January 2023 Transfer Window

[Weston Super Saint]

18 minutes ago, Saint Trev said:

Which just proves the affect of any Manager on how well a team plays is severely overstated.
 

Or... It shows that NJ drilled and drilled his team at Luton to fine tune their skills, meaning their current form is mainly down to 'muscle memory'.  They've been taught the system so well they don't even need the manager to perform well.

We've got all this to look forward to but it will take months (if not years), so we need to be patient.  One day, the team truly will be 'His'.

[Convict Colony]

21 minutes ago, Saint Trev said:

If Pep Guardiola was managing us with the current squad, we would not do much better in my opinion.

I would love to watch him go mental as players can't control balls, do comedy errors for goals and pass to opposition.

 

Edited 30 December, 2022 by Convict Colony

[Saint Garrett]

1 hour ago, Dusic said:

Don't get the Lavia stuff on here. He is clearly injured.

We rushed him back for the Liverpool game, he limped off injured in the second half and wasn't in any of the early training pics when the players came back and in Spain was in some pictures but barely any of the videos of the actual training (same as Tino).

He has only played 7 games and the decision to bring him in to start a game at Anfield before a month break for the WC looks to be an absolutely stupid one as he will probably end up missing most of this crucial run of fixtures we have.

He’s been in full training the last 3 weeks…

[CB Fry]

34 minutes ago, Saint Trev said:

Which just proves the affect of any Manager on how well a team plays is severely overstated.

Players win games in sport not managers/coaches

If Pep Guardiola was managing us with the current squad, we would not do much better in my opinion.

Why do Man City bother paying Guardiola £20m a year then?

Might as well just give the job to Sunday League Geoff and let the players sort it out.

If we found ourselves with an elite manager then of course the players would perform better/be fitter/more motivated/focused/organised/briefed etc.

 

[david in sweden]

Having invested in young talents in the summer means we have blown whatever " buffer " we might have had in the kitty,

and are back embarking on a "barrell-scraping" exercise, and hoping for some lucky purchase who might help us 

turn the tide.  In fairness ,we are not alone as most of the bottom half of the table are in a similar situation.

 

Once again this illustrates the difference between the "Big Six" (financially-speaking) - and the rest of us.

This is clearly apparent when we see the Prem's. first 100 million English player is likely to be dumped (head band and all)

by Man.City, who have finally realised what we all knew from the start, in that Grealish was a typical example of their 

strategy of buying any rapidly-improving club's "best players " (as an alternative to cutting off their ba**s), and further illustrates 

the difference we see when a " lower league " player moves up to the highest level, and fails to impress - in  " a big team ". 

Whilst Grealish may have been the shining light in a rather dull Villa side, his absence has set Villa back to Square One and Jack has ended 

up on City's bench on more than a few occasions, and even Gareth Southgate's gesture of giving him a little game time in the World Cup

has failed to resurrect whatever reputation he may have had in the beginning.   I mean ..what do you expect for a mere 100 million ?

 

Of course, Saint's transfer kitty is considerably smaller, and I do not expect a new record signing to turn up - for only 21 million - and 

suddenly make the difference... but we live in hopes.  Clearly Liverpool's successes has in part, been due to their ability to sign some

of Saints' best talents, and /or ...watch the gossip columns to see who we are scouting, and then promptly sign them first. 

 

This transfer window will be make or break for Saints, and we may have to prepare ourselves for another " Great Escape " scenario in May.

[Dusic]

28 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

He’s been in full training the last 3 weeks…

Do they tell him to hide in the bushes when they take pictures of the whole squad training and he isn't there?!

If he was fit he would be involved, no question.

[Saint Trev]

43 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Why do Man City bother paying Guardiola £20m a year then?

Might as well just give the job to Sunday League Geoff and let the players sort it out.

If we found ourselves with an elite manager then of course the players would perform better/be fitter/more motivated/focused/organised/briefed etc.

 

And if we had 1.2 billion pounds worth of players we would probably get better results.

But hey, lets just sack the manager every 5 seconds despite the personnel on the pitch not changing

I am just a believer in ''your only as good as your players'' most of the time.

Its just an opinion

I also am a massive Australian Rules Football supporter and in Australia, the AFL is mostly a level playing playing field IE Squad size, Salary Cap.

The clubs in the league are all at various stages in their age/experience profile so you do get the rise to the top and fall to the bottom effect over a period of time.

Again, its mainly the teams that are in that sweet spot (age/experience/excellent drafting) profile that win the comp.

We have coaches that have won premierships (high win/loss ratios) when with strong teams and then struggle to win many games if they move to a lower ranked side.

This is where I probably get my belief from. 

[AlexLaw76]

4 minutes ago, Saint Trev said:

And if we had 1.2 billion pounds worth of players we would probably get better results.

But hey, lets just sack the manager every 5 seconds despite the personnel on the pitch not changing

I am just a believer in ''your only as good as your players'' most of the time.

Its just an opinion

I also am a massive Australian Rules Football supporter and in Australia, the AFL is mostly a level playing playing field IE Squad size, Salary Cap.

The clubs in the league are all at various stages in their age/experience profile so you do get the rise to the top and fall to the bottom effect over a period of time.

Again, its mainly the teams that are in that sweet spot (age/experience/excellent drafting) profile that win the comp.

We have coaches that have won premierships (high win/loss ratios) when with strong teams and then struggle to win many games if they move to a lower ranked side.

This is where I probably get my belief from. 

Where a manager does make a difference

Steve Bruce and Eddie Howe...hell, who is the manager of WBA now Steve Bruce has left, as they are marching up the league....?

[saintant]

1 hour ago, Saint Garrett said:

He’s been in full training the last 3 weeks…

If true why isn't he playing?

[saintant]

57 minutes ago, david in sweden said:

Having invested in young talents in the summer means we have blown whatever " buffer " we might have had in the kitty,

and are back embarking on a "barrell-scraping" exercise, and hoping for some lucky purchase who might help us 

turn the tide.  In fairness ,we are not alone as most of the bottom half of the table are in a similar situation.

 

Once again this illustrates the difference between the "Big Six" (financially-speaking) - and the rest of us.

This is clearly apparent when we see the Prem's. first 100 million English player is likely to be dumped (head band and all)

by Man.City, who have finally realised what we all knew from the start, in that Grealish was a typical example of their 

strategy of buying any rapidly-improving club's "best players " (as an alternative to cutting off their ba**s), and further illustrates 

the difference we see when a " lower league " player moves up to the highest level, and fails to impress - in  " a big team ". 

Whilst Grealish may have been the shining light in a rather dull Villa side, his absence has set Villa back to Square One and Jack has ended 

up on City's bench on more than a few occasions, and even Gareth Southgate's gesture of giving him a little game time in the World Cup

has failed to resurrect whatever reputation he may have had in the beginning.   I mean ..what do you expect for a mere 100 million ?

 

Of course, Saint's transfer kitty is considerably smaller, and I do not expect a new record signing to turn up - for only 21 million - and 

suddenly make the difference... but we live in hopes.  Clearly Liverpool's successes has in part, been due to their ability to sign some

of Saints' best talents, and /or ...watch the gossip columns to see who we are scouting, and then promptly sign them first. 

 

This transfer window will be make or break for Saints, and we may have to prepare ourselves for another " Great Escape " scenario in May.

Thought we had the thick end of 30 million earmarked for a striker in the Summer?

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, CB Fry said:

Why do Man City bother paying Guardiola £20m a year then?

Might as well just give the job to Sunday League Geoff and let the players sort it out.

If we found ourselves with an elite manager then of course the players would perform better/be fitter/more motivated/focused/organised/briefed etc.

 

I remember on another forum when Alex Ferguson retired a poster was adamant that the Man United job was an easy job which anyone could do, Alan Pardew could win the league at Man United and if they started to struggle they'd spend £200m and win the league whoever was manager. Not quite worked out like that has it.

[SotonianWill]

8 minutes ago, saintant said:

If true why isn't he playing?

As he’s been sold to chelsea, keep up

[SotonianWill]

10 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Where a manager does make a difference

Steve Bruce and Eddie Howe...hell, who is the manager of WBA now Steve Bruce has left, as they are marching up the league....?

same guy who got huddersfield play offs last year I believe? We may as well call him Natán Jones

[Highfield Saint]

Could do a lot worse than resigning Jack Cork

[egg]

9 minutes ago, saintant said:

Thought we had the thick end of 30 million earmarked for a striker in the Summer?

We've spent £4m in compensation on Jones and his crew, and god knows how much paying off Ralph. Whatever was in the pot will have gone down. 

[egg]

18 minutes ago, Saint Trev said:

And if we had 1.2 billion pounds worth of players we would probably get better results.

But hey, lets just sack the manager every 5 seconds despite the personnel on the pitch not changing

I am just a believer in ''your only as good as your players'' most of the time.

Its just an opinion

I also am a massive Australian Rules Football supporter and in Australia, the AFL is mostly a level playing playing field IE Squad size, Salary Cap.

The clubs in the league are all at various stages in their age/experience profile so you do get the rise to the top and fall to the bottom effect over a period of time.

Again, its mainly the teams that are in that sweet spot (age/experience/excellent drafting) profile that win the comp.

We have coaches that have won premierships (high win/loss ratios) when with strong teams and then struggle to win many games if they move to a lower ranked side.

This is where I probably get my belief from. 

The belief that managers don't make a difference is something that I've never heard before, and will probably never hear again. Football is far from  a level playing field in terms of players, it's the managers/coaches/tactics that can (to some extent at least) make the difference. 

You've only got to look at our club to see the reality. Poch comes in, improvement. Ralph came in, improvement. Jones comes in, we look even more shit than before. 

[CB Fry]

24 minutes ago, Saint Trev said:

And if we had 1.2 billion pounds worth of players we would probably get better results.

But hey, lets just sack the manager every 5 seconds despite the personnel on the pitch not changing

I am just a believer in ''your only as good as your players'' most of the time.

Its just an opinion

I also am a massive Australian Rules Football supporter and in Australia, the AFL is mostly a level playing playing field IE Squad size, Salary Cap.

The clubs in the league are all at various stages in their age/experience profile so you do get the rise to the top and fall to the bottom effect over a period of time.

Again, its mainly the teams that are in that sweet spot (age/experience/excellent drafting) profile that win the comp.

We have coaches that have won premierships (high win/loss ratios) when with strong teams and then struggle to win many games if they move to a lower ranked side.

This is where I probably get my belief from. 

Not sure why you would get so upset about sacking a manager "every five minutes" if you don't think the manager contributes anything anyway. We might as well all have a go.

[SotonianWill]

7 minutes ago, Highfield Saint said:

Could do a lot worse than resigning Jack Cork

Was gutted when he left, through he is 33 and only managed 20 games last season in the prem.

Who’s like him that is realistic to us? someone like Oliver Skipp played well for Norwich, and from what I understand is fairly similar. Loan with option from spurs same as KWP as he only has 6 appearances this season.

[Roo1976]

1 hour ago, egg said:

That's so wrong. Players need to understand the shape of the team, player movement, set piece defending, set piece attacking, what the opponent's are likely to do, etc, etc, etc,etc,etc.

Not do much better with Pep 😂

Total bollocks ,how long have they been playing the game?,some since 8-9 at organised teams so that argument is pretty feeble to accept,no alot of this failure for some part has to be the scouting in the first place to see the way of future progress. Yes the manager places alot of faith in his own ability to coach and nurture,but ultimately when they take to the pitch hes like us a passenger.  I know i bang on abit about Ely but seriously, look at him the next time the balls near him or in his area ,just pretends to try and be intrested and then arm waves in the direction of where the balls gone.Hes one of the very bang average players that are part of the problem and will not be much of the solution,we might get lucky a few times yes ,but in the main not we will keep struggling until better recruitment begins. Rant over, that said we need results in the next few crucial fixtures we have just to stay in the mix for when things get a bit sticky.

[Dusic]

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/coventry-city-camp-deal-wolves-leeds-united-southampton-more-early-january-blow/

Gyokores seems like a no.

#januaryisatoughwindow

[egg]

4 minutes ago, Roo1976 said:

Total bollocks ,how long have they been playing the game?,some since 8-9 at organised teams so that argument is pretty feeble to accept,no alot of this failure for some part has to be the scouting in the first place to see the way of future progress. Yes the manager places alot of faith in his own ability to coach and nurture,but ultimately when they take to the pitch hes like us a passenger.  I know i bang on abit about Ely but seriously, look at him the next time the balls near him or in his area ,just pretends to try and be intrested and then arm waves in the direction of where the balls gone.Hes one of the very bang average players that are part of the problem and will not be much of the solution,we might get lucky a few times yes ,but in the main not we will keep struggling until better recruitment begins. Rant over, that said we need results in the next few crucial fixtures we have just to stay in the mix for when things get a bit sticky.

Wow!! So the players should self manage because they've been playing for years? That's 'total bollocks '.

I've read some nonsense over the years on here, but that's up there. 

[SuperSAINT]

 

[Turkish]

4 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

 

WE WILL NOT BE HELD TO RANSOM!! i'd rather go down than spend a couple of million more for a postion we are desperate in,

Edited 30 December, 2022 by Turkish

[AlexLaw76]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

WE WILL NOT BE HELD TO RANSOM!! i'd rather go down than spend a couple of million more for a postion we are desperate in,

Cody Gakpo, Ramos, to this.....

It is like that January window where the 'leaks' were of high calibre players and we got no one (or it felt like it)

[Turkish]

12 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Cody Gakpo, Ramos, to this.....

It is like that January window where the 'leaks' were of high calibre players and we got no one (or it felt like it)

we've got a great track record in January windows. I cant ever remember us making a decent signing that's made a difference since Billy Sharp in the championship

The one where we were linked with loads of good players and ended up paying £20m for Carillo with Les telling us how hard it was to get that deal done in a really difficult window.

Then there was the one where Ralph had said for months before we needed to bring players in especially full back positions, we got no one and Ralph said after that Jake Vokins had proven he could step up because he did so well in a cup game. Quite a few people on here fell for that line 🤣

Edited 30 December, 2022 by Turkish

[Chez]

46 minutes ago, egg said:

We've spent £4m in compensation on Jones and his crew, and god knows how much paying off Ralph. Whatever was in the pot will have gone down. 

or £2.5m if you read a different paper.

Either way, I don't think that money is going to make or break us. Finding the right quality player that is willing to come to us is going to be the issue in this window.

[swannymere]

Who's the current Dennis Wise? That's the type of player we need, some horrible, niggly wanker.

[egg]

3 minutes ago, Chez said:

or £2.5m if you read a different paper.

Either way, I don't think that money is going to make or break us. Finding the right quality player that is willing to come to us is going to be the issue in this window.

I agree that's the main issue. Players who would have joined in the summer probably won't want to now. 

[egg]

3 minutes ago, swannymere said:

Who's the current Dennis Wise? That's the type of player we need, some horrible, niggly wanker.

That kid Reed at Fulham ain't far from that. Can play a bit too. 

[Fabrice29]

On 26/12/2022 at 11:50, Fabrice29 said:

Actually, I think it's the lack of a club leak, combined with The Athletic wanting to put out a January window special article for every club that has led to such a shit article. You know it's shit when the opening paragraphs are about last years January loan signing who is nothing to do with us now. The writer hasn't got anything interesting to say but the app wants content. So much fluff it's ridiculous. Club leaks are obvious because all the typical outlets post it, but I doubt you'll find Adam Blackmore talking about Minamino much today.

And if you ever needed proof this article was a load of guff that was sent out in a desperate attempt to hit a deadline rather than offer any insight, just 4 days later the writer is back tracking on his own article that stated we will be only looking at loans.

[Weston Super Saint]

50 minutes ago, egg said:

Wow!! So the players should self manage because they've been playing for years? That's 'total bollocks '.

I've read some nonsense over the years on here, but that's up there. 

Except the shit ones due to the failure of the scouting process - no idea who manages them!

[Saint Garrett]

Moffi seems like a massive drop off in quality from the likes of Ramos, Broja, and Gakpo. Seems the dicking around in the summer, has cost us massively, not only in the first half of the season but the second half too. 

Can’t see this bloke keeping us up personally. Should be taking a leaf out of Newcastles book last January. Wood, Trippier, Targett, Burn. Not glamorous signings, but decent solid premier league players. 

[Saint Garrett]

1 hour ago, saintant said:

If true why isn't he playing?

I’ve no idea. Just been told he’s fully fit and been in full training for 3 weeks. 

Also wouldn’t be surprised if we’re in the market for another right back.

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, Saint Garrett said:

Moffi seems like a massive drop off in quality from the likes of Ramos, Broja, and Gakpo. Seems the dicking around in the summer, has cost us massively, not only in the first half of the season but the second half too. 

Can’t see this bloke keeping us up personally. Should be taking a leaf out of Newcastles book last January. Wood, Trippier, Targett, Burn. Not glamorous signings, but decent solid premier league players. 

Apart from Wood none of the cost that much either. Burn was what £7m, Targett on loan, Tripper £12m for Englands starting world cup right back, some good business in hindsight. We seem to think we are above that though and more clever than clubs that do this sort of thing.

[John B]

7 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Moffi seems like a massive drop off in quality from the likes of Ramos, Broja, and Gakpo. Seems the dicking around in the summer, has cost us massively, not only in the first half of the season but the second half too. 

Can’t see this bloke keeping us up personally. Should be taking a leaf out of Newcastles book last January. Wood, Trippier, Targett, Burn. Not glamorous signings, but decent solid premier league players. 

But the likes of Ramos Broja and Gapko did not want to come here I would have thought

[Chez]

9 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Moffi seems like a massive drop off in quality from the likes of Ramos, Broja, and Gakpo. Seems the dicking around in the summer, has cost us massively, not only in the first half of the season but the second half too. 

Can’t see this bloke keeping us up personally. Should be taking a leaf out of Newcastles book last January. Wood, Trippier, Targett, Burn. Not glamorous signings, but decent solid premier league players. 

I think spending £40m on Guimareas was pretty glamorous. They then spent

Wood £30

Willock £28m

Burn £14m

Tripper £13m

Target £16m

so, about £145m. 

What would be the equivalent this time around, on our budget?

[S-Clarke]

54 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

 

That 'price is important' nonsense just builds the narrative in that we 'tried' but they wanted 'too much'. They make it sound like they're doing such a good job by telling us they won't be held to ransom, but how is that going?

Oh yeah, staring down the barrel of lower league football and massive financial problems. Looking after the pennies on transfers seems to have made sense.

Football players are overpriced, period. Transfer fees are always inflated by the selling club, we're good at that ourselves. If we only want to pay what we feel they're worth then we will be sliding down the leagues very soon.

[Yozzman]

10 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Moffi seems like a massive drop off in quality from the likes of Ramos, Broja, and Gakpo. Seems the dicking around in the summer, has cost us massively, not only in the first half of the season but the second half too. 

Can’t see this bloke keeping us up personally. Should be taking a leaf out of Newcastles book last January. Wood, Trippier, Targett, Burn. Not glamorous signings, but decent solid premier league players. 

10 goals in 15 games is not too shabby and I think only Mbappe and Neymar have scored more. 6 foot 2 and pretty mobile but has got a weak right foot apparently. 

[AlexLaw76]

Is he better that Delap and McAtee?

If so, then a step in the right direction, at least?

[Chez]

8 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Apart from Wood none of the cost that much either. Burn was what £7m, Targett on loan, Tripper £12m for Englands starting world cup right back, some good business in hindsight. We seem to think we are above that though and more clever than clubs that do this sort of thing.

yeah, if you ignore the massive Wood, Bruno and Willock signings and the agreed £16m transfer fee for Targett, and the actual figure of closer to £13 for Burn, they basically paid nothing.  😉

The fact remains, they turned things around brilliantly. How do we repeat the trick?

Maybe something like

Wan Bissaka loan
Sander Berge
Nicholas Jackson
Ings

[Roo1976]

1 hour ago, egg said:

Wow!! So the players should self manage because they've been playing for years? That's 'total bollocks '.

I've read some nonsense over the years on here, but that's up there. 

self manage, thats what the captains roll is on the pitch dont you think? and i also said the manager should train and teach . So yes if the players want to self manage then its upto the coaching staff and manager to  teach them how to,christ its not rocket science this is what they are supposed to be able to do and to a higher standard than the average player.

[derry]

Moffi was hopeless last night, hardly touched the ball, trotted about, didn't challenge and wasn't any sort of threat. Elyonoussie mk2, No thanks.

[derry]

5 minutes ago, Chez said:

yeah, if you ignore the massive Wood, Bruno and Willock signings and the agreed £16m transfer fee for Targett, and the actual figure of closer to £13 for Burn, they basically paid nothing.  😉

The fact remains, they turned things around brilliantly. How do we repeat the trick?

Maybe something like

Wan Bissaka loan
Sander Berge
Nicholas Jackson
Ings

Especially Ings.

[UpweySaint]

5 minutes ago, Chez said:

yeah, if you ignore the massive Wood, Bruno and Willock signings and the agreed £16m transfer fee for Targett, and the actual figure of closer to £13 for Burn, they basically paid nothing.  😉

The fact remains, they turned things around brilliantly. How do we repeat the trick?

Maybe something like

Wan Bissaka loan
Sander Berge
Nicholas Jackson
Ings

Indifferent on Wan Bissaka but that would be a really sensible window and you would think would very much improve our chances of survivial.

[miserableoldgit]

1 minute ago, derry said:

Moffi was hopeless last night, hardly touched the ball, trotted about, didn't challenge and wasn't any sort of threat. Elyonoussie mk2, No thanks.

Mind elsewhere??

[egg]

4 minutes ago, Roo1976 said:

self manage, thats what the captains roll is on the pitch dont you think? and i also said the manager should train and teach . So yes if the players want to self manage then its upto the coaching staff and manager to  teach them how to,christ its not rocket science this is what they are supposed to be able to do and to a higher standard than the average player.

If you're saying we have a shit captain, we're agreed on that. However, organising the team, picking the team, sorting training, tactics, subs, etc, etc is very much the managers job. 

[Saint-Reece]

3 minutes ago, derry said:

Moffi was hopeless last night, hardly touched the ball, trotted about, didn't challenge and wasn't any sort of threat. Elyonoussie mk2, No thanks.

Always good to judge players on literally 90 minutes of football… assuming you have never watched him before? 
 

can he play front sweeper? 

[egg]

9 minutes ago, Chez said:

yeah, if you ignore the massive Wood, Bruno and Willock signings and the agreed £16m transfer fee for Targett, and the actual figure of closer to £13 for Burn, they basically paid nothing.  😉

The fact remains, they turned things around brilliantly. How do we repeat the trick?

Maybe something like

Wan Bissaka loan
Sander Berge
Nicholas Jackson
Ings

I really like Sander Berge. Would definitely add something imo. Ings I'm 50/50 on, but if he's fit and motivated, he could make the difference. I'm just not sure he suits Jones direct approach. 

[egg]

1 minute ago, Saint-Reece said:

Always good to judge players on literally 90 minutes of football… assuming you have never watched him before? 
 

can he play front sweeper? 

Lyanco has that job. 

[Chez]

3 minutes ago, egg said:

I really like Sander Berge. Would definitely add something imo. Ings I'm 50/50 on, but if he's fit and motivated, he could make the difference. I'm just not sure he suits Jones direct approach. 

Berge has 18 months left on his contract. Time is running out for them to make their money back on him, but they are still in the hunt for promotion, so more likely the summer that he will move. 

Ings is the obvious short term fix for us, but paying a sizeable fee and £100k+ wages for a 30 year old may not easily swallowed by SR.

I also think we need another winger, with pace and power if Tella isn't considered the answer.