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Any decent free agent central defenders going?

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Roker Scoreboard said:
Absolutely this. The love in saying Speakman has done a great job, when him and the recruitment team have had all month to sort deals and we're still short at Centre Back and up front.
What happens if Stewart picks up a knock before the weekend?
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Bookmark this just in case we fail promotion 🙅‍♂️🙏
TZMouk said:
No idea how work permits work anymore, but Doniel Henry is a player I'd be interested in.
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Never heard of him 🤔
 
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A fully fit Luke O'Nien in a back three would be a major asset in my opinion.

I think after seeing him play at CM, RB, 10 and LB he has looked most natural at centre half. Probably not big enough to play in a two but good in a three.

Hopefully not too long before he's available.
 
chopsfc007 said:
Alves played about 2 games we have essentially replaced him with arby and Flanagan with batth so not really weaker
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Arby hasn't been anywhere near starting a game for the 1st team. We were looking to loan him out last week. If Doyle or Batth gets injured before Saturday who plays CB?
norfolk mackem said:
A fully fit Luke O'Nien in a back three would be a major asset in my opinion.

I think after seeing him play at CM, RB, 10 and LB he has looked most natural at centre half. Probably not big enough to play in a two but good in a three.

Hopefully not too long before he's available.
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I mean this is part of the problem having to play players out of position to make do. Why can't we get players in to play in their true position?
 
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norfolk mackem said:
A fully fit Luke O'Nien in a back three would be a major asset in my opinion.

I think after seeing him play at CM, RB, 10 and LB he has looked most natural at centre half. Probably not big enough to play in a two but good in a three.

Hopefully not too long before he's available.
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He's decent on the ball so would be a real asset on the right of a back three imo. Particularly at home when we get a lot of possession. Whether he'd be happy playing there, I don't know
 
Roker Scoreboard said:
Arby hasn't been anywhere near starting a game for the 1st team. We were looking to loan him out last week. If Doyle or Batth gets injured before Saturday who plays CB?

I mean this is part of the problem having to play players out of position to make do. Why can't we get players in to play in their true position?
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I accept this point but what I'd argue with O'Nien is that he hasn't really found his natural position yet and CB could be it.
 
chriswallace85 said:
Have we though?


Batth came in the other week. Flanagan left yesterday.

Personally, I'd have probably kept the latter, but it just looks like one in one out to me.
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It's only one in, one out if we believe Xhemalji is fit enough to be a proxy for Alves. Lads who watch the U23s really not sure about that assessment.

The other issue is that Flanagan was the least injury prone, other than Doyle. Doyle looks a bit shot at the moment tbh, desperate for a break.

The other issue is that arguably Xhemalji was bought for a three, Wright was bought for and is better in a three, Doyle is better in a three and Wolves fans tell me Baath is marginally better in one too.

Flanagan was the most back four defender we had, perhaps.

It's a mystery for me.
 
I think it is a huge worry, whether or not Flanagan was good enough to help win promotion. Wright is always injured and Arby, by all accounts, is nowhere near mobile enough after his injury - it might all be in his head, but the fact that they were thinking of loaning him out suggests he's not what we need. He didn't get a loan anyway and it's possible that nobody was prepared to take the risk on his fitness. We have got rid of Alves and Younger in this window as well, and isn't Almond out on loan too? It doesn't matter that they hadn't started a league between them - they were there as a back-up, just in case.

Given our horrendous run with injuries to CBs over the last year or so (Wright, Willis, Arby, Sanderson all crocked for significant periods), we really do need more cover for that position. Comments generally have been that O'Nien is not really a centre half, so I hardly think him coming back gives us adequate cover, especially as Doyle seems to have lost the plot recently and needs a rest.
 
It really depends on formation. Batth and Doyle covered by Wright and Xhemajli with possibility of Hume, O’Nien or Winchester as emergency cover isn’t absolutely horrendous but not ideal given injury record of Wright and Xhemajli and the fact O’Nien is out, Hume untested and Doyle could probably do with a rest. Also the not unimportant fact that we look a bit shit with two at the back.
If we’re playing three it just exacerbates the problem. Definitely one central defender short in my opinion.
 
Onlyfoolsrushin said:
How did we sign Dajaku & Hoffman too? Hardly seasoned internationals either, and we're not in the EU.
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The points based system awards loads of points just for being an unused sub at a Tier 1 club like Bayern. Playing in the Bundesliga and youth internationals will have helped Dajaku too.

I take your point that it's not an exact science as there's loads of ways to accumulate points, but in most cases players who aren't coming from the top 5 European league are going to struggle unless they're regular internationals for a top 50 ranked nation.
 
Dobbler said:
But they never got a sniff.. maybe they want to open up the progression from the u23s? Almond??
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Hes out on loan at Blyth. Only Jessup from the u23s who isnt great.

You are then into the u18s. Although there are some promising lads at u18 but it's an ask for them to contribute at senior level
 
I liked the look of Arby when he played in The EFL Cup earlier in the season. If we are to believe LJ, his mobility has been gradually improving, so...if he can get match fit (big if, I know) that's perhaps why Flanno was allowed to leave. It's a gamble but LJ also said, earlier this season, that Arby was technically the best defender in the club*
*according to the data no doubt.
 
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