On paper Isted, Taylor, Edun, Jones, May and Camara ARE good signings.
Unfortunately football isn't played on paper so as yet Isted hasn't impressed, Jones has been exposed at times, Edun has looked sharp but not yet able to complete 90 minutes, Camara the epitome of going from the sublime to the ridiculous whileTaylor is also not fit and also hasn't impressed. That leaves May who has worked very hard, looked good but has scored once and that was a penalty.
There are mitigations for all of them and all might be the spine of a good team but far too early to call on the evidence so far.
Remember Kirk was hailed as a great signing too and some still want to give him an 8th or 9th chance!
Dobson was dismissed very quickly, as was Clare who is shining for Wigan
When/if everyone is fit, when/if we sign a striker and a right back (what is the delay over Dabo?) and when/if we start winning games on a consistent basis, then we can start to say this was a good window.
On paper Isted, Taylor, Edun, Jones, May and Camara ARE good signings.
Unfortunately football isn't played on paper so as yet Isted hasn't impressed, Jones has been exposed at times, Edun has looked sharp but not yet able to complete 90 minutes, Camara the epitome of going from the sublime to the ridiculous whileTaylor is also not fit and also hasn't impressed. That leaves May who has worked very hard, looked good but has scored once and that was a penalty.
There are mitigations for all of them and all might be the spine of a good team but far too early to call on the evidence so far.
Remember Kirk was hailed as a great signing too and some still want to give him an 8th or 9th chance!
Dobson was dismissed very quickly, as was Clare who is shining for Wigan
When/if everyone is fit, when/if we sign a striker and a right back (what is the delay over Dabo?) and when/if we start winning games on a consistent basis, then we can start to say this was a good window.
Until then we are a long, long way from that.
Give this man a promote. If that is too much buy him a cardi.
Eight days to bring in minimum of three players. Cosgrove I’d say is 50/50 whether he chooses us over others. If not, then what then is the big question. Not signing another striker is unthinkable and I’d go as far as saying kills our season dead regardless of Miles returning. I’m guessing Dabo will be announced.
Eight days to bring in minimum of three players. Cosgrove I’d say is 50/50 whether he chooses us over others. If not, then what then is the big question. Not signing another striker is unthinkable and I’d go as far as saying kills our season dead regardless of Miles returning. I’m guessing Dabo will be announced.
He's got to pass a medical first, i'm guessing that involves 10 pints of Stella, and 20 Rothmans.
Eight days to bring in minimum of three players. Cosgrove I’d say is 50/50 whether he chooses us over others. If not, then what then is the big question. Not signing another striker is unthinkable and I’d go as far as saying kills our season dead regardless of Miles returning. I’m guessing Dabo will be announced.
I’m hoping Cosgrove is plan B if Ipswich don’t manage to bring in a forward (allowing plan A Ladapo to leave).
Waiting till the last day can result in panic loans and permanent signings
These are the last 10 brought in by the club on the last day of the windows at the time
Gavin Kilkenny
Michael Hector
Sam Lavelle
Jonathan Leko
Harry Arter
Scott Fraser
Diallang Jaiyesimi
Matt Smith
Andrew Shinnie
Paul Smyth
3 still at the club, bar Lavelle the rest all on loans and returned back (Shinnie signed on a permanent in February 2021 after being released until the end of that season)
Isted, Jones, Edun, Camara, Taylor & May is a great window!
Add that to Hector, Dobbo, Fraser & Leaburn and we’ve completely rebuilt the spine of the team with a lot of ability!
Any side with that list of players should absolutely be in the mix come May.
As hilarious as this would be, this is not CM - but I suspect this is probably pretty close to the view of him and/or whoever in charge of the purse strings.
I don't see Holden dropping AM-B for Isted (and didn't think he would pre-season), so Isted has been signed as cover. Edun and May have been broadly positive within a currently struggling side. Camará has had glimpses, whilst Jones and Taylor still have work to do to impress and show they are upgrades rather than just like-for-like replacements for Inniss and Morgan.
Any way you look at it, we should have brought someone in as soon as Leaburn got injured. Even if he was fit, I'd still want two more strikers in so that we could go let Kanu loose on a decent L2 loan - this squad desperately lacks experience. Cosgrove in on loan sounds good in theory, but the comments about him from other fans concern me - in a dream world, I'd want one of Nombe/Al-Hamadi/JC-H/Ladapo PLUS Cosgrove. It's not difficult for anyone with some level of football understanding to highlight and identify that as a massive issue for this team.
Dabo will come in to help sure up the RB/RWB area. I'd also beg, borrow and steal to bring in Moxon and shift the dead weight that is Kirk, giving an option over Fraser (who I still see as not mobile enough) and allow Anderson to become the impact sub. Any other areas would be stretch goals - I still have concerns over CB, but I don't think we'd get another decent one that is an significant upgrade. Allowing for a consistent CB partnership to develop with a set system of 3 or 4 would help.
I think, realistically, Dabo and one striker comes in, but I'm praying we get two. Moxon is worth the hype to buy now, but needs someone to pay the pennies.
You just know they're already preparing their quotes of how they missed out on this player and that player. Hence why they've already said they're competing with championship clubs as it's an excuse. We full well know there is real quality available in this league and even the league below for a price.
They're probably holding out on the Dabo announcement as a tactic to try and trick fans into thinking we made moves on deadline day, wouldn't surprise me at this point
Eight days to bring in minimum of three players. Cosgrove I’d say is 50/50 whether he chooses us over others. If not, then what then is the big question. Not signing another striker is unthinkable and I’d go as far as saying kills our season dead regardless of Miles returning. I’m guessing Dabo will be announced.
I’m hoping Cosgrove is plan B if Ipswich don’t manage to bring in a forward (allowing plan A Ladapo to leave).
Do Ipswich even want to bring in a new striker? With 3 wins from 3 and sitting top of the championship they might very well be happy with what they've got through to January.
Eight days to bring in minimum of three players. Cosgrove I’d say is 50/50 whether he chooses us over others. If not, then what then is the big question. Not signing another striker is unthinkable and I’d go as far as saying kills our season dead regardless of Miles returning. I’m guessing Dabo will be announced.
I’m hoping Cosgrove is plan B if Ipswich don’t manage to bring in a forward (allowing plan A Ladapo to leave).
Do Ipswich even want to bring in a new striker? With 3 wins from 3 and sitting top of the championship they might very well be happy with what they've got through to January.
They are after the prem money - I reckon they carry on recruiting
Eight days to bring in minimum of three players. Cosgrove I’d say is 50/50 whether he chooses us over others. If not, then what then is the big question. Not signing another striker is unthinkable and I’d go as far as saying kills our season dead regardless of Miles returning. I’m guessing Dabo will be announced.
I’m hoping Cosgrove is plan B if Ipswich don’t manage to bring in a forward (allowing plan A Ladapo to leave).
Do Ipswich even want to bring in a new striker? With 3 wins from 3 and sitting top of the championship they might very well be happy with what they've got through to January.
Definitely. They missed out on Ellis Simms earlier in the window & were recently chasing Southampton’s Adam Armstrong for £8m.
They have big money to spend and know they have a chance of making the prem.
McKenna said last week he expects players to come in. If they sign JRS and/or a striker Ladapo will go.
Now that Kanu is scoring we have 4 strikers on our books. Unless we are going to unload one of them I would be very surprised if we sign another one, unless it is a loan. The priority is to sort out the defence-keeping goals out is the biggest problem to fix now.
Chuks really is not an option and Kanu needs a loan (appreciate he's scored a couple already - but still needs a decent loan spell)
You're half right Why does DK need a loan? Miles didn't, he was thrown in last term "just a kid" Didn't DK score loads more goals than ML in age group football
In the absence of any more attacking signings CAFC needs DK in the XI or 18 every game
Isted, Jones, Edun, Camara, Taylor & May is a great window!
Add that to Hector, Dobbo, Fraser & Leaburn and we’ve completely rebuilt the spine of the team with a lot of ability!
Any side with that list of players should absolutely be in the mix come May.
Well that much is evident from our rip roaring start
Form and ability are two different things! We’ve bought in ability which is unfit, no time to gel and subsequently have no form!
The other factor being the gaping holes in the squad that need to be filled with the requisite quality in the next week. I'd be focussing on that rather than dreaming about next May
Agree with you.
I think a senior RB/RWB and CF of the same quality that we’ve already signed are the most necessary.
Would be great to get another senior CB and a creative CM as well.
With the 6 players we’ve bought in + Hector, Dobbo, Fraser, Leaburn & CBT, we’re not crying out for another 10 more best of the league type players to be competing.
Isted, Jones, Edun, Camara, Taylor & May is a great window!
Add that to Hector, Dobbo, Fraser & Leaburn and we’ve completely rebuilt the spine of the team with a lot of ability!
Any side with that list of players should absolutely be in the mix come May.
If ‘in the mix come May’ is play-offs then the last time we reached the league one play offs we had a spine/core of Bauer, Pearce, Sarr, Cullen, Beilik, Aribo, Taylor and Grant (for part of season). These were ably assisted by Djicksteel, Solly, Purrington, Pratley and Williams. From your list, only Dobson would compete to get in the side from that season.
On paper Isted, Taylor, Edun, Jones, May and Camara ARE good signings.
Unfortunately football isn't played on paper so as yet Isted hasn't impressed, Jones has been exposed at times, Edun has looked sharp but not yet able to complete 90 minutes, Camara the epitome of going from the sublime to the ridiculous whileTaylor is also not fit and also hasn't impressed. That leaves May who has worked very hard, looked good but has scored once and that was a penalty.
There are mitigations for all of them and all might be the spine of a good team but far too early to call on the evidence so far.
Remember Kirk was hailed as a great signing too and some still want to give him an 8th or 9th chance!
Dobson was dismissed very quickly, as was Clare who is shining for Wigan
When/if everyone is fit, when/if we sign a striker and a right back (what is the delay over Dabo?) and when/if we start winning games on a consistent basis, then we can start to say this was a good window.
Until then we are a long, long way from that.
Great post.
I’m optimistic we will get there.
If we don’t, then I think there should be questions asked, of why we haven’t got the most out of those players.
Now that Kanu is scoring we have 4 strikers on our books. Unless we are going to unload one of them I would be very surprised if we sign another one, unless it is a loan. The priority is to sort out the defence-keeping goals out is the biggest problem to fix now.
Chuks really is not an option and Kanu needs a loan (appreciate he's scored a couple already - but still needs a decent loan spell)
You're half right Why does DK need a loan? Miles didn't, he was thrown in last term "just a kid" Didn't DK score loads more goals than ML in age group football
In the absence of any more attacking signings CAFC needs DK in the XI or 18 every game
But not all 18 year olds are equal.
Micheal Owen and Wayne Rooney didn't need a loan so why did Harry Kane?
Bowyer was a regular, and star player, in the 2nd tier at 17/18 Parker wasn't.
I actually wouldn't loan out Kanu, even if we did bring in 2 more strikers, certainly not before Xmas, he still needs more u21 football and a few cameos, for now. There is no need to rush him, or shouldn't be.
Now that Kanu is scoring we have 4 strikers on our books. Unless we are going to unload one of them I would be very surprised if we sign another one, unless it is a loan. The priority is to sort out the defence-keeping goals out is the biggest problem to fix now.
Chuks really is not an option and Kanu needs a loan (appreciate he's scored a couple already - but still needs a decent loan spell)
You're half right Why does DK need a loan? Miles didn't, he was thrown in last term "just a kid" Didn't DK score loads more goals than ML in age group football
In the absence of any more attacking signings CAFC needs DK in the XI or 18 every game
Because if we had any other senior strikers fit or available, he wouldn't be playing. I'd argue that both Kanu and even, in a perfect world (say, where Aneke wasn't made out of paper), Leaburn could still benefit from a loan spell. Rushing these kids into lots of minutes early into their careers can lead to injuries and additional pressure from going straight into a L1 team with (perhaps feeling lofty right now) ambitions of promotion.
Leaburn has already had a couple of times out injured already and, arguably, that could be down to too much, too soon. You ideally want these players being the impact subs/cover at this stage of their career, not the 30+ appearance players. We should be looking after our academy players and slowly get them involved - it's exciting to see them contribute, but going straight from U23s to L1 is a huge jump in so many aspects. They need to be managed carefully and seen as more of an asset in a year or two, rather than now.
I've gone off on a bit of a tangent here, but this is what warrants the need to sign a couple of strikers, imo.
Now that Kanu is scoring we have 4 strikers on our books. Unless we are going to unload one of them I would be very surprised if we sign another one, unless it is a loan. The priority is to sort out the defence-keeping goals out is the biggest problem to fix now.
Chuks really is not an option and Kanu needs a loan (appreciate he's scored a couple already - but still needs a decent loan spell)
You're half right Why does DK need a loan? Miles didn't, he was thrown in last term "just a kid" Didn't DK score loads more goals than ML in age group football
In the absence of any more attacking signings CAFC needs DK in the XI or 18 every game
Because if we had any other senior strikers fit or available, he wouldn't be playing. I'd argue that both Kanu and even, in a perfect world (say, where Aneke wasn't made out of paper), Leaburn could still benefit from a loan spell. Rushing these kids into lots of minutes early into their careers can lead to injuries and additional pressure from going straight into a L1 team with (perhaps feeling lofty right now) ambitions of promotion.
Leaburn has already had a couple of times out injured already and, arguably, that could be down to too much, too soon. You ideally want these players being the impact subs/cover at this stage of their career, not the 30+ appearance players. We should be looking after our academy players and slowly get them involved - it's exciting to see them contribute, but going straight from U23s to L1 is a huge jump in so many aspects. They need to be managed carefully and seen as more of an asset in a year or two, rather than now.
I've gone off on a bit of a tangent here, but this is what warrants the need to sign a couple of strikers, imo.
Comments
Unfortunately football isn't played on paper so as yet Isted hasn't impressed, Jones has been exposed at times, Edun has looked sharp but not yet able to complete 90 minutes, Camara the epitome of going from the sublime to the ridiculous whileTaylor is also not fit and also hasn't impressed. That leaves May who has worked very hard, looked good but has scored once and that was a penalty.
There are mitigations for all of them and all might be the spine of a good team but far too early to call on the evidence so far.
Remember Kirk was hailed as a great signing too and some still want to give him an 8th or 9th chance!
Dobson was dismissed very quickly, as was Clare who is shining for Wigan
When/if everyone is fit, when/if we sign a striker and a right back (what is the delay over Dabo?) and when/if we start winning games on a consistent basis, then we can start to say this was a good window.
Until then we are a long, long way from that.
These are the last 10 brought in by the club on the last day of the windows at the time
Gavin Kilkenny
Michael Hector
Sam Lavelle
Jonathan Leko
Harry Arter
Scott Fraser
Diallang Jaiyesimi
Matt Smith
Andrew Shinnie
Paul Smyth
3 still at the club, bar Lavelle the rest all on loans and returned back (Shinnie signed on a permanent in February 2021 after being released until the end of that season)
I don't see Holden dropping AM-B for Isted (and didn't think he would pre-season), so Isted has been signed as cover. Edun and May have been broadly positive within a currently struggling side. Camará has had glimpses, whilst Jones and Taylor still have work to do to impress and show they are upgrades rather than just like-for-like replacements for Inniss and Morgan.
Any way you look at it, we should have brought someone in as soon as Leaburn got injured. Even if he was fit, I'd still want two more strikers in so that we could go let Kanu loose on a decent L2 loan - this squad desperately lacks experience. Cosgrove in on loan sounds good in theory, but the comments about him from other fans concern me - in a dream world, I'd want one of Nombe/Al-Hamadi/JC-H/Ladapo PLUS Cosgrove. It's not difficult for anyone with some level of football understanding to highlight and identify that as a massive issue for this team.
Dabo will come in to help sure up the RB/RWB area. I'd also beg, borrow and steal to bring in Moxon and shift the dead weight that is Kirk, giving an option over Fraser (who I still see as not mobile enough) and allow Anderson to become the impact sub. Any other areas would be stretch goals - I still have concerns over CB, but I don't think we'd get another decent one that is an significant upgrade. Allowing for a consistent CB partnership to develop with a set system of 3 or 4 would help.
I think, realistically, Dabo and one striker comes in, but I'm praying we get two. Moxon is worth the hype to buy now, but needs someone to pay the pennies.
They're probably holding out on the Dabo announcement as a tactic to try and trick fans into thinking we made moves on deadline day, wouldn't surprise me at this point
They have big money to spend and know they have a chance of making the prem.
McKenna said last week he expects players to come in. If they sign JRS and/or a striker Ladapo will go.
Why does DK need a loan?
Miles didn't, he was thrown in last term "just a kid"
Didn't DK score loads more goals than ML in age group football
In the absence of any more attacking signings CAFC needs DK in the XI or 18 every game
From your list, only Dobson would compete to get in the side from that season.
Leaburn
May
Ladapo
Cosgrove
(Aneke as a bonus player if we ever see him again)
Kanu out on loan
However if we loan him out just to then loan in a premier league youngster to play, unless they're shit hot, I'd rather keep him here and play him.
Micheal Owen and Wayne Rooney didn't need a loan so why did Harry Kane?
Bowyer was a regular, and star player, in the 2nd tier at 17/18 Parker wasn't.
I actually wouldn't loan out Kanu, even if we did bring in 2 more strikers, certainly not before Xmas, he still needs more u21 football and a few cameos, for now. There is no need to rush him, or shouldn't be.
Leaburn has already had a couple of times out injured already and, arguably, that could be down to too much, too soon. You ideally want these players being the impact subs/cover at this stage of their career, not the 30+ appearance players. We should be looking after our academy players and slowly get them involved - it's exciting to see them contribute, but going straight from U23s to L1 is a huge jump in so many aspects. They need to be managed carefully and seen as more of an asset in a year or two, rather than now.
I've gone off on a bit of a tangent here, but this is what warrants the need to sign a couple of strikers, imo.