The January Transfer Window Rumours and Deals Thread

[les186 271]

How many central defenders do we need?

[ian1964 10,724]

8 minutes ago, les186 said:

How many central defenders do we need?

Rumours about Cardoso & Alves leaving?, also Martin can play RB!, we can only show trust in Murty regards signings, maybe it is all just rumours?

[Rousseau 10,611]

10 minutes ago, les186 said:

How many central defenders do we need?

We've got the quantity, but perhaps not the quality. 

[Germinal 27]

41 minutes ago, ian1964 said:

As we agreed the other day though, the management know more than us regarding players, so we can only trust them on signing targets. Murty knows Martin well so he obviously thinks he can make a difference immediately, something I agree with especially loan deals. And you are correct Martin should stroll the Scottish league.

So long as he doesn't allow that fact, which is probably true, to influence/drop his performance.

[Uilleam 5,935]

From what I recall, Martin struggles for pace. So we will have to hope that his anticipation and reading of the game is up to scratch.

 

 

 

[ian1964 10,724]

 

[Rousseau 10,611]

I think Cummings would be a good signing: he improves the first-team instantly, but also has that potential. 

 

Docherty I'm also happy with, but I don't think he quite becomes a first-team player -- perhaps just improves squad depth, which is necessary --; however, he also has that potential. TheSPFLRadar rates him highly, especially for a player in a lower-league team. It'll be interesting to see if he can step up.

[Tannochsidebear 2,406]

37 minutes ago, Rousseau said:

I think Cummings would be a good signing: he improves the first-team instantly, but also has that potential. 

 

Docherty I'm also happy with, but I don't think he quite becomes a first-team player -- perhaps just improves squad depth, which is necessary --; however, he also has that potential. TheSPFLRadar rates him highly, especially for a player in a lower-league team. It'll be interesting to see if he can step up.

Where does Cummings play in our side in your opinion R? 

 

To me he is a centre forward, a goalscoring poacher, not a wide forward. He is a good player but is not better than Morelos, so if we are going to continue to play one central striker, I dont see where Cummings fits in? Lets not squeeze him into a wide position or drop him into the 10 slot, because thats not where he does his best work.

 

So for me it's either a twin strike force in a 4-4-2 (or any other shape that results in a -2 at the end) or there is no point buying him. While we need good subs, we certainly need better first team players first.

[Rousseau 10,611]

6 minutes ago, Tannochsidebear said:

Where does Cummings play in our side in your opinion R? 

 

To me he is a centre forward, a goalscoring poacher, not a wide forward. He is a good player but is not better than Morelos, so if we are going to continue to play one central striker, I dont see where Cummings fits in? Lets not squeeze him into a wide position or drop him into the 10 slot, because thats not where he does his best work.

 

So for me it's either a twin strike force in a 4-4-2 (or any other shape that results in a -2 at the end) or there is no point buying him. While we need good subs, we certainly need better first team players first.

I agree with you: Morelos is probably better, and in a 4-2-3-1, Cummings would make way. (Good option of the bench, though!)

 

I was thinking with regards to the 4-4-2 (diamond), where a twin strike-force of Cummings and Morelos sounds rather potent. That is assuming we continue to play that formation on occasion, which I think we will with more central midfielders being signed.

 

Also, if we're going for another CB, then a 3 at the back would allow for a 2 up front too. 

 

At the very least, we'd have 2 superb forwards; something we've not had in a good while. 

[Tannochsidebear 2,406]

Just now, Rousseau said:

I agree with you: Morelos is probably better, and in a 4-2-3-1, Cummings would make way. (Good option of the bench, though!)

 

I was thinking with regards to the 4-4-2 (diamond), where a twin strike-force of Cummings and Morelos sounds rather potent. That is assuming we continue to play that formation on occasion, which I think we will with more central midfielders being signed.

 

Also, if we're going for another CB, then a 3 at the back would allow for a 2 up front too. 

There doesnt seem to be much desire from Murty to go to a 2 up top, and we have only went 3 at the back during games due to circumstances, I dont recall we have started with it under him. It looks like while Murty has tried a lot of different shapes in midfield, the back 4 and sole striker seem to be his preference.

 

If we are to sign Martin it must be to partner Alves (or Alves is leaving which I dont see) as there is no point bringing in a 30+ player on loan for 20 games to be backup. While I would agree with Murty that we need a proper partner for Alves as I dont think Wilson, Cardoso or Bates are good enough (a few recent good games apart from Wilson & Bates, their consistency is suspect), I dont believe Martin is good enough to be that defender we need. He has had too many absolute stinkers for Scotland in recent years to be a good player.