Tom Cairney

[Northern Cottager]

Sky Sports News now reporting that he is having a medical at Fulham.

Wahey!!

[FPT]

And now on the Sky Sports ticker. Now a waiting game.

[MJG]

Closer than you think

Only four days late

[FPT]

That's not Tom Cairney by the way.

[FPT]

Could be Patrick Roberts though...

:drums:

[Haynes]

Sticking with Blackburn, Sky sources also understand midfielder Tom Cairney is having a medical with Fulham this afternoon.

[Tonywa]

Could be Patrick Roberts though...

:drums:

Looks much too old for Roberts!

[grandad]

I bet he passes the infamous medical & will then be out for the season with an ingrown toe nail.

[Lighthouse]

Well I hope this isn't the same medical he was reported by some to be having three days ago. No wonder our players are injured when we sign them.

[Wimbledon_White]

If only there was somewhere on this forum to talk about this signing already!!!
;-)

[twang]

Something has just occured to me. Given our signing of Ben Pringle, in addition to this one with Tom Cairney, we MUST be getting rid of the diamond

Really? I'm definitely not ruling out the following midfield, as long as Kit is in charge:

Parker
LVC - Pringle
Cairney

[ToodlesMcToot]

Something has just occured to me. Given our signing of Ben Pringle, in addition to this one with Tom Cairney, we MUST be getting rid of the diamond

Really? I'm definitely not ruling out the following midfield, as long as Kit is in charge:

Parker
LVC - Pringle
Cairney

Nothing wrong with some form of the diamond. You just have to have proper players in each position who are able to and know how to play their positions. If not, there's just no way to consistently impose your game on the varying approaches of the opposition.

At the same time, you also need players who allow a manager some tactical flexibility if things aren't working. We definitely did not have that last season.

[Wimbledon_White]

Something has just occured to me. Given our signing of Ben Pringle, in addition to this one with Tom Cairney, we MUST be getting rid of the diamond

Really? I'm definitely not ruling out the following midfield, as long as Kit is in charge:

Parker
LVC - Pringle
Cairney

Hmmm would it be?

Pringle LVC Parker Cairney

Left to Right.

Thoughts?

[HillingdonFFC]

Cairney wants to play in the middle, I reckon thats one of the conditions. Apparently hes very unhappy out wide

[cookieg]

And now on the Sky Sports ticker. Now a waiting game.

He looks very young. Is he one for the future??

[twang]

Something has just occured to me. Given our signing of Ben Pringle, in addition to this one with Tom Cairney, we MUST be getting rid of the diamond

Really? I'm definitely not ruling out the following midfield, as long as Kit is in charge:

Parker
LVC - Pringle
Cairney

Nothing wrong with some form of the diamond. You just have to have proper players in each position who are able to and know how to play their positions. If not, there's just no way to consistently impose your game on the varying approaches of the opposition.

At the same time, you also need players who allow a manager some tactical flexibility if things aren't working. We definitely did not have that last season.

Totally agree, it wasn't a swipe at the diamond - more of Kit's apparent obsession to use it when we didn't have the tools to do it.

If used right, I think it's a great formation that offers plenty of options. But, as you say, you need players that are suited for it and who knows their positions.
And importantly good fullbacks that are comfortable both when attacking and defending, as they will get exposed more than in most other formations.
Except for LVC, and maybe Ruiz, we had neither last season.

Regardless of what formation we'll use this season I want us to sign a strong defensive minded midfielder, but I also think that Parker can still offer something if he's ordered to do next to nothing but protect the back four instead of pretending to be the player he was five years ago.

[Craven Mad]

The only thing I really read from the combined Pringle and [likely] Cairney signings is that the club recognises two areas of weakness (CM and wide players) and also the broader need for football league experience and creativity in our squad.

According to whoscored.com, in the Championship, Pringle created the 5th most chances per minute and Cairney was 9th. If we get O'Hara, he was 2nd. The best in our existing squad was Ross in 20th - which kind of tells a story in itself; he was the one we relied on to score, but he was the only one really capable of giving the sort of service he needed...

I don't think we'll be able to tell anything about formation until a few more deals are done and friendlies begin.

[MJG]

I'm thinking we are looking more at 451/433/4231 all about getting three in the middle.

[gang]

If he's having a medical at Fulham that only takes 5 minutes; look left, cough, ok sign here.

[Rhys Lightning 63]

I'm thinking we are looking more at 451/433/4231 all about getting three in the middle.

But then how do we get the gruesome twosome of Smith and McCormack up top together? Unless Ross plays #10 in the 4231, I can't see it