Andreu is back

[Tetteys Jig 830]

http://rotherhamadvertiser.co.uk/sport/101193/millers-farewell-to-andreu.aspx?

Any future for him here?

He started out pretty poor at Rotherham but has been in blistering form the last couple of weeks. It''d be interesting to see him feature on Saturday in my book.

[Clint 221]

This is an odd one as he seemed to be either brilliant or dreadful for Rotherham so whether they want to keep him or not is anyone''s guess!

I can''t see him getting anywhere near the team here.

[The ghost of Michael Theoklitos 0]

I think the most surprising thing from that link is that Andreu is in Neil''s plans. How many centre-mids do we need?Let me do a head count.TetteyO''NeilHowsonVOOHoolihanMulumbuDorransNow Andreu as well. Plus the rumours about Naysmith.We can only play 2, 3 at a time.Someone being sold?

[PurpleCanary 5,553]

[quote user="The ghost of Michael Theoklitos"]I think the most surprising thing from that link is that Andreu is in Neil''s plans. How many centre-mids do we need?Let me do a head count.TetteyO''NeilHowsonVOOHoolihanMulumbuDorransNow Andreu as well. Plus the rumours about Naysmith.We can only play 2, 3 at a time.Someone being sold?[/quote]That is a statement unsupported by anything such as a quote from Neil, and may just be the Rotherham journalist making an assumption that because we are taking Andreu back that means he is earmarked for the 25-man squad. It may be we are only keeping our options open, with the likelihood he gets loaned out again. Bear in mind that, unlike Elliott Bennett and Hooper, who were named in the summer 25, Andreu was not.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

[quote user="Clint"]This is an odd one as he seemed to be either brilliant or dreadful for Rotherham so whether they want to keep him or not is anyone''s guess!

I can''t see him getting anywhere near the team here.[/quote]

By all means, they sound unanimously disappointed to see him go. They''d have him back in a snap. It''s us that want him back for whatever reason. I wonder if we''re cashing in or whether we''re actually going to think of him as back up to Wes.

You list all those midfielders, but really, Andreu is competing for the front three midfield positions with the likes of Redmond, Vadis and Wes.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="The ghost of Michael Theoklitos"]I think the most surprising thing from that link is that Andreu is in Neil''s plans. How many centre-mids do we need?Let me do a head count.TetteyO''NeilHowsonVOOHoolihanMulumbuDorransNow Andreu as well. Plus the rumours about Naysmith.We can only play 2, 3 at a time.Someone being sold?[/quote]That is a statement unsupported by anything such as a quote from Neil, and may just be the Rotherham journalist making an assumption that because we are taking Andreu back that means he is earmarked for the 25-man squad. It may be we are only keeping our options open, with the likelihood he gets loaned out again. Bear in mind that, unlike Elliott Bennett and Hooper, who were named in the summer 25, Andreu was not.[/quote]

The quote "we fully understand Norwich''s reasons..." from the manager is the telling part.

[Clint 221]

I suppose that''s why I think it''s an odd one TJ. When he plays he seems to be involved in a number of their goals etc but then there''s been a few games where he''s been subbed really early or not featured at all. Either he''s extremely inconsistent or Rotherham operate a serious squad rotation policy, which I doubt the latter is the case (although the same does seem to be happening with Toffolo).

So it must be that when he''s good, he''s really that good he''s worth keeping, which outweighs the days he doesn''t seem to turn up at all.

[PurpleCanary 5,553]

[quote user="Tetteys Jig"][quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="The ghost of Michael Theoklitos"]I think the most surprising thing from that link is that Andreu is in Neil''s plans. How many centre-mids do we need?Let me do a head count.TetteyO''NeilHowsonVOOHoolihanMulumbuDorransNow Andreu as well. Plus the rumours about Naysmith.We can only play 2, 3 at a time.Someone being sold?[/quote]That is a statement unsupported by anything such as a quote from Neil, and may just be the Rotherham journalist making an assumption that because we are taking Andreu back that means he is earmarked for the 25-man squad. It may be we are only keeping our options open, with the likelihood he gets loaned out again. Bear in mind that, unlike Elliott Bennett and Hooper, who were named in the summer 25, Andreu was not.[/quote]

The quote "we fully understand Norwich''s reasons..." from the manager is the telling part.[/quote]Not necessarily telling at all. "Norwich''s reasons" may well just be Neil wanting Andreu back in case various potential deals fall through and we end up with an unexpected spare place in the squad that he might as well take, even though he will be last in the central midfield pecking order.

[93vintage 16]

It might be that AN wants to sell him, say to another Champs side (eg Leeds?). There was talk somewhere about him possibly selling fringe players in this window.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

[quote user="Clint"]I suppose that''s why I think it''s an odd one TJ. When he plays he seems to be involved in a number of their goals etc but then there''s been a few games where he''s been subbed really early or not featured at all. Either he''s extremely inconsistent or Rotherham operate a serious squad rotation policy, which I doubt the latter is the case (although the same does seem to be happening with Toffolo).

So it must be that when he''s good, he''s really that good he''s worth keeping, which outweighs the days he doesn''t seem to turn up at all.[/quote]

That''s the type of player he is though, a diminutive number 10. The same happens with Wes and even with Messi (although less frequent!). They are often marked out of the game or the opposition is playing better and they don''t get time and space to work their magic.

[morty 0]

[quote user="9Зvintage"]It might be that AN wants to sell him, say to another Champs side (eg Leeds?). There was talk somewhere about him possibly selling fringe players in this window.[/quote]That gets my vote. Whilst we need to up the quality of our squad there are a fair few players on the fringes that we may as well try and get some money for.When we bought last season I don''t think we fully expected to get promoted.

[The ghost of Michael Theoklitos 0]

[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="Tetteys Jig"][quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="The ghost of Michael Theoklitos"]I think the most surprising thing from that link is that Andreu is in Neil''s plans. How many centre-mids do we need?Let me do a head count.TetteyO''NeilHowsonVOOHoolihanMulumbuDorransNow Andreu as well. Plus the rumours about Naysmith.We can only play 2, 3 at a time.Someone being sold?[/quote]That is a statement unsupported by anything such as a quote from Neil, and may just be the Rotherham journalist making an assumption that because we are taking Andreu back that means he is earmarked for the 25-man squad. It may be we are only keeping our options open, with the likelihood he gets loaned out again. Bear in mind that, unlike Elliott Bennett and Hooper, who were named in the summer 25, Andreu was not.[/quote]

The quote "we fully understand Norwich''s reasons..." from the manager is the telling part.[/quote]Not necessarily telling at all. "Norwich''s reasons" may well just be Neil wanting Andreu back in case various potential deals fall through and we end up with an unexpected spare place in the squad that he might as well take, even though he will be last in the central midfield pecking order.[/quote]I think you might be right Purple. I guess we''ll know more by end of business on Feb 2nd.

[The ghost of Michael Theoklitos 0]

[quote user="Tetteys Jig"][quote user="Clint"]This is an odd one as he seemed to be either brilliant or dreadful for Rotherham so whether they want to keep him or not is anyone''s guess!

I can''t see him getting anywhere near the team here.[/quote]

By all means, they sound unanimously disappointed to see him go. They''d have him back in a snap. It''s us that want him back for whatever reason. I wonder if we''re cashing in or whether we''re actually going to think of him as back up to Wes.

You list all those midfielders, but really, Andreu is competing for the front three midfield positions with the likes of Redmond, Vadis and Wes.[/quote]True,But excluding Redmond, who''s probably going to spend more time on the wing,  if we have Wes, VOO, Andreu, We can only play one of them.Interesting times.

[The ghost of Michael Theoklitos 0]

The 25 player squad that Andreu is not named in - Does anyone know if that is just for the league?I''m assuming he''d still be eligible to play this weekend in the cup. Is that correct?

[Tetteys Jig 830]

If footy manager is anything to go by, the 25 man squad is for the league only.

Was Andreu loaned out before the squad deadline as opposed to the others? That would explain the registration thing.

[Feedthewolf 4,844]

[quote user="9Зvintage"]It might be that AN wants to sell him, say to another Champs side (eg Leeds?). There was talk somewhere about him possibly selling fringe players in this window.[/quote]This. Benno was on loan at Bristol City until recently – guess Blackburn were happy to pay what we were asking, and City weren''t (or didn''t want him). If Rotherham can''t afford him on a permanent and someone else wants him who has the cash...

[PurpleCanary 5,553]

[quote user="The ghost of Michael Theoklitos"][quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="Tetteys Jig"][quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="The ghost of Michael Theoklitos"]I think the most surprising thing from that link is that Andreu is in Neil''s plans. How many centre-mids do we need?Let me do a head count.TetteyO''NeilHowsonVOOHoolihanMulumbuDorransNow Andreu as well. Plus the rumours about Naysmith.We can only play 2, 3 at a time.Someone being sold?[/quote]That is a statement unsupported by anything such as a quote from Neil, and may just be the Rotherham journalist making an assumption that because we are taking Andreu back that means he is earmarked for the 25-man squad. It may be we are only keeping our options open, with the likelihood he gets loaned out again. Bear in mind that, unlike Elliott Bennett and Hooper, who were named in the summer 25, Andreu was not.[/quote]

The quote "we fully understand Norwich''s reasons..." from the manager is the telling part.[/quote]Not necessarily telling at all. "Norwich''s reasons" may well just be Neil wanting Andreu back in case various potential deals fall through and we end up with an unexpected spare place in the squad that he might as well take, even though he will be last in the central midfield pecking order.[/quote]I think you might be right Purple. I guess we''ll know more by end of business on Feb 2nd.[/quote]In terms of numbers, we have 23 in the squad now. Pinto and a central defender would take us to 25. To accommodate one or more new strikers we would have to offload an equivalent number. To accommodate Andreu as well we would have to offload more than we bring in.

[norfolkngood 1,086]

this one is a funny one as AN knew the player better than anyone better than any scout report as he had him at his last club ,

yet he is maybe one of his worst signings very much doubt he will ever make a place in the first team his own

wonders why he bought him

[Lessingham Canary 99]

Think AN overestimated him when he brought him down from Accies, glad he didn''t keep trying to make him fit. Maybe he could go back to Accies and help them with their own survival fight.

[Essjayess 307]

Maybe Andreu can be loaned out again who knows. Ya 23 right now, if Mr. Pinto signs its 24. OF course we look at Grabban, Hooper (who also returns in a few days) and Lafferty and its just a guessing game with those 3. I would be surprised to see all 3 leave this window, but also surprised if all 3 stay. Its all down to Alex and co. finding a player and being pretty darn sure they will join, for sure he wont let to many leave and see us left in the lurch with a squad of 21 or whatever. Feels like donkeys years have we been talking about Laffs, Hooper and Grabban, and lets not forget the loaned out Ricky, yet here we are, all of them still Norwich players, 4 strikers who seem superglued to NCFC.

[chicken 0]

The 25 man squad from the season kick off I believe:

25 Squad players (*=Home grown)

1) Bassong Nguena, Sebastian Aymar

2) *Bennett, Elliott

3) *Bennett, Ryan

4) *Brady, Robert

5) Dorrans, Graham

6) *Grabban, Lewis James

7) Hoolahan, Wesley

8) *Hooper, Gary

9) *Howson, Jonathan Mark

10) *Jarvis, Matthew Thomas

11) *Kean, Jacob Kendall

12) *Lafferty, Kyle

13) *Martin, Russell Kenneth Alexander

14) Mbokani Bezua, Dieudonne

15) Mulumbu, Youssouf

16) *O''Neil, Gary Paul

17) Odjidja Ofoe, Vadis

18) *Olsson, Martin Tony Waikwa

19) *Rana-Jerome, Cameron Zishan

20) *Rudd, Declan

21) *Ruddy, John Thomas Gordon

22) Tettey, Alexander

23) Whittaker, Steven

24) *Wisdom, Andre

Then you have the likes of Turner and RVW who were not named.

So as purple states, we have 23 players currently with Elliot Bennett moving to Blackburn.

It''s very easy to suggest where we need strengthening but I would wonder about players leaving as well. We can clearly afford to lose a striker before having to get to the point of getting one in to replace them.

Jerome and Mbokani are currently battling for that lone striker role. Grabban is more highly thought of, it would appear, than Hooper or Lafferty. Five at this point is a bit much if we continue in the same vein with a lone striker.

I can see two of them moving on if we sign another striker. Four is about right if they all offer something a bit different - ie could play in behind as one of two, or out wide if needed.

If we sign Pinto, I imagine that we wouldn''t look to sort out the over stock of full backs in that are unless we had the option of another - such as Byram, who can play wing or full back. At which point we''d either end Wisdom''s loan or look to shift Whittaker.

I suppose it also depends upon solving the demand for a CB. If we can get one in then there is an argument that Martin would offer cover at CB and RB.

And then where else? CM is well stocked so I think we would have to lose one to make way. And who out of that lot? I doubt we''ll look there until the summer. Especially with Odija coming back into the picture.

For me, the other position that has been overlooked at times is right wing, Redmond doesn''t really have any direct competition and when you compare it to the other flank where we have three solid and relatively fast players in Brady, Jervis and Olsson - comparatively it looks a bit short. However, it would appear that Odija is comfortable there as well so is covering that eventuality as well.

It really is a case of a couple of ''must haves'' for me - once they are brought in, only then can we truly look to improve the squad.

Happily it would appear that central defence and right full back are what we are looking at primarily. These would be the two primary issues for me as we have been caught short there in terms of depth of squad IMHO.

I''d be more than happy with Naismith as well, he can play in the Wes role or wide or alongside Jerome or Mbokani.

That would be the three in terms of priority for me. Anything on top of that would be a bonus. It seems like the first time we have a squad where I feel we can genuinely look to improve upon but in nearly all positions but don''t have to do so desperately giving what we already have at the managers disposal.

[Dr Greenthumb 746]

Jake Kean is out on loan

[PurpleCanary 5,553]

[quote user="Paris aint German"]Jake Kean is out on loan[/quote]I am not sure what your point is.

[Indy 3,283]

He''s just not that good and was more a gamble buy from Hamilton.

Can''t see he''ll be part of the 25 come Feb, more likely sold off.

Vadis looks like he''s finally going to get a run with O''Neil, Howson, Dorrans, Redmond and Redders all capable of pushing Ito Wes''s role if needed he''s a luxury not really needed.

Looks like AN is having a clear out and selling rather than loaning, a good thing.

[Dr Greenthumb 746]

It''s an additional space in the squad listing that you have put up, that''s my point

[Mr Jenkins 0]

Lessingham Canary wrote the following post at 07/01/2016 2:06 PM:

"Think AN overestimated him when he brought him down from Accies"

I agree with this, shows what a steep learning curve AN has had. Alex is doing a remarkable job when you consider where he has come from and the relatively short time he has been here.

[peter-plastic 0]

Jake kean, as things stand, is out on loan for just 28 days, while the window is open. This has no effect on spaces in the 25 because basically while the window is open anyone can play, including Andreu. Of course, if Kean remained out on loan after the window closes we''d either still have him in the 25 with a call back clause , or would have bought in another gk in the squad. So purple''s point is right, it has no bearing at the moment on the 25 man squad. The number of Places in the squad is really dependent on who from the first 25 man squad (well 24 in our case)we know won''t be here after the window. At the moment that is just EB. In kean''s case unless someone has inside knowledge, we don''t know.

[daly 499]

1 million pound dud