Thoughts & The window

[..Kya.ffc..]

Warning:

To some this post may be stating the obvious. As you lot I read the forum and some of it will simply recap some names who have been mentioned with a few additions. You may even end up with the feeling that you wasted a few minutes of your life or even worse = that it was a decent read witch that may lay the ground for you, to open the fridge grab a new beer and hope that the window will bring a late christmas present.

I missed our last game but today I will be ready to watch and hoping for a good performance from our boys! Coyw - we need it!!!

Thank you for reading
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After a brilliant start of the season, the latest run of games have show, that we should pick some weeds, mow the lawn and saw some new flowers.

In some positions we are very ageing and soon we have to bring in new players on these positions anyway, together with that fact that we lost a few players that did not get replaced in the summer window and that we as a squad, are preforming poorly at the moment, could be a signal of a very exciting or very fulhamish//frustrating window. No matter what is coming, we have to see at least a few players coming in.

I have been surprised that Jol have failed to give more of our young players a run in the first team. Kaca is the only one this season who have been given a chance to be in and around the first team on a regular basic.

I find this quite interesting as we have been using money in recent years to invest in our development of young players. A clear sign for the future. But in order to be able to be attractive to those young players should we not as a club have a manager who are willing to give them a chance to get some playing time and experience to show it is possible to get to the first team faster than perhaps at "bigger name" clubs. Perhaps they are not good enough? But 7 seats on the bench and yet rarely do we see any youth players there..

As jol came from Ajax a club where the next thought that comes to my mind is young players who get a chance, I would have expected to see some of the younger players getting more line and chances to be around the first team.

They are going to be our gold and concrete in the future and in order to make a good foundation, we have to give them a chance to fail, learn, show off and know they will not get "kicked back" out of the first team squad, just by not being perfect.

.Our back's:

The first thing of the transfer window for me is to sign Riether on perm contract. He have been solid and have been putting in some stable performances.

On our left we have Riise and for me he is a decent left back. When he was younger I always wanted to see what he could do further ahead on the field. Thought he may turn into a nice center mid but with age I guess a re-schooling would not make that much sense and perhaps there is a reason why it never did happen. He still have some in him but if Brigges is not going to be his replacement when time comes, then we should start looking for someone who can up the competition on left back, although this window should not be used on this as we have more pressing problems:  

.Center defence:

Our center defence is screaming for competition. Sanderos have proven that he is far from being able to compete even in a situation where Hughes and Hangeland both have been playing far from their best. Given their current form it would be ideal to sign someone who could challange and perhaps knock one of them off more or less from day one. We have been linked with Douglas(Twente) in the summer and I think most would like to see that happen, but he may well turn out to be too expensive at this given time due to the fact that we need to strengthen the squad in more positions than center defence. Personally I would love to see us signing a young center back, that could use the next half year to gel and by the start of next season secure a starting place.

That could be done by bringing in, Danish international and Fc Nordsjaelland center back Jores Okore. He may not be that cheap but he would certainly be cheaper than Douglas. My personal rating of his potential would be somewhere in between the his competition for the national spot of Daniel Agger and Simon kjaer. Okore is a very strong, whole hearted, humble, fairly fast and not afraid to play the ball type of defender. In the last week danish media been linking him to man utd, but I guess that smaller teams e.g. us could grab him as the road to the first team may be just a little easier and he seems to be someone who rates playing time well over wages.

We have also been linked with norwegin international Vegard Forren who may also be a accesable target in terms of price.
Inorder to raise additional cash for a center back deal a sale of Sanderos should be expected and something the club should push fore, as he brings nothing a new player would not bring to the table.

Depending on Hangelands situation, we may end up in a situation where it would be wise of the club to bring in two center backs in january. If he is not going to sign a contract with us before then end of the window then a sale in january may be in the cards to fund replacements.

Douglas/Okore/Forren would all be more than welcome.


From defence on to Midfield - To kick that off, a few words about our summer surprise is needed.

Berbatov:

He is faster in thinking and act than almost all of our players and he can become a real bonus, but right now it seem like his presence is a pillow for the rest of the team. It is fine to have attitude but to display almost disgust every time anyone in the team makes a small mistake or try to take matters in there own hands insted of playing him, is destroying the other players empowerment and passion to do great for the club. He is a rolemodel and can bring so much to the team if he would just use his frustration and try to build up the players around him. instead it is cracking the opportunistic rebellion that a team who is not preforming well, may express.

This may seem like a Berbatov rant and in some essence it is but I must also say that I have been really impressed with him since he signed. Attitude aside I think he have been working hard and doing his best under the circumstances that Jol have used him and how the team in general have performed. It is wonderful that we got him but we need Berbatov to be up front and not worry so much about being the fulcrum of every attacking play we make, but instead he needs to be at the end of them.  

Therefor we need to strengthen our midfield:

.Center Mid:

Even though I see the situation with our center defence as problematic and something that can turn out to be very problematic in near future there is no question our midfield is the one nut to crack right here right now.

Creative, forward moving, fast thinking is all skills that are lacking for our current center mids.

Kasami and Frei(although i do not see him as a clear CM) are not rated by Jol and it seems as they are far from the lineup. Both players I would love to see at least on the bench as they could provide some youth spirit, will and  carefree "i'm gonna show everyone what I can do" mentallity. If we are going to bet on them in the future then we should offer them playing time now and then.

Then we have Baird who have had a mixed season so far. I guess it have proven that he lacks a little stability and quallity to be more than a lovely squard player and sub.

Karagounis, 35 and do not really have a long term future at the club although I appreciate his contribution so far this season.

That leaves us with Diarra and sidwell.

James McCarthy, Jordan Hendersson, Gylfi Sigurdsson are among those who have been mentioned on this broad and to be fair, I would like to seen any of those move here - I do however find it unlikely to some extend as the price tag would be high in terms of fee and wages. However I am struggling to find better targets myself in terms of realistic and improvements. One thing is for sure
We will have to sign someone in January. We can hope we will be able to pull one of them of.

Some would say that Ruiz with his improved physical ability could be re-schooled but I do not see him doing a Dembele and It would be ashame to have a promising partnership with Berbatov wasted. Even if it happende we still need creative cover inorder to be competitive in the future.

.Striker:

Bringing in a striker will leave us less vulnerable for the future if it ends up not working out with Berbatov. A smart move from Jol to close the gap beforehand I must say.
If it turns out to be the case Berbatov would make an excellent part in a exchange deal and he could allow us to get a good player in return without us having to pay big for it.

A lot of talk have been going on about us and Derren Bent(Aston Villa). If it comes down to it I would take him. As Jol was out saying and as we all know, we are a club that have to be somewhat opportunistic when it comes to transferes. Derren Bent could turn out to be an excellent addition to the squad in terms of price and quality. Plus I guess he would like to end his Villa dilemma asap.

So if we are going to bring a striker in, then John Guidetti(Man C) is a player I very much would like. I must admit I lost a little track of his development and recovery since he got sick but I still remember him when he was in Feyenoord, absolutely lethal.

Then there is Danny Graham(Swansea). Who seems a little out of favor by Michael laudrup and their playing style. Perhaps he would make a good addition if he is cheap enough?