Think Dobson is underrated with the ball at his feet. His passing is quite good, and he can carry the ball forward too. If he was just a tackler I don’t think he would have played so many games. You don’t get to be such an important player by tackling alone.
I think he improved a lot at that last season. Garner-ball forced him to get better. He’s got a good long pass on him but I would love to see him making more short forward passes through the lines which we really haven’t seen enough of since JFC was playing regularly in the covid season
The negative side is that we've only made one signing, in a position we only needed a signing to replace a player we sold.
On the other hand, some of the rumours and stories do still have me hoping (if not expecting) that just maybe the mystery "they" in charge of recruitment might finally be about to pull their collective fingers out.
Istead hasn't got tons of experience but HAS played, and played well at this level. He's also likely to be ambitious which suggests to me that Holden must have some degree of selling power to at least some players.
May and Ladapo are links only but both are experienced and proven strikers at this level. Outside of one speculative link to Grant, we're relatively free of the usual returners, has beans and L2 prospects that we normally seem to be interested in.
Even Tunnicliffe makes a certain amount of sense in that he's got experience and a decent fitness record in L1 even if he's not exactly a name who's going to win over sceptics.
Long way to go yet but I'm holding out hope that we CAN still turn things around (can... not necessarily will.)
I definitely think Ipswich would be open to letting Ladapo go although they’ll probably have to bring one in. He’s certainly behind Chaplin and Broadhead.
Chaplin and Broadhead don’t play as the striker for them. They will try and sign George Hirst who they had on loan, and then would probably need to sign another 1 or 2 out and out strikers to let Ladapo go. So probably one for later in the window if it does happen
Well Chaplin plays off the striker. With Hirst only being a loanee, you’re probably right they’ll need 2 hold up strikers. I’ve seen them linked with Ellis Simms. If they got him and Hirst you’d imagine they’d be willing to let Ladapo go. I’m going to guess any move for Ladapo will be late in the window.
I definitely think Ipswich would be open to letting Ladapo go although they’ll probably have to bring one in. He’s certainly behind Chaplin and Broadhead.
Chaplin and Broadhead don’t play as the striker for them. They will try and sign George Hirst who they had on loan, and then would probably need to sign another 1 or 2 out and out strikers to let Ladapo go. So probably one for later in the window if it does happen
I'd expect Hirst and a PL loan striker in for them. Will be interesting to see what happens to Tyreece John-Jules who they had last season but probably will leave Arsenal this summer.
Ladapo as you say will be a last week of the window type deal if he goes.
Think Dobson is underrated with the ball at his feet. His passing is quite good, and he can carry the ball forward too. If he was just a tackler I don’t think he would have played so many games. You don’t get to be such an important player by tackling alone.
I like Dobson but the bit in bold simply isn't true. His passing is the weakest part of his game
I know I’m in the minority, but I do think Dobson is a problem and not the answer, needs something else there
Great heart. Not a bad player by anymeans, but a limited footballer(Sunderland fans knew this). I know this seems harsh, but you need a lot more than effort and guts at upper league 1 and above.
I know I’m in the minority, but I do think Dobson is a problem and not the answer, needs something else there
Great heart. Not a bad player by anymeans, but a limited footballer(Sunderland fans knew this). I know this seems harsh, but you need a lot more than effort and guts at upper league 1 and above.
The one thing Dobson needs to take his game to the next level is a consistent ability to shoot from outside the box, the threat of the ball dropping to him on the edge from a dead ball or after it ping pongs about the box 10 times would open up so much more of the pitch
Dobbo gets little opportunity to be expansive as he is doing all the actual work. Didn’t he set up a good goal last season with a nice rangy pass? And we will always have Paris Ipswich.
This is really telling. If you like that sort of thing.
I was looking to see if I could find the top 10 tackle makers list, that Dobson often tops to see if any of the teams featured finished in the top six. Can't find it, any ideas?
Wednesday have another entrant at 14 then you have to go down to 21st on the list to find Bali Mumba of Plymouth. Not sure any of the top 6 have a player in a midfield tackler role like Dobson
I definitely think Ipswich would be open to letting Ladapo go although they’ll probably have to bring one in. He’s certainly behind Chaplin and Broadhead.
Chaplin and Broadhead don’t play as the striker for them. They will try and sign George Hirst who they had on loan, and then would probably need to sign another 1 or 2 out and out strikers to let Ladapo go. So probably one for later in the window if it does happen
I'd expect Hirst and a PL loan striker in for them. Will be interesting to see what happens to Tyreece John-Jules who they had last season but probably will leave Arsenal this summer.
Ladapo as you say will be a last week of the window type deal if he goes.
John-Jules hardly got a kick last season but is one I mentioned in January. Arsenal nicked him from us when he was about 6yrs old! His scoring record looks poor, but he has talent. I can’t find a date for his contract ending but it must be soon.
I definitely think Ipswich would be open to letting Ladapo go although they’ll probably have to bring one in. He’s certainly behind Chaplin and Broadhead.
Chaplin and Broadhead don’t play as the striker for them. They will try and sign George Hirst who they had on loan, and then would probably need to sign another 1 or 2 out and out strikers to let Ladapo go. So probably one for later in the window if it does happen
I'd expect Hirst and a PL loan striker in for them. Will be interesting to see what happens to Tyreece John-Jules who they had last season but probably will leave Arsenal this summer.
Ladapo as you say will be a last week of the window type deal if he goes.
John-Jules hardly got a kick last season but is one I mentioned in January. Arsenal nicked him from us when he was about 6yrs old! His scoring record looks poor, but he has talent. I can’t find a date for his contract ending but it must be soon.
Year to run I believe so would require a fee, could be one to keep an eye on.
Conor McGrandles on that list too. Really do think he needs to be given another chance.
Cambridge fans went potty over how good he was for them last season. Yet a load of Charlton have written him off despite playing next to no minutes in a Charlton shirt.
This smacks of Andrew Crofts all over again. Him and Foley, best midfield ever
Or does it smack of Andy Hughes all over again?
What we haven't had, since the ESI window is a clear idea on what we are trying to achieve. It's been a squad designed by committee with no thought about how the pieces fit together.
If Holden has a plan, and the freedom to execute it, and wants/needs a player like Tunnicliffe to make it work brilliant.
I think a lot of whether these 'experience' transfers work depends on the quality and fitness of the first choice player ahead of them in that position. People tend to misremember Andy Hughes a bit; he started 5 games for us. We won them all and he was good, though we did luckily play some weaker teams and we went to pieces towards the end of a couple of them as he tired. Other than that he made 7 sub appearances, and only two of those were for more than 5 minutes. Four of them were for 1 minute. His last appearance for us was at the start of January (1 minute) and then after that he only made the squad twice and didn't come on either time. He was initially brought in as cover at right back but we never played him there, and once we played Wiggins there rather than put him in when Solly was absent. We remember him fondly though because he filled in briefly until we could get an emergency loan and that was why he was there. There's a reason we brought in Russell when we could though and there's a reason Hughes didn't get into the squad once Stephens was back.
Compare that to Crofts, Watson and the rest though; Crofts played 45 out of 46 league games, Watson played a devastating 29 L1 games in one season and Pratley played 111 games for us despite being brought in as a backup in his first season with us in L1. Foley played a similar number of games to Hughes. He was a decent RB but not in any way a midfielder. Despite that he made 10 appearances in midfield and only 4 at RB, and had nearly double the minutes Hughes did overall. In all these cases there should have been someone ahead of these players so their experience could be used but not their actual footballing ability, but instead of bringing them in to top up a decent 11 they were brought in to make sure we could put 11 on the pitch, or the peson we planned to put in ahead of them was so bad/crippled we didn't have a choice. I think if Andy Hughes had played 30 games for us in 11/12 we'd have a different memory of him, and I'm glad that's not the case.
Dobbo 100% fits the category of would do better with better around him. Same for Leaburn. This is not true, imo, of most of the rest of the squad who people seem to apply this to. Someone like Tunnicliffe, although a seasoned pro at this level and someone who would get stuck in, is not one of the 6/7/8 top quality players we need.
He may be okay as that old favorite among us, as ‘a squad player’, but if he’s being signed to play 40 odd games a season, we won’t go up
I don't think this is true. I think Dobson looks better, or certainly stands out more, because we have been generally crap. The amount of times he has to win the ball back or cover for players being completely out of position is ridiculous. He wouldn't have to do that if the other players were better.
He has stood out with us, Wimbledon and Walsall. He flopped at Sunderland and, despite his form at Wimbledon, there was no serious competition for us to sign him. He has been our best player for two seasons and there as been no serious Championship intrest.
He was one of, probably 3, the players we couldn't play without last season. Without him we may well have been in a relegation battle, or worse, in the last two seasons.
Obviously he isn't "the problem" far from it but it would be nice if we didn't have to play him every game, wouldn't it?
100% this is my point, and not having a dig at Dobson.. But we certainly need players to push him on!
Same as you Dubai. Dobson and Leaburn are the only two who have consistently delivered, ergo, they’re the ones that would benefit from better around them. The others like CBT, Payne and Fraser haven’t shown a consistency for me that makes me think they’re good enough.
Is Dobbo looking better than he is because of the poor quality around him, potentially. However the consistency of his performances would imply that he’ll do more with better around him. As for the rest of them, we can’t say that for sure.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions but I can’t believe the debate on Dobbo has gone as far as this….have we forgotten about all the other players below him in the pecking order? How are the likes of Fraser, Payne etc shirking this level of analysis?
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I thought we'd already signed him.
On the other hand, some of the rumours and stories do still have me hoping (if not expecting) that just maybe the mystery "they" in charge of recruitment might finally be about to pull their collective fingers out.
Istead hasn't got tons of experience but HAS played, and played well at this level. He's also likely to be ambitious which suggests to me that Holden must have some degree of selling power to at least some players.
May and Ladapo are links only but both are experienced and proven strikers at this level. Outside of one speculative link to Grant, we're relatively free of the usual returners, has beans and L2 prospects that we normally seem to be interested in.
Even Tunnicliffe makes a certain amount of sense in that he's got experience and a decent fitness record in L1 even if he's not exactly a name who's going to win over sceptics.
Long way to go yet but I'm holding out hope that we CAN still turn things around (can... not necessarily will.)
I'd expect Hirst and a PL loan striker in for them. Will be interesting to see what happens to Tyreece John-Jules who they had last season but probably will leave Arsenal this summer.
Ladapo as you say will be a last week of the window type deal if he goes.
Wednesday have another entrant at 14 then you have to go down to 21st on the list to find Bali Mumba of Plymouth. Not sure any of the top 6 have a player in a midfield tackler role like Dobson
I can’t find a date for his contract ending but it must be soon.
Year to run I believe so would require a fee, could be one to keep an eye on.
Not many of them are there? Is Payne expecting?
And DJ?:
I think almost all the traditional first XI numbers are available this season, aren't they? Especially if Thomas and Hector don't re-sign.
Is Dobbo is the only player registered with a single digit number from last season?