Jordan Rhodes

Drinkwater is still a Man United player but after failing to excel at Cardiff or Watford i hear they would let him go for a fee.

As for Johnson he is still contracted to Plymouth but they will be desperate to get rid. Bit of cat and mouse in situations like that, i suspect not only will we want him on a free but want them to give him a pay off so we can pay him less. Similar to Kilbane but i would not sign him if i were the boss.

i'd rather have johnson than Kilbane , i think a lot of our poor play and siiting back stemed from the fact that the central midfield didnt hold the ball and just hoofed it upfield at times. Kilbane seemed to be a major culprit.
I was underwhelmed by Joey G, and Arfield. although i think with the right person beside him Arfield could come good.
Drinkwater i think would be a good addition and alongside Johnson could make a very good paring, i'm also hoping Atkinson make a bug push for a place next season

Never really was a fan of Drinkwater failed to see what he brought to the team.I've been disappointed with Gudjonnsson and Arfield too MN maybe its the style we've adopted,who knows,but yes I'd agree very disappointing.I would definitely try and sign Johnson but not Kilbane as all he did was give the ball away or whack it down the pitch long.

Part of the problem, thinking about it a bit more, is the balance between the players in midfield.
An experienced international player like Kilbane trying to play with Arfield who is trying to second guess what he's going to do. Maybe the inbalance in experience is one of the problems...Kilbane passed to ball into areas at Old Trafford where no Town player was...now should he look first or was Arfield supposed to be there ?
Perhaps two similarly experienced players would gel better...
Whatever the issue, we definately have a big problem in the engine room and that is why the likes of Rhodes is in and out of the game/side...

i think we should try and Keep rhodes personally , lets not forget how young of a lad he still is. he just turned 21 like a month ago and in his first two full seasons he knocked in over 20 goals in all competitions. ( when you think about those stats 750,000 is a bloody insult, double it and there might be a conversation)

hes still a couple of years away from his prime, i think we should ask him to stay at least one more year and have him work on his strength and stamina.

i was talking with my Dad today about the players most likely to leave and we came up with Rhodes, Peltier and Smithies we figuered we should be about to get 4 mil for all three , anything less would be poor business

When Rhodes first came i thought he was a natural goalscorer, lolling around doing little if anything and then be able to ghost into the box on the blindside and nod in a lovely glancing header, We got the ball out wide and quick and popped over loads of quality ball, Sadly we lacked a bruiser, to interchange with LN&JR, I never doubted his ability, Just thought him a little lightweight and lacking in durability and toughness, No doubts over his stamina, Just plain soft, A softy.

This season we aint played to his (Rhodes) or the Bruisers attributes, And Rhodes lethargic displays had me thinking he was suffering some sort of debilitating illness ? Obviously not, Or we would have been told.

Still soft, Needs a bit of work in the gym, A bit of sparring perhaps, Or at the very least, Up his calorie intake.
Keep him dont sell.

Rumors going around the net that a bid for rhodes has been accepted from Crystal Palace .....
not sure what to think about this, crystal palace are hardly pulling up trees in the championship are they , they were only 6 points from relegation last year

although it would make sense for them to be building a strike force as they just signed Murray from brighton

FTR, Rhodes didn't make the difference at Walsall, the change from dire 451 to 442 made the difference. Alan Lee has been brilliant but got hauled off to make way for Rhodes and Pilks joined him up front. Lee could just have easily stayed on and we would've got a couple, Walsall were just that poor. Rhodes didn't really make the difference and the game was long over before he tapped in the 4th. Once we decided we wanted to win the game they couldn't live with us.

I'd accept anything over £1m. Bye bye.

terrier1987..

agreed.. we just left 3 players up the pitch in the last 20 against walsall.. cleared the ball to roberts etc and hit a poor defence with quick breaks..

treated them like they were barcelona for 65 minutes and then treated them as they actually are, a poor third division club for the last 25 or so..

not brain surgery, not brilliant tactics just lee clark being pushed into making a decision..

Datm posts on Twitter suggest a bid has been made and accepted. It'd be a shame, but he would be replaced. Cody MacDonald and Alan Lee as a pairing? I'd be happy if we played to their strengths. Hoofball is not Lee's game. Hit his feet, get players around him, and he will be a real handful.

January could be a really tough transfer window if we aren't in the top 2 though.