January Transfer Window Rumours/Suggestions/Hearsay/Heresy/Horseplay

[UK Redsox]

Assuming Hourihane is coming I still think we're shy of a centre forward and a centre half.

Definitely a centre forward.  Have we any young centre halfs coming through?  With Elphick on the bench it may be tough to get another 3rd or 4th choice.

I suspect that another Centre Half might need to wait until the summer. Micah will have to be 4th choice until then with McCafu after that

However, with Baker's injury record and Mad Tom's play ranging from adequate down to mightaswellplaymicah, it's not ideal

[Eckybloke]

A striker for me, aswell as Hourihane obviously. If Kodjia gets injured we're buggered and back to playing Gabby who is less likely to score than Trump at a women's march.

Would rather we went with a Craig Levein style 4-6-0 with all these midfielders we now have.  Bound to get some goals there now instead of Gabby.

[Mister E]

A striker for me, aswell as Hourihane obviously. If Kodjia gets injured we're buggered and back to playing Gabby who is less likely to score than Trump at a women's march.

Would rather we went with a Craig Levein style 4-6-0 with all these midfielders we now have.  Bound to get some goals there now instead of Gabby.

If things really pan out for us, SB will have Kodjia, Ayew and RHM as out-and-out strikers, with Gabby as a last-ditch choice (I'm assuming McCormack will be on his bike before the end of January). All supported by Adomah, Green and Grealish.
And with Angela, Bjarni and Houri as supporting midfielders in front of the Jedi.

I'd say that lot should do some damage and should mean we don't need another stiker until the summer.

[UK Redsox]

Should the thread title now have "Hairspray" added on the end ?

[nigel]

Assuming Hourihane is coming I still think we're shy of a centre forward and a centre half.

Definitely a centre forward.  Have we any young centre halfs coming through?  With Elphick on the bench it may be tough to get another 3rd or 4th choice.

I suspect that another Centre Half might need to wait until the summer. Micah will have to be 4th choice until then with McCafu after that

However, with Baker's injury record and Mad Tom's play ranging from adequate down to mightaswellplaymicah, it's not ideal

You never know, with a decent midfield in front of him Tommy might settle in to form

[paul_e]

A striker for me, aswell as Hourihane obviously. If Kodjia gets injured we're buggered and back to playing Gabby who is less likely to score than Trump at a women's march.

Would rather we went with a Craig Levein style 4-6-0 with all these midfielders we now have.  Bound to get some goals there now instead of Gabby.

If things really pan out for us, SB will have Kodjia, Ayew and RHM as out-and-out strikers, with Gabby as a last-ditch choice (I'm assuming McCormack will be on his bike before the end of January). All supported by Adomah, Green and Grealish.
And with Angela, Bjarni and Houri as supporting midfielders in front of the Jedi.

I'd say that lot should do some damage and should mean we don't need another stiker until the summer.

I agree.  My main concern with going for another striker is that we're either looking at a loan which could be hit or miss as it'll be a youngster who might not be ready or we go for someone like Rhodes and I just don't think he's worth the money.  I'd rather see us give Ayew and Kodjia the chance to play in front of a midfield that can support them before we decide for certain that they're incapable of doing it.  As I've said about both of them (and Grealish as well) we've been asking them  to create/score goals when they get the ball with 3-4 players between them and the goal, we really need to get them into one-on-one situations and see if they can step things up before we assume they not able to play in a position or not good enough.

[peter w]

It's possible of course but the main issue is that we don't have an out and out - as i like to call them - number 9. Kodija and Ayew drift wide whereas RHM hasn't signed a contract and even if so, hasn't got the experience yet. So, with that in mind we still need something to put on top of the totem pole.

[LeeB]

It's possible of course but the main issue is that we don't have an out and out - as i like to call them - number 9. Kodija and Ayew drift wide whereas RHM hasn't signed a contract and even if so, hasn't got the experience yet. So, with that in mind we still need something to put on top of the totem pole.

'Shithouses', I like to call them. We need a shithouse.

[peter w]

Kinda. Prefixed with 'built like a brick'.

Even an EH type would be ideal.

[Des Little]

Still expecting Alex Bruce to join at some stage...

[paul_e]

Drifting out wide is a problem if no one else fills the space you leave, if you have midfielders and wingers who can get into the box and score goals then it's fine.  I'd personally play Lansbury, Bjarnason and (if he joins) Hourihane as a 3 and let them rotate so 2 support play and 1 holds and then just let them get in and around the box to make up numbers.  We've had a problem with not getting people into the box for years, that's at the very heart of the 5-6 years of misery we've had, it's why we just don't score many 'bread and butter' goals.

I'm not against the idea of signing a 'proper' 9 I just don't think there's a decent available to come in and do a good ob for us for the rest of this season.  Throwing £12m at someone like Rhodes would be repeating the mistakes of the last couple of summers of signing statistics rather than a player.

[Rotterdam]

'Mad Tom' made me chuckle.

[timeoutbigbar]

Just seen Matty James has joined Barnsley on loan, could that have been the hold up to them releasing Hourihane?

[dave shelley]

It's possible of course but the main issue is that we don't have an out and out - as i like to call them - number 9. Kodija and Ayew drift wide whereas RHM hasn't signed a contract and even if so, hasn't got the experience yet. So, with that in mind we still need something to put on top of the totem pole.

'Shithouses', I like to call them. We need a shithouse.

Don't we already have one in McCormack?

[Clark W Griswold]

Kinda. Prefixed with 'built like a brick'.

Even an EH type would be ideal.

How about an actual EH?