GarrettIvo Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 https://t.co/uaLqZUdGbs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lallana's Left Peg Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Hopefully we get rid of Caulker now and it's a move in the right direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Hardly news. He has been back at the Club since before Christmas, appearing in all the training videos, but needed to wait until the transfer window to be allowed to play for us again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batman Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 get rid of caulker and use our own Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golden Balls Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Can't be any worse than Caulker. Will be sat on the bench a lot though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadoldgit Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Agree with what has been said. If he is no better than Caulker or Yoshida then we should sell him on. At this point he has to be a better option on the bench than those two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golden Balls Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Did he play much at Boro? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadoldgit Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Did he play much at Boro? No but I saw him against United and he looked pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baird of the land Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 get rid of caulker and use our own Agree completely, should be giving the likes of Stephens opportunities rather than loaning in dross like Caulker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Can't be any worse than Caulker. Will be sat on the bench a lot though. Given he made only 4 appearances for Boro (3 in the League Cup), he might as well sit on our bench as theirs. Badly planned loan move, wasted half a season of development/experience for the lad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fitzhugh Fella Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 I think Caulker is not as bad as everyone is making out to be honest, he seems to be be everyone's fall guy when plenty of others have been well below par this season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dig Dig Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 I think Caulker is not as bad as everyone is making out to be honest, he seems to be be everyone's fall guy when plenty of others have been well below par this season He's been terrible in the most part. The Liverpool game was one of the worst CB performances you'll likely see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golden Balls Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 I think Caulker is not as bad as everyone is making out to be honest, he seems to be be everyone's fall guy when plenty of others have been well below par this season His display against Liverpool was up there with Alan Bennett debut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxstone Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 His display against Liverpool was up there with Alan Bennett debut. Oh God I remember that ! A 4-1 loss at home to Palace and I wondered who the hell the guy was - He played as though he had just been pulled out of the Itchen Stand 10 mins before KO, given a shirt and told to get out there and give it a lash! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScepticalStan Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 His display against Liverpool was up there with Alan Bennett debut. Oh God I remember that ! A 4-1 loss at home to Palace and I wondered who the hell the guy was - He played as though he had just been pulled out of the Itchen Stand 10 mins before KO, given a shirt and told to get out there and give it a lash! I will never forget that game. Took my neutral-supporting mate to the match and despite being surrounded by Saints fans, he couldn't help but laugh his ******** off at every goal we conceded. I don't think anyone could really blame him. The third was the funniest; big punt from the keeper, ball bounces ahead of Bennett about 30 yards from goal, Bennett jumps into the air as the ball is rising off the bounce and it goes straight over his head and almost over Bialkowski (who being far too far forward, and on the edge of his penalty area) has to leap up and stretch to prevent the ball bouncing over him as well and going into the net. He got a hand to it, clawed it downwards, and ended up inadvertently bouncing the ball in off the face of the onrushing Jamie Scowcroft (who then dived forwards in a 'heading motion' about two seconds later in order to try and make it look like his goal wasn't scored completely by accident). Funniest goal we've conceded for sure. Although later that season there was a hilarious bungle-up between Jermaine Wright and Kelvin Davis against QPR which led to Patrick Agyemang literally walking the ball into the net. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Not sure why anyone thinks this will have any bearing on Caulker, Stephens being back is just representative of how little game time Boro were giving him and the fact season long loans can only be recalled during transfer windows rather than any massive shift in policy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkSFC Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 What part of not good enough to play for Boro makes anyone think he is anywhere near our squad let alone starting. The obsession with "homegrown" over talent is amusing; I'm sure many would rather we had 11 homegrown players in the team every week even if that menat League 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dig Dig Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Not sure why anyone thinks this will have any bearing on Caulker, Stephens being back is just representative of how little game time Boro were giving him and the fact season long loans can only be recalled during transfer windows rather than any massive shift in policy. Doesn't have to represent a shift in policy but it could easily relate to Caulker being wanted permanently by other sides so it wouldn't be a huge surprise if he goes this window. It's not as if we actually need him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Give it to Ron Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Not sure why anyone thinks this will have any bearing on Caulker, Stephens being back is just representative of how little game time Boro were giving him and the fact season long loans can only be recalled during transfer windows rather than any massive shift in policy. Koeman said last week he wants to keep Caulker for the season - he must see something we don't then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Oh God I remember that ! A 4-1 loss at home to Palace and I wondered who the hell the guy was - He played as though he had just been pulled out of the Itchen Stand 10 mins before KO, given a shirt and told to get out there and give it a lash! It was as much the genius idea of playing him alongside Chris Makin at centre back as Bennett himself, who ended up being half decent at the ar5e end of the Championship for the last couple of games before Reading got him back after 10 matches and then loaned him to Brentford, presumably when they realised we were skint and couldn't afford to keep him. Playing at Brentford, Wycombe, Cheltenham and AFC Wimbledon as he slid down the divisions, and as of August Cork City, all suggest he was never quite good enough for that level. For the record, that pre-season was the ONE occasion Alpine was right about signings (summer 2007) and with hindsight we were just trying to cut costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattio Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 His comments are weird about not playing loanees when we do the same here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lallana's Left Peg Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 What part of not good enough to play for Boro makes anyone think he is anywhere near our squad let alone starting. The obsession with "homegrown" over talent is amusing; I'm sure many would rather we had 11 homegrown players in the team every week even if that menat League 2. Caulker is a bomb scare. We don't play three at the back any more and we're not in Europe. No need to pay him £30k+ to be on the bench every other game when we could have an England U21 international doing it on a third of the salary. Is Stephens better than Caulker? Probably not. Is either going to play much? Probably not. Is it sensible to save the club money rather than having it padded out with players eating up money doing nothing. I think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 What part of not good enough to play for Boro makes anyone think he is anywhere near our squad let alone starting. The obsession with "homegrown" over talent is amusing; I'm sure many would rather we had 11 homegrown players in the team every week even if that menat League 2. Who has said he was not good enough for Boro? He wasn't played because they have permanent players in his position already, and have not had injuries or suspensions to give him a chance. It was a stupid loan, to a club that really did not need a loan player. He has been given the chance in the League Cup and done very well. He is certainly good enough to cover for Caulker leaving (which seems likely) until Florin is fit again (whenever that might be). It is easy to argue that he was better than Caulker in the first place, but our manager is reluctant to use youth this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadoldgit Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Koeman said last week he wants to keep Caulker for the season - he must see something we don't then! I am sure it is just cover. But then if anything happens to Fonte or VvD then that is a worry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadoldgit Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Who has said he was not good enough for Boro? He wasn't played because they have permanent players in his position already, and have not had injuries or suspensions to give him a chance. It was a stupid loan, to a club that really did not need a loan player. He has been given the chance in the League Cup and done very well. He is certainly good enough to cover for Caulker leaving (which seems likely) until Florin is fit again (whenever that might be). It is easy to argue that he was better than Caulker in the first place, but our manager is reluctant to use youth this season. In retrospect it might not have been the best option, but at the time, if Middlesbro come and ask for him why was it stupid? I am sure we assumed that they wanted him because they wanted to play him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Koeman said last week he wants to keep Caulker for the season - he must see something we don't then! Early on he looked panicked, even though he was part of the retrospectively decent clean sheet against Watford. He also was perfectly competent in an inexperienced back 4 in the cup win against Villa. Then when he came on after Fonte's injury against Man City, he put the thing on the ground and for the first time this season didn't look like he was just going to hoof the ball back up the pitch at the first opportunity. That looked like a big step forward for him, then he played against Liverpool a few days later. I don't think the huge gap in midfield where Wanyama was meant to be helped against Liverpool much either, as any defender will look bad if the opposition is given the time and space to play the ball in front of them, and he hasn't played since then. He's not good enough to start, but he's decent cover against bottom half sides with different strengths and weaknesses to Yoshida, and he hasn't been frozen out of a Championship side, nor are there any great concerns about his ability at that level as there are still going to be with Stephens, which is sufficient reason to keep him around. If we're just saving cash, we can run with Yoshida and inexperienced kids as defensive backup, but that's the kind of stuff that DOES get you relegated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dig Dig Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Koeman said last week he wants to keep Caulker for the season - he must see something we don't then! More likely to save a bit of face in case another deal isn't done and he ends up staying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRM Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Given he made only 4 appearances for Boro (3 in the League Cup), he might as well sit on our bench as theirs. Badly planned loan move, wasted half a season of development/experience for the lad. Would that wasted half a season include an appearance for England U21s? I'm sure getting recognition like that must go some way to the "development / experience for the lad" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Would that wasted half a season include an appearance for England U21s? I'm sure getting recognition like that must go some way to the "development / experience for the lad" No. Though it was based on him being a Southampton player rather than his performances at Boro. Trouble was that he was sent off in that game :-) Has played a few time at various England youth levels. His 41 games for Swindon the previous season were much more positive in terms of his development. He would have been better being with them again this season than being sat on the bench at Boro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 In retrospect it might not have been the best option, but at the time, if Middlesbro come and ask for him why was it stupid? I am sure we assumed that they wanted him because they wanted to play him. It was stupid because they already had the players in place and it was reasonably clear that he was not needed, i.e. they already had alternatives in his position. I know you enjoy just being contrary for the sake of it, but sometimes things are done by the Club that really are not very clever, and their policy with loans is sometimes a bit questionable (whatever the policy is these days, given that last year Uncle Les stated categorically we do not do loans because its better for the young players to train with the Club). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simo Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 We took a gamble on Caulker and it never paid off from what I saw of Stephens against United he can do a job ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david in sweden Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 If Stephens is back for good, not just " an interim visitor "....before going out on loan again...then expect to see him as an extra RB /CB , and Caulker can go on his way. Gardos on the way back (?)...Cedric is between injuries and although Martina hasn't blotted his copybook...yet....maybe Jack would be another option at the back.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pip Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Was Stephens not a right back when he first arrived? Perhaps that sort of versatility would make him a good option on our bench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Was Stephens not a right back when he first arrived? Perhaps that sort of versatility would make him a good option on our bench. Depends on exactly what his level is really. Boro obviously didn't think he was worth a game for most of the time in any position so I'd wait to have an actual look at his capabilities before deciding to put him into the first XI group on matchdays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sadoldgit Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Was Stephens not a right back when he first arrived? Perhaps that sort of versatility would make him a good option on our bench. If you are a reasonable height with reasonable pace and a decent defender you should be able to play either CH or FB without too much trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectisSaint Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Depends on exactly what his level is really. Boro obviously didn't think he was worth a game for most of the time in any position so I'd wait to have an actual look at his capabilities before deciding to put him into the first XI group on matchdays. He's been back with us for about 3 weeks now, I guess Ronald has a decent idea of his capabilities. He also played him in the summer, pre-season, at CB (played 3 times). Bit different playing RB (or LB) and CB, as Yoshida demonstrates regularly. He almost always played CB for Swindon last season, though more often than not they played 3 at the back. He was originally a RB, and can also play LB or as a defensive mid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
positivepete Posted 4 January, 2016 Share Posted 4 January, 2016 Mind you Boro have only conceded 12 goals in 24 league games this season and are top, so not surprising that they have not changed their defensive line up much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
igsey Posted 6 January, 2016 Share Posted 6 January, 2016 Sammy G also recalled from MK Dons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buctootim Posted 6 January, 2016 Share Posted 6 January, 2016 If you are a reasonable height with reasonable pace and a decent defender you should be able to play either CH or FB without too much trouble. Even if a player can get their head round the different roles they tend to be pretty different physical types. CBs tend to be tall and powerful, FBs smaller and faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSAINT Posted 11 January, 2016 Share Posted 11 January, 2016 Swindon want him back. 2 championship teams also interested. http://m.gazetteandherald.co.uk/sport/14194534.Town_facing_fight_to_snap_up_Stephens_on_loan_again/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 11 January, 2016 Share Posted 11 January, 2016 Swindon want him back. 2 championship teams also interested. http://m.gazetteandherald.co.uk/sport/14194534.Town_facing_fight_to_snap_up_Stephens_on_loan_again/ And is that possible as he's already played for 2 clubs this season? Ben Arfa wasn't allowed to sign at Nice because he's already played for Newcastle U21s in an official match and Hull. Now it could be that Stephens is in some way different or the the U21 Premier League Cup isn't an official game but in theory Stephens as an over 21 has already played for 2 clubs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSAINT Posted 11 January, 2016 Share Posted 11 January, 2016 And is that possible as he's already played for 2 clubs this season? Ben Arfa wasn't allowed to sign at Nice because he's already played for Newcastle U21s in an official match and Hull. Now it could be that Stephens is in some way different or the the U21 Premier League Cup isn't an official game but in theory Stephens as an over 21 has already played for 2 clubs. Not sure how it works with loan players. I'm sure it happened to either Bamford or Afobe where they started a loan at one team in league one, then moved up on loan to a championship side in January. Don't see how this would be different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 11 January, 2016 Share Posted 11 January, 2016 (edited) Not sure how it works with loan players. I'm sure it happened to either Bamford or Afobe where they started a loan at one team in league one, then moved up on loan to a championship side in January. Don't see how this would be different. And did they play for their parent clubs in the meantime ? Edit: Apparently emergency loans don't count under FA rules but FIFA disagrees with this. Edited 11 January, 2016 by Window Cleaner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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