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NeymarSmith

The left back topic

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So this is following a piece written by Connor southwell on this morning's pink un.

For those of you who will read this and then moan or give such an engaging comment and knowledgeable insight such as "I'll let the club identify targets," or "it's not my job to find the obscure gem in Europe" then please take your Christmas spirit and post on another thread.

So, basically, as per the article, considering we are playing a midfielder at left back (and yes, Sorenson has played really well) and with Sam McCallum due to stay out on loan, with doubts about Xavi perhaps beings a long term crock, and with sam Bryan back running (apparently hasn't got past this part for months) but ultimately still a liability, would you go out and buy (or loan.if you wish) someone to play leftback? And if so, who would you go out and get? Sensible answers only please. 😉

 

May I suggest in no order: 

Danny rose (loan, if we can afford his sort of wages or he cuts himself a deal)

Brandan Williams (apparently available to loan, but I guess United may wish for a premier club to take him)

George Cox. 22year old Englishman, former Brighton academy product playing for fortuna. Making waves as attacking full back by all accounts and wanted by Bristol city and Espanol. May well be comparatively cheap, helps our HGQ and he may well be encouraged to join us (kudos to what we do for youth players!) We may well be in a good bargaining position with them as so called friends.

Jonjo Kenny. Everton, maybe on loan? Was playing in Germany with Wagner last year so may fit into the style we have here?

Da Silva. The young  Bristol city defender. Think he is strong, fast and athletic. Played well against us and may well be worth investing in.

Luke woolfenden. Just in spite. 😉

I would love to hear your thoughts or other targets

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Like the sound of George Cox but only to buy. Not much point loaning someone in to replace someone loaned out. 

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If we have a recall option then bringing back Sam is a no-brainer. My cousin is a Coventry fan and raves about him and he's ours. If he can slot in and do a job he could become our Jamal Lewis and continue there if we make the Premier League. That's got to be preferable to taking on a loan that would leave us millions in the hole if we wanted to make them permanent next season.

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I think it's clear we need a left back.

I've never seen him play but I'm basing this on his CV, but what about Max Clark? Vitesse signed him from Hull in 2018 for around £400k. He's 24 now and after having done well in the Netherlands, he was apparently linked with Leicester and Palace over the summer.

Should be within our range and budget, and fits 'the model'.

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20 minutes ago, canarydan23 said:

If we have a recall option then bringing back Sam is a no-brainer. My cousin is a Coventry fan and raves about him and he's ours. If he can slot in and do a job he could become our Jamal Lewis and continue there if we make the Premier League. That's got to be preferable to taking on a loan that would leave us millions in the hole if we wanted to make them permanent next season.

The problem is Norwich or more importantly Daniel do not think he is good enough to nail down the left back position just yet. 

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I'd like to see Stiepermann there - I don't like seeing him played out of position at 9 or 10.

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I'd be uncomfortable bringing Sam back,

It seems the obviously answer but he clearly wasn't faniced in the Summer so whats changed?

Brandon Williams stands out head and shoulders from that list.

We need a left back, we need that balance back.

Were also getting to a point were Sorensen is looking that good, that hes actually wasted at LB.

 

 

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Sorensen had done a fair job, but that side does look a weakness as it’s not his proper role.  It isn’t just about him, though - if he gets injured we are right back to the bare bones: he’s effectively the backup for the back up.  If we don’t at the very least call back Sam from Coventry then something is very strange.

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12 minutes ago, Fuzzar said:

I'd like to see Stiepermann there - I don't like seeing him played out of position at 9 or 10.

That's meant to be ironic, right?

 

6 minutes ago, CDMullins said:

Brandon Williams stands out head and shoulders from that list.

Apparently Southampton are interested in taking him on loan, so he might be out of range.

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1 hour ago, NeymarSmith said:

So this is following a piece written by Connor southwell on this morning's pink un.

For those of you who will read this and then moan or give such an engaging comment and knowledgeable insight such as "I'll let the club identify targets," or "it's not my job to find the obscure gem in Europe" then please take your Christmas spirit and post on another thread.

So, basically, as per the article, considering we are playing a midfielder at left back (and yes, Sorenson has played really well) and with Sam McCallum due to stay out on loan, with doubts about Xavi perhaps beings a long term crock, and with sam Bryan back running (apparently hasn't got past this part for months) but ultimately still a liability, would you go out and buy (or loan.if you wish) someone to play leftback? And if so, who would you go out and get? Sensible answers only please. 😉

 

May I suggest in no order: 

Danny rose (loan, if we can afford his sort of wages or he cuts himself a deal)

Brandan Williams (apparently available to loan, but I guess United may wish for a premier club to take him)

George Cox. 22year old Englishman, former Brighton academy product playing for fortuna. Making waves as attacking full back by all accounts and wanted by Bristol city and Espanol. May well be comparatively cheap, helps our HGQ and he may well be encouraged to join us (kudos to what we do for youth players!) We may well be in a good bargaining position with them as so called friends.

Jonjo Kenny. Everton, maybe on loan? Was playing in Germany with Wagner last year so may fit into the style we have here?

Da Silva. The young  Bristol city defender. Think he is strong, fast and athletic. Played well against us and may well be worth investing in.

Luke woolfenden. Just in spite. 😉

I would love to hear your thoughts or other targets

 

Danny Rose = No chance, he's on £60k a week. 

Brandon Williams = No chance if its true Southampton want him.

George Cox = No idea, never heard of him.

Jonjo Kenny = He's a right back.

Jay Da Silva = Surely be very expensive to steal a rivals left back in mid-season?

Luke Woolfendeen = I like him as a player, but he's right footed and predominantly a centre back who can fill in at right back.

 

I agree with the other poster above, the answer is very simple... Sam McCallum. 

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24 minutes ago, CDMullins said:

I'd be uncomfortable bringing Sam back,

It seems the obviously answer but he clearly wasn't faniced in the Summer so whats changed?

Brandon Williams stands out head and shoulders from that list.

We need a left back, we need that balance back.

Were also getting to a point were Sorensen is looking that good, that hes actually wasted at LB.

 

 

I don't think Sam wasn't fancied- i just think it was more they didn't want him playing second fiddle for most of the season. Xavi's injury hopefully changes that.

If they think he's better suited to spending the rest of the season on loan then I'd think it might be worth looking at Max Lowe who is currently out of favour at Sheffield United or, maybe too ambitious, Joe Bryan who has found himself second fiddle at Fulham despite being excellent last season.

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McCallum all day long. If they're raving about him at Coventry and we've got the option, use it.

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51 minutes ago, Fuzzar said:

I'd like to see Stiepermann there - I don't like seeing him played out of position at 9 or 10.

Naughty............................

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8 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

McCallum all day long. If they're raving about him at Coventry and we've got the option, use it.

The argument from the Pinkun guy seems to be to leave him as he’s getting game time, but that does seem to be a slightly strange argument to me: he’s performing well enough in the same division as us and if playing well we might want to get the benefit whilst we are playing a guy out of position there.

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I think it depends on how well Byram and Mumba are doing in recovering from their injuries. If these two are going to be ready to step back in sometime during January/beginning of February I think McCallum may stay at Coventry for the rest of the season. 

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2 minutes ago, Thirsty Lizard said:

I think it depends on how well Byram and Mumba are doing in recovering from their injuries. If these two are going to be ready to step back in sometime during January/beginning of February I think McCallum may stay at Coventry for the rest of the season. 

Think it would be a huge mistake to rely on Byram remaining fit at this point of his career unfortunately. 

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5 minutes ago, Branston Pickle said:

The argument from the Pinkun guy seems to be to leave him as he’s getting game time, but that does seem to be a slightly strange argument to me: he’s performing well enough in the same division as us and if playing well we might want to get the benefit whilst we are playing a guy out of position there.

Same- I'd also argue if he comes in and plays well then we're much better off giving him 6 months game time within our squad over Xavi who may not be here next season.

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23 minutes ago, king canary said:

I don't think Sam wasn't fancied- i just think it was more they didn't want him playing second fiddle for most of the season. Xavi's injury hopefully changes that.

If they think he's better suited to spending the rest of the season on loan then I'd think it might be worth looking at Max Lowe who is currently out of favour at Sheffield United or, maybe too ambitious, Joe Bryan who has found himself second fiddle at Fulham despite being excellent last season.

He wasnt fancied enough to make them go out and get Xavi.

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3 minutes ago, king canary said:

Same- I'd also argue if he comes in and plays well then we're much better off giving him 6 months game time within our squad over Xavi who may not be here next season.

As far as I am aware, no one seems to know how long Xavi will be out for at all.  From what I remember, Farke said he was back at Villareal with their medical team/specialist being checked out?  For me it seems a no brainer to bring McCallum back if we can.  He's our player and playing well in the league we are competing in.  Doesn't make sense to spend money when we have a possible solution that costs us nothing.  He's not going to be playing second fiddle to Xavi at the moment so we don't need to worry about him only playing u23s, being on the bench and thus not getting exposure to Champs football.

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6 minutes ago, CDMullins said:

He wasnt fancied enough to make them go out and get Xavi.

While that's true, he now has Championship experience and is proving capable at this level rather than being a question mark pre season.

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So we have Quintilla, Sorensen, Mumba, Aarons and Byram who can play there. Gibson can 'do a job' and Hernandez/Placheta were apparently thought of as potential wing back options, although I wouldn't be a fan of playing any those listed in this sentence as LB options.

I would imagine SW/DF will be thinking longer term. What do we want the defence to look like next year, if we were to get promoted to the Prem? Aarons, Hanley, Gibson... new PL left back, or would McCullum/Quintilla be good enough?

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If McCullum is holding up well at Coventry in the Championship, in a considerably weaker team, and we have no fit left-backs (Mumba wasn't even considered as a left-back initially if I recall correctly, he was seen as a reserve right-back), and Byram is hit and miss, why not give him the game time here and have Byram as a back-up, not being overloaded with games, unless McCullum struggles integrating into our team?

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43 minutes ago, Yellow and Green said:

So we have Quintilla, Sorensen, Mumba, Aarons and Byram who can play there. 

Only one of them is comfortable there, however.

Tettey and Amadou could play at centre back. Stiepermann could do a job up front. 

Sticking square pegs in round holes rarely works. Sorensen has done okay, but he's an exception.

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Gotta bring McCullum back. Even going into the season with just 1 fit LB was crazy, the reasoning at the time was that Gibson and Sorenson were capable of playing there but with Klose gone we ran out of spare CBs and while Sorenson has done a stellar job under difficult circumstances he's starting to be targeted. Can't rely on Byram being available and moving Aarons across deprives us of playing the division's best RB in his natural position, it would weaken the team overall. I have serious doubts that Xavi will be back for us anytime soon, if ever, so it's time to bring McCullum back. He'll have had half a season's experience in a team that plays in a similar way to us, it's the obvious choice.

Edited by Canary Wundaboy

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I think McCallum has already learnt as much as he can at Coventry.  Anyone who is being loaned out for the first time in January, in my opinion, could not have impressed their club so far this season so should be avoided.  

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I find it unbelievable if you are going to send out a player on a season long loan you don't take the precaution of inserting a clause allowing the loan to be cancelled during a transfer period.  Gibson can operate at LB if needed to replace Sorensen I am sure Jacob is happier at being an emergency LB than on the bench or not in the squad when we get 9 bodies to complete the bench.  If this opportunity did not happen we would not have known just how talented he is. 

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1 hour ago, CDMullins said:

He wasnt fancied enough to make them go out and get Xavi.

McCullum's most recent interview quotes the player saying he was at Coventry because he needed to work on his 1v1 defending and his anticipation and reading of the game. 

The latter (anticipation and reading of the game) presumably being an absolute show stopper for us with how Farke uses his Full-Backs so high up the pitch.

So despite his athleticism and attacking qualities McCullum remains a work in progress for the coaching staff and Loan Manager. 

 

 

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McCullum definitely!   He’s doing fine at this level, he’s ours and we desperately need to see if Sorensen can hack the central midfield role!   Be rather bizarre if McCullum can’t do a similar or better job than Sorensen at left-back!   If we did sign another, what message does that send to Sam?   

As for Quintilla, his left peg looks pretty handy, but he’s not offered any evidence so far that he is better than either Sam or Jakob... still concerned he’s too suspect / lightweight defensively....

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