| My big question now is... 06:11 - Sep 28 with 4852 views | BondiBlue |
...how on earth do we strengthen in the january window? Our reserves are beating prem teams in the cup and our first team is absolutely smashing it every week. There's surely a great argument that we don't strictly need to bring anyone else in. I'd be scared to touch it. I'd be scared to breathe too close to it. |  |
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| My big question now is... on 06:58 - Sep 28 with 3745 views | PrideOfTheEast |
Surely the plan would be to buy better players than the ones we have in certain positions, obviously. Of which there are plenty. So a continuation of what we have been doing in the last few windows, eg replacing the likes of Donacien, Jackson, Evans etc who continue to serve a purpose but are much less prominent. | | | |
| My big question now is... on 07:00 - Sep 28 with 3744 views | BlueNomad |
If we go into the market in January they will have to be of extremely high quality / pedigree. We have a good, balanced squad so you are right - might be best not to tamper too much. |  | | |
| My big question now is... on 07:08 - Sep 28 with 3711 views | BondiBlue |
| My big question now is... on 06:58 - Sep 28 by PrideOfTheEast |
Surely the plan would be to buy better players than the ones we have in certain positions, obviously. Of which there are plenty. So a continuation of what we have been doing in the last few windows, eg replacing the likes of Donacien, Jackson, Evans etc who continue to serve a purpose but are much less prominent. |
Can't believe i didn't think of that. You don't think there might need to be a bit more careful thought put into it given how well we're doing? | |
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| My big question now is... on 07:15 - Sep 28 with 3660 views | hunty21 |
We will have to sell before buy to free up wages so depends on thhe opportunities presented to us | | | |
| My big question now is... on 07:36 - Sep 28 with 3580 views | BondiBlue |
| My big question now is... on 07:15 - Sep 28 by hunty21 |
We will have to sell before buy to free up wages so depends on thhe opportunities presented to us |
At this rate there will be plenty of queues being formed for a few of our players. Maybe the recruitment team are now talking about how to replace broadhead instead of how to replace burgess. | |
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| My big question now is... on 07:41 - Sep 28 with 3539 views | BrockleyBlue78 |
Yeah, good question.
Will depend on where we are come January - are we realistically on a promotion push or not? Don’t think we’ll gamble FFP constraints if promotion is marginal.
Where is our team / squad not PL ready? Can see us strengthening the spine - CB (if Axel isn’t the answer), CM (Morsy and Luongo another year older, need to add more height and physicality in a DM?), no. 10 (to add another exciting and different option).
Will right back be sorted then (Clarke or Williams solid?) Is Burns the right man for that role in PL? Will Scarlett have performed or will we need more strength up top?
Been very impressed with management only seemingly taking players that fit with the squad and Club’s ambitions, as well as with an eye on potential and resale value. Got a feeling whoever does come in could be very exciting indeed. Another massive window for the club. | | | |
| My big question now is... on 08:29 - Sep 28 with 3341 views | BigCommon |
| My big question now is... on 07:41 - Sep 28 by BrockleyBlue78 |
Yeah, good question.
Will depend on where we are come January - are we realistically on a promotion push or not? Don’t think we’ll gamble FFP constraints if promotion is marginal.
Where is our team / squad not PL ready? Can see us strengthening the spine - CB (if Axel isn’t the answer), CM (Morsy and Luongo another year older, need to add more height and physicality in a DM?), no. 10 (to add another exciting and different option).
Will right back be sorted then (Clarke or Williams solid?) Is Burns the right man for that role in PL? Will Scarlett have performed or will we need more strength up top?
Been very impressed with management only seemingly taking players that fit with the squad and Club’s ambitions, as well as with an eye on potential and resale value. Got a feeling whoever does come in could be very exciting indeed. Another massive window for the club. |
Echo all of this.. All depends where we are sitting and how the league is shaping up once we've more or less played everyone, and have a better idea of how we stand against the very top teams..
Bit tricky really, imo.. You'd assume, if we were to add anyone, wed be looking to recruit a player or two that could bridge the gap and play Prem level, should we go up... But, that, in turn, is a financial risk. Would probably require a few sold on. And leave us with some big wages and FFP juggling. And, possibly, upset the squad harmony, with one or two bigger earners in the building....
We've still got players that havent featured massively, that look as though they can come in as regulars and strengthen the first 11.. Hutchinson, Williams, Taylor, Tuanzebe?.. And while we've got a mostly fit squad, we actually look in really good shape atm..
Need to see a bit more of Scarlett to know whether he gives us the required depth up front, imo.. Otherwise, if Hirst gets a lengthy knock, we still look a bit thin at CF.. So maybe a new face for that position? In the form of another decent loan signing..? [Post edited 28 Sep 2023 8:30]
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| My big question now is... on 08:33 - Sep 28 with 3320 views | TRUE_BLUE123 |
Tbf it is only September.
Things will most likely look entirely different in January. Hopefully not results wise, but potential injuries, player dipping in form. these things are inevitable in football. But if we are in a good position in Jan, which i think we will be. The club will leave nothing to chance I'm sure. |  |
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| My big question now is... on 08:34 - Sep 28 with 3307 views | Mookamoo |
Would be happy to get out of January with the squad we have intact.
There will be a few looking at Broadhead and Wooflenden |  | | |
| My big question now is... on 09:01 - Sep 28 with 3242 views | Guthrum |
It is not compulsory to buy and sell players twice a year, whatever Sky Sports might say. |  |
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| My big question now is... on 09:06 - Sep 28 with 3213 views | BlueBoots |
| My big question now is... on 08:33 - Sep 28 by TRUE_BLUE123 |
Tbf it is only September.
Things will most likely look entirely different in January. Hopefully not results wise, but potential injuries, player dipping in form. these things are inevitable in football. But if we are in a good position in Jan, which i think we will be. The club will leave nothing to chance I'm sure. |
If you look at the last winter window, all 4 signings were pretty natural. KVY wasn't going to get a new contract, so we bring back a young lad who came through the club to replace him, brought in Luongo to train with us after injuries to Ball and Evans left us light in CM, Broadhead was too good a player not to try to bring in when we found out he was available, and Hirst had been a target we missed out on in a previous window.
As you say, things will look different in January; as well as injuries / form, there are the international tournaments to consider. We could lose both left centre backs to the Asian Cup, and both centre-mids to the Asian Cup / AFCON for a month if their teams progress. |  |
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| My big question now is... on 09:07 - Sep 28 with 3211 views | MattinLondon |
I would say that in terms of quality there are a lot of better players out there. I would say the real difficulty will be in bringing in players that do not upset the dynamic of the remaining squad in terms of both quality and wages.
We seem to have a tight knit squad that all know their role and position. Many are in the process of completing their coaching badges which must surly give us a competitive advantage during matches. Players need to match that off-field dedication and attitude. |  | | |
| My big question now is... on 09:13 - Sep 28 with 3177 views | tractorboy1978 |
| My big question now is... on 09:07 - Sep 28 by MattinLondon |
I would say that in terms of quality there are a lot of better players out there. I would say the real difficulty will be in bringing in players that do not upset the dynamic of the remaining squad in terms of both quality and wages.
We seem to have a tight knit squad that all know their role and position. Many are in the process of completing their coaching badges which must surly give us a competitive advantage during matches. Players need to match that off-field dedication and attitude. |
Getting the right characters is the key. I imagine that is why we haven't gone outside the UK yet for recruitment - it is harder to do those checks and to assess how quickly players may settle.
I'll be amazed if we don't look for a CM and a CB at a minimum with the Asian/African Cups in Jan/Feb. If you can upgrade Ladapo with someone of a similar pedigree or higher to Hirst then expect we will do that too. [Post edited 28 Sep 2023 9:15]
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| My big question now is... on 09:28 - Sep 28 with 3099 views | BondiBlue |
| My big question now is... on 09:01 - Sep 28 by Guthrum |
It is not compulsory to buy and sell players twice a year, whatever Sky Sports might say. |
Agree, but that january of 2015... | |
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| My big question now is... on 09:49 - Sep 28 with 3016 views | keanekipper |
paul barber from brighton did an interview somewhere on thier recruitment, he said they buy players before they are needed. This is exactly how we should be going about our recruitment, he said if you buy after selling a player that players price is automatically higher due to the selling club knowing you need a replacement and have x amount of money to spend.
so i would be looking at the players we think will be sold in the next 2 or 3 windows and getting the replacements for them in, using them to replace the current squad players . [Post edited 28 Sep 2023 10:13]
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| My big question now is... on 10:00 - Sep 28 with 2974 views | tractorboy1978 |
| My big question now is... on 09:49 - Sep 28 by keanekipper |
paul barber from brighton did an interview somewhere on thier recruitment, he said they buy players before they are needed. This is exactly how we should be going about our recruitment, he said if you buy after selling a player that players price is automatically higher due to the selling club knowing you need a replacement and have x amount of money to spend.
so i would be looking at the players we think will be sold in the next 2 or 3 windows and getting the replacements for them in, using them to replace the current squad players . [Post edited 28 Sep 2023 10:13]
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The well run clubs (and I believe Barber may have said this before too) are always looking to improve the 'weakest' couple of players in their starting 11 each window - it's how you get constant rolling improvement of the squad without ever making wholesale changes or affecting team cohesion. That's what we did last January. I expect Hutchinson will work his way into our 'strongest' 11 shortly and Luongo/Clarke are holding Taylor/Williams off at the moment! [Post edited 28 Sep 2023 10:01]
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| My big question now is... on 10:10 - Sep 28 with 2919 views | Zx1988 |
| My big question now is... on 09:49 - Sep 28 by keanekipper |
paul barber from brighton did an interview somewhere on thier recruitment, he said they buy players before they are needed. This is exactly how we should be going about our recruitment, he said if you buy after selling a player that players price is automatically higher due to the selling club knowing you need a replacement and have x amount of money to spend.
so i would be looking at the players we think will be sold in the next 2 or 3 windows and getting the replacements for them in, using them to replace the current squad players . [Post edited 28 Sep 2023 10:13]
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I did wonder at the time whether Williams was being brought in as a future replacement for Davis. Although the fact that there isn't a buy option in the loan deal has perhaps put paid to that thought. | |
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| My big question now is... on 10:36 - Sep 28 with 2780 views | BondiBlue |
| My big question now is... on 10:10 - Sep 28 by Zx1988 |
I did wonder at the time whether Williams was being brought in as a future replacement for Davis. Although the fact that there isn't a buy option in the loan deal has perhaps put paid to that thought. |
May still be the plan. They might just not have been able to agree a price. | |
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| My big question now is... on 10:38 - Sep 28 with 2778 views | OldFart71 |
If anywhere needs strengthening it is in my opinion middle of our defence. Not sure any of the current one's on our books is good enough. Don't know about the Man Utd fella as he hasn't played so maybe he's the answer to at least one of the positions. It will all depend on where we are come Christmas. If we are in with a chance of the Prem then I would imagine there may be a couple of additions, but would that mean outgoings and if so who ? | | | |
| My big question now is... on 10:49 - Sep 28 with 2723 views | PrideOfTheEast |
| My big question now is... on 07:08 - Sep 28 by BondiBlue |
Can't believe i didn't think of that. You don't think there might need to be a bit more careful thought put into it given how well we're doing? |
More careful thought? I'd say every signing since KM came in has been given very careful thought. Like anything, progress equals better quality players and that will be the aim in a controlled manner. | | | |
| My big question now is... on 10:50 - Sep 28 with 2719 views | PrideOfTheEast |
| My big question now is... on 10:00 - Sep 28 by tractorboy1978 |
The well run clubs (and I believe Barber may have said this before too) are always looking to improve the 'weakest' couple of players in their starting 11 each window - it's how you get constant rolling improvement of the squad without ever making wholesale changes or affecting team cohesion. That's what we did last January. I expect Hutchinson will work his way into our 'strongest' 11 shortly and Luongo/Clarke are holding Taylor/Williams off at the moment! [Post edited 28 Sep 2023 10:01]
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Exactly. Obvious isn't it? | | | |
| My big question now is... on 10:59 - Sep 28 with 2684 views | Bent_double |
It wouldn't surprise me if there are some unsettled players out there at the moment who are having a few words with their agents to get them to see if there's any interest from Ipswich.
With so much positivity out there, and so much good stuff being said about McKenna, there will be some top players wanting to come here me thinks. |  |
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| My big question now is... on 11:16 - Sep 28 with 2605 views | monty_radio |
| My big question now is... on 09:06 - Sep 28 by BlueBoots |
If you look at the last winter window, all 4 signings were pretty natural. KVY wasn't going to get a new contract, so we bring back a young lad who came through the club to replace him, brought in Luongo to train with us after injuries to Ball and Evans left us light in CM, Broadhead was too good a player not to try to bring in when we found out he was available, and Hirst had been a target we missed out on in a previous window.
As you say, things will look different in January; as well as injuries / form, there are the international tournaments to consider. We could lose both left centre backs to the Asian Cup, and both centre-mids to the Asian Cup / AFCON for a month if their teams progress. |
Yet the new regime bristles with purpose. Like you, I can't see right now where we could go with it, but I'm betting my bottom dollar that McK and Aston have already laid out further plans for Gamechanger to consider. In the longer term, much as I like Hirst, he has to improve his strike ratio, or I feel we'd be looking beyond simply like-for-like cover. | |
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| My big question now is... on 11:21 - Sep 28 with 2574 views | Superblue95 |
| My big question now is... on 10:38 - Sep 28 by OldFart71 |
If anywhere needs strengthening it is in my opinion middle of our defence. Not sure any of the current one's on our books is good enough. Don't know about the Man Utd fella as he hasn't played so maybe he's the answer to at least one of the positions. It will all depend on where we are come Christmas. If we are in with a chance of the Prem then I would imagine there may be a couple of additions, but would that mean outgoings and if so who ? |
Harsh on our centre backs. They’ve done very little wrong individually, the amount of goals we concede at home is a consequence of how attacking we play. We are coming out on the right side of results at the moment but I suspect McKenna and co are looking at tweaking things so we aren’t quite as open as we are currently, while still maintaining the attacking philosophy.
We’ve kept a lot of clean sheets on the road so our defenders have proven they are good enough when we play a slightly more reserved style. |  |
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| My big question now is... on 11:48 - Sep 28 with 2497 views | itfcjoe |
This just of the top of my head so may have got a couple wrong but we have a number of players out of contract in the summer:
GK
Walton - with an option
Hladky
DEF
Tuanzebe
Burgess - with an option
Donacien
MID
Morsy
Evans
Ball
Luongo
FW
Jackson
Aluko
So 11 out of our 25 man squad - obviously in there you have Walton, Burgess and Morsy who you'd expect to extend, then Hladky and Luongo playing very regularly currently.....take out the unknown in Tuanzebe....but leaves JD, Evans, Ball, Jackson and Aluko who feel likely prime for replacement as a minimum |  |
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