Midfield_General

I know. So just to be clear, even when two of our other forwards are unavailable, of the three players you said were definitely good enough to score the goals for a promotion chasing Championship team: One isn't even good enough to get on the pitch One is only good enough to be given 20 minutes off the bench, and contributed no shots either on or off target One played 83 minutes and contributed no shots either on or off target These are the players you said are good enough 🤣🤣🤣

So who still thinks that Armstrong, Archer and BBD are really good attacking options to rely on at this level? @Matthew Le God I think you were telling us they’d be really good because they’ve all scored goals in the championship before?

He works hard but achieves so little playing there

For them?

Nor me. Him, Robinson and Fraser have been the bright spots. We need to get them ball as much as we can because we look OK going forward but shocking at the back.

HT. 1-1. Lucky to be level as we've only really created one proper chance which we scored from. Their goal an absolute joke from us. Welington, Quarshie, THB and Downes having a competition for who can be the biggest liability. Midfield getting overrun defensively, not helped by our constantly giving the ball away in dangerous positions. Ipswich just strolling through the middle of us at will. Quarshie looks incredibly uncomfortable on the ball. Shocking first touch and can't find a pass to save his life. Armstrong completely ineffective down the middle. Has had zero shots on goal. What a surprise. Bright spots are Fraser and Robinson who are both playing well. Need to get them and Fernandes on the ball as much as possible and find a way of scoring another goal. Would probably swap Welington off for Manning before he gets sent off. Downes needs to be very careful too. We desperately need a focal point at CF. Dare I say it but I'd chuck BBD in there and just tell him to make a physical nuisance of himself and hold it up, and try to get Fraser, Fernandes and Robinson playing off him. Massive defensive improvement needed second half or we're not getting anything out this. Maybe Dibling will come on and put in £45m performance and win it for us on his own.

First good move of the game - goal. Excellent from Fernandes, Fraser, Robinson.

Shambles

Well there have been plenty saying that Armstrong, Archer and BBD are a perfectly good set of attacking options in the Championship because they've all had seasons where they've scored lots of goals at this level. Looks like today we'll find out if they were right.

Fucking Armstrong down the fucking middle for fucks sake. Other than that, not a bad side.

Sounds like they are about to sign Meghoma to sort out their issues at left back

Fellows beat his man and cut back the cross for the WBA goal

How about £7m, which is what he actually cost?

He is being passed to. He's had the ball passed to him three yards out in the centre of goal twice and he's missed both of them. It's not writing him off to say that he's had a poor start, but it's bizarre how people on here are blaming everyone except him for his performances so far. Maybe, just maybe, it's not everyone else's fault, he's a work in progress and needs to do some work to improve.

It’s a relief and incredibly refreshing to have a manager saying stuff like that, even though it’s just the most obvious basic common sense.

Nope - it bounced off Downs to Fernandes. It went: Downs > Fernandes > BBD > Archer > Fernandes 3 mins 25 here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7jSjHFT0LBY&pp=ygUac291dGhhbXB0b24gdnMgbm9ydGhhbXB0b24%3D Fernandes run was absolute quality. Really intelligent play to keep going after starting the move, and then run outside where there was space, before that completely composed cut inside and finish. Class.

Sensational late bid incoming for Tony Blackburn

What were his stats like on Football Manager 1962?

I’m not going to slag off everything he’s done as it’s not warranted, and it’s also very early days and like all players he needs to be given time. But he hardly laid that off. Yes he backed into the defender, but he didn’t get the ball under control, it hit his knee and bounced to Fernandes, who gave it to to BBD who threaded a decent pass to Archer who set up Fernandes who had carried on running (a run which was as class as his finish btw). There were multiple other instances where he got outmuscled or just fell over. Like I say, it’s very early days and Still needs to work with him and I’m sure he will improve. I’m just saying that from what I’ve seen so far he doesn’t warrant a starting place yet. Stewart should start if he’s fit, IMO, and Downs should be introduced off the bench until he looks ready to lead the line.

Yep. All true. Stating the obvious, but what it comes down to is what people value him at based on what he’s shown and what they think his potential is, and everyone is going to have different opinions on that. Personally I don’t think an offer of £35m + £8m + some sort of sell-on is buttons for him given he’s not signing a new contract, and if we need to sell him to buy as appears to be the case then personally I would probably have taken that rather than gamble on getting a few million more but also possibly seeing his value drop if we don’t sell him this window. But I don’t run the club and as a fan I’m not close enough to it, and others may disagree and think he’s worth more, or the gamble was the right one, and of course that’s fine too. The club obviously thought they could get more, either by pushing Everton up further or because they thought there was other genuine interest that would mean more of a bidding war. They may still be right. The truth is we won’t know until the end of the window. Interesting to see how it plays out.

No offence taken. Play him because it will give us a better chance of beating Ipswich on Saturday, because he’s our best player in that position, and even if he has an average game he’s probably more effective than Adam Armstrong or whoever. Not because if he plays he’ll definitely show the world he’s a super duper £45m player and it will make Everton or whoever come running to sign him. Being the best right wing option for a championship team doesn’t necessarily make you a £45m player. It just makes you the best we have available.

That I agree with. If he’s ready to play, play him purely because he’s better on the right than any of our other options and we want to win the game. I think the risk of injury would be too much though so can’t see him playing again until after the window shuts if we’ve blown the game of transfer poker and he’s still here.

Not necessarily. When’s the last time he had a consistent run of games when he actually looked a £45m player? Two managers ago? The outrageous price we’re demanding is largely based on some good games he had before Christmas and then loads of hype from people within the club saying how much potential he’s got, and us pumping up his perceived value by bandying about figures like £100m in the hope that it makes people think an offer of £50m actually represents value. If we play him he might show a flash of genius that gets everyone scrabbling for him, but based on his form over the second half of the season he might also have people asking what all the fuss is about. Personally I think our summer transfer strategy was predisposed on him being the one we definitely sold because of his contract situation, and we can’t really move forward with the other signings we need until we sell him. We got a bit greedy, overplayed our hand, and now we’re stuck having to go back and look a bit sheepish as they’ve called our bluff. As they seem to be the only real option and time’s running out, a power move from Everton would be to lower the bid slightly and see what we do then, because if the counter offer is true we’re making it pretty obvious that our bluff’s been called and we need to sell him. I still think he’ll go there, probably for a deal worth about £40m and 10-15% sell-on, but it will be right at the end of the window and will put us under pressure. Our position was based on their being others who also wanted him and were prepared to join the bidding, but now with apparently no other interest, Everton hold the cards now really so they can make us sweat.

If Che Adams, BBD or Sekou Mara had missed that exact chance, I wonder if so many would have been saying how it wasn't that much of an easy chance actually

Not only that, but being hung out to dry, being asked to play against Premier League quality defences, as a traditional winger out so wide he had chalk on his boots, in a position he was obviously utterly unsuited to and therefore got ridiculed when he tried to play, can't have helped either. What sort of idiot looks at a lumbering ox like him with zero pace or close control and thinks 'yep, he's a Premier League quality wide man alright'?