January Window

No panic buys but what do you blokes think we need in January?

This would infer that certain players are not good enough - are there players out there who would be considered better than the ones we have?  Who??

Somewhat of a Delima since we were the best team in the league two weeks ago.

I personally feel we need a proper winger who can beat men and cross a ball - the wingbacks we have are ok but often go backwards. A more creative midfielder maybe. 

It all depends on how much (if any) transfer budget we have AND how much FV would want to push the boat out to get promoted this season?

I assume that thought would be given to getting replacements for our long-term injury's (Johnston and Nlundulu) and players who will be off in January to play in the Africa Cup and the Australian version.

I would suggest our biggest problem is a lack of a partner for Charles up front - the fact the Bodvarsson now seems to be back in favour (and he seemed to be on his way out at the end of last season!) indicates to me that Adeboyejo, Jerome and the now injured Nlundulu are not thought not to be up to the task and from what little I've seen of them - I would agree!

The biggest 'in-game' problem we have seems obvious to all of us in that we can't deal with teams that 'bully' us.

We seem to rely on Thomason to be our 'enforcer' but up to now he always seems to be perpetually one booking away to being sent off!

The left wingback position never has seemed to be completely nailed down either and will become even more problematical if Iredale is called up for Australia.

That's my thinking on the matter anyway - a proven goal scorer, a 'clever' defensive midfield enforcer and cover at least for the left wingback position.

Can't see it happening though.

Sure i saw something recently saying we wouldn't be doing much business in January?

We do need a back up RWB, seen a massive amount of abuse aimed at Dacres Cogley lately which i just don't understand, twitter is full of idiots calling for Evatts head after Saturday, clueless the lot of them!

Could probably do with cover at LWB as well as Iredale is a CB for me. Another striker would be great but can't see it happening.

What may be more important than new players is an ability to mix up our game, teams have worked us out, press us high and watch us give the ball away too easily. Evatt needs to recognise that and get us playing a bit more direct when needed.

We need a Sarcevic and before anybody scoffs at me look at what he’s done. Joined Plymouth and helped get them promoted, joined us and captained us to promotion, joined Stockport and captained them to promotion and looks to be leading them to promotion again this season into L1. Now some can say that’s coincidental and it may be but for me we’ve never been the same team without him. The same also for Doyle, Dapo and Declan. Can anybody say that we wouldn’t be a better team with all of those in when on form than what we have now, excluding perhaps Doyler through age? Does that not say something about the manager that he can’t deal with players who are strong characters? I believe so and that’s why I don’t believe Evatt will recruit what we really need which is a captain who can make decisions during games, push players when heads go down and motivate and lead from the front. We are so weak when challenged and I don’t believe it’s just physical but mental too. Much as I’m behind Evatt I do question his motivational ability. What does he do at half time? Is it all technical guff about what we’re not doing or is it right guys that was shit now we can beat these so get out there and show them who’s boss? I suspect more the former!!

Current squad have shown that they can play some great stuff at times and a few bad performances are inevitable so we need a return to form soon.
If we're trying to buy consistency and quality we'll need deep pockets.
Promotion would mean considerable investment and releasing players anyway so I guess they have to decide whether they can invest now to boost the promotion chase by signing player(s) of Championship standard, or wait and hope that the current squad find a return to form.
All depends on finances, player availability and the level of risk the club is willing to take.
Personally, I don't think they're planning to invest but are likely to keep an eye out for appropriate bargains if they are out there.

wanderlust wrote:Current squad have shown that they can play some great stuff at times and a few bad performances are inevitable so we need a return to form soon.
If we're trying to buy consistency and quality we'll need deep pockets.
Promotion would mean considerable investment and releasing players anyway so I guess they have to decide whether they can invest now to boost the promotion chase by signing player(s) of Championship standard, or wait and hope that the current squad find a return to form.
All depends on finances, player availability and the level of risk the club is willing to take.
Personally, I don't think they're planning to invest but are likely to keep an eye out for appropriate bargains if they are out there.

I agree lusty. I think we’ve got as good a squad as anyone in L1 so I don’t think we need any panic buys. In fact the only activity I see will probably come from sales rather than buys as maybe one or two of our players attract attention from elsewhere, although I suspect recent actions may have knocked a few quid off offers we might have had? 

For me if we did make a signing I’d like a good left wing back because I don’t think either Randell or Iredale are really good enough there and Max Conway clearly isn’t ready yet. Similarly with Johnson missing a better left footed central defender instead of a wrong footed Toal would help the defence. Other than that I’m pretty content with what we’ve got.