Summer transfer, gossip, speculation and the usual butter ollocks thread

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Re Barkley, in fairness to Paul he did say in, I think the post-match thread, that so far he's been wrong about his opinion.

Guilty as charged myself on that front, he's made a mug of my opinion and I couldn't be happier.

I'm still not convinced but it's mainly due to him looking like Steve Sidwell who has the misfortune to look like Jon Crofts.

[paul_e]

Out of interest, do we really think people mind being proven wrong about players and managers they have criticised? It gets thrown around so much (see the Smith thread) but are there any real-life actual examples of this phenomenon anywhere?

I agree with you, which is why I didn't think anyone would react to that comment, particularly when I said it I wasn't having a go. We all get things wrong about players and managers, and should all be big enough to hold a hand up and admit we were wrong.

I still think there's enough there with Davis and Wesley for them to deserve more time. Wesley has had half a season in a struggling team and new country and Davis has played the equivalent of just over 6matches in mostly sub appearances, having them as 2nd a 3rd choice up front for a season is not the huge risk some want to make it out to be. It might turn out that they don't do as well as we'd like but it's far too early to be writing them off as cover options.

[LeeB]

To add to that, we're still a work in progress and it's unreasonable to think we can have proven quality in reserve for every position, right now.

[OCD]

We'll only continue to evolve. After what we've had to witness for the past 10+ years, we finally have good times ahead.

[cdward]

Out of interest, do we really think people mind being proven wrong about players and managers they have criticised? It gets thrown around so much (see the Smith thread) but are there any real-life actual examples of this phenomenon anywhere?

I'm still waiting to be proved right about Mustapha Hadji being the signing of the decade (three decades ago).

I rang up BRMB to tell them Ian Olney was the real deal, and would be a top class striker.....

[Risso]

I still think there's enough there with Davis and Wesley for them to deserve more time. Wesley has had half a season in a struggling team and new country and Davis has played the equivalent of just over 6matches in mostly sub appearances, having them as 2nd a 3rd choice up front for a season is not the huge risk some want to make it out to be. It might turn out that they don't do as well as we'd like but it's far too early to be writing them off as cover options.

The danger is that Watkins gets an injury and with those two as the only back ups, we'd be weakened massively. Wesley has still only had a half a season, and on top of that a horrendous injury and a year and a half out. Davis has hardly played, even when you think that Smith might give him a bit more of a run, and obviously goal scoring isn't really his thing. I think we'll be looking at spending decent money on a player who can play across the front three.

[paul_e]

I still think there's enough there with Davis and Wesley for them to deserve more time. Wesley has had half a season in a struggling team and new country and Davis has played the equivalent of just over 6matches in mostly sub appearances, having them as 2nd a 3rd choice up front for a season is not the huge risk some want to make it out to be. It might turn out that they don't do as well as we'd like but it's far too early to be writing them off as cover options.

The danger is that Watkins gets an injury and with those two as the only back ups, we'd be weakened massively. Wesley has still only had a half a season, and on top of that a horrendous injury and a year and a half out. Davis has hardly played, even when you think that Smith might give him a bit more of a run, and obviously goal scoring isn't really his thing. I think we'll be looking at spending decent money on a player who can play across the front three.

That's exactly what I want, someone who has played on a wing (preferably the right) as many times as up front and will be happy playing there as their main position. Of the front 3 the right has been weakest all season so I want us to invest in improving the team there first rather than signing competition in a position where our current first choice is very strong.

[Mister E]

I still think there's enough there with Davis and Wesley for them to deserve more time. Wesley has had half a season in a struggling team and new country and Davis has played the equivalent of just over 6matches in mostly sub appearances, having them as 2nd a 3rd choice up front for a season is not the huge risk some want to make it out to be. It might turn out that they don't do as well as we'd like but it's far too early to be writing them off as cover options.

The danger is that Watkins gets an injury and with those two as the only back ups, we'd be weakened massively. Wesley has still only had a half a season, and on top of that a horrendous injury and a year and a half out. Davis has hardly played, even when you think that Smith might give him a bit more of a run, and obviously goal scoring isn't really his thing. I think we'll be looking at spending decent money on a player who can play across the front three.

That's exactly what I want, someone who has played on a wing (preferably the right) as many times as up front and will be happy playing there as their main position. Of the front 3 the right has been weakest all season so I want us to invest in improving the team there first rather than signing competition in a position where our current first choice is very strong.

And the management may see that role as being filled by Traore; or, certainly, after the summer break. Personally, I'd like to see Watkins and Abraham playing together, interchanging a front and wide role when the game demands it.

[Percy McCarthy]

Are there two transfer threads or am I demented?

[Drummond]

Are there two transfer threads or am I demented?

Are they mutually exclusive? 😉

[Gareth]

Are there two transfer threads or am I demented?

No you’re right - though for this one you can say that you think we should sign Martinez from Arsenal, he’ll be a decent PL keeper, Watkins & Cash from the Championship is no risk & come January I’d look at that Morgan Sanson from Marseille

Hindsight is a wonderful thing :-)