January 2017 Transfer Window

[pikerman 1,121]

If ,as it seems likely, we have missed out on all of our targets, Delafou, Snodgrass, Jese, Bojan, then something must be seriously, wrong with our recruitment system. Either our targets were not realistic or alternatively the people involved in making the deals happen were not up to the job, it is as simple as that.

[Will 2,958]

That's fair enough, I was only replying to your comment about us clearly being a long way down our list.

 

Yeah but that is relevant because like it or not the further down the list we go, the less good the player is likely to be or they'd be higher up!  I think with him there's another question about whether he's really what Karanka is after.

 

Yes of course it is, but that being the sole reason for not being excited would be stupid if it was the case.

 

I'd agree with the bit in bold. Not entirely sure he is. If Karanka does have the final say on all signings as we're told then he needs to start saying no if they are compromises to what, not necessarily who, he wants.

[Borodane 6,299]

As a bonus info Cairney is one of the best players I have ever had on FM a few years back :)

[Tudders80 674]

If ,as it seems likely, we have missed out on all of our targets, Delafou, Snodgrass, Jese, Bojan, then something must be seriously, wrong with our recruitment system. Either our targets were not realistic or alternatively the people involved in making the deals happen were not up to the job, it is as simple as that.

 

No there mustn't. This is becoming seriously boring and frustrating to say but.....1 more time.... if we have a target that is available, but the selling club refuses to sell to us then we can do nothing about this. It's not the club's (or anyone who works for the clubs) fault. It really can't be that difficult to understand can it??

[Guest Changing Times]

But that's my point as mentioned in my initial post, CT - I'd love to know just how much football those moaning about Cairney on here have actually seen him play.

From what I've seen of Cairney - a fair bit, not masses - he's a Number 10 or creative CM with a good range of passing, a pretty sweet left foot, useful on set pieces and just coming towards his prime.

 

Would I rather have Bojan or Jese? Aye, probably. But 'Tom Cairney? Ffs' is a daft response to us potentially adding a player who could slot in to a couple of positions and offer us something we lack in both.

 

Of course people can have a negative opinion on Cairney. I'd love for someone to give detailed reasons on why they don't think Cairney is what we need (barring the price Newcastle were quoted, which is obviously ridiculous). However, that hasn't happened. Just variations of 'Tom Cairney? Ffs.'

 

I think most people would have seen him a reasonable amount over time, either from watching him against us or just watching him in other Championship games.  You've seen him a fair bit so it stands to reason others have as well.  My own opinion is he has a decent left peg, decent shot on him from distance, decent feet, I don't remember thinking he was pacy.  I know he's played out on the right I think cutting inside or through the middle.  He has always looked to me like a good Championship player but I don't remember ever thinking how are we going to stop him or words to that effect. Of course he could be improving but he hasn't been capped by Scotland, which maybe says something. If you want an opinion he's a younger probably not as good version of Snodgrass to a certain extent?

[Nics 8]

If ,as it seems likely, we have missed out on all of our targets, Delafou, Snodgrass, Jese, Bojan, then something must be seriously, wrong with our recruitment system. Either our targets were not realistic or alternatively the people involved in making the deals happen were not up to the job, it is as simple as that.

 

No there mustn't. This is becoming seriously boring and frustrating to say but.....1 more time.... if we have a target that is available, but the selling club refuses to sell to us then we can do nothing about this. It's not the club's (or anyone who works for the clubs) fault. It really can't be that difficult to understand can it??

 

If the Assistant Manager says it's a realistic target, we should just make a board request for more funds and sign 'em up.

[Snowblind 1,734]

But that's my point as mentioned in my initial post, CT - I'd love to know just how much football those moaning about Cairney on here have actually seen him play.

From what I've seen of Cairney - a fair bit, not masses - he's a Number 10 or creative CM with a good range of passing, a pretty sweet left foot, useful on set pieces and just coming towards his prime.

 

Would I rather have Bojan or Jese? Aye, probably. But 'Tom Cairney? Ffs' is a daft response to us potentially adding a player who could slot in to a couple of positions and offer us something we lack in both.

 

Of course people can have a negative opinion on Cairney. I'd love for someone to give detailed reasons on why they don't think Cairney is what we need (barring the price Newcastle were quoted, which is obviously ridiculous). However, that hasn't happened. Just variations of 'Tom Cairney? Ffs.'

 

I think most people would have seen him a reasonable amount over time, either from watching him against us or just watching him in other Championship games.  You've seen him a fair bit so it stands to reason others have as well.  My own opinion is he has a decent left peg, decent shot on him from distance, decent feet, I don't remember thinking he was pacy.  I know he's played out on the right I think cutting inside or through the middle.  He has always looked to me like a good Championship player but I don't remember ever thinking how are we going to stop him or words to that effect. Of course he could be improving but he hasn't been capped by Scotland, which maybe says something. If you want an opinion he's a younger probably not as good version of Snodgrass to a certain extent?

 

There you go - nice to get an in depth opinion :)

 

I agree in that I don't think he'd set the world alight in the Premeirship, but think he'd be a solid improvement to our 4-3-3 in injecting a bit more creativity and a wider range of passing into the centre of the park. From when I've seen him out wide, I've never thought he's influenced games as much as through the middle. Not sure I'd compare him to Jese/Bojan/Snodgrass to be honest; would suggest to me that (if we are genuinely interested) he'd be more a player to improve the 4-3-3. Would I want him as a replacement for Gaston? No. But I do think he'd offer a positive different dimension in the centre of the park to what we've had in recent weeks.

 

The Scotland thing I wouldn't personally pay much credence to when you look at their selection policy over the past several years - and especially since Strachan took over.

 

And as I said... The prices quoted are ridiculous. Even at £7m I'd say it's a push, but £15m-£20m just isn't worth it by any stretch of the imagination.

[pikerman 1,121]

If ,as it seems likely, we have missed out on all of our targets, Delafou, Snodgrass, Jese, Bojan, then something must be seriously, wrong with our recruitment system. Either our targets were not realistic or alternatively the people involved in making the deals happen were not up to the job, it is as simple as that.

 

No there mustn't. This is becoming seriously boring and frustrating to say but.....1 more time.... if we have a target that is available, but the selling club refuses to sell to us then we can do nothing about this. It's not the club's (or anyone who works for the clubs) fault. It really can't be that difficult to understand can it??

 

You seem to want to make excuses for failure, (sorry if I am boring you), but it must have been apparent from early in the negotiations that Hull would not sell us Snodgrass, Jese did not want to come, Bojan did not want a loan deal etc, yet here we are with two days to go apparently in dissaray. I must try this with my Director on Monday, sorry the last Six months have yielded nothing but hey ho I could do nothing about it, I know where I would be shown to, the door!

[Tudders80 674]

If psg had accepted the loan bid from Las palmas would it not be done by now given how much jese wants to join them?

[boro_lobster 2]

Bring back lamby he get the deals sorted

[Guest Changing Times]

I'd take someone like Helder Costa right now. Don't think he'd be a world beater for us, but would enable us to stick with a 4-3-3 for this season. With his and Traore's width and direct play, would be a good fit right now without having to overhaul our effective defensive mindset. Not as good as Ramirez [who I do hope we sell now after everything that has happened], but perhaps more natural there. And not saying there's not the potential of other excellent players still out there and available, but given we've seemingly missed out on our top targets we're better of just adjusting the personnel in the formation we already have and hoping to grind our way to safety.

 

We can now as good as write off 4-2-3-1 for the remainder of the season as well. Maybe next year, with the added hope of signing some exciting forward thinking players to fit into it, but that's no longer the priority.

 

We can't sign him.  He can't be sold to anyone other than Wolves this season apparently (don't know if that's 100% correct) and Wolves are trying to buy him right now anyway.

 

I don't know if we were ever going back to 4-2-3-1 tbh.  I don't think we changed to 4-1-4-1 because we didn't have options in attack, I think we changed because the two in midfield couldn't cope and we were struggling with that.  If you think back, we changed it for the ***nal away game and from memory we only changed it back for the Bournemouth game because de Roon was injured.  After that it was 4-1-4-1 every time wasn't it other than Watford away?

 

Maybe that's incorrect though and Karanka was ready to roll the dice and get an extra attacker in there.  It's entirely possible that's what Bojan coming in was all about but the more I think about it I just wonder if Bojan was meant as a replacement for Ramirez rather than to play alongside him.  That might be wrong but if Ramirez was unhappy about playing on the left then bringing in another player to play through the middle means he is stuck there.  Maybe Ramirez had expressed his displeasure earlier than we might think and the club were looking at other options.  Mind you maybe it was our interest in him that lead to Ramirez realising he wouldn't be moving back into the middle?  Lots of maybes in there though!!

[Tudders80 674]

If ,as it seems likely, we have missed out on all of our targets, Delafou, Snodgrass, Jese, Bojan, then something must be seriously, wrong with our recruitment system. Either our targets were not realistic or alternatively the people involved in making the deals happen were not up to the job, it is as simple as that.

 

No there mustn't. This is becoming seriously boring and frustrating to say but.....1 more time.... if we have a target that is available, but the selling club refuses to sell to us then we can do nothing about this. It's not the club's (or anyone who works for the clubs) fault. It really can't be that difficult to understand can it??

 

You seem to want to make excuses for failure, (sorry if I am boring you), but it must have been apparent from early in the negotiations that Hull would not sell us Snodgrass, Jese did not want to come, Bojan did not want a loan deal etc, yet here we are with two days to go apparently in dissaray. I must try this with my Director on Monday, sorry the last Six months have yielded nothing but hey ho I could do nothing about it, I know where I would be shown to, the door!

 

Bojan didn't want a loan???? You must have some good links.

If I was hull I would have strung us along as long as they could...maybe a touch of naivety, who knows.

Jese made it obvious he wanted to join LP. However it was made publicly clear that they couldn't afford him. Why would we just walk away from that?

 

I get yours and many people's frustrations but having a go for no real reason just doesn't make sense.

 

Failure is us going down this season as our target was no doubt 17th. If this happens then I have no problem with heads rolling, but I'm not going to have a go at anyone at the club for missing out on targets. Unfortunately that's football sometimes

[MikeyBoro 374]

If psg had accepted the loan bid from Las palmas would it not be done by now given how much jese wants to join them?

 

He was in Paris this morning according to his Twitter.

[2plus2 290]

I'd take someone like Helder Costa right now. Don't think he'd be a world beater for us, but would enable us to stick with a 4-3-3 for this season. With his and Traore's width and direct play, would be a good fit right now without having to overhaul our effective defensive mindset. Not as good as Ramirez [who I do hope we sell now after everything that has happened], but perhaps more natural there. And not saying there's not the potential of other excellent players still out there and available, but given we've seemingly missed out on our top targets we're better of just adjusting the personnel in the formation we already have and hoping to grind our way to safety.

 

We can now as good as write off 4-2-3-1 for the remainder of the season as well. Maybe next year, with the added hope of signing some exciting forward thinking players to fit into it, but that's no longer the priority.

 

We can't sign him.  He can't be sold to anyone other than Wolves this season apparently (don't know if that's 100% correct) and Wolves are trying to buy him right now anyway.

 

I don't know if we were ever going back to 4-2-3-1 tbh.  I don't think we changed to 4-1-4-1 because we didn't have options in attack, I think we changed because the two in midfield couldn't cope and we were struggling with that.  If you think back, we changed it for the ***nal away game and from memory we only changed it back for the Bournemouth game because de Roon was injured.  After that it was 4-1-4-1 every time wasn't it other than Watford away?

 

Maybe that's incorrect though and Karanka was ready to roll the dice and get an extra attacker in there.  It's entirely possible that's what Bojan coming in was all about but the more I think about it I just wonder if Bojan was meant as a replacement for Ramirez rather than to play alongside him.  That might be wrong but if Ramirez was unhappy about playing on the left then bringing in another player to play through the middle means he is stuck there.  Maybe Ramirez had expressed his displeasure earlier than we might think and the club were looking at other options.  Mind you maybe it was our interest in him that lead to Ramirez realising he wouldn't be moving back into the middle?  Lots of maybes in there though!!

 

Didn't know that about Costa. Still, someone of that ilk to play that position is priority in my opinion now. We might end up being stuck having to start Traore as well, which may prove to be a good thing. We'll see.

 

As for the formation change, I agree. In fact, I was hugely in favour of it at the time. The only circumstance where I would now have been in favour of a change back to 4-2-3-1 again would have been if we signed 2 or 3 quality additions this window. Snodgrass, Jese and/or Bojan/Ramirez - and there would have been one hell of a case for sacrificing a bit of defensive stability to introduce more attacking intent. But that didn't and wasn't likely to happen. 4-3-3 is fine by me.

 

No hard feelings re Ramirez from me too. If he wants to move, then fair enough. And if he wants to play in the middle, then fair enough too. End of the day, he played a huge role in both our promotion and in where we sit in the table right now. But how often does a player put in a transfer request, stay and then perform to his best? Not often. At this stage I hope he gets what he wants.

[Guest Changing Times]

 

 

There you go - nice to get an in depth opinion :)

 

I agree in that I don't think he'd set the world alight in the Premeirship, but think he'd be a solid improvement to our 4-3-3 in injecting a bit more creativity and a wider range of passing into the centre of the park. From when I've seen him out wide, I've never thought he's influenced games as much as through the middle. Not sure I'd compare him to Jese/Bojan/Snodgrass to be honest; would suggest to me that (if we are genuinely interested) he'd be more a player to improve the 4-3-3. Would I want him as a replacement for Gaston? No. But I do think he'd offer a positive different dimension in the centre of the park to what we've had in recent weeks.

 

The Scotland thing I wouldn't personally pay much credence to when you look at their selection policy over the past several years - and especially since Strachan took over.

 

And as I said... The prices quoted are ridiculous. Even at £7m I'd say it's a push, but £15m-£20m just isn't worth it by any stretch of the imagination.

 

Well yeah £15m-£20m is laughable really.  We just need to be careful because teams are going to know we're desperate after missing out on different players and if I was them I'd push us to the limit.

 

I wouldn't compare him to Jese or Bojan but I think Snodgrass is a reasonable comparison.  They both have similar strengths from what I can remember of Cairney.  Both left footed, both decent delivery/set pieces, Cairney I'd say has quicker feet and maybe a bit more pace but Snodgrass is possibly a bit more intelligent.  Obviously Cairney you can play through the middle and I wouldn't necessarily put Snodgrass there but then I don't know if Cairney could play in a two at this level so him signing would be certainly more for that formation than 4-2-3-1.

 

I think the Scotland stuff is relevant in the sense that they do pick Championship players but he hasn't made it yet.  Maybe they are a bit stronger in midfield though and as you said earlier it's also possible he's improving and getting to his peak.