Summer transfer window/Firesale 2018

Ever since it was reported that Abraham would be staying with Chelsea we haven't really been linked with any strikers, except for a tenous link to Shane Long, so it doesn't looks like anything's going to happen in that department. Strange really as Bruce said it was a priority, and if Kodjia was to get injured tomorrow, Hepburn-Murphy would be our only available option, unless he decided to give McCormack another chance, which I doubt very much.

Yeah, I think we would have heard by now from the Villa Transfers/Medical guy. Looks like Moukoudi will stay in France too by the looks of things. Can't see Southampton letting us take Targett on loan after letting the other chap go to Boro. We really need a solid centre back so Bruce can move Axel into the defensive midfielder role, Elmo into the right back role. Stop fannying around with positions and run something of a settled side.

Moukoudi has turned us down apparently, although it seems we're still prepared to let Elphick go, as sky say he's having a medical with Hull. We're now being linked with Pape Souaré from Palace, who I presumed must be a central defender, but apparently he's a left-back.

I guess Tuanzebe will be getting a lot of games in central defense after all, because Jedinak won't stay fit for the whole season. Also interesting that Bruce singled out Bree as our best player against Burton, playing as a central defender, so maybe we'll try him there again... I know it would be seen as playing another player out of position, but I've always thought that he might eventually make a better centre-back or DM than a modern day right-back.

John Percy
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#avfc still pushing for #cfc striker Tammy Abraham. Chelsea are willing to loan him until at least January but Villa still waiting for agreement ..


He's also being linked to Bordeaux.

Moukoudi seems to have decided that Bruceball is not for him, according to Bruce who is selling it as " he is young and wants to stay in France". No point in having him here if he is not sure. Never heard of him before two days ago so won't really mourn but seems a lot of decent clubs were/are interested. We still need striker/CB/LB. Busy day,I hope.

deadbuzzardalive wrote:Moukoudi has turned us down apparently, although it seems we're still prepared to let Elphick go, as sky say he's having a medical with Hull. We're now being linked with Pape Souaré from Palace, who I presumed must be a central defender, but apparently he's a left-back.

I guess Tuanzebe will be getting a lot of games in central defense after all, because Jedinak won't stay fit for the whole season. Also interesting that Bruce singled out Bree as our best player against Burton, playing as a central defender, so maybe we'll try him there again... I know it would be seen as playing another player out of position, but I've always thought that he might eventually make a better centre-back or DM than a modern day right-back.

Bruce's choice of CB to partner Chester could make or break him. It seems remarkable we had nothing in place since Terry disappeared in June, by which time Bruce must have known about our financial situation. Jedi was on an extended holiday for most of pre-season after his world cup run so here (in chronological order) is what our central defence looked like:

Telford - Chester, Bedau and Clark (three-man defence)
Kidderminster - Suliman and Elphick
Walsall - Chester and Elphick
Burton - Chester, Hutton and Taylor
West Ham - Chester, Elphick and Hutton
Dresden - Chester and Jedi

It looks like Bruce tried out a few options and then decided on Jedi. Whether he had Jedi in mind from the start seems immaterial, we made it to the playoffs last season with a back four of Elmo, Chester, Terry and Hutton. With Terry gone and the prospect of no money what were the options? Most obvious wold be to sell Chester and leave us with Elphick as the only senior CB. Keep Chester but have no one new to play him with because we can't afford it. Elphick is right-footed so he and Chester take the same position. Last time we played Elphick (in our previous cup match) Bruce put Chester on the left and Elphick on the right, which really isn't the answer, Chester is the first name on our team sheet so has to start in his natural position. What then, forget how badly Jedi played in defence last season and pick him because he's big and tough and good at scoring from a set piece but spend the pre-season screwing around with formations? What a waste of time. Did we start training the defence straight after the summer holiday with Chester paired with Elphick or Chester/Elphick paired with whichever of the U23 CBs MacDonald advised was going to be the best option? Because it doesn't look like it.

Or just play a bunch of friendlies with a different lineup every time and make it impossible for anyone to settle. If it were me I'd be playing De Laet, Chester, XXX and Hutton in every single pre-season match bar the day we played two at the same time (Elmo was on world cup extended holiday too but I think De Leat is better). Stick with the formation the other players were used to playing with last season. Snoddy went home so it's not a disaster to replace Elmo with De Laet since we'd have a new RW anyway (as it turns out, Elmo).

And finally if Chester did get sold, Elphick slots into place and plays next to the MacDonald-reccomended CB (since they've spent the summer training together anyway).

But no, we waste time with a 5-3-1-1 no one seems to get on with and with one CB and one DM instead of two of our five CBs.

Like I said before, if we're going to screw around let's just make an offer to James Collins. Even Samba is better than Jedi. Anyone...

Bedau is an interesting one. Seems well physically developed for his age and getting good reviews. He really isn't that much younger than Moukoudi and,the old saying "if you're good enough, you're old enough" might apply.

Good post Foxy.

It just reflects that Bruce has absolutely no idea, he complements Bree the other night who played at CH but basically hasn't figured at all. It comes down to a wing and a pray with his selection policy!

Abraham is official now, looks like we're going to have to dip into the free transfer market though if we want to sign another defender, I'd take Huth, plays on the left hand side, is a leader and organizer... Although to be fair looking at our stats with Jedinak at the back we haven't actually done too badly, last season he played eight games in defence, and we only conceded five goals, and kept four clean sheets.

Tottenham bid £25m million for Abraham and then the same amount for Grealish both on transfer deadline day, and now we've got them both, funny the way things turn out. All in all I think we've had an excellent transfer window, and feel some are making too big an issue of the defensive situation, Jedinak has a decent record there, United see Tuanzebe as a future central defender for them, and Bree and De Laet are both adequate in that position as well... Besides I'm convinced we'll bring in another defender on a free, we were obviously desperate to bring one in considering we bid for both Moukoudi and McKenna from Aberdeen.

Abraham is a good signing but agree we definitely need a CH.

Well its over to you now Mr Bruce, if you can't start smashing the opposition now with this squad theres no hope for you, we have all had our say on formations etc now its up to you to decide which way you are going to play but get it wrong and everyone will be on your back.

What an end to a... let's be frank... incredible transfer window, following a stomach-churning start to the summer staring down both barrells of the Inland Revenue's gun. How we have got here, I have no idea.

Ball is well and truly in Bruce's court now. Time to shit or get off the fucking pot.

P.s. John Terry to be back in claret and blue by the middle of next week. That's why Tommy has been allowed to go.

VTID85 wrote:What an end to a... let's be frank... incredible transfer window, following a stomach-churning start to the summer staring down both barrells of the Inland Revenue's gun. How we have got here, I have no idea.

Ball is well and truly in Bruce's court now. Time to shit or get off the fucking pot.

P.s. John Terry to be back in claret and blue by the middle of next week. That's why Tommy has been allowed to go.

Letting Elpick go is nuts so we must have someone lined up. Surely. Hopefully?

It seems nuts to me we haven't prioritised replacing Terry let alone Baker. Jedi for me has at least one potential goal scoring mistake in him every match and should only be played there as backup. We have loads of midfielders and RBs but just one senior CB?

deadbuzzardalive wrote:Tottenham bid £25m million for Abraham and then the same amount for Grealish both on transfer deadline day, and now we've got them both, funny the way things turn out. All in all I think we've had an excellent transfer window, and feel some are making too big an issue of the defensive situation, Jedinak has a decent record there, United see Tuanzebe as a future central defender for them, and Bree and De Laet are both adequate in that position as well... Besides I'm convinced we'll bring in another defender on a free, we were obviously desperate to bring one in considering we bid for both Moukoudi and McKenna from Aberdeen.

Sorry I cannot agree with this. Jedinak's record In defense has been spread over THREE SEASONS. And on most occasions the opposition have had several opportunities. Last season I remember we let in two at Derby, two at home to Sheff Utd etc, and now we're letting in goals galore again and have not kept a single clean sheet despite keeping twenty-one last season. It's not good enough and If he has any sense whatsoever he'll be on the phone to either Robert Hugh of James Collins. Because having a poor defense would complete undermine our attacking talent if it's not addressed. The notion that Bree could "step in", for a team trying to achieve promotion, is utterly ridiculous and just personifies how clueless he is.

Having Jedinak in defence is far from ideal, but in the eight games he played in there for us in the season previous to this one, we kept five clean sheets. This season we've been poor at the back, but others have contributed to that as well.

That's not to say I want him playing at the back, personally I can't understand why Tuanzebe isn't playing there, as that's his position. I'd also have De Leat ahead of Jedinak, as he's played more than twice as many games as him as a centre-back, and is a defender by trade, whereas Jedinak hasn't always even been a DM all his career, for most of it he was a box to box midfielder... It's also inevitable that he'll get injured at some point.

I think we'll probably bring in a free transfer anyway, the club obviously realises we're weak at the back, hence us trying to sign Bryan, Moukoudi, and McKenna.

Basically I don't want Bruce to have any excuses, overall the team we've got for the championship is ridiculous, and should be dominating games, if we had a decent manager, I'm convinced we'd win the league, even with the defence as it is.

deadbuzzardalive wrote:Basically I don't want Bruce to have any excuses, overall the team we've got for the championship is ridiculous, and should be dominating games, if we had a decent manager, I'm convinced we'd win the league, even with the defence as it is.

Totally agree, that squad is fantastic!

Maybe he's thinking if we can bag enough at the right end it won't matter if we ship a few at the wrong end? No wait, what am I thinking, Bruce is a defence specialist.

Apparently someone ran a poll on instagram, asking people if they thought Terry would come back if he was asked, and Terry himself voted yes. I wasn't too keen in the summer just because of his age, but now doesn't seem like a bad idea.

I would worry about just how fit he would be but at the moment just for his leadership he would be an asset.

Huth and Collins are out there but Bruce doesn't seem to think our defence is a problem.

Hopefully our owners will see where the true problem lies.

Well we tried to sign Moukoudi, McKenna and Bryan, so he obviously wanted to improve the defence, he also asked the owners if we could re-sign Terry, but they said no as they wanted us to concentrate on younger players, but given the mitigating circumstances maybe they'll make an exception.

I am slightly worried about all our loans/signings to be honest, as individually they are potentially brilliant but collectively I have my doubts. To me it is typical Bruce signings, a scatter-gun approach, sign enough players and you might get a team out of them if you are lucky!

achilles wrote:I am slightly worried about all our loans/signings to be honest, as individually they are potentially brilliant but collectively I have my doubts. To me it is typical Bruce signings, a scatter-gun approach, sign enough players and you might get a team out of them if you are lucky!

Don't worry a good manager can make a team out of them!

The new owners must have seen and heard the fans displeasure at Potato Head's efforts thus far and they must be looking at the market!

JT back as player manager maybe?

You hardly ever hear of player-managers these day, as in the modern game it's pretty much impossible to be both a successful manager and player at the same time...On top of organising all the training, you've got all the scouting of potential signings and other teams they have to do, and all the watching videos and studying all the technical analysis and whatnot, then you've got the finacial side dealing with agents, not to mention all the media work.

I'd have Tery back as a manager though, if it was a choice between him and Bruce.