Given the result it might get hidden but we must brush up on these crosses. Can't see anything wrong with their disallowed goal in the first half and another poor goal to concede. Really need a commanding GK in there, we have 3 to pick from.
Leahy is a different player. Bakinson has nowhere near the level of consistency required. Butcher is awol and I am pretty sure will be gone come the end of the month (an extraordinary career arc with us)
I don’t disagree that Morley is well above Bakinson, Leahy and Butcher, but he’ll also be well above most midfielders at this level. So it feels like unless we bite the bullet and pay to keep him , or get very lucky with another champ / PL loanee, our replacement for Morley will need to come from in-house.
I do worry that some of the players’ reaction to us chanting Morley’s name was to point at Caleb Taylor. I’d love him to stay, but I do worry he might be gone by tomorrow.
I suspect the 100k would cover all his wages between now and the end of June.
If we did fork out 400k, plus his wages at 100k then that's 500k on one player. Playing devils advocate you could bring in three superb loans for 350k until June and sign another player on a free and pay him 150k between now and June.
Am I looking forward to seeing what cards MB, DR and ML deal us between now and early Feb.
None of those players suit the DLP role like Morley - we'll definitely get a replacement if we don't get Morley permanently, it's too important to the whole system for us not to
The criticsm of Rav's ability to deal with crosses is getting beyond tiresome now. If he excelled in that area too, he wouldn't be in League One - and it's a small price to pay for his excellent shot-stopping and, most importantly, ball-playing attributes.
Just watched Bloomfield’s post match interview and slightly concerned that he mentioned one or two may go in this transfer window. Is that confirmation that Taylor is going? Losing Taylor and Morley is a massive blow to our promotion hopes. Sure we can replace them with other loanees but we are in a run of lots of games in a short period of time and the question is when can we get them and can the get up to speed quickly.
Yeah his kicking has been average to pants for three or four games in a row. I don’t buy this whole ‘if he was better, he’d be in a higher division’. That’s thrown around too easily on this forum. There are at least 10 players in our squad that I think are more suitable Championship players than Rav.
Comments
If it's true we offered 100k for a mere extended loan, then you do have to wonder how high a price Bolton have asked.
Because if it was say 300-400k, whilst that's still an all time record transfer fee for us, you wouldn't have thought it was out of reach.
3 players who are good, but are miles off Morley's ability. If we can't sign Morley, we need to find someone else.
Butcher, along with Wheeler seem to have totally disappeared out of things as well. Assuming they haven't picked up a minor niggle.
With Taf we just assume that.
Add in Potts from last season as well
Given the result it might get hidden but we must brush up on these crosses. Can't see anything wrong with their disallowed goal in the first half and another poor goal to concede. Really need a commanding GK in there, we have 3 to pick from.
Leahy is a different player. Bakinson has nowhere near the level of consistency required. Butcher is awol and I am pretty sure will be gone come the end of the month (an extraordinary career arc with us)
I don’t disagree that Morley is well above Bakinson, Leahy and Butcher, but he’ll also be well above most midfielders at this level. So it feels like unless we bite the bullet and pay to keep him , or get very lucky with another champ / PL loanee, our replacement for Morley will need to come from in-house.
I'd imagine the problem is that we're trying to extend the loan, whereas Bolton would rather sell outright.
I do worry that some of the players’ reaction to us chanting Morley’s name was to point at Caleb Taylor. I’d love him to stay, but I do worry he might be gone by tomorrow.
I agree with @DJWYC14 …I couldn’t see anything wrong with Exeter’s disallowed goal….
Taylor is sadly heading back to WBA, a massive blow.
Confirmed?
It will be.
Pretty disastrous stuff that. We'll need to sign another CB and hope we keep hold of Low this month.
I suspect the 100k would cover all his wages between now and the end of June.
If we did fork out 400k, plus his wages at 100k then that's 500k on one player. Playing devils advocate you could bring in three superb loans for 350k until June and sign another player on a free and pay him 150k between now and June.
Am I looking forward to seeing what cards MB, DR and ML deal us between now and early Feb.
Exciting times.
There was a foul on Grimmer
None of those players suit the DLP role like Morley - we'll definitely get a replacement if we don't get Morley permanently, it's too important to the whole system for us not to
The criticsm of Rav's ability to deal with crosses is getting beyond tiresome now. If he excelled in that area too, he wouldn't be in League One - and it's a small price to pay for his excellent shot-stopping and, most importantly, ball-playing attributes.
Just watched Bloomfield’s post match interview and slightly concerned that he mentioned one or two may go in this transfer window. Is that confirmation that Taylor is going? Losing Taylor and Morley is a massive blow to our promotion hopes. Sure we can replace them with other loanees but we are in a run of lots of games in a short period of time and the question is when can we get them and can the get up to speed quickly.
Yeah my interpretation is:
1) Taylor is going back
2) Morley is 50/50
3) He’s conscious that Low might get sold
4) Bishop is a forgotten man - never mentioned in interviews, so surely going and not even part of the ‘we might lose one or two’ comment
5) Kone likely to stay, but maybe goes?
6) Then you’ve got the Butchers, Tafas, Vokes, Wheelers - who knows?!
Would have to see the goal again, did we leave that post totally unmanned?
Fred just didn't take his man. Men on the posts are wasted players that you could have in the mix, hence teams don't really do it anymore.
When a gasroom poster who barely posts comes in with a certain "Taylor is off" like we had earlier, that gets me worried.
So I think you're spot on for number 1.
And probably agree with the rest too.
Bishop we'll need to wait for the Bloomfield autobiography in 20 years to find out what the hell happened there.
That and it minimises the risk of playing someone onside from a second ball
I'm no tactical analyst like many, but when you have 10 in the box it seems mad not to have men on either post.
A free header at an unmanned post seems to suggest that today too.
Don’t think anyone’s posted this but doesn’t sound great
https://www.westbromnews.co.uk/2024/12/28/caleb-taylor-ready-for-west-brom-recall-ahead-of-january-transfer-window/
It's just one of those 'done things' that stuck, but teams have stopped doing it for a reason. I can't remember it being commonplace for ages tbh.
His kicking hasn't been that great for a while now
Yeah his kicking has been average to pants for three or four games in a row. I don’t buy this whole ‘if he was better, he’d be in a higher division’. That’s thrown around too easily on this forum. There are at least 10 players in our squad that I think are more suitable Championship players than Rav.
Spot on - last time I checked you are not allowed to bear hug someone to stop them heading a ball clear!