Rumour - Reise Allassani

[NewCorkSeth]

I like Ilori personally. Think he has deserved far more game time than he has had. He was great back end of last year, and you'd expect him to step in if Moore does go

Aluko I've very little time for. But he has been far from the only one who has massively underperformed this year

Fair. McCleary has probably been the most disappointing for me but he has had a few injuries so I cant stay mad at him. Beerens has been roughly the same minus the goals so Aluko isnt doing too badly when compared to other wingers.

The issue I have is we are not playing to his strengths. He has looked at his best when deep in the opposition half or in their box yet he seems to have been instructed to come deep and collect the ball. Hes not fast enough for that and it leaves a massive hole on the right flank that opposition defenders barely need to cover... They probably know at this stage only 1 in 5 of Gunters crosses are good and only 1 in 10 of those will actually be met by a Reading player.

[Hound]

yep thats a fair summary. The couple of games he looked best were when he played right up against the FB on the right wing

It confuses me because Barrow continues to do this, and seems currently to be our only threat. Is Stam telling Aluko to wander round in CM? If not, why is he being allowed to do it - he is absolutely pointless there

Would love to see McCleary get back to some sort of form. He's been basically crocked for the best part of a year, so hopefully its just a matter of getting match fit etc. Might well be being over optimistic there.

I don't mind Beerens, but he has been unlucky in that when he was playing, it was mainly when Yann and Dadi were injured. He's got a half decent cross on him and can score goals, but he was playing in a system which really didn't help him, with no one to aim for in the middle. Suspect he will be on his way in the next week or so.

[NewCorkSeth]

yep thats a fair summary. The couple of games he looked best were when he played right up against the FB on the right wing

It confuses me because Barrow continues to do this, and seems currently to be our only threat. Is Stam telling Aluko to wander round in CM? If not, why is he being allowed to do it - he is absolutely pointless there

Would love to see McCleary get back to some sort of form. He's been basically crocked for the best part of a year, so hopefully its just a matter of getting match fit etc. Might well be being over optimistic there.

I don't mind Beerens, but he has been unlucky in that when he was playing, it was mainly when Yann and Dadi were injured. He's got a half decent cross on him and can score goals, but he was playing in a system which really didn't help him, with no one to aim for in the middle. Suspect he will be on his way in the next week or so.

That right there is my big question of the season. Are our creative players given freedom to roam or has he been instructed to do that? Either way the solution is tell him not to do it. He's been unplayable at times when in the box surrounded by 3 defenders and is one of the few players I would trust not to lose the ball immediately when in the top right corner.

We have players who can bring the ball forward - Bacuna has shown he can do it, on rare occasions JVDB has shown he can do it, Swift can do it, Kelly used to do it so instead of letting one of our only attacking outlets wander back to the centre of the pitch to collect the ball only to find he can only pass it out the left hand side of the pitch why not tell him to stay put and let our CMs do their job.

Living in Paris I have watched quite a bit of PSG and, imo, their biggest problem when Zlatan was with them (and incidentally Swedens biggest problem before he retired) was he was constantly out of position looking for the ball. There were numerous times where PSG would make a break only to find nobody in the box because Zlatan had gotten bored of waiting for the ball so made up his mind to go looking for it. Thats what this reminds me of. We cant break up the right effectively with our RW in the centre of the pitch so the opposition defense has an easy time marking our forwards.

[genome]

McCleary hasn't been the same since that back injury he sustained a few seasons ago. He looks knackered now - definitely not Championship level, that's for sure.

[Hound]

McCleary hasn't been the same since that back injury he sustained a few seasons ago. He looks knackered now - definitely not Championship level, that's for sure.

he was decent first half of last season. Prob our best player up until Christmas

[Hound]

Thats what this reminds me of. We cant break up the right effectively with our RW in the centre of the pitch so the opposition defense has an easy time marking our forwards.

yep exactly. And whats so odd, is it is so obviously an issue, why has it not been addressed? If you had two outlet balls on either wing, and even maybe a third if Dadi plays, we'd be so much more dangerous.

[Sutekh]

1. Hurlock - Terry Hurlock was a success but the club couldn't wait to sell him to Millwall as part of the great exercise to dismantle a successful team as quickly as possible and replace with worse players on the cheap
2. Moran - agreed, never really worked out, but think suffered from never really recovering from an earlier injury
3. Maskell - actually think Craig did OK after a slow start and may have done better if the club had been more on the up
4. Caskey - worth every penny in my book
5. Asaba - could have done more if the team had played more to his strengths, still managed to bag 13 goals despite clueless management. Not worth the fee paid but that wasn't for his lack of effort
6. Convey - Not worth the fee because of the injury that did for his last year or so
7. Lita - think Leroy was a success overall
8. Halford - really don't know what went on there, in and out quicker than hokey cokey on speed. While he was a waste of money believe he was actually sold for £250k profit
9. Fae - biggest bog up ever, got here and no-one ever played him though recall Kevin Dillon saying at a forum that Fae was brilliant in training....
10. Marriappa - I think he would have been worth the money but sold on quickly after relegation
11. Ilori - think he could be worth it but Stam rarely plays him so you do have to query why on earth they bothered to spend so much for someone to sit on the bench or in the stand on a matchday
12. Aluko - utter waste of money. Even if it was half of the denied £7.5 million this is one I just don't get. He's a good tricky little player that can cause big problems for defenders so long as he gets played on the wing but he seems to get told to play centrally or forever cuts inside if he is out wide. Then there's the tendency to put 99% of his final efforts into row Z and try to beat the same player 2/3 times

There's also Keith Curle who arrived for 150k in 1987 as the club realised the players they'd been trying to bring in on the cheap weren't actually good enough. He left for 500k a year later so have to say he was worth it.

Also Martin Butler for 750k in 2000. Definitely value for money I think.

Let's not forget that Chris Gunter was £2.5m, arriving at the same time as Mariappa, and I'd rate that as good value

On the other side of things Kevin Doyle and Shane Long for £78,000

Wonder how Dulwich would fare in the Irish League?

[muirinho]

1. Hurlock - Terry Hurlock was a success but the club couldn't wait to sell him to Millwall as part of the great exercise to dismantle a successful team as quickly as possible and replace with worse players on the cheap
2. Moran - agreed, never really worked out, but think suffered from never really recovering from an earlier injury
3. Maskell - actually think Craig did OK after a slow start and may have done better if the club had been more on the up
4. Caskey - worth every penny in my book
5. Asaba - could have done more if the team had played more to his strengths, still managed to bag 13 goals despite clueless management. Not worth the fee paid but that wasn't for his lack of effort
6. Convey - Not worth the fee because of the injury that did for his last year or so
7. Lita - think Leroy was a success overall
8. Halford - really don't know what went on there, in and out quicker than hokey cokey on speed. While he was a waste of money believe he was actually sold for £250k profit
9. Fae - biggest bog up ever, got here and no-one ever played him though recall Kevin Dillon saying at a forum that Fae was brilliant in training....
10. Marriappa - I think he would have been worth the money but sold on quickly after relegation
11. Ilori - think he could be worth it but Stam rarely plays him so you do have to query why on earth they bothered to spend so much for someone to sit on the bench or in the stand on a matchday
12. Aluko - utter waste of money. Even if it was half of the denied £7.5 million this is one I just don't get. He's a good tricky little player that can cause big problems for defenders so long as he gets played on the wing but he seems to get told to play centrally or forever cuts inside if he is out wide. Then there's the tendency to put 99% of his final efforts into row Z and try to beat the same player 2/3 times

There's also Keith Curle who arrived for 150k in 1987 as the club realised the players they'd been trying to bring in on the cheap weren't actually good enough. He left for 500k a year later so have to say he was worth it.

Also Martin Butler for 750k in 2000. Definitely value for money I think.

Let's not forget that Chris Gunter was £2.5m, arriving at the same time as Mariappa, and I'd rate that as good value

On the other side of things Kevin Doyle and Shane Long for £78,000

Wonder how Dulwich would fare in the Irish League?

I've watched a lot of League of Ireland. The big teams like Cork City and Dundalk are somewhere between L1 and L2. On their day, if they're up for it, they could beat an underperforming Championship team. Think FA Cup minnows stuff. But not consistently.

Northern Ireland league is probably lower, but I don't know for sure.

It's very unusual for a LOI transfer player to hit the ground running in a Championship team in the first season - generally takes a while to get going. Even if they never do though, it's still worth it for them financially. But a LOI player would have more to get used to because it's a change of countries, than, say, a L2 player

Getting in a non-league player is a gamble - but a cheap gamble. (Apart from possible effects on our academy players though)

[Hound]

That Daryl Horgan chap at PNE hasn't really torn it up, though think he is a solid player from the sound of things.. He was very rated in the Irish league

[paultheroyal]

Wouldn't want to do to him what we did to Antonio.

[RFCMod]

Brett Williams



i'll get my coat

[muirinho]

That Daryl Horgan chap at PNE hasn't really torn it up, though think he is a solid player from the sound of things.. He was very rated in the Irish league

Yes, that's what I'm saying, good players in the LOI would probably be solid in the Championship. Sean Maguire, also of PNE, is ex Cork City too. 5 goals in 15 games so far this season. For his first season over, that's decent.

[From Despair To Where?]

1. Hurlock - Terry Hurlock was a success but the club couldn't wait to sell him to Millwall as part of the great exercise to dismantle a successful team as quickly as possible and replace with worse players on the cheap
2. Moran - agreed, never really worked out, but think suffered from never really recovering from an earlier injury
3. Maskell - actually think Craig did OK after a slow start and may have done better if the club had been more on the up
4. Caskey - worth every penny in my book
5. Asaba - could have done more if the team had played more to his strengths, still managed to bag 13 goals despite clueless management. Not worth the fee paid but that wasn't for his lack of effort
6. Convey - Not worth the fee because of the injury that did for his last year or so
7. Lita - think Leroy was a success overall
8. Halford - really don't know what went on there, in and out quicker than hokey cokey on speed. While he was a waste of money believe he was actually sold for £250k profit
9. Fae - biggest bog up ever, got here and no-one ever played him though recall Kevin Dillon saying at a forum that Fae was brilliant in training....
10. Marriappa - I think he would have been worth the money but sold on quickly after relegation
11. Ilori - think he could be worth it but Stam rarely plays him so you do have to query why on earth they bothered to spend so much for someone to sit on the bench or in the stand on a matchday
12. Aluko - utter waste of money. Even if it was half of the denied £7.5 million this is one I just don't get. He's a good tricky little player that can cause big problems for defenders so long as he gets played on the wing but he seems to get told to play centrally or forever cuts inside if he is out wide. Then there's the tendency to put 99% of his final efforts into row Z and try to beat the same player 2/3 times

There's also Keith Curle who arrived for 150k in 1987 as the club realised the players they'd been trying to bring in on the cheap weren't actually good enough. He left for 500k a year later so have to say he was worth it.

Also Martin Butler for 750k in 2000. Definitely value for money I think.

Let's not forget that Chris Gunter was £2.5m, arriving at the same time as Mariappa, and I'd rate that as good value

On the other side of things Kevin Doyle and Shane Long for £78,000

Wonder how Dulwich would fare in the Irish League?

Fair enough assessments really. By one season wonders, I really meant either players who only made a significant impact in one season or players who only hung around for one season.

[Victor Meldrew]

It doesn’t matter if the signing worked or not, we still spent the money and smashed our transfer record, which kind of ruins your argument

Smashed our transfer record for the second time in 7 months.

As far back as I can remember (we're talking early 80's), our track record with spending big is pretty ropey.

I'm thinking:

Hurlock
Moran
Maskell
Caskey
Asaba
Convey
Lita
Halford
Fae
Marriappa
Ilori
Aluko.

Caskey is the only one not to have been a one season wonder or a complete waste of money.

I thought we made money on Hurlock.
I'll add one more for the downside list-Brett Williams .
I'm not against punts like this but surely Loader and Smith need some game time as we know both have ability but we don't know how much.

[maffff]

last 2 non league strikers we have signed did not st the world alight though (Manset and Liburd).

Manset wasn't signed from non league

[TiagoIlori]

I think it's too early to judge Ilori as well. With McShane on the decline and/or Moore leaving he could well become an important part of the team. Ilori put in some decent performances last season too (and some shit ones)

Aluko might even come good.

Aluko really is a McDermott type player with being a dodgy winger that caused a lot of problems, I think it’s our style of play that holds him back. However I do wish he put in the same effort as Barrow did, Barrow doesn’t know what the hell to do with the ball or how to shoot, but I still refuse to strongly criticise a player that truly tries his best every game

[Snowflake Royal]

Hi Kes. Welcome back.

Oh God, it's so obvious isn't it. And I missed it.

Thanks Stranded.

oxf*rd off Kes.