TeaCider's Summer Transfer Thread 2022 - AKA: Still Going For Just a Little Luongo

[Foxtrot Oscar Colin 607]

Just now, Mfcdanny said:

A lot better technically tho. 

Well that doesn't count for much when he barely has any influence on the game from cm. He's just not gonna cut it at all. If we're looking to replace cms it should be mcgree then howson. Get two physical lads who can cover ground to compliment crooks a bit more. Dropping a fella with nearly 20 goal involvements in just over a season playing in midfield roles is mental. 

[JonnyMFC 1,535]

51 minutes ago, RichAcklam2404 said:

Oooo that’s a bold claim 😂 who do you think will?

Djik, after his telling off 😂

[Borodane 6,301]

15 minutes ago, SzilardNemethsCurtains said:

We all know deep down that it'll go to the last week 

More likely the final few days as we wait around for other clubs to get their business done first.

[A21 106]

1 minute ago, Foxtrot Oscar Colin said:

Well that doesn't count for much when he barely has any influence on the game from cm. He's just not gonna cut it at all. If we're looking to replace cms it should be mcgree then howson. Get two physical lads who can cover ground to compliment crooks a bit more. Dropping a fella with nearly 20 goal involvements in just over a season playing in midfield roles is mental. 

I agree. What we need to replace is Tav’s dynamism in the middle but it shouldn’t be at Crooks’ expense. For whatever his perceived faults are he regularly contributes goals and assists. For me we need to look at a starting 3 of Crooks plus one of McGree/Howson alongside a dynamic, athletic midfielder. 

[SzilardNemethsCurtains 2,844]

23 minutes ago, RiversideRed said:

Because the rest of his game is rubbish. He's a mid-table Championship standard player.

Can't fault him for the goals and assists contributions although think it's largely down to lack of strikers.

He should always score a few goals just because of his height.

In terms of mobility, passing, technical, workrate etc. He's very poor.

Either way the midfield three of McGree, Howson, Crooks isn't Top 6 championship standard.

We need an injection of energy, mobility and technical players in our midfielder.

Would Wilder sign a player like Crooks if he hadn't inherited him? Not a chance.

You'd think Darl Fry would score more given height means goals..

[Mfcdanny 771]

1 minute ago, Foxtrot Oscar Colin said:

Well that doesn't count for much when he barely has any influence on the game from cm. He's just not gonna cut it at all. If we're looking to replace cms it should be mcgree then howson. Get two physical lads who can cover ground to compliment crooks a bit more. Dropping a fella with nearly 20 goal involvements in just over a season playing in midfield roles is mental. 

I think you are overly harsh on McGree performances. You make out like he has been shocking when he hasn’t. Been worse players, crooks included imo, And I totally agree with you, it does sound ridiculous dropping a player with that many goal involvements. Sure he did the same for Rotherham and they still got relegated so I don’t think that going of his goals is gonna help guarantee you success. I’m not saying drop him I just think we can definitely get a better player in that position at this level.  That goes for every position aswell, even when tav was here. Anyway I’d actually say that there is only one player that we couldn’t replace at this level and that is Giles. 

[Mfcdanny 771]

2 minutes ago, A21 said:

I agree. What we need to replace is Tav’s dynamism in the middle but it shouldn’t be at Crooks’ expense. For whatever his perceived faults are he regularly contributes goals and assists. For me we need to look at a starting 3 of Crooks plus one of McGree/Howson alongside a dynamic, athletic midfielder. 

But ultimately that diddnt do the business lad season did it. It would be exactly the same dynamics with what you said. What we need is at least one midfielder with alot more creativity than we actually have 

[CrazyL 2,565]

9 minutes ago, Mfcdanny said:

I think you are overly harsh on McGree performances. You make out like he has been shocking when he hasn’t. Been worse players, crooks included imo, And I totally agree with you, it does sound ridiculous dropping a player with that many goal involvements. Sure he did the same for Rotherham and they still got relegated so I don’t think that going of his goals is gonna help guarantee you success. I’m not saying drop him I just think we can definitely get a better player in that position at this level.  That goes for every position aswell, even when tav was here. Anyway I’d actually say that there is only one player that we couldn’t replace at this level and that is Giles. 

He just doesn’t like McGree.

[Humpty 3,261]

38 minutes ago, RiversideRed said:

Because the rest of his game is rubbish. He's a mid-table Championship standard player.

Can't fault him for the goals and assists contributions although think it's largely down to lack of strikers.

He should always score a few goals just because of his height.

In terms of mobility, passing, technical, workrate etc. He's very poor.

Either way the midfield three of McGree, Howson, Crooks isn't Top 6 championship standard.

We need an injection of energy, mobility and technical players in our midfielder.

Would Wilder sign a player like Crooks if he hadn't inherited him? Not a chance.

A midfield should balance itself out. You rarely find a midfielder at this level that has it all and when you do they get snapped up, just like Tav. Crooks has his failings, he's not as mobile as Tav that is for sure but he's not "very poor" at all those attributes you listed, far from it in some cases. The midfield needs a good review however throwing away a 10 goal midfielder (of which there aren't many at this level) is not the answer.

[Foxtrot Oscar Colin 607]

3 minutes ago, Mfcdanny said:

I think you are overly harsh on McGree performances. You make out like he has been shocking when he hasn’t. Been worse players, crooks included imo, And I totally agree with you, it does sound ridiculous dropping a player with that many goal involvements. Sure he did the same for Rotherham and they still got relegated so I don’t think that going of his goals is gonna help guarantee you success. I’m not saying drop him I just think we can definitely get a better player in that position at this level.  That goes for every position aswell, even when tav was here. Anyway I’d actually say that there is only one player that we couldn’t replace at this level and that is Giles. 

If we can replace him with better then great but surely we replace the other 2 first I'm not saying he's a brilliant footballer crooks but what he gives us is vital when you have 2 fellow midfielders and strikers who aren't contributing enough going forward. For me to be happy with mcgree and what he offers defensively and physically he would need to really stamp his authority on games with the ball, I'd want to see him have as much if not more of the ball than howson but the fact is I barely know he's on the pitch for large periods of games and that's not good enough for a player like him.

[SzilardNemethsCurtains 2,844]

17 minutes ago, Foxtrot Oscar Colin said:

Well that doesn't count for much when he barely has any influence on the game from cm. He's just not gonna cut it at all. If we're looking to replace cms it should be mcgree then howson. Get two physical lads who can cover ground to compliment crooks a bit more. Dropping a fella with nearly 20 goal involvements in just over a season playing in midfield roles is mental. 

Crooks had a poor end to the season but this agenda to undermine what he did do is just strange, he proved he could get goals from midfield and he supported Jones well too. This idea that he just scored goals because strikers didn't, makes no sense either 

[AllBoro10 2,235]

Crooks will be massively important to us this season. He scores goals, it’s simple as. He’s a great player to have as part of the squad and unless someone better is signed he will play and rightly so. Even last game, a goal an assist. You can’t knock his numbers.

[Redcar Rioja 5,978]

3 minutes ago, SzilardNemethsCurtains said:

Crooks had a poor end to the season but this agenda to undermine what he did do is just strange, he proved he could get goals from midfield and he supported Jones well too. This idea that he just scored goals because strikers didn't, makes no sense either 

When he was out of the side at the end of last season for a spell we spluttered without him.

[A21 106]

5 minutes ago, Mfcdanny said:

But ultimately that diddnt do the business lad season did it. It would be exactly the same dynamics with what you said. What we need is at least one midfielder with alot more creativity than we actually have 

I don’t think the midfield was the primary reason we finished outside the playoffs. When you say creativity what is it you mean? Beating a man centrally and threading through balls? Playing the pass before the final pass? We had those options last season but our finishing let us down.  
We operate a starting deeper midfield 3 than say Forest who played an advanced ‘10’ in Zinckernagel. If we played this system I can see the need for a designated creator but as it stands I think the most important improvement is a much improved left side giving us a creative option we lacked last season and better finishers.

[p_mards 1,365]

3 hours ago, NorwichBoro said:

Coburn and hoppe are gonna be used as a benchmark for each other 100%, they aren’t going to be able to avoid the comparison 

True, unfortunately. I think any comparison is limited as they have many of the opposite strengths and weaknesses. Going by what I've read about Hoppe, he's best dropping deeper and linking up play but doesn't appear to be the most natural finisher; whereas Coburn is a more natural finisher but isn't the best dropping deeper and linking up play. Wilder has said he wants strikers with different traits, and I can definitely see that with Forss, Hoppe and Coburn so far.

Hoppe hasn't played much last season and has joined us late, so I'd be surprised if he has anything other than a slow start. I'd love to be surprised though. Coburn will undoubtedly be given patience as he's a local lad - I just hope that Hoppe gets similar patience considering he's still a young player. Once he settles in, learns the system and finds match sharpness we should start to see signs of encouragement.

I've tagged Hoppe as our project Gyokeres as he sounds his sort of profile, albeit at an earlier stage of development. Even Gyokeres only scored 3 goals in 19 games in the half season prior to last season's impressive performance, so Hoppe not instantly setting the world on fire doesn't mean he won't prove to be a success in future.