January 2023 Transfer Rumours, Discussions and Done Deals Thread

[Flin5tone]

Steve Bruce done a fantastic job for the club, when we were in a terrible state. I'll be forever grateful to him for the work he done at the club. The way he was treated by a section of our fans was a disgrace.

Great manager and a great guy as was Dean Smith both huge inputs in where we are today.

All the best to them both

[Brazilian Villain]

Steve Bruce done a fantastic job for the club, when we were in a terrible state. I'll be forever grateful to him for the work he done at the club. The way he was treated by a section of our fans was a disgrace.

Great manager and a great guy as was Dean Smith both huge inputs in where we are today.

All the best to them both

Are you Harry Redknapp?

[paul_e]

Bruce was good relative to RDM, Garde and Sherwood and he was about on a par with Lambert and McLeish. That run of 6 managers is comfortably the worst period at the club since the mid 60s. Anyone competent and not in their first or 2nd real job would've been able to 'stop the rot'. He's awful manager who's main achievement with us was turn up when we'd fallen about as far as we were ever going to so I'm not going to give him massive credit for avoiding relegation in his first season as so many seem willing to do.

Also the idea that he couldn't sign Grabban, Johnstone and Snodgrass meant we were shit in his last season ignores the fact that he left us with 1 fully fit centre half (who was a kid on loan) for the first 2 months under Smith, Chester probably lost a year or 2 from his career from playing with an injury to let us put out a functional back 4. As happened this season as soon as we sacked him the real push to get promoted started.

Everything I (and many others) disliked about him is exactly the same thing that fans of 4-5 other clubs think, that's not a coincidence.

[VILLA MOLE]

This transfer thread is looking very thin on info at the moment , please advise

[Londonvilla]

Steve Bruce done a fantastic job for the club, when we were in a terrible state. I'll be forever grateful to him for the work he done at the club. The way a section treated him of our fans was a disgrace.

Great manager and a great guy as was Dean Smith both huge inputs in where we are today.

All the best to them both

You are right about the state of the club when he took over, but he was never the man long-term. I loved Dean Smith's time at the club, but I think we are now on the right path.

Regarding the views of sections of the fan base......I don't get carried away with what faceless  14 year old who are probably blues fans think. Remember, when the away fans turn on a manager, it's game over for that manager.

So enjoy the debate but remember opinions are not facts

[N'ZMAV]

That the 4-4-2 formation is working so well at the moment is a bit amazing really. Buendia isn't a winger, nor is Ramsey/McGinn and Bailey isn't a striker. Does anybody know what Emery likes to play when he's got a settled team of his own to work with?

I don't think it's working that well with the ball to be honest. It was great first day out v Man United when we over ran them in the middle. Spurs away too, once we opened up in the second half it was too much for them. But when our CBs are pressed hard we are in trouble getting the ball through the lines. I think Wolves and Leeds showed how we can be exposed. Stick 3 v 2 in midfield to neutralise our strongest players (Kamara/Luiz) and press our CBs hard. Both games it took until half time to switch Buendia into the middle. We won't get away with Moreno/Buendia defensively against better teams. Ramsey isn't in great form either. McGinn is a loss and I think will replace Buendia v Leicester.

I'm not sure why Emery won't switch to 4231 permanently but I think he wants to leave Bailey high up the pitch. To be fair it worked v Leeds early on.

We had 575 passes at Southampton, came away with a clean sheet and all three points. You are way too down on our progress compared to just a few months ago. We have a manger that is willing to change and adapt his style in order to put the best team out to get results.

Despite 575 passes, Martinez still had to make an unbelievable save to keep the game scoreless at a crucial time and our winner came from a set piece. I can't recall another clear cut chance in the second half despite owning the ball. I really admire the defensive resilience Emery has implemented but with the ball I have increasing concerns about the 442 setup.

I think you're talking absolute nonsense. If we had better attackers, things would probably be more comfortable. IMO the set up is good but we've got bailey/watkins/buendia who I think all need improving on. Set up isn't the issue, we need more quality.

Also can't believe you'd be questioning the set up given the results after 3 months in the job, and the rabble we were when he took over

Moon a stick you want

How did Gerrard get on early on? Any number on here were willing to anoint him as the chosen one 12 months ago based on a similar start to Emery. Maybe those players you mention are the problem as too inconsistent etc but I think tactically we have a problem with the setup of the forward four. The other seven are fine, especially if Carlos comes back fully fit and helps our ability to play out from the back under pressure.

If you were manager we'd win every single game then as you obviously know all the answers

LOLOLOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

[pauliewalnuts]

Steve Bruce done a fantastic job for the club, when we were in a terrible state. I'll be forever grateful to him for the work he done at the club. The way he was treated by a section of our fans was a disgrace.

Great manager and a great guy as was Dean Smith both huge inputs in where we are today.

All the best to them both

Are you Harry Redknapp?

Eyes bleeding.

[Legion]

This transfer thread is looking very thin on info at the moment , please advise

We all know about as much as each other.

[Clampy]

That's probably the one Wilma post I agree with (some still get through sadly, despite the block).  I wouldnt say he did a fantastic job though, he was just the right kind of manager when it was needed. We were a mess.

[Legion]

He stopped the slide.

[Steve67]

He did ok but still, ultimately, failed. 

Back to the transfer thread eh?

[rougegorge]

He stopped the slide.

Yes and to be fair, the football was actually quite enjoyable, certainly to what had gone on before. We got the most points ever in 2018 (ok yes from 46 games) and that wasn't just lucky.

[boozey182]

While we wait for some actual transfer news, here are my most controversial opinions of those early Championship years that, thankfully, feel like a very long time ago now:

I'd have given Di Matteo more time. Until Preston, where I think he'd just lost his mind because he knew he was toast, we weren't actually playing that badly, just conceding a lot of last-minute goals. We had started to play some better stuff, but there was something not quite clicking. I think he could have turned it around. Fat Ross and the keeper were two huge errors of judgement, but I think what he had was salvageable - our owner didn't have any patience because he was gambling on us getting promoted immediately.

Bruce underachieved with the squad he had, particularly in that second season. He took over a squad that could have played Kodjia, Grealish and Ayew up front. There were plenty of problems, but there was a lot of quality there too, that had been massively underperforming. He was much more concerned with getting new players in than working with what he had, and we had a chairman desperate enough to write the cheques.

(Probably the most controversial one): John Terry was a pathetic vanity signing that didn't actually improve our first team very much at all. We needed a quick, powerful CB to play next to Chester (look at the impact Mings had when he came in - that's what we were crying out for). By signing Terry to play next to him, we had the exact same weaknesses as we'd had the previous year. When Terry was out injured, Elphick filled in and we weren't any worse off.

We neglected the youth during this period and potentially ruined a few careers. Players like McKirdy, Mitch Clark, Callum O'Hare all could have been utilised, but instead we bought in players like Bree and that guy from Bury that never actually played for us. We never tried to bring through any youth players and it was a wasted opportunity.

Snodgrass wasn't that good for us. As soon as Jack was back in that season, nobody else did anything. Jack carried us to the playoffs that year far more than he did the following year.

None of that matters, of course, we're better off now than we probably could have imagined. If Bruce had got us up first time of asking, we'd probably have gone straight back down and into administration. So everything turned out for the best, so just to get us back on track, here is my ill-thought prediction for the next few days: We're going to announce Thuram and Guendouzi before the end of the window. And probably another teenage prodigy that can play on the wing.

[ROBBO]

We've been here before, just needing one or two quality improvements to really kick on but struggling to get the right players in. I know it's difficult in January, but so frustrating.

[TheMalandro]

That's probably the one Wilma post I agree with (some still get through sadly, despite the block).  I wouldnt say he did a fantastic job though, he was just the right kind of manager when it was needed. We were a mess.

We had every advantage as a huge club. He was the opposite of what we needed.