I was shocked by the disjointed display I witnessed on Ifollow.
As I'm getting over the flu I decided to conduct a little research into the background of some of our recent acquisitions in the transfer market; it ain't very good and I'm surprised that Paul Taylor didn't dig beneath the spin, regarding the supposed quality of our new squad. It's not very good, so I'll start with the not so bad and work downwards.
Lee Tomlin: 13 appearances for Cardiff and scored one goal [should be fit, Colin thinks otherwise]
Adlène Guedioura: made six appearances for Middlesbrough since Jan 17 and three for watford in the Prem 15/16 no goals.I can find no reference to Guedioura featuring in any Middlesbrough match day squad going back to April of last year. hasn't even sat on the bench this season.
Ben Watson: between 2015/17 he made 67 appearances for Watford, this season two Prem' [Swansea & Crystal Palace] and one League Cup, two F.A Cup appearances [Southampton 27th January played the full game and 9 minutes against Bristol City] hence contract cancelled by mutual consent.
Joe Lolly: has been signed on a 4 1/2 year contract, he is not a Premier League quality player, this season he has played 46 minutes of League Cup football against Crystal Palace [ Huddersfield lost 1-0] he has sat on the bench once. He spent two months on loan with Scunthrope United in 2016.
Jack Colback: trained with Newcastles U23's all season don't know if he got any game time.
Figueiredo: a young central defender, spent 16/17 on loan at Nacional in Primeira Liga, made 22 appearances, scored one Cup goal, should be match fit?
Fuentes Hernandez: left back signed for C.A Osasuna La Liga and made 17 appearances, club relegated in July 17 and his contract was terminated. His last game for Osasuna was a 5-0 thrashing.
I was in danger of losing the will to live after looking that pile of u-know-what up and left it at that.
I will leave you to make your own minds up, however it makes the shipping out of Clough a natural replacement for Dowell look foolhardy. Tyler Walker is fitter and has scored more Championship goals than any of his replacements.
W.T.F is going on? at the risk of sounding like Donald Trump.
Edited because Ben Watson's stats were incorrect. Joe Lollys data is straight from Hudders website so should be accurate.
Who Have We Signed?
posted on 12/2/18
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posted on 12/2/18
I suspect that loaning both Clough and Walker to Bolton is going to look extremely stupid come the end of the season, even if they can't play against us in the final match.
I can foresee a dreadful scenario in that last game, that could quite well turn us into a laughing stock.
posted on 12/2/18
Yes, that could be a proper survival special at Bolton on the last day...🙄
posted on 12/2/18
There was definitely a supermarket sweep feel to our January business.
Two strikers going out on loan and none coming in when we are left with a 30+ y.o. who is injured, a Greek who hasn't played all season and a rookie still finding his way. No wonder we are playing with a lone striker every week.
We don't have a goalscorer to get us out of this mess like we did last year; our only hope is to get the defence organised and play for a 0 - 0 every week and hope that we scrape a few wins along the way. A point a game for the rest of the season gets us to 50 points. We needed 51 last season. Will 50 be enough? I can't see us getting many more than that.
posted on 12/2/18
I still think there is enoug quality in the squad to keep us up, the most worrying aspect for me is how we are going to score the first goal in matches to give us that confidence boost. Hopefully AK can get the team gelled and motivated very soon, the next 4 games are vital to our survival, after that it gets very difficult again.
posted on 12/2/18
I don't know wether to laugh or cry, because this bunch of strangers are making it look difficult at the moment!
Ground Hog Day Karanka is the new Phillipe Montanier!
I think we're going to find ourselves occupying that third relegation spot well before the end of the season.
Now at least we know why the club isn't spending any money; Fathat's hidden debts!
posted on 13/2/18
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posted on 13/2/18
I think the bigger dissapintment was Warburtons signings. Only Murphy has anywhere close to performed. McKay just doesn't get stuck in enough. If he had Osborn's aggression he'd rip this league apart.
Cummings and Darikwa seem a waste of money. That's nearly 6 million right there. Doesn't leave a lot to escape FFP even after Britt's sale.
Good thing is we have shipped out a lot of the old school high wages and more to go in the summer. Potentially with just as high wages, but other than the CB / LB investment, I'm happy as I can be, when we are absolutely awful.
posted on 13/2/18
"Lolley played every game of the promotion winning season pretty much."
Sorry but he didn't Mornin, The data is available on the BBC Website if you want to borrow my anorak and double check! From February onwards he actually started about three games usually substituted after about 60 minutes. He did a double act for a while with Van La Para who mainly seemed to play 60 minutes max, then from April onwards Cranie was the preferred sub.
Lolly started and scored in the 2-3 win against Rotherham and he started against Brum losing 2-0.
where Cranie replaced Van La Para, Lolly stayed on the bench. Lolly didn't figure in the play off squad.
posted on 13/2/18
He featured in practically every game following a foot injury, which kept him out until January. Admittedly as a sub. I was using Soccerbase.
Without knowing how much we paid, I don't know if it's good business. Point being that it's the CB and LB which is the real sticking point. Someone to come on for the tiring Cash in a promotion winning team? Works for me.