Final bits of the Jigsaw

[Ramfan1958]

Personally I think we need a defensive powerful midfielder, we are wide open through the middle with Bird and Houllane that's the weakness. 

Also another centre forward someone who can hold the ball up better , win more balls in the air and wait for the runners to come.

We're not far off winning this league just need the final bits of the jigsaw.

[valakari]

Currently playing 2 in central midfield..Bird and Hourihane.

We also have Thompson, Fornah, Smith and Sibley...thats 6 players for 2 positions....

Even if he changes back to playing 3 in there, we have enough bodies.

What we do need is another quick winger to match Mendez Laing, as,Barkhuizen is the current choice.

Personally, i'd like to see John Jules play, although not sure if you play him up front or out wide...

Talking of up front, Waghorn and Washington are good back ups , when fit, but Collins is not good enough as our main striker.

He doesn't have the instinct or finishing quality for a top 2 team.

He does run around alot and that effort maybe still an assett for the run in, but we do need to sign a goalscorer!

How about a cheeky bid for Jonson Clarke Harris on Jan 1st..before we play the game versus 'The Posh'!

[MackworthRamIsGod]

Just my opinion, we need quality over quantity. We don't need 2 or 3 players who will sit on the bench waiting for minutes, we need a number 9 who can score goals.

If there is a budget, blow the lot on a decent striker, that will be the difference between top 2 and not.

[Rich3478]

4 hours ago, MackworthRamIsGod said:

Just my opinion, we need quality over quantity. We don't need 2 or 3 players who will sit on the bench waiting for minutes, we need a number 9 who can score goals.

If there is a budget, blow the lot on a decent striker, that will be the difference between top 2 and not.

Agree on this, we need people to come into the eleven and improve it. Not in case of injury. 
A striker is the obvious one that we need, I think a wide option too. 

Someone above lists the six options we have in midfield, I wouldn’t be against changing a couple of these. Moving smith on if found a better option? Or if bird leaves a bid for Brannigan at Oxford, rumoured to have £1m release clause.

[Rampant]

I'd go for Michael Mellon of Burnley personally (currently on loan at Morecambe). 

[Ramarena]

As has been mentioned, we need quality and a striker is by far the most urgent position in need of improvement, followed by a winger.

Problem is it’s a bad/expensive window to recruit the player you really want. Hopefully we have irons in the fire and Warne can pull out a gem. I do wonder if the loan market might offer us the best options for a reasonable price.

[Ramfan1958]

7 hours ago, valakari said:

Currently playing 2 in central midfield..Bird and Hourihane.

We also have Thompson, Fornah, Smith and Sibley...thats 6 players for 2 positions....

Even if he changes back to playing 3 in there, we have enough bodies.

What we do need is another quick winger to match Mendez Laing, as,Barkhuizen is the current choice.

Personally, i'd like to see John Jules play, although not sure if you play him up front or out wide...

Talking of up front, Waghorn and Washington are good back ups , when fit, but Collins is not good enough as our main striker.

He doesn't have the instinct or finishing quality for a top 2 team.

He does run around alot and that effort maybe still an assett for the run in, but we do need to sign a goalscorer!

How about a cheeky bid for Jonson Clarke Harris on Jan 1st..before we play the game versus 'The Posh'!

Bird Houllane Thompson Sibley Fornah are not defensive midfielders we need someone to protect the back 4. 

[ram59]

I remember Leighton James being described as the final piece of the jigsaw......................................then it all went belly up.😔

[Barney1991]

Watch the posh highlights from last night. Clarke Harris never leaves the central area for both goals. Two great crosses and he’s on the end of them. He will be the perfect lynch pin for us. Can say he’s a waste of money but with our love for crossing he could be the difference. Get him on an 18 month deal with the option of another in the clubs favour and if we go up and he doesn’t cut it then he goes after one season. Yes he will cost about 600k but when you look at promotion isn’t it worth about 7 million. I’d take the gamble and get him and Blackett Taylor if we can 

[DiggerB]

52 minutes ago, Barney1991 said:

Watch the posh highlights from last night. Clarke Harris never leaves the central area for both goals. Two great crosses and he’s on the end of them. He will be the perfect lynch pin for us. Can say he’s a waste of money but with our love for crossing he could be the difference. Get him on an 18 month deal with the option of another in the clubs favour and if we go up and he doesn’t cut it then he goes after one season. Yes he will cost about 600k but when you look at promotion isn’t it worth about 7 million. I’d take the gamble and get him and Blackett Taylor if we can 

A player doesn’t always need to have a sell-on value to be of use in the present moment! Funny, the ones we have currently that do, no-one wants to let go!

[Carnero]

52 minutes ago, Barney1991 said:

Watch the posh highlights from last night. Clarke Harris never leaves the central area for both goals. Two great crosses and he’s on the end of them. He will be the perfect lynch pin for us. Can say he’s a waste of money but with our love for crossing he could be the difference. Get him on an 18 month deal with the option of another in the clubs favour and if we go up and he doesn’t cut it then he goes after one season. Yes he will cost about 600k but when you look at promotion isn’t it worth about 7 million. I’d take the gamble and get him and Blackett Taylor if we can 

What would his pressing be like when we lose possession? We can't afford passengers with the way we want to play. I'd be perfectly happy to sign him as an option, but I'm not sure he'd be the regular starter. That said, I highly doubt Posh would sell him to a main promotion rival anyway.

[Papahet]

Surely Peterborough wouldn't sell to a rival, Wrexham supoosedly interested too so will offer ££

[Wolfie20]

3 hours ago, Ramfan1958 said:

Bird Houllane Thompson Sibley Fornah are not defensive midfielders we need someone to protect the back 4. 

Well someone's been doing it for the last 9 games.

[richinspain]

3 hours ago, DiggerB said:

A player doesn’t always need to have a sell-on value to be of use in the present moment! Funny, the ones we have currently that do, no-one wants to let go!

I remember Arthur Cox saying soon after signing Ted McMinn that he was already looking for his replacement. For a team to truly progress they should sign players that will be automatic starters, and then sign an even better player when available (always within a sensible budget) so that the displaced becomes a sub or is sold on at a profit. Obviously this is in an ideal scenario, but it should be the aim.

[Mucker1884]

23 hours ago, Ramfan1958 said:

Personally I think we need a defensive powerful midfielder, we are wide open through the middle with Bird and Houllane that's the weakness. 

Also another centre forward someone who can hold the ball up better , win more balls in the air and wait for the runners to come.

We're not far off winning this league just need the final bits of the jigsaw.

Winning this league is the equivalent of getting all the straight edged pieces in place, and completing the perimeter.
We are still 1,370 pieces away from putting that last piece in.

[Anag Ram]

I think we’ll have a better idea after tomorrow’s game.

We’ve had a few good performances against teams who have been pretty toothless in attack.

Tomorrow, we will be put under pressure and we will see if there are cracks and weaknesses that others may exploit.

There’s always a danger attached to signings when a team is bonding well.

We might need one or two, but wholesale changes can disrupt.

I don’t think bringing in a new CF would cause an issue because Collins will always have his uses.

 I also think we need to protect Hourihane a bit as the season wears on and to groom his successor.

Other than that I think we’ll be fine (unless of course players leave)

[Magicman]

Young Robinson plays CDM plus Rooney can when fit.

[G STAR RAM]

15 hours ago, Barney1991 said:

Watch the posh highlights from last night. Clarke Harris never leaves the central area for both goals. Two great crosses and he’s on the end of them. He will be the perfect lynch pin for us. Can say he’s a waste of money but with our love for crossing he could be the difference. Get him on an 18 month deal with the option of another in the clubs favour and if we go up and he doesn’t cut it then he goes after one season. Yes he will cost about 600k but when you look at promotion isn’t it worth about 7 million. I’d take the gamble and get him and Blackett Taylor if we can 

I imagine promotion would turn us from a club operating at around break even to a loss making club.

[Crewton]

1 hour ago, Anag Ram said:

I think we’ll have a better idea after tomorrow’s game.

We’ve had a few good performances against teams who have been pretty toothless in attack.

Tomorrow, we will be put under pressure and we will see if there are cracks and weaknesses that others may exploit.

There’s always a danger attached to signings when a team is bonding well.

We might need one or two, but wholesale changes can disrupt.

I don’t think bringing in a new CF would cause an issue because Collins will always have his uses.

 I also think we need to protect Hourihane a bit as the season wears on and to groom his successor.

Other than that I think we’ll be fine (unless of course players leave)

I agree. We had a bad January last year through not strengthening at all, but an even worse one in 2007 and 2008 because we signed too many players, most of whom added nothing to the team.

If we end the window with all our key players still at the club plus an additional central striker and a creative attacking forward/midfielder/left-sided winger, I'll be absolutely delighted.

[Ellafella]

2 hours ago, Magicman said:

Young Robinson plays CDM plus Rooney can when fit.

I think that Rooney would be a superb CDM but strangely I don’t think PW has ever played him there even in the cups. The main issue I think is his fitness - Rooney rarely lasted the full 90 & was known for cramping up.