Summer 2023 Transfer Rumours

Ey up.

 

We need to be thinking inside the box

 

Hughes said tonight McDonald has real quality. I’m looking forward to seeing him play.

 

Cameo box ? Hospitality box? Ah you mean the pen box ? lol!

 

No we don't, we need someone to make Ridehalgh the back up

 

Doesn't sound like we'll sign many more.

'1 or 2', you'd think, would include a left back - but what if Hughes has decided Odusina can be competition at left back?

Or, what if he's ignoring what Oduor has said and has him as emergency left back?

I wonder if further signings depend on unloading the likes of Jake Young - in which case, are constant 2-3 year contracts really a good deal if we're struggling to shift players on?

 

If that is the case then it’s a down grade on what we had last season in banks.We need better attacking options especially out wide.

 

How could we know he's a downgrade on Banks?

We can't rely on stats, since Clarke hasn't been playing as a winger exclusively.

Clarke has also played the vast majority of his football at Championship level. Would we expect Banks to have scored a lot of goals at that level?

I'm not so sure about that.

 

First name terms eh?

Took me a while to work out who you were in about!

 

I understand fans on here are anxious to have quality players in our team. I honestly don’t know whether we have or not, or whether one player is an upgrade or downgrade. We will need to see them in action as a team/squad before passing judgement. We could easily talk ourselves into a glum mood before a ball is kicked.
Everyone knows what the goal is, and that is to gain promotion via the top three slots, trying to aim for playoffs is a no from me. The opposition looks harder this year, but once again we have no idea how their team/squad will perform. You can bring in a whole squad from a division or two above, but it does not guarantee success. Then injuries play a part, I think we seem to have a good medical team we have had players back playing before we expected them, which is good.
We also unfortunately have experience at this level. As does the management team now.

We have some quality players in the team, maybe not as many as we would like, but it all depends how they click into place, and how the team gel together. For me that tells me how good our recruitment has been. This is the time to relax as fans and look forward to the new season.

 

You're right about us seemingly having a good medical team, but we have just lost the head of that team. Hopefully we have someone equally as capable to step into that role so that the team continues to be effective in what they do.

 

Yes losing him to Carlisle must have been a bit of a blow

 

Where have you seen him play other than a flat screen?

Banks came with next to zero League of any Sort experience, hasnt Odour played dozens of times in the CC/ L1.

Perhaps you missed that important bit?

 

2-3 year contracts are only a problem if your recruitment is crap. We've handed deals out to the likes of Odusina, Oliver, Young, that we probably regret

I would sincerely hope that '1-2 more only' excludes our use of the loan market. We need more than one or two.

If our hopes lie on using players who couldn't get a game last season in a different position, we're in trouble.

 

Fair comment. The flexibility has come with two signings already as daft as it sounds. Both Gilly and it appears Oduor can play in several positions. So last seasons philosophy of two for every position no longer applies?

 

Don’t dispute that he’s a player who can be improved upon but for the most part I wouldn’t be too displeased lining up with the same defence that served us well last season. Would rather spend the remaining budget on other key areas.

 

That's kind of my worry. Having a few players with the ability to play in multiple positions is sound. You need that. But my worry, for example is that our options to play in the wide forward positions look to be:
Chapman - who clearly has ability but lacked end product
Odour - who see's himself as a 10 but has played mainly as a left back.

Then we're into a bunch of 'well he can sort of so a job there' types like Walker, Gillead, Osadebe'.

We need actual, wide forwards in the squad. I'd imagine this is the area especially, that we'll use the loan market. We can't go into the season with just the options we currently have for that position.

 

If we are to switch to a back 3 then chances are we go with a midfield five and as such won't be using out and out wingers. That could open up going 2 up front with Cook and Smith. It was a formation that Carlisle used to good effect last season with Moxon pulling the strings, i can see Hughes wanting MacDonald to be having the same influence. I don't think we'll be going one upfront and leaving Cooky isolated.

 

I think the go to forward line will be Walker who will play on the left Cook and Smith who will play on the right.
In front of McDonald Smallwood and Pattison in a 433 system

 

Odours position is a funny one already isn't it? The announcement we put out and the bits in the press we released made out he will be a left wing back (which is where I see him playing too) but then people are putting a lot of stock into what he said himself around wanting to play in an attacking area.

I cant see the club putting out that he will play LWB and then having him as a back up attacking midfielder? Especially with Walker, Chapman and Osadebe already on the books and then Pattison coming in too. Odour did start games on both wing back sides in his brief Hartlepool stint as well as both wing attacking slots. For my money, him and Ridehalgh are the LWBs in the new 352/532 system. If we bring Oyegoke in (as rumoured) he is more a wing back too than a full back, pointing more towards a formation change.