DMAA

1 hour ago, Uilleam said:

Pre season results don't count.

 

 

Of course not, I’m only saying the early signs are that they are starting well. 

1 hour ago, Uilleam said:

and, on top of all that,  I confidently predict that 'second season syndrome' will kick-in. 

I very much expected that but they have started really well. They had very good results in pre-season and so far drew away to the team who finished 9th last season and beat Cherleroi who finished 6th last season. The team who finished 9th actually beat them at their own ground last season. So no signs of it so far.

1 hour ago, BlackSocksRedTops said:

Kent not making it is a huge blow. Who will play left side now? Lawrence? Sakala? 

Unless Matondo goes straight in. 

Kent is out so it will be interesting to see how we line up. Matondo could directly replace him, or Tillman with Lawrence moving left if Matondo isn’t quite ready. There’s also Sakala if GVB really wants pace, though very unlikely. 

It has to be Tavernier for the goal in addition to general play. Have to say I didn’t think we were dragged back into the game by individuals though, the whole team came out and lifted their levels as a unit. This gave far more opportunities to forward players to create, especially Kent, and I think Barisic deserves a bit of credit for that too. But I was pleased to see Kent getting the ball in the box a bit more than usual. The actual goal was more about the header than the cross, but the wrongly disallowed goal was an excellent cross. Wee mention for Lundstram too who did his job very well. 

Tillman should be starting. 

Never in doubt 😀

Scott Wright has been the pick of the creative players for me though, he’s at least caused some problems.

1 minute ago, Rousseau said:

I think Kamara has been good, but I'd take him off for Tillman. 

I was just thinking the same, we should be getting Tillman on straight away, though maybe for Lundstram because the counter attacks are causing us problems and Kamara is quicker. 

Possession champions, again. Can someone tell GVB that the objective of the game is to score goals and not retain the ball? No urgency or risk taking out there today. 

Poor from Souttar, didn’t anticipate it. I’m not sure who’s man it was but they shouldn’t be getting a free header like that either. 

0-2 

Colak

2 hours ago, Bluedell said:

Surprise performer - Davies

That’s a good shout too, not many are talking about him. 

6 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

Surprise performer - Sands

Forgot about him, that’s a good shout. 

4 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

Young Player of the Year - Matondo (does he count? If not, Lowry)

The options are Matondo, Tillman, Lowry, Yilmaz, Zukowski, King. Great competition. 

Just now, DMAA said:

Player of the Year -

Young Player of the Year - 

Top Goalscorer - 

Most Assists - 

Best performer of new signings - 

Surprise performer -

Player of the Year - No idea, I’m going to go a wee bit outside the box and predict Kamara to find the form of 2020/21 again.

Young Player of the Year - Tillman, with strong competition from Matondo.

Top Goalscorer - Colak

Most Assists - Tavernier. I’m hoping Tillman and Matondo will rack up a fair few too though. 

Best performer of new signings - I think it could be Tillman, but it could be any of them at this stage. 

Surprise performer - Sakala gets a lot of stick so I’m going to go with him, he has the ability to do well in his second season. 

Player of the Year -

Young Player of the Year - 

Top Goalscorer - 

Most Assists - 

Best performer of new signings - 

Surprise performer or Most Improved -

6 hours ago, Rousseau said:

I had a bit of a whinge at the slow start, but once it kicked into gear, it has been a mightily impressive window.

 

The two sales were really pleasing. For me, we have to make these sales every year or two. 

 

The in-comings have hit the mark: Short at CB - signed! Short at RW - signed! Short up front - signed! Short at LB - signed!  

 

While Colak and Lawrence don't excite me, they fill a void. Matondo, Tillman and Yilmaz do excite me: young, skilful, attacking players that can be sold on for good money. 

 

There are still a couple that can be let go. 

 

(LW) Kent / Sakala / Middleton -  (ST) Morelos / Roofe / Colak - (RW) Wright / Matondo

 

(#10) Hagi / Lowry / Lawrence / Tillman

 

(CM) Davis / Kamara / Lundstram / Jack / Arfield / McCann

 

(LB) Barisic / Yilmaz - (LCB) Sands / Davies / Helander / King - (RCB) Goldson / Souttar / Katic - (RB) Tavernier / Zukowski / Devine

 

(GK) McLaughlin / McGregor / McCrorie

I might as well go through the positions. 

GK - I’m happy to give McLaughlin a go as number 1, but I’ll be concerned if MacGregor is still seen as number 1. Despite what some still say, he costs us points. If MacGregor has been renewed on a fairly low wage as a number 2 then I’d be content with that. 

LB - Yilmaz is the exactly the kind of signing we've been crying out for, very high potential. He looks a technically capable player who could be an asset at building attacks and getting plenty assists. I'd urge a wee bit of caution in terms of expectations and patience, he won't be amazing defensively and I wouldn't be surprised if teams target long balls on him. And he hasn't actually played a huge amount of senior football yet. The transfer fee shouldn’t be used against him.

RB - Sorted

CB - I think we are improved here with the signings of Souttar and Davies. Bassey is a loss but he was never a natural and had weaknesses. I think the main question mark now is what we are doing with Katic, Helander and King. I expect we will move on Katic and be back to 5 centre backs, with two of those being injury prone. Sands can cover here too so it is a strong position, although lacking in terms of aggression and pure defensive ability, Helander is ahead by quite a bit in that regard for me. 

CM - I think we are strong here with Kamara, Lundstram and Jack. I was probably hoping we would recruit another quality player due to Jack’s unreliability, and let Davis and Arfield move on. I do think both are declining and are often not at the level we need, but as backups you can't really complain.

AM - Tillman is a very exciting signing and I think he could do really well this season. Probably the one I am most excited about at the moment. Lowry has a big chance this season too and I hope he takes it. Between those two you have a lot of creativity. The fact Lawrence can play here too, and Hagi, means we finally have a number of options for creativity in the middle. 

LW - I was hoping we’d get money for Kent in this window tbh and replace him but as most know I’m really not his biggest fan. Capable of great performances and moments but not good enough week in week out in the league for me. With the signings of Lawrence and Matondo though he finally has a bit of competition and that is a good thing. 

RW - Excited by the Matondo signing. Can GVB find a way to make him our Sterling? Certainly an improvement. In terms of overall quality on the wings I still feel we generally lack a bit of quality/end product with still a bit of reliance on Kent, Wright and Sakala, but I am hopeful Lawrence and Matondo will make a big difference, and Tillman in the middle will create more for all. 

ST - As with Kent, I hoped this would finally be the window we’d get decent money for Morelos that we could reinvest, though again most know I’m not his biggest fan. Although I wasn't excited by the Colak signing, I do believe he could have a really good season in terms of goals, and provide real competition for Morelos. Roofe is a great player but depressingly unreliable and Sakala can also play at CF so we are fairly well covered, although reliant on an unreliable player for depth. 

In summary I think it's been a good window and we have finally added some more creative players and that could make the difference domestically. This is a team who are capable of winning the league back, and I do realise I am being a bit greedy with some of my comments in terms of wanting a bit more. I’m still hopeful we might have one big big sale and one more big purchase, though it doesn't look likely. Trimming of the squad is required too of course. 

So a max of £5.3m. It would be interesting to find out what the add-on conditions are because that’s only £3.39m up-front. 

Yeh the picture is Tillman, but Lovelace looks older than his age too. It will be really interesting to see if he is trusted to be on the bench this season. Looks like he has the potential to be a goal scoring threat from the bench, even at his age. Possibly one to get excited about.

21 hours ago, Rousseau said:

You get defenders who can ping it, but Ben can see gaps and break lines by whipping it into the forwards."

This bit is interesting. It is notable that both Davies and Yilmaz rate very highly for Smart Passes and Progressive Passes. Considering we already have Tav and Goldson in the back 4, that makes a full defence who specialise in clever passing to get us up the pitch and break through defensive teams.

It has been a weakness of Helander, Katic and  probably Balogun too, and has at times made us very reliant on the right hand side players. 

From the stats, I don't think Davies and Yilmaz strengthen us defensively, at least not from the traditional long ball and aerial form of attack we often face domestically, but we could be much more exciting to watch if these passing stats are anything to go by. 

4 minutes ago, ian1964 said:

Beşiktaş and Glasgow Rangers reached an agreement for the transfer of Rıdvan Yılmaz. Glasgow Rangers are discussing contract details with Rıdvan Yılmaz.

Jason Cummings needs to do better than those sunglasses and the Besiktas t-shirt as a disguise.

14 hours ago, CammyF said:

Great news 

 

 

That's an interesting one because he was already contracted for another 2 years. Must be a pay rise. 

2 hours ago, buster. said:

What is his recent injury record ?

Transfermarkt records 3 injuries to the same muscle last season, and a 4th muscle injury the season before but it doesn't say if it was the thigh. He was injured more recently but I can't see anywhere if it was the same injury. Transfermarkt is almost never exhaustive with injuries and often gets the dates wrong. You often see games missed before the injury recorded, which is the case with Yilmaz too. As I said, it's just me being cautious, it may have just been a bit of bad luck and it may go away. 

23 hours ago, Rousseau said:

 

Looks like he'd be a very good signing, very much fits the profile too.

Slight concern over recent injury record, but that’s me just being very cautious.