January Transfer Window

[Malandro]

Our holding player (If Jedinak or Whelan) should not be playing the full 90mins.
Rotate them.

[mr underhill]

the natural consequence of buying 2 players who make Methuselah look like a spring chicken

[Mister E]

Lansbury could be a great player but has had a bad season with niggling injuries. Would be sad to see him leave

If we are going to keep playing the way we did with a DM being so important, then maybe we should be looking for a player there as a third option to the Jedi/Whelan?

He's injured at the minute, but Lyden is a holding midfielder and could be that third option when fit.

As is Doyle-Hayes, isn't he?

[Dave]

Doesn't Onomah play there for England u21s?

[passitsideways]

Doesn't Onomah play there for England u21s?

The impression I got was that even when he does play deeper, he's the sort to drive forward and link up with players further up the pitch, rather than someone who sets up camp in front of the back 4 for the 90.

Realistically, Jedinak/Whelan plus someone like Lyden to cover one position really should be enough. Otherwise, Bruce may have to be braver and go either 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 whenever neither of the two auld fellas are available.

[tomd2103]

Lansbury could be a great player but has had a bad season with niggling injuries. Would be sad to see him leave

If we are going to keep playing the way we did with a DM being so important, then maybe we should be looking for a player there as a third option to the Jedi/Whelan?

He's injured at the minute, but Lyden is a holding midfielder and could be that third option when fit.

As is Doyle-Hayes, isn't he?

The League Cup game against Middlesborough is the only time I've seen him and he ceratinly looked composed enough on the ball to play that role.  The one thing that did immediately stand out about him though was his size and when you think how dominant in the air Jedinak is in that position, then that might go against him in some eyes. 

[tomd2103]

Doesn't Onomah play there for England u21s?

The impression I got was that even when he does play deeper, he's the sort to drive forward and link up with players further up the pitch, rather than someone who sets up camp in front of the back 4 for the 90.

Realistically, Jedinak/Whelan plus someone like Lyden to cover one position really should be enough. Otherwise, Bruce may have to be braver and go either 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 whenever neither of the two auld fellas are available.

I'd agree with that.  If we are going to continue with the three man midfield, then I see the options as being:

                                                 Jedinak / Whelan / Lyden

        Lansbury / Onomah / Grealish                                 Hourihane / Bjarnason

[auntiesledd]

Listening to Steve Bruce on Talkshite this morning he said that if anybody comes in it is likely to be a loan signing due to FFP.

Hinted it would be a forward as well, as he said Kodjia is likely going to be out for the rest of the season. 

Leonardo Ulloa could do a good  job for us (I reckon): and he's not getting a sniff at Leicester these days. God knows what kind of money he's on though...

[Dave]

Doesn't Onomah play there for England u21s?

The impression I got was that even when he does play deeper, he's the sort to drive forward and link up with players further up the pitch, rather than someone who sets up camp in front of the back 4 for the 90.

Am I missing something, or isn't that a good thing?

When we're playing the majority of teams in the Championship, we shouldn't really need an extra auxiliary centre-back.

When Wolves come to Villa Park, fair enough. When Burton do, I'd hope for someone in that position who is going to drive forward.

[Ads]

In a 4141, if that's what we persist with, then he'd need to be more disciplined our we'd risk vacating too much space on the break.

[passitsideways]

Doesn't Onomah play there for England u21s?

The impression I got was that even when he does play deeper, he's the sort to drive forward and link up with players further up the pitch, rather than someone who sets up camp in front of the back 4 for the 90.

Am I missing something, or isn't that a good thing?

When we're playing the majority of teams in the Championship, we shouldn't really need an extra auxiliary centre-back.

When Wolves come to Villa Park, fair enough. When Burton do, I'd hope for someone in that position who is going to drive forward.

I suppose it could go any number of ways though - I mean, if that auxiliary centre back is good enough for it to mean that the five players ahead of him (and also perhaps the fullbacks) can attack with complete confidence, knowing that there's a designated man to keep the centre halves from getting exposed on the counter, that may very well be preferable to a situation where nobody is specifically designated for the job, but it means that several players have to play a little within themselves to make sure that the defensive cover is there.

[Mister E]

Doesn't Onomah play there for England u21s?

The impression I got was that even when he does play deeper, he's the sort to drive forward and link up with players further up the pitch, rather than someone who sets up camp in front of the back 4 for the 90.

Am I missing something, or isn't that a good thing?

When we're playing the majority of teams in the Championship, we shouldn't really need an extra auxiliary centre-back.

When Wolves come to Villa Park, fair enough. When Burton do, I'd hope for someone in that position who is going to drive forward.

I suppose it could go any number of ways though - I mean, if that auxiliary centre back is good enough for it to mean that the five players ahead of him (and also perhaps the fullbacks) can attack with complete confidence, knowing that there's a designated man to keep the centre halves from getting exposed on the counter, that may very well be preferable to a situation where nobody is specifically designated for the job, but it means that several players have to play a little within themselves to make sure that the defensive cover is there.

He's currently too prone to giving the ball away cheaply, and being just in front of the CB is not a good place to give it away.

[Risso]

Lansbury could be a great player but has had a bad season with niggling injuries. Would be sad to see him leave

He could be a great player, were it not for the fact he's shite at football.

Lovely hair though.

[paul_e]

I like a DM who stays there, it means the full backs can get forward without leaving the centre backs exposed.  if we're going to play 4141 then one of the other 2 central midfielders (Grealish and Hourihane the other day) needs to be able to sit in and make it a 2 in the defensive roles if needed. Onomah is ideal to be the 1 who does that because his mobility means he can switch between the 2 quickly.

We shouldn't ever need to go more defensive than that so long as 3 of the front 4 that are left work hard and press the ball high up the pitch (Grealish, or whoever is in that role, should be excluded from this so he's always available to spring the counter-attack).

[paul_e]

On topic - Bunn, RDL, Lansbury, Gardner, Gabby and Richards could all leave without it having any effect on the first team, and Bjarny could go as well if we could get our money back.  We have some quality youngsters and that lot are just roadblocks in the way that don't actually contribute anything to us.  I'd then like to see a proper left back come in because I don't rate Taylor and whilst Hutton has done a job I'd really like to see someone who can get forward and cross from there.  Other than that a loan forward is probably all we'd need to add, just in case it's a false dawn with Hogan, but even then if RHM and Keinan can stay fit I'd like to see them get more game time.