Relegation Recruitment

MB1980 said:
Odd signing in that case and decision by McKinnie... not sure what he expecting given Leeds position.

Odd situation at Leeds. They have some excellent players, but clearly the managers haven't been able to get the best out of them, as a team, yet.

That Rutter guy has been totally ineffective. Only young, but at 35 mill, I suspect the club and fans were expecting a bit more of an impact
Similar with Gnoto, who cost a little less.
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The issue Leeds have is that they do have some excellent players, but they are all attackers.

Their only two decent defensive players (Adams and Wober) have spent a large chunk of the season injured, the rest of their midfield and defence is absolutely dire. Their goal keeper in particular, costs them points almost every game. The margins are so fine that we’ve seen ourselves that if you take out a decent keeper (Neto) and replace him with one who’s out of his depth at this level (Travers,) you can all of a sudden go from grinding out results to losing every week.
 
The obvious area is defence and particularly full backs. If we could improve the bread and butter defence of our penalty box by even a modest amount, you could add 6 or 7, maybe 9 or 10 points onto our total this season straight away. That has to be the priority for recruitment and coaching efforts.

Making Vina permanent to replace Zemura looks a no-brainer. Apparently there's an option to buy. Do it.

I'd then consider moving Kelly to be more focused on LB (whilst still offering an option at CB) so as to provide us two very different LBs for different setups and situations.

At CB, what to do about Stephens? James Hill? In the remaining matches I'd like to see Zabarnyi and try to judge where he's at. There might to room for another CB if Kelly does move across longer term. Be that Stephens or a new face.

At RB, Smith needs to be our option off the bench. Smith needs to come on and use his experiance, take yellow cards for the team late on, win soft free kicks, time waste when needed etc. He shouldn't be starting every week next season. Jack Stacey's contract is up this summer I gather, we should probably release him unfortunately, to make room for a new signing here. Fredericks has another year, and is PL level if he can get fit? If Everton go down - Nathan Paterson would be an ambitious coup.

Midfield - a lot depends on Lerma. Sign the contract! He'll be a massive challenge to replace with his combination of attributes. Cook and Pearson can do elements of Lerma's remit but neither are as well rounded. Rothwell has been a revelation. Could Enzo Le Fee be tempted now that we've secured saftey? A competitor for Rothwell there.

Attacking midfield I'm pretty happy with the large array of options we have. I assume Stanislas is released. Marcondes?

Up front everyone in football wants a striker. It would be nice to find someone who can share the burden with Dom and potentially add a more clinical touch. I like Semenyo but he needs time, and is versatile. Moore might not quite make the PL grade, but hard to say as we never play to his strengths. Nicolas Jackson, or Championship Viktor Gyokeres or Joel Piroe are obvious targets.

Bear in mind we're already tight on the 25 and having to crowbar players out on loans, so the other side of the equation is who leaves.

4-5 signings, aiming for quality not quantity.
 
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Green_Cherry said:
Do we really need more wingers? We already have Christie, Anthony, Dango and Tavenier as regulars as well as Brooks who we still aren’t sure will come back 100% as good as he was. Stan will leave this year and who knows what will happen to Siriki Dembele who’s on loan in France I think? For me if we do sign a winger that’ll be if Siriki leaves as well and I’d rather it be a young player who we can loan out for the future because we don’t really need any disorder in the dressing room with people not being picked and all that.

In terms of big signings I’d like to see, we need a new RB and LB in my opinion, Stacey will probably go and Smith can’t be first choice in either position. I’d like to see Vina be made permanent depending on the money and maybe a young backup or give that academy LB a chance, Greenwood I think it is. RB, I’d like to see us try to get Walker peters but it’ll be hard and if they go down maybe Aurier at forest could be an option? I can see Cook, Pearson and Kilkenny all leaving tbh and so midfielders will be important. Maybe also a backup striker if Moore leaves and definitely a CB.
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Not Aurier - can be relied upon to give away goals, concede penalties or get sent off
 
northstandmark said:
The obvious area is defence and particularly full backs. If we could improve the bread and butter defence of our penalty box by even a modest amount, you could add 6 or 7, maybe 9 or 10 points onto our total this season straight away. That has to be the priority for recruitment and coaching efforts.

Making Vina permanent to replace Zemura looks a no-brainer. Apparently there's an option to buy. Do it.

I'd then consider moving Kelly to be more focused on LB (whilst still offering an option at CB) so as to provide us two very different LBs for different setups and situations.

At CB, what to do about Stephens? James Hill? In the remaining matches I'd like to see Zabarnyi and try to judge where he's at. There might to room for another CB if Kelly does move across longer term. Be that Stephens or a new face.

At RB, Smith needs to be our option off the bench. Smith needs to come on and use his experiance, take yellow cards for the team late on, win soft free kicks, time waste when needed etc. He shouldn't be starting every week next season. Jack Stacey's contract is up this summer I gather, we should probably release him unfortunately, to make room for a new signing here. Fredericks has another year, and is PL level if he can get fit? If Everton go down - Nathan Paterson would be an ambitious coup.

Midfield - a lot depends on Lerma. Sign the contract! He'll be a massive challenge to replace with his combination of attributes. Cook and Pearson can do elements of Lerma's remit but neither are as well rounded. Rothwell has been a revelation. Could Enzo Le Fee be tempted now that we've secured saftey? A competitor for Rothwell there.

Attacking midfield I'm pretty happy with the large array of options we have. I assume Stanislas is released. Marcondes?

Up front everyone in football wants a striker. It would be nice to find someone who can share the burden with Dom and potentially add a more clinical touch. I like Semenyo but he needs time, and is versatile. Moore might not quite make the PL grade, but hard to say as we never play to his strengths. Nicolas Jackson, or Championship Viktor Gyokeres or Joel Piroe are obvious targets.

Bear in mind we're already tight on the 25 and having to crowbar players out on loans, so the other side of the equation is who leaves.

4-5 signings, aiming for quality not quantity.
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always thought ndidi is a fairly similar player to lerma
 
KingKieffer said:
The issue Leeds have is that they do have some excellent players, but they are all attackers.

Their only two decent defensive players (Adams and Wober) have spent a large chunk of the season injured, the rest of their midfield and defence is absolutely dire. Their goal keeper in particular, costs them points almost every game. The margins are so fine that we’ve seen ourselves that if you take out a decent keeper (Neto) and replace him with one who’s out of his depth at this level (Travers,) you can all of a sudden go from grinding out results to losing every week.
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I thought they’d improved their defence:)
 
punkrockcherry said:
Walker-Peters would be a good shout - I wouldn't be surprised if Tottenham went down on bended knee and begged him to go back!

And whilst Tottenham are not being relegated we could do worse than make enquiries about Djed Spence
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I know a lot of Saints fans and they unanimously think he is ****************
 
punkrockcherry said:
Walker-Peters would be a good shout - I wouldn't be surprised if Tottenham went down on bended knee and begged him to go back!

And whilst Tottenham are not being relegated we could do worse than make enquiries about Djed Spence
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Spence is unproven in the Premier League too risky I say. Forest got lucky in the championship with their loan players and a team that played well together. He was fortunate to be part of it. Have any of the players, that performed well for Forest last season shone since (only Brennan Johnson)?
 
chriscooke said:
Spence is unproven in the Premier League too risky I say. Forest got lucky in the championship with their loan players and a team that played well together. He was fortunate to be part of it. Have any of the players, that performed well for Forest last season shone since (only Brennan Johnson)?
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Brice Samba
At Lens :)
 
chriscooke said:
Spence is unproven in the Premier League too risky I say. Forest got lucky in the championship with their loan players and a team that played well together. He was fortunate to be part of it. Have any of the players, that performed well for Forest last season shone since (only Brennan Johnson)?
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Element of risk, but I think he's very much capable of stepping up, given just how good he was, and the fact Spurs went in for him too. Not sure there's many right backs with PL experience that aren't washed up who'd jjoin us anyway?

Plus it means we continue our growing collection of Right Backs from Spurs.

Neil Young was 1st choice right back for years in 90's, early 2000's. Now of course, the modern day stalwart Smudger. Smithy should be good for another few years at this level anyway, as we bed Spence in. Right @KingKieffer ;)
 
In terms of what we actually need, it’s probably a new RB, a new CDM, and a new LB (possibly even 2). Not convinced by our striking options off the bench, but we have 3 that we’ve spent decent money on so that’s tricky.

If we were doing relegation shopping, my No1 target would be Kyle Walker-Peters. One of the better RBs outside of the top 10, and is probably already familiar with a lot of our former England U21s. Plus, would suit our counterattacking style of play.

I’d be happy to see Stephens return, I think he’s probably been a tad overhyped by some (including me) but as a potentially cheap squad member that’s bought in to the club already, you could do a hell of a lot worse. Also, he’s been a good signing for us, and his “badness” has been blown ludicrously far out of proportion by many on here too.

To complete the hattrick of realistic signings, I think Che Adams reminds me a lot of Solanke. I don’t think we have anyone that can take on his role effectively (what, of a non-scoring striker har har har?) when he’s out. He’s quick, strong, intelligent, hardworking, and has potential to be a lot better. IMO. Wouldn’t be my first choice but it would also be funny to ransack Southampton.

Looking at the other squads, I’m struggling to find any names in the positions we need that would be good enough or worth buying because if things like the English tax. Many of these players have been deemed “good on paper” and would probably cost far more than they’re actually worth on the pitch.

I would take Viña as a good quality attacking left back for what, £13 million? There are some other championship players I’d be interested in having a look at, like Piroe at Swansea, Gyokeres at Coventry.

Djed Spence is on loan and unwanted by Spurs. Would not mind taking him off their hands for a cut price deal.
 
Off topic as it relates to AFCB, but I am wondering what the "word" is on the futures of three players:
* if relegated, who would be in on Pickford?
* similarly, who would be in on Calvert-Lewin?
* out of contract, even if the Hammers stay up, whither goest Declan Rice?
 
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