Patches O Houlihan

He looks a better bet than the 6'6" German lad I was researching. BUT...

I watched this yesterday found it interesting - my previous post will be buried in the transfer thread somewhere

On the BBC that stolen toilet bloke reports: He seems firmly wedded to Forest right now.

This was the guy who broke the news. Seems to be from The Athletic.

I thought I'd take a look at Lewis Dobbin's career history on transfermkt to see if maybe HCDAJFU up front. I didn't follow his signing closely. I understood from the chat on here and from Dragan that he was an Azaz no.10 understudy who could do a job at left wing. 5'9" right-footed. Whilst he did play for Everton in the PL in the 23/24 season it doesn't look too much to write home about. In the first half of the 24-25 season he played 17 Championship games for West Brom. All but 2 were off the bench, and all were on the left. No goal involvements at all. In the second half of the 24-25 Season he played as a winger at Norwich; 9 games, starting 7. No assists. Scored 2 goals - one from left wing and one from right wing. A calf injury curtailed his season. For Preson last year he played 39 Championship league games averaging 67'. Six of these games were off the bench. He's scored 10 and assisted 8 in these matches. So when he plays most of a game we might expect a goal involvement almost every other game - but there is a caveat to this. Preston finished 14th. Having previously always been a winger, at Preston this was the situation when he was a starter: Preston played 3-5-2 and he was alongside a big lad in those games: 1) Canadian 6'3" forward Daniel Jebison. Jebison scored 6 and assisted 1 over 38 games (22 starts) for Preston last year, so he wasn't directly setting those goals up for Dobbin. 2) Osmajic from Montenegro is 6'1". He played 28 games, starting 20. He scored 7 and assisted 1. So he wasn't directly providing assists for Dobbin either. 3) 6'3" Michael Smith. Played 37 games, starting 13. Scored 3 with 1 assist. So he wasn't directly making Dobbin's goals either. Dobbin always seems to have played on the right side of the pairing. If Larin is out of action and Mubamba isn't doing it for whatever reason. Could we play Dobbin and Azaz together as a pairing? Azaz can hold the ball up pretty well, is a smart guy, can shoot and is 6'1". But according to his stats he's only ever played at centre forward once under Michael Carrick: A 1-3 away win for Middlesbrough v Millwall in January 2024. He wasn't directly involved in those goals. I guess there is a chance he could turn his hand to a kind of false 9 for a game or two if needed? I was hoping I might find something a bit more conclusive but hopefully someone will find this interesting. This is Dobbin's whole career overview:

That’s almost inevitable if they are genuinely “the best in the league” and we can’t flaunt accounting rules

1) I quoted a tweet from Saints Statistics - not my graphic 2) I specifically stated I wouldn't start Stephens - by saying I would have Wood or Abbott in bold Your reading comprehension needs to be a little sharper if you are going to post with your elbows out

JWP territory!

What a pass that is from Schlotti!

They have used way more energy than we have up to this point. If our subs play well we should be able to take it away from them

That's a beauty from Shlotterbeck. Let's have 8 or 10 more like that this season! Great time to score too

Personally I think that Wood or Abbott will be the bold name in the RCB position, but otherwise this seems to be where we are. JWP and Abbot can both cover for Bree if Roerslev heads off to a late deadline league. We against expectation signed Peretz and Larin, and kept Scienza and Jander. That feels like a win - even if the depth isn't quite what we got used to last year. When that first 11 is fit and firing we'll give any team in the division a tough game. Tonda and the medical staff did really well with rotation and keeping the team healthy. We're out of the EFL Cup so hopefully that will help too.

Alfie House on the Echo's deadline day page:

He did play their last three games last season to see out his contract.

I will refer you to my earlier post describing how much of a sick note he has been recently

Did I hear someone recently suggest that there was an injury issue for our U21 centre forward Baylee Dipepa? - The Larin under-understudy rather than the Scienza under-understudy!

Worth watching - good reasons given for his stats and potential.

Meghoma has played for Brentford: 4' in the PL for Brentford against Chelsea. Dec 2024. He's played three times at Left Back in three EFL Cup games: Subbed off after 84' in a win over Leyton Orient. Sept 2024 Subbed off after 70' for Mads Roeslev (who cannot get in our team) whilst drawing 1-1 with Sheffield Wednesday. Oct 2024. Subbed on for 16' in their 3-1 loss to Newcastle in the Quarter final Dec 2024. Last season he was subbed off in 10 of the 27 SPL games he played for Rangers. Scored 1 and assisted 6 across all the 44 games he played for them. It doesn't shout that he is better than 23 cap ROI player Ryan Manning, who has played 107 times for Saints and scored 9 goals.

Did you watch him a lot at Rangers last year?

No but Manning and Wellington are both good enough for teams better than the skates. Have Brentford sent him there to be the stand out playmaker in a wanky team?

So you are convinced that Brentford who loaned him last year to Rangers, have loaned him again this year to last season's 18th placed Championship club; who are currently in 15th place, and occupy a miserable hole, because he is better than both Manning & Welington. Can I have some of what you're smoking please!

I was just reminded of this lad: Sillah Dibaga, 19.5yo Aside from his 60' against Leicester back in Feb in the FA Cup has anyone seen him play recently? CHDAJFU if Scienza gets injured? Or would Dobbin definitely get the nod? Gemini suggests direct running, productive playmaker on the left wing who can stretch defences and create width. Good at crossing, quite mature and good at dealing with nerves. Who knows how accurate that is. Fans scored him 6.89 on the BBC match report - so 10th of the 17 players who made it onto the pitch including extra time. He came on for Edozie on 63'.

On going home with Adam & Jo he said he had booked his holiday but guessed the international break window wrong so will miss the next two games. I'd be surprised if his new missus is going to let him do much scouting while on holiday.

32yo winger with persistent knee injury. Since 21st October 2023 - season ending knee injury - out for over a year. 2024-25 - Came off the bench 8 times. Injured for the rest 2025-26 - Played 2', 1' and 31' in the last 3 games of the season for Brighton, 4' in March. Out for the rest of the season through injury. Departed Brighton at the end of the season and hasn't played this year yet. Not for me