. He oozes quality and got to think we'll be selling him for £10m+ in the next 18 months. (on the subject of transfers, I think as McGuire's US cap was a friendly, it doesn't advance his points tally over the magical 15, so it's as you were on his permit status. But that will change come the summer or when a wild card space opens up with Wesley's exit) Can you jettison a wild card like removing him from the 25 man squad, or do you have to sell that player? I think he'd have to leave the club as even if he wasn't in the 25, he'd still be employed by us by virtue of using a permit wild card. Wonder if it would be remotely feasible to pay him up? He's going to have the same kind of impact on the next 4 months as Pottermus.
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 21, 2024 9:22:43 GMT
Yeah, I haven't seen much to suggest Bae is a wide player. It seemed so obvious to play him as one of these 8s he refers to constantly.
Can only think he feels he isn't offering the goals/assists - but I haven't seen anything to suggest that won't come given time and a proper run there. I think it's a misstep if he's consigned to the wing.
He oozes quality and got to think we'll be selling him for £10m+ in the next 18 months.
(on the subject of transfers, I think as McGuire's US cap was a friendly, it doesn't advance his points tally over the magical 15, so it's as you were on his permit status. But that will change come the summer or when a wild card space opens up with Wesley's exit)
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 20, 2024 23:45:28 GMT
Strangely he seemed to be doing the pre-match stuff alongside the current fitness coach.
So it'll be interesting to see if there's room for them both
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 20, 2024 22:54:27 GMT
"There's a lot of quality in the squad, but we're just missing that cutting edge"
"We'll have to see. It's going to be a busy couple of weeks. We've got targets in mind and we've had conversations with certain people. It's one of them, it's hard in January. It's not an easy window to bring people in, but we'll see what we can do and if we can bring someone in to strengthen the squad, great"
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 20, 2024 22:44:23 GMT
Funny old game when you look at it in terms of chance creation. xG away at Birmingham on Boxing Day: Stoke 1.2 vs 1.6 Birmingham (actual score 3 - 1) xG at home to Birmingham today: Stoke 2.19 vs 0.45 Birmingham (actual score 1 - 2) Was there a rumour earlier in the window about Stansfield being recalled, or us hovering around or even the faintest thing I could cling to as hope that he might find his way to our club soon? Yeah, can't remember the last time we dished out a pummeling like that (at least in XG terms) - certainly without the artificial inflation of a penalty. The kind of win where it's always described as "professional" by the victors, whereas in reality it's just downright lucky.
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 20, 2024 21:28:38 GMT
McGuire's on for America.
Don't know exactly how that shifts the permit situation - but if you get 7 points for 1-9% of games (for a top 20 team) in a qualifying period, it could potentially now make him a goer.
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 20, 2024 19:06:11 GMT
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 20, 2024 18:48:54 GMT
Agreed, Trousers. And I bet you enjoyed the finishing Mmasterclass on show I was building some optimism about Mmaee after his little purple patch, but he was dog shit again today. Vidigal was probably worse though. Yeah, starting to lose faith in Vidders as even a medium-term part of the squad. That optimism at the start of the season that we'd found a bit of a gem is being replaced by the confirmation that good players aren't still playing for tiny Portuguese teams at nudging 25 after failing in Cyprus and Holland.
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 20, 2024 18:45:20 GMT
Given the type of teams being linked with McGuire by the American press and Di Marzio - and talk of problems with his contract renewal, I'd be amazed if we were talking about a massive fee?
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 20, 2024 18:42:38 GMT
You can see the positives very clearly after a game like that, despite the result. Burger is a Premier League player for sure. A few weeks ago I said that I liked him, but thought we'd overpaid a bit at £4m. I retract that statement fully- I think we've got an absolute bargain. Now he 's got used to the pace and physicality of the league, he can boss games. The biggest issue with Junho is that we need to play him as a number 10 in order to get the best out of him. Schumacher seems to want to play 4-3-3, which means we're either playing him wider or deeper than he should be. However, the kid is quality and will be worth a lot of money in a year or two. Overall though, we dominated the game and the football we're playing is light years ahead of the dross that Neil served up. However...when you have a poor defence and no proper goalscorer, these kind of results are all too common. It doesn't matter who the manager is, we'll continue to gift goals, miss chances and lose games we should have won until we sign some decent defenders and a striker. Agreed, Trousers. And I bet you enjoyed the finishing Mmasterclass on show
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 20, 2024 18:40:57 GMT
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 20, 2024 18:03:05 GMT
Iversen 6
Hoever 3 McNally 5 Rose 6 Thompson 6
Burger 8 Baker 5 Cundle 6
Vidigal 5 Mmaee 5 Bae 8
Leris 7 Gooch 7 Wilmot 6 Campbell 6
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Post by FullerMagic on Jan 20, 2024 17:54:32 GMT
At what stage of his career - and which individual coach in his development decided he was a full-back?
Just bizarre.
Sadly a performance like that has been coming and hasn't come out of a clear blue sky.
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