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The January Transfer Window 2011


Lineker

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Arsenal got precedings under way today with the signing of Japanese striking prospect Ryo Miyaichi, Liverpool are expected to go sign a few players, Steven Ireland is widely expected to leave Villa. Man City, while having already secured the signature of former Barcelona youngter Israeli Gai Assulin, could see Tevez and/or Adebayor leave along with some fringe players (Santa Cruz, Wright-Phillips etc.)

Who do you want to see your club sign? Where do you feel they need to strengthen? And what, if any, dead wood needs to be trimmed from your squad?

I think at Spurs we need competition for Assou-Ekotto at left-back, perhaps someone like Fabio Coentrao. Scott Parker would be a fantastic addition and we do need a clinical striker in the Dzeko mould. Hope that our big squad is trimmed though, especially as next year we won't get players such as Bale included in our squad for free as he'd have aged. Looking at Keane, Bentley, O'Hara, & Giovani. Kranjcar wants regular football too so he could leave as well.

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Chelsea will buy no one and regret it almost immediately. But that's the way things are at the moment.

The problem is that the back-up players we do have are so evidently miles beneath the first eleven (or are at least treated as such by Carlo, even if some, such as Sturridge, might be capable of more), that there is effectively zero competition for places in nearly every position on the pitch. Therefore, when players from the first eleven get injured as they do all the time at any club, the players that stand in for them are not of sufficient quality/experience/whatever to maintain the kind of performance people seem to expect from Chelsea these days. The younger players are pointed to as the new replacements for the likes of Ballack, Carvalho, etc. who pushed for first-team places last season, but with the exception of Josh McEachren this has thus far proven to be only a facade.

For example, our "fourth-choice centre-back" is Jeffrey Bruma, after Terry, Ivanovic and Alex. After Carvalho was sold in the summer (rightly, as he wanted to go join Jose in Real), we were told that no replacement centre-back need be brought in because we had four (with Bruma), and that was enough. Yes, four is a perfectly reasonable number to have. That is, unless one of them is thought of so lowly that he might as well not exist. When Terry and Alex were injured, Bruma was not brought in to partner Ivanovic in the middle. Instead, third-choice right-back Paulo Ferreira was preferred in his place. What, I therefore have to ask, is the fucking point of pretending you have four centre-backs when you effectively only have three - and who can expect to run a Premier League/Champions League challenging season with squad depth like that?

That is the short-term problem. The longer-term problem is the fact that in the last few transfer windows we have only bought squad players (e.g. Ramires, Benayoun, Zhirkov, etc.). These are players that have no hope in hell of starting if everyone in the squad was fit, nor are considered to be prospects to eventually replace the core and aging elements of the squad such as Terry, Lampard, Drogba etc. We are therefore increasingly working on borrowed time.

Whether these problems are the kind that should, or even can, be addressed properly in this window (since in January it's notoriously difficult to get top quality players) is another question. As far as this season is concerned, our lack of depth as it stands is going to cost us the title. I haven't much faith that the club would make a good purchase even if they were so inclined to spend money (which they won't be), so maybe it's for the best. :shifty:

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Our main problem at Newcastle (I know, don't laugh) is we need a decent striker for Carroll as Ameobi and Lovenkrands aren't good enough for the top level and relying on a twenty one year old in his first full season to produce all the time is extremely dangerous considering we're fighting for survival.

Meanwhile, Steven Taylor's head is getting too big for him after his demands of £60,000 a week from a vastly overrated third choice centre-back are being rejected. Hopefully, we'll get two or three million for him in January before getting rid in the summer. We won't need a replacement as Kadar has been solid in the little chances he's gotten.

Also, we need someone better than Alan Smith, who couldn't hack it in the Championship, as back-up for Tiote. It's a real problem as when Tiote gets suspended our defence gets shot to hell because of Smith's shitness and we easily get beat.

IN;

New Striker

Back-Up Midfielder

OUT;

Steven Taylor

Alan Smith

Any takers?

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To add to that we still desperately need some cover at left back, Jose's been our only 'proper' left back for about 3 years and we've consistently failed to get any back up unless we're putting a lot of faith in Shane Ferguson who I think is yet to make the bench for a league game.

Finally a versatile winger would be useful. Jonas really stepped up his game when Ben Arfa was available as he finally had to work to keep his place, since his injury he's regressed a bit and seems nervous of taking players on. Having someone to push him on, and ideally better than Routledge would do wonders for both wings.

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Boro look like they will be losing David Wheater and Gary O'Neil, so we'll need a back-up centre back and a utility player to fill in for a number of positions. I'd like to get rid of Kris Boyd because he hasn't delivered and replace him with a more creative striker. Most importantly though I think we need winger who can provide the quality crosses we've been missing since Johnson moved to Man City.

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Fulham need a striker. Though to be honest, most of our team need to be replaced fairly soon, as we have a fairly old squad as a whole.

Hopefully, with us struggling, Al Fayed will dip into his pocket again like he did last time, and give Hughes a nice whack of money to spend.

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For United I think it's probably dependent on who's available. Given Valencia's injury and Park's absence for the Asian Cup we could probably do with a winger to partner Nani regularly. Not expecting Bale, but if someone became available (Henderson, maybe Pienaar) I could see them coming in. Either that or Welbeck back off loan.

I'd expect the bigger signings - goalkeeper, defensive midfielder - to happen in the summer, but again it depends on if someone becomes available.

Edited by Lord Nibbler
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Bristol Rovers need a manager first, but when that gets sorted I'd like for them to find three things:

- GOALKEEPER: Now, we have Mikkel Andersen on loan from Reading (yet again). Mikkel is a fantastic keeper with a great future ahead of him. However, whether Reading would like him to stay out on loan to us (or, indeed, if Mikkel even WANTS to stay with us until the end of the season) is another matter. We have no suitable back-up either, aside from Mike Green who has constantly been kept as back-up to anybody they could find to put in-between the sticks. Green has a disadvantage of being relatively short for a goalkeeper (under 6ft makes it difficult) and not being particularly trusted to go with it. Now, he either needs to just be thrown in there and trusted with the role or we need to do whatever we can to at least keep Andersen there until the end of the season.

- MIDFIELDER: We struggle to retain the ball and control the game from the centre of midfield. Chris Lines, aside from being a coke-head drunk, makes good attacking runs forward at times but can drift out of games a lot (he's a good player when determined, but often lets the lifestyle go before him, as do a lot of the players sadly). Wayne Brown is in need of blending in still and adapting to anything but Fulham reserves (and blending into the team more). Stuart Campbell is our Captain Fantastic, but he is getting on and his legs are starting to go. We can't keep relying on him for much longer. Jeff Hughes can play in the centre, but he's a winger primarily and keeps making many poor passes and little mistakes that leave us vulnerable.

And then we have Dominic Blizzard who, for some reason, has shown himself to be completely lightweight and not up to task. Whether that was down to the manager not getting the best out of him however, I don't know.

Now, we had the very capable Harry Pell, Charlie Clough and Charlie Reece, who are all young enough to start training in the fashion we can expect. However, he ARE young and we can't guarantee they will be the type of players to solve this problem. Lots of youngsters, given the chance, could probably step up. We certainly aren't going to buy players any time soon, so this may be the best time to get them playing. Given that we have just gone into the relegation zone however, we might just need someone with a bit more balls. This, again, is the problem. If we don't buy someone, then there aren't many other options beside loaning in a younger player.

This may be the best option: a young, top prospect from a Premiership club (note that: PREMIERSHIP. Not Championship, Premiership) in need of games. Bristol is a bit like a "Smaller London", so I don't see why Arsenal couldn't give us one of their kiddies. The problem with this is dependant on who the new manager is. If it's someone without the contacts, then we are buggered. Ideally though, I would like to see a youngster from one of the top 5 clubs who can even teach our players a few new tricks.

- FORWARD: We could do with that big, tall fucker at the top of the pitch. However, I don't think this would really solve too much (aside from always being an option, which is never a bad thing). We have a very capable player in Will Hosksins and utilized correctly Jo Kuffor can prove effective. John Akinde has raw talent but needs developing, something we could only do with the right coaching set-up (not a guarantee), so it may be better for him to go back to Bristol City. If we can find a left-sided forward, it may be a good thing for us, meaning we can throw the three strikers (New Guy, Hoskins, Kuffor) up front and have a 4-3-3/4-5-1 set up. However, the forwards need the service more than anything.

In total, we need to sort the goalkeeper and midfielder situations out first. An extra forward would be a bonus and a defender would be fantastic. But as long as we can sort out the goalkeeper and midfield, then I'll be happy.

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For Spurs:

Scott Parker - I'd quite like him, he's been West Ham's stand-out player, is a TRUE box-to-box midfielder (imagine a consistant Jermain Jenas!). The only sticking point will be the price and it depends on the player I think. I could see us being priced out if The Hammers insist on £15 mill for him, he's 30, has a couple of good years left in him but the chairman won't outlay that sort of money for a player nearing the end of his career. A lot depends on him though: if he tells them he wants to leave I could see us offering a lot less (and maybe Jamie O'Hara) in exchange. I think it might come down to getting in the England squad; traditionally players tend to get noticed at Spurs more than they have at their 'home' clubs (Tim Sherwood being the obvious example!). If he wants to represent England before he retires he might see a move to Spurs as raising his profile.

David Beckham - Apparently this one isn't happening either according to Harry in the press. I have mixed feelings about it though. On the one hand I do like Beckham, and feel he still has something to offer the game. On the other hand, bringing him in for 2 months might be a bit of a waste for the outlay we are bound to have on his wages, plus taking up a squad place. Beckham would bring experience, leadership and a quality delivery to the midfield, plus, as with Parker it might offer him an avenue to boost his profile with regard to England selection. I can't see it happening though. Beckham seems adamant that he want's to rest-up this close season and he is reaching the age where playing continually (on loan in between MLS seasons) can't be good for him. Plus he has always said he'd only come back for Man U in the premier league. I just hope he doesn't have a change of heart and end up going back to AC Milan!

Mark Van Bommell - If we don't get Parker then I see MvB as a cut-price alternative, I can't imagine he'd command THAT much of a price at his age. Also there is the Dutch connection with VdV already here and enjoying himself. Hopefully he could settle down and would add some steel to the midfield, as well as the afformentioned experience and leadership. As long as he avoids two-footed challenges and going 'studs-up' into people I'd be quite satisfied with him plugging the gap left by the injured Thud and out-of-form Palacious.

Fernando Llorente - Here is a bit of a long-shot, but I've watched this guy and he looks like the real deal. A powerful striker, target man and still possessiong good technique he would be perfect in a solo role up front, accomodating VdV in his prefered role in the centre. Drawbacks are price (£18 to £30 million!) and whether he'd want to move to England (come and see the snow!) and the fact that Real Madrid are supposed to be looking at him. Again though, with Spain so strong up front he might see it as a way of proving himself in one of the most high-profile leagues in Europe, particularly as Torres is struggling with form at the moment. I'm sure he'd rather play at Real though, and even if not, their involvement will likely push up the price considerably.

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I don't know why reports and papers keep talking about Beckham coming to an English club. He's already said there's zero chance he'll return to England unless it's with United, which he doesn't hold much hope on. I'd love to see him have a loan spell with us, though of course there's no chance it'll happen. Certainly hope to see him back in European football very soon though.

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