Transfer gossip.

[Canaryboy]

Agree there is simply no need to sell in January, another that can wait until summer.

I'd rather Snodgrass than Townsend though, and that Traore kid at Villa looks tasty. Came from Barcelona. 

 

[Lavanche]

Skysports says Pinto deal is almost sure. Should be solid right back if he can adapt. At his best age and mostly known for his defending capabilities so good addition if true.

Interesting to see will AN drop Martin and what we do with Wisdom now.

 

[It's Character Forming]

Rudd's done well, but he's not the finished product by any means. Great shot stopper but needs to improve his decision making on crosses and through balls. Bennett got him out of jail on Saturday when he froze on his line instead of coming to collect a ball that should have been his and he was all over the place with high balls at Spurs. He has the makings of a very good keeper but there's a bit of a League of Gentleman hype growing around him at present. So far his mistakes haven't cost goals and long may that continue, but it doesn't mean he doesn't make them.

Rudd not perfect but IMO he's been an improvement on how Ruddy has been playing this season and last as well TBH.  He's been making saves at full stretch and that has become a weakness for Ruddy.  But what lost the place for Ruddy was when he started making repeated errors which cost goals.  No goalie is perfect but under Rudd so far that hasn't happened, which is why we've had clean sheets.  Way too early though to sell Ruddy, but I'd agree that if he's still second choice come end of the season, it would probably make sense on both sides for him to move on.

Pinto signing sounds promising.  The main area I want to see a signing is at CB though.  An upgrade on Basso and I'll be happy with the window TBH.  Someone at striker or just off like Naismith would be icing on the cake.

 

[Number 9]

Pinto is being announced on the radio today, although not quite confirmed officially yet.

Transfer wise, when players are brought in, we have to trust the manager that it will work, we struggle to second guess what team / will be for upcoming games let alone how he sees new players fitting in.

 

[Canaryboy]

Interesting to see will AN drop Martin and what we do with Wisdom now.

Could be the last we see of Whittaker? 

 

[Canaryboy]

Never heard of Ivo Pinto to be honest, not even in Football Manager world, he got a Portugal call up in 2014 so can surely play a little.

Interesting that he is as tall as Whittaker, has anybody ever seen him play? Can he get forward? Does he have pace?

 

[ZLF]

most importantly can he defend?

 

[eatonparkboy]

If he signs and so to does Naismith, that will be two players in positions that I don't believe to be crisis ones.

Surely we are going to sign, and I know it is not as easy as it sounds, a goalscorer and central defender. We don't have cover at CB, we have a bicycle repair kit and we still need someone to lift us from the poor number of attempts on target or else just save the money.

 

[Lavanche]

As I said Pinto has been better at defending than going forward, but has decent delivery on wide areas. Not fastest fullback, but nowhere near slow as Martin and has good engine to run trough the game. 

Have to see how he can adapt to Premier League, but has been good in national team and Champions League. Only time will tell gow he manages, but all the signs are there that we get decent RB who should be fit this league, if not anything too special.

If the price is mentioned 2,2 millions, it sounds very low risk signing.

----------

I have intended to comment Rudd and Ruddy and Naismith, but somehow forgotten.

In my opinion there shouldn't be question about Ruddy's future this season. If he wants out during the summer and Rudd still seems like a decent choise we should let him go, but during the winter window without very good price early of the window not a good idea to let him go.  

Rudd has been good, but he still seems to be little nervy and makes few poor choises per game. In long run it can be costly if he doesnt found the confidence and get used to the league tempo.

I'm not too happy if we sign Naismith. Hard worker etc, but not good alone and not creative enough to play in the pocket. Could work as a winger, but I would prefer Jarvis, Redmond and Brady. He could replace Grabban as more mobile striker option, but we havent seen AN use him too much and I suppose we wouldn't get him only for depth reasons.

Hopefuly we wont go for 4411 without creative player in the middle.

 

[Din]

Wouldn't want Townsend at all, massively over-rated just because he scored a couple of decent goals for England. We'd be silly to sell Redmond this window as although he's inconsistant (as most attacking players his age are), when he's on form he's our best player. Don't think he will go either.

Don't know anything about Pinto, is he definitely an upgrade on the right backs we already have? No point bringing in a 4th right back if he's no better than any of the others. Guess this also makes way for Whittaker/Wisdom to leave. Shame as Whittaker is probably our best right back at going forward but is useless defensively, and Wisdom is probably our best right back defensively but isn't great going forward. Won't be sad to see either of them go really.

 

[Canaryboy]

Wouldn't want Townsend at all, massively over-rated just because he scored a couple of decent goals for England. 

Agreed, he's top Championship / Lower Prem until he can prove otherwise. 

If I were asked to name five players who are evidence that it is too easy to get England caps these days then he'd definitely be one of the five I'd put forward.

Also, he's a left footed right winger so cuts in like Snodgrass did, only he simply doesn't score many goals. Literally the only justification that you could have for creating less clear cut chances for your striker by playing inside forwards is if they can make up with it by scoring plenty of goals themselves. 

At risk of sounding like a skipping record here, but if we were insistent on signing a left footed inside forward on the right flank then I'd choose giving Hull their £7m back and taking Snodgrass. 

 

[Canaryboy]

That said, I said that Jarvis was rubbish and he's looked decent for us so what I do know. 

 

[GJP]

How overrated is Townsend if people think he's overrated?

I think he'd be a very decent signing for a club like us.

 

[Canaryboy]

How overrated is Townsend if people think he's overrated?

I think he'd be a very decent signing for a club like us.

Probably right.

In the summer I suggested Glen Johnson and people scoffed. 

But there is a world of difference between performing for Liverpool and performing for Norwich, the levels of expectations and pressure associated is world's apart.

We see Redmond as one of our star players, but no guarantee he'd successfully be able to hold down a place at a club like Spurs or Liverpool, in fact there's a very good chance that he wouldn't be able to and he'd end up back at a Stoke or West Brom. 

Perhaps by turning our noses up at Townsend we're being unrealistic, and perhaps he'd perform better if he simply played more football. 

Would still want a hefty slice of change left over though in the hypothetical scenario that we sold Redmond and replaced with Townsend. 

 

[morty]

 

[Canaryboy]

I reckon it will be Lafferty to Leeds, Steve Evans confirmed that he was working hard to try and make that happen. 

 

[Number 9]

Exciting times

 

[Beauseant]

Interesting to see that Kone's move from L'Orient to Sunderland has just broken down

 

[morty]

Interesting to see that Kone's move from L'Orient to Sunderland has just broken down

Indeed. I think signing our centre back soon would settle a lot of folk down. I think thats the most important piece of business this window.

 

[Number 9]

Jake kean to Colchester on loan, wasn't expecting that