Mr Conway you’re cash cow just netted for Wigan - Best transfer window ever eh ?

I have followed this thread since its start, and it seems that you know a heck of a lot more than you usually share with us. Indeed some of the stuff that you have shared today has blown a dirty great hole in something that I had written, but was still debating whether to post. On reflection, I have decided to post it (in an abridged form) just to see what your reaction is to it.

When GG was in charge, he said the club wanted to play with a press. Indeed the last 3 Chief Coaches have played that way, so it looks like it is an important characteristic in the Coach we chose (in spite of my reservations). It seems to be more important than the formation the coach favours to associate with the press. Now when I look at the clubs in the Premier League, those that use the press do not also use a target-man in the mold of Keiffer Moore. They value the mobility and the work rate that smaller players offer when linked to the press, and they pass the ball forward on the ground. I had virtually concluded that it was a club and Coach decision not to replace Keiffer Moore on a like for like basis, until you revealed the information that we had seriously attempted to do so. My question is this. Do you known that the player we chased was a target-man in the mold of Keiffer Moore, or could it be that he was a different type with more pace and more experience than our other front players?

 

I'm afraid that my memory has a much shorter span than most. It's my age you know. Thanks for the information though.

 

if any of those players were offered a better deal anywhere they would want to take it. Whether the club sanction it or not is a different matter.

In your example they don’t want to be there just want a job much like someone working at ASOS wants to work there

 

His stats aren't great for this season are they?

 

If it is and he wanted 25k a week, they were right to get shot of him, at Legia was only on 1.5 a week and top earners at Zagreb are on around £15k a week.
Perhaps he got wind of their interest and quoted the figure knowing we wouldn’t.

 

To be fair you havent defended much on this thread so there wasn’t much need to name drop you; you are in a position where you can’t criticise much but you are right, on this thread you haven’t gone out of your way to defend them either.

 

Did you read my post? Outrageously long I know, sorry.

But to answer your question, yes. It wasn’t goal scoring attributes we needed. It was everything else they bring to the table.

Moore only has 7 this season. I don’t think he’d have got many more with us. We’d have done a lot better though.

 

********. Moore left because his agent told him Wigan were offering him a lot more a week than we were giving him. End of story.

 

It's not that the players were sold its the policy used when bringing in the replacements that's the reason we are in the brown stuff and have been all season. And yes we are in existence at the moment but will we be in 6 months if L1 hasn't started by then

 

The facts are we've been in the bottom 3 since September and baring a miracle will still be there when the final whistle goes on this season and the reason for that is the board replaced the players leaving with kids from leagues below the level of the league we were to play in. They ignored the previous managers pleas to sign players who had a clue how to play in the championship they may not have had full control over who left but they certainly did over who was signed to replace them. Best transfer window ever said Mr Conmerchantway Id hate to see the worst.

 

******** to you too.

 

I did read your post and tbh I agree - its more I think Eaves is not the required standard. But then I guess that means he would fit right in with our squad!

 

Am I alone in thinking that Keef is exactly the sort of player you do need up front to play a pressing game? Particularly if you don’t have access to Mane, Salah and Firminho.

Not a world beater but enough work rate, skill, pace and physicality to make life hard for defenders. We’d also keep the ball in dangerous areas much more instead of it keep coming back at us. Oh, and then there’s his 6’5” presence at corners at both ends of the pitch. Might even have been able to take the weight off our other strikers, who would likely thrive playing with a big man (ooh er, missus).

 

Tell that to the young goalkeeper that's just been released.

 

On MotD last night, they used the Everton v Southampton game to illustrate just how the press is supposed to work. Southampton had 4 players who pressed the Everton back 4 when they tried to play the ball up the field using short passes. What you did not see, because the TV camera was, as usual, focused upon the ball, was that all the short passing options for the back 4 would also have been marked. In order to make the press a success, your pressing players must get to the player with the ball and his short passing options very quickly. Their aim is to intercept if they can, in order to win the ball back high up the pitch. But if they cannot, the second aim is to force the opposition to pass the ball long, because a long pass means that the defending team are favourites to win the ball back. That is why teams use the press, but it does take a certain type of very fit player to do it, because if the opposition can pass its way through the press, then the defending players are in the wrong positions for the subsequent attack. The panel pointed out that the Everton goal resulted from them passing their way through the Southampton press.

My point was not that there is no alternative strategy which would involve Keiffer Moore. Stoke showed in their recent 4-0 victory over us that the old ways can work when they can establish an early lead. They also showed in their 5-0 defeat to Leeds that the press played with better players will destroy the old game, with its emphasis on height and physicality. My point was that the use of a big man in a press reduces the effectiveness of the press, and if you let a team escape the press, then they are bound to catch you occasionally.

 

Ambition on the field of play makes a big difference to players ... most players want to win things... I Think it was pinnock in his interview that touched on it so did Bryan Howard if I'm not mistaken... Factors in their decision to move on... The lack of it at Oakwell is and has been evident over the years... More so with Conway and Co with their wholesale clear outs and re builds every season...
Big Mick even touched on the subject when asked what it needed to tempt him back...
Yes there's got to be balance but this mob in charge in my opinion put profits for the pocket above everything else... ..

 

I agree it does require a high level of fitness to apply the press RR and I think we've done it reasonably well this season. When it's being applied by the opposition it needs technically gifted players to pass around it and I'd argue that we've been much less successful at doing that - unsurprisingly in my view as some of our players are not well practiced in it and my view is that some others are simply not good enough to play in that way. The fact that we've conceded 21 more goals than we've scored suggests that we've been unable to impose our style more successfully than the opposition have imposed their style on us and therefore I'd posit that it's failed this season. It's also undermined the confidence of some of our players who have struggled to do what they're being asked to do.

I'd also suggest that the most important quality in the press is fitness and mobility. A forward with some height and physicality can also be fit and mobile e.g. Drogba, Chris Wood, Costa etc. I'm not suggesting by the way that we could sign any of them btw but they do exist. I thought Marcus Browne looked good for Oxford the other night - strong, mobile and never gave the Portsmouth defenders a minutes rest.