Knight Sibley Bird Bielik

[Ambitious]

1 hour ago, JakeDCFC said:

Do you think that he can't or isn't likely to improve or develop in that aspect of his game? Agree with the argument though just want to hear your thoughts on that.

Technical ability can obviously be worked on, players can improve in all aspects, but I do also feel that players have a body of core principles of how they play the game. For example, Louie Sibley plays his game in a highly technical manner. A lot of his game is based on playing in a quick, smart way mostly in small quarters - he’s far more twitchy and unpredictable than Knight.

Knight plays his game on energy, a lot of straight line running, very relentless of how he plays the ball and continues into the next phase of the game. He doesn’t play long passes at all often, like Sibley tends to play in small quarters, but progresses through them much more quicker.

I just feel Knight isn’t going to change his game, which is the same regardless of position, so he’s always going to prefer the pass to the shot, he’s always going to prefer short passes. It doesn’t take a high level of technical ability to play in that manner so he’s unlikely to improve in that regard significantly. However, if can improve his vision to be able to play through the lines, improve his touch (which can be heavy), his passing into the box and improve his finishing. If he improves in those areas along with everything else he has then he will be a Premier League player. He definitely has the character to improve, whereas I worry Sibley doesn’t - Sibley always had and has much more technical ability but without the rest of it then it accounts for little. 

[BatRam]

id like to keep em all if we could. If beilek took a wage cut he'd be a colossus in this league.

Id sell beilek and try keep other 3.

Hopefully by time kniights contract runs out in a year we'll be top of league and champ bound. so he'd sign for longer 

[jimtastic56]

21 hours ago, CodnorRam said:

id like to keep em all if we could. If beilek took a wage cut he'd be a colossus in this league.

Id sell beilek and try keep other 3.

Hopefully by time kniights contract runs out in a year we'll be top of league and champ bound. so he'd sign for longer 

We should have no problems getting out of League 1 this season. But surely Knight is the one player we have that would cope with the Championship next season. We could make him out top earner with a new contract , especially as it looks like the Beilik nightmare is going to end with him going to Brum permanently.

[Ghost of Clough]

Bringing the discussion to the most relevant thread.

4 hours ago, S8TY said:

They don't and I dont see Knight, Hourihane and Bird being balanced or having enough goal threat ...does that spell it out? 

Bird and Knight should be defensively astute but going forwards we need more than that 3 can get goals wise hence why i said we need another attack minded CM we do not need two defensive minded CM's IMO 

How many goals do you think our midfield should be contributing ? last season when the strikers or basically Mcgoldrick were not scoring where were our goals coming from ?

You're sticking up for Bird like he's being victimised....he's not....but we need more threat from midfield and if you are saying Knight,Hourihane and Bird are the answer and will give us goals and defensive balance then prepare to be dissapointed I really don't care what the stats say...from what I see ...with my own eyes ....we don't look threatening enough and thats why I'd want a more potent midfielder as well as new striker or 2....I can see one of Bird or Knight being on bench unless Knight plays RWB and in the last year of there contracts so maybe an idea to sell one to get better balance and options ...we need more goals and not just from the strikers

My challenge to Knight or Bird would be can you get 6-10 goals this season , If either done that they'd be seen as getting better and therefore worth more not only to us but others...they are capable players  and this division is not great 

It is only your ill-informed opinion that Bird, Hourihane and Knight don't offer enough end product from midfield. Defensively, they were only marginally behind Ipswich, but still better than Plymouth. The numbers don't lie.

Offensively, they outperformed Plymouth's CMs and Ipswich's, whose teams as a whole scored 15 and 31 more goals than ours respectively. That has to be the clearest indicator possible that the problem isn't goals from midfield, but from the defence and attackers. I wouldn't be surprised if our defence was in the bottom 3 for contributions last season. At the other end of the pitch, we were reliant on McGoldrick and Mendez-Laing, clearer pointing towards needing more quality in depth in forward positions.

End product from our wing backs was an even bigger problem. In total, we got 3 goals and 6 assists throughout the entire season from those positions. The target should be to triple the number of contributions.

 

For completeness, this is how our midfield ranked in terms of goal contributions last season:
Total goals: =8th
Open play goals: =3rd
Total assists: 4th
Open play assists: =5th
Total contributions: 4th
Total open play contributions: 4th

As a team overall, we were 7th for total goals and goals from open play, showing our midfield performed better than other areas of our team.

This includes 13 games where we started with 3 in midfield (AMs not included). Some teams field 3 CMs more than others, so I've adjusted the figures to balance this out. It's no surprise that the teams who top the charts for goal contributions from this area of the field also play with 3 CMs - Barnsley, Sheff Weds and Charlton.

With a simple weighting factor applied:
Total contributions: 4th
Open play contributions: 3rd

 

I'm not saying our midfield is perfect, because it isn't. But, if we were to strengthen the team, it wouldn't be at the expense of selling Bird or Knight. I'd be looking to add the likes of Owen Moxon (6 goals and 16 assists, 16 total from open play) for a relatively low price or Jensen Weir (10 goals and 5 assists, 13 total from open play) on loan to complement Hourihane, Bird and Knight at the expense of Smith.

[RoyMac5]

Birdy with his Tenerife holiday training going well.

 

Edited June 29, 2023 by RoyMac5

[jimtastic56]

53 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

Birdy with his Tenerife holiday training going well.

 

Superb. If he can do that 10 times next season he will prove many of us wrong . 

[Ghost of Clough]

26 minutes ago, Terry Hennessy said:

Hmmm...must admit I never really saw McGoldrick as a classic CF...more a No.10... which is why I thought maybe Sibley ....

McGoldrick was still played as the lone forward, a role Sibley will not be able to play

[Srg]

18 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

McGoldrick was still played as the lone forward, a role Sibley will not be able to play

Think that was more through necessity than want though. Collins made that decision.

[Ghost of Clough]

Just now, Srg said:

Think that was more through necessity than want though. Collins made that decision.

In the context of a McGoldrick replacement, that would be at CF, rather than any other role.

[RoyMac5]

 

[Srg]

3 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

 

[RoyMac5]

 

[Steve How Hard?]

15 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

 

Not sure who's advising Knighty but I personally don't see this as a good move for him. A link up with Liam Rosenior at Hull would be a better fit imho. 

[hydraulic ram]

26 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

 

So, £2million PLUS Wilson?

[Leveller]

21 minutes ago, Steve How Hard? said:

Not sure who's advising Knighty but I personally don't see this as a good move for him. A link up with Liam Rosenior at Hull would be a better fit imho. 

Doesn’t quite work like that though, does it?  They have to want him and pay the money, for him to have that choice.

[Steve How Hard?]

16 minutes ago, Leveller said:

Doesn’t quite work like that though, does it?  They have to want him and pay the money, for him to have that choice.

You are correct but my point was that surely he has better options than going playing for "The  Ostrich." 

[DiggerB]

36 minutes ago, Steve How Hard? said:

Not sure who's advising Knighty but I personally don't see this as a good move for him. A link up with Liam Rosenior at Hull would be a better fit imho. 

Not really our concern about where he ends up, just that we maximise his fee and negotiate an appropriate sell-on clause.  As great a lad as I’m sure he undoubtedly is, he’s made it clear he doesn’t want to wait a season for Championship football. We can’t offer him what he wants, so the only thing we should worry about is that his suitor has the appropriate funds to seal the deal.

[Steve How Hard?]

1 minute ago, DiggerB said:

Not really our concern about where he ends up, just that we maximise his fee and negotiate an appropriate sell-on clause.  As great a lad as I’m sure he undoubtedly is, he’s made it clear he doesn’t want to wait a season for Championship football. We can’t offer him what he wants, so the only thing we should worry about is that his suitor has the appropriate funds to seal the deal.

Agreed, good point well made,  my opinion is being swayed by my dislike of that club and their manager. 

[DiggerB]

8 minutes ago, Steve How Hard? said:

Agreed, good point well made,  my opinion is being swayed by my dislike of that club and their manager. 

Oh, I’m with you on that. From a quick YouTube Wilson looks to have good feet and delivery into the box. He’s only one-year into a 3-year deal, but only made 5 appearances for them, so seems Pearson’s not a fan.

[Ghost of Clough]

27 minutes ago, DiggerB said:

Oh, I’m with you on that. From a quick YouTube Wilson looks to have good feet and delivery into the box. He’s only one-year into a 3-year deal, but only made 5 appearances for them, so seems Pearson’s not a fan.

A knee injury early in the season kept him out for several months