January Transfer Thread: Speculation, Lies, Absolute Cr*p and Bosman Rumours

[Concrete John]

Exactly Jarpie, we need to give them a go there before we write them off, Delph has drive and power and could be effective, Bannan has quick feet and good vision, both could fit the attacking 1 of a 3 better than anywhere else.

I'm amazed delph hasn't been tried there, that's basically the role he was playing when we signed him, then MON played him deeper almost immediately.

MON didn't really play with attacking central players.

I agree Delph's more natural game is with a bit of licence to get forward.

Which made it such a strange signing looking back.

If you look at how Milner played when he moved central, I imagine the idea was to develop him into that type of player.

[Mazrim]

Craig Gardner?  Gets stuck into tackles and gets quite a few goals from midfield.

Yes few is the word. Aston Villa 61 matches 5 goals, Sunderland 53 matches 5 goals.

More goals in 61 villa games than 5 other midfielders between them have scored in 183 games.

Four league goals in 183 games between them from Ireland, Delph, bannan , Westwood and herd makes Gardner seem prolific by comparison.

Maybe but we're looking for something better. Gardner's goals ratio may be slightly better but still isn't much to write home about and he's not really as good on the ball as Westwood and Bannan so why bother? We need somebody with at least one, preferably two outstanding attributes and Gardner is... average.

[damon loves JT]

If our best guess is `Craig Gardner' I think we need to have another think.

[Clampy]

I did'nt mind Gardner first time round, i thought he was ok. I'm not sure he's quite what we need now though.

[LifelongToad]

Could probably do more with a set piece for us though!

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Craig Gardner?  Gets stuck into tackles and gets quite a few goals from midfield.

Yes few is the word. Aston Villa 61 matches 5 goals, Sunderland 53 matches 5 goals.

More goals in 61 villa games than 5 other midfielders between them have scored in 183 games.

Four league goals in 183 games between them from Ireland, Delph, bannan , Westwood and herd makes Gardner seem prolific by comparison.

Maybe but we're looking for something better. Gardner's goals ratio may be slightly better but still isn't much to write home about and he's not really as good on the ball as Westwood and Bannan so why bother? We need somebody with at least one, preferably two outstanding attributes and Gardner is... average.

I think people always imagine him to be prolific becaause of that one good season he had with The Dog Shit.

[pauliewalnuts]

I did'nt mind Gardner first time round, i thought he was ok. I'm not sure he's quite what we need now though.

That's my opinion, too.

He's got a decent shot on him (as demonstrated at the weekend) and can hit a volley very nicely, but other than that, doesn't offer enough for us to go out of our way to acquire.

[paul_e]

Craig Gardner?  Gets stuck into tackles and gets quite a few goals from midfield.

Yes few is the word. Aston Villa 61 matches 5 goals, Sunderland 53 matches 5 goals.

More goals in 61 villa games than 5 other midfielders between them have scored in 183 games.

Four league goals in 183 games between them from Ireland, Delph, bannan , Westwood and herd makes Gardner seem prolific by comparison.

Maybe but we're looking for something better. Gardner's goals ratio may be slightly better but still isn't much to write home about and he's not really as good on the ball as Westwood and Bannan so why bother? We need somebody with at least one, preferably two outstanding attributes and Gardner is... average.

I think people always imagine him to be prolific becaause of that one good season he had with The Dog Shit.

It's the 'hitzlesperger' effect where a cracker from 30 yards is easily remembered so every time they score it's  "god he scores a lot of those from midfield" when in reality it's 3-4 a season.  I remember looking at tommy's stats when he came back to the UK and being surprised how few he scored for us (8 in 99 matches) as I looked back on him as a goalscoring midfielder.

[Matt Collins]

Yep. Taylor once got 7 in 8 games I seem to recall

Diame would be a wonderful signing. He's proved to be much better than I thought. Can't see it happening though

I always thought mark Davies looked a good player too, excellent dribbling ability. But he doesn't get that many goals and there must be a reason he's still at Bolton

[Mazrim]

There is. He isn't very good.

[claretandbeer]

Craig Gardner?  Gets stuck into tackles and gets quite a few goals from midfield.

Yes few is the word. Aston Villa 61 matches 5 goals, Sunderland 53 matches 5 goals.

Only 32 Lge starts for Villa and 27 sub appearances in the league and how many times did he play RB for Villa and Sunderland ?
Blues played him in CM,9 goals in 42 Lge games in a crap side with a defensive minded manager.

[Clampy]

Robert Snodgrass is starting to look like a decent player.

[Concrete John]

I wouldn't discount Garnder the Elder's goal scoring prowess, it's just the rest of his game where he's ultimately no better than what we already have.

Thinking about it though, goals from midfield has been a problem this year.  The strikers are actually getting a reasonable amount of goals, but the rest of the side haven't weighed in with enough, leaving us as the league's lowest scorers.

I'm sure this hasn't escaped Lambert's notice.

[Chris Smith]

This is thread for wild imaginings, it's where people reveal that their mom is Randy Lerner's bodyguard and that it's nailed on that Justin Bieber is signing for us as an all action centre half, it's not the place to proclaim the virtues of Craig bloody Gardner.

[eastie]

This is thread for wild imaginings, it's where people reveal that their mom is Randy Lerner's bodyguard and that it's nailed on that Justin Bieber is signing for us as an all action centre half, it's not the place to proclaim the virtues of Craig bloody Gardner.

Can we discuss Messi next  then chris or is that too wild ?