The January window

Well, the window is just over 3 weeks away, who realistically can we get? Pretty sure a center mid will be targeted.

Is Murray Davidson any good? Sounds like the type of player we could do with. Worth paying for? Swap for Pawlett?

I liked the rumor of a straight swap, Tansey for Miles Storey.

Who else is out there that, one we can afford, and two, would be allowed to join us in January? I really don't want another complete unknown from the lower leagues, hasn't proven too effective. At least we know what Tansey and Davidson can do.

Is tansey actually any good? Davidson I've liked the look of but not sure if St. Johnstone are just his type of team.

I'd keep Pawlett, he looked lively last night and he seems more of a run through the middle threat than Hayes or McGinn who stick to the wings more.

I've said for about 5 years..go foreign.

maybe look at Iceland.

I'd keep Pawlett, he looked lively last night and he seems more of a run through the middle threat than Hayes or McGinn who stick to the wings more.

 

I'd agree with this as i'm reasonably happy with our squad.

PP was very good first half last night but kinda fell out it a bit in 2nd half but then he's hardly played recently so understandable.

I thought our best spell last night was just after we scored and guess what... that's when Shinnie was switched to left back and Johnny was pushed up the left wing. DM obviously couldn't leave him there the whole game and had to switch him back to midfield.

I guess what i'm saying is that imo we have a good enough squad as it is but if we have to bring in a midfielder just so that we can get Shinnie into LB permanently then lets do it.

It's not just the 'play Shinnie at LB' that i feel is important, everyone else slots into their more natural positions when that happens.Why can't DM let it be?! (i maybe should have posted this in the Back 4 thread  )

We need a proper central midfielder a barry robson at his peak type

Neither Davidson or Tansey are better than Jack, and I'm surprised that anyone thinks they are.

We're definitely on the look out for a midfielder though. To replace Maddison I would think. If not, then we need to drop one of McLean or Jack, which I think the manager will struggle with. If Maddison goes, then it's simply McLean to the advanced position.

I think we're okay in the other positions unless we let one or two of the squad players ago and replace with better.

That No.10 role which Maddison occupies at the mo is probably the least of our worries. As Rico points out Kenny could / should be playing there and i think he will once Maddison goes back. Then we've got PP and McGinn both very capable of playing there. I realise that both PP and Kenny were off the boil at the start of the season and that's probably why Maddison was brought in but if that's considered a problem position then we should be looking to offload either of PP or KM.

As someone already said neither Robson or Willo have been replaced and when you also consider that Jack is not playing anywhere near the level required then the defensive midfield role is probably our priority.

Davidson would be a decent squad player to have but unfortunately he is as fragile as a Ming vase, we would have to build a new separate treatment room for him alone. So thats him out....

Tansey takes a decent free kick and penalty, but we need a hard bastard. Therefore if we had to go back to ICT for another of their players I'd rather it was Draper. Can make runs from deep and isnt frightened to karate kick an opponent when the need occurs.

I wouldnt be against letting Reynolds go free in the window and using his freed up wages and paying a small fee toget in Chris Cadden from Motherwell. He aint a central defender but with consi taylor and o'connor we have enough to see us to seasons end so a young left sided central defender on a precontract would be fine

Ross Draper would be a good signing IMO. I think he is more of the type of player we need.

That said if we signed Tansey or Davidson I wouldn't be disappointed.

In terms of players out, Pawlett, Morris, Taylor and maybe even McGinn. Heard a rumour that McGinn is attracting interest from south of the border so could be another case of will he or wont he.

Absolutely critical we get a solid central midfielder (or two).

I understand mcinnes feeling he needs shinnie in midfield against certain teams but we need to get to the stage that we have the personnel to ensure there's better options than to play shinnie out of position.

DM 'expects' to get offers from down south for Taylor.  Get him out the door, wouldn't be averse to Reynolds following and recalling Scott McKenna from Ayr, but he's just had his loan extended to 18 January.

Morris is definitely out in January, what an absolute waste of time he has been.  A really poor player and surprise surprise, a really poor signing  to boot.

Said it a year ago, but we should have gone for Steven Anderson from St Johnstone - the experienced, no nonsense centre half we've needed since our own Anderson had to retire.

Murray Davidson - I would have gone for him 4 or 5 years ago but I think that ship has sailed now and as Ten Caat says, he's very injury prone too.

I'd also keep Pawlett for now. He gives an option of that burst of pace from a deep lying area which we absolutely need and miss far too often.

Would imagine Miles Storey will be out, Maddison likely to be recalled... will we recruit better this January compared to last? I'm not sure I trust him to sort it out properly I'm sorry to say.

I'm pretty surprised about the Pawlett comments, a handful of decent performances in 2 years and we want to keep him?? Also think we can lose Taylor and Morris, but we keep Reynolds and McKenna for back up.

Losing McGinn would be tough to replace, esp with Maddison away. Said it before, Ali Crawford to replace here.

I'd take Draper, no clue if Steven Anderson is any good.

I'm pretty surprised about the Pawlett comments, a handful of decent performances in 2 years and we want to keep him?? Also think we can lose Taylor and Morris, but we keep Reynolds and McKenna for back up.

 

Losing McGinn would be tough to replace, esp with Maddison away. Said it before, Ali Crawford to replace here.

 

I'd take Draper, no clue if Steven Anderson is any good.

  Cant say as ive noticed Crawford that much but heard a few folk mention his name as a signing.Would he be a Maddison type replacement,or the more combative midfielder weve been looking for?

Crawford would replace Maddison. Good player, but nae as good as Maddison will be obviously.

Draper is overrated pish, and Anderson can't actually play football (like Reynolds). We should be looking for better than anti-footballers like those two.

Don't think there's a holding midfielder in Scotland I'd take now (outside the tims). Like it or not, we're better than every team in the league bar the tims, and we'll need a better holding midfielder than the rest have got to offer.

I'm staggered and highly impressed at the vast knowledge being displayed in this forum of other teams' footballers. Other than most of the OF and a handful of others in the SPFL, I don't know specifics about very many at all. I tend to study only AFC players and unless someone in the opposition does something special or something like a bad challenge, I tend not to notice opposition individuals, only how the team is set up and tries to play v. us tactically.

Crawford would replace Maddison. Good player, but nae as good as Maddison will be obviously.

 

Draper is overrated pish, and Anderson can't actually play football (like Reynolds). We should be looking for better than anti-footballers like those two.

 

He wins just about every ball in the air (unlike Reynolds).  Thinking about it now he's probably too old now anyway so it's a moot point. 

I like the boy Crawford from Accies too, only problem is he's another in the No.10 role.

If he did end up at us you can be sure he'd end up at right back or centre half.

It's a Bisconti or Heikkinen we need. 

Ross Draper fucking hates us for some reason

Steven Anderson, agree with Bobby now in his early thirties and probably too late for him unless we want another Toni Komboaure

He wins just about every ball in the air (unlike Reynolds).  Thinking about it now he's probably too old now anyway so it's a moot point.

Don't get me wrang, he has obvious qualities, but he's not a footballer, and definitely not an improvement on Considine, O'Connor and probably not even Taylor. He's just quite good against us. I'd rather have Dave McKay if we were insisting on taking someone from St Johnstone. But I wouldn't have him either.

Anyway, we're sorted for centre half. Draper isn't good enough for midfield, he's too slow and shite with the ball at his feet (and a diving cunt, he'd only get booked). He's worse than Jack, McLean, Shinnie and Maddison. We can do better, and should be looking to get better. We don't just need to buy a "hard bastard", we need someone who can actually play fitba too. Heikkinen was good at fitba as well as tackling, without flying into challenges and getting booked all the time. He was sensible. We basically need another Shinnie to play in midfield.

Dinnae need to think about Dave McKay of St Johnstone as he is Dave McKay ex of St Johnstone.

He retired aged 36 earlier this season

Don't get me wrang, he has obvious qualities, but he's not a footballer, and definitely not an improvement on Considine, O'Connor and probably not even Taylor. He's just quite good against us. I'd rather have Dave McKay if we were insisting on taking someone from St Johnstone. But I wouldn't have him either.

 

He's clearly better than Taylor, that's just silly to suggest otherwise. Anderson does not make the same sort of mistakes as Taylor, and certainly not on a recurring basis as Taylor.  Anderson may not be a footballer in the purest sense, but to suggest Taylor is just because he tries the occasional Hollywood ball is a tad generous.

Heikkinen was good at fitba as well as tackling, without flying into challenges and getting booked all the time. He was sensible. We basically need another Shinnie to play in midfield.

Agree about Heikkinen, but not about Shinnie as a midfielder. He's too frantic in there - he certainly doesn't do a bad job, far from it - but look at how composed Heikkinen was in there, he was able to read the game much better from that position than Shinnie.  I think Shinnie got a lot of plaudits because he's not as pedestrian as Jack, and is willing to put his foot in, unlike McLean, but the sum of this was a lot of yellow cards, a lot of huffing and puffing but not a lot of end product.

Agree about Heikkinen, but not about Shinnie as a midfielder. He's too frantic in there - he certainly doesn't do a bad job, far from it - but look at how composed Heikkinen was in there, he was able to read the game much better from that position than Shinnie.  I think Shinnie got a lot of plaudits because he's not as pedestrian as Jack, and is willing to put his foot in, unlike McLean, but the sum of this was a lot of yellow cards, a lot of huffing and puffing but not a lot of end product.

Totally agree. Markus Heikkinen was a proper footballer, without being spectacular. I have never rated Shinnie in midfield. He's too small and lightweight in there whereas his pace and his speed of thought makes him an excellent Left Back. Not to mention the immeasurable comfort factor. He's comfortable at LB because he knows what he's doing there whereas I see him as a headless chicken in the middle of the park.

It's not just the fact that McInnes doesn't play him in his best position that is criminal. It's also the fact that he doesn't add much in midfield and is papering over the cracks of McInnes's failings in recruitment, our midfield being our biggest weakness by far.

We will never be successful football team - however you want to define success - with such incompetent and ridiculously stupid management mistakes being made. Ripping Shinnie out of his best position to shove him into a shirt-filling make-do midfield role whilst at the same time shoving a good and improving CB into a make-do LB and thereby accommodating one of the weakest of the 4 CB options in Taylor or Reynolds is madness. Face up to facts Derek. Play Considine at CB and Shinnie at LB then we only have one gap to worry about (in midfield) and we don't have to play a 3rd or 4th option as one of the two CB's. I still want to know why Reynolds, McGinn and Jack have gone backwards under this present manager and if he was any good at his job, he would be asking himself these same questions.

He's clearly better than Taylor, that's just silly to suggest otherwise. Anderson does not make the same sort of mistakes as Taylor, and certainly not on a recurring basis as Taylor.  Anderson may not be a footballer in the purest sense, but to suggest Taylor is just because he tries the occasional Hollywood ball is a tad generous.

Woah, at no point did I say that Taylor is a footballer, nor did I mention Hollywood passes. I've been very consistent in saying the opposite. But he wins a lot of headers in the same vein as Anderson, and isn't that bad when being run at (altohugh that doesn't stop me from shitting it every time someone does). I think the difference between the two is marginal, but I accept that folks could see it either way.

Agree about Heikkinen, but not about Shinnie as a midfielder. He's too frantic in there - he certainly doesn't do a bad job, far from it - but look at how composed Heikkinen was in there, he was able to read the game much better from that position than Shinnie.  I think Shinnie got a lot of plaudits because he's not as pedestrian as Jack, and is willing to put his foot in, unlike McLean, but the sum of this was a lot of yellow cards, a lot of huffing and puffing but not a lot of end product.

Agreed, I was probably over-stating Shinnie, I think you're right. I suppose I was trying to say we shouldn't be going the opposite way and get some brute in (which I think Draper is) just he can put in a dirty tackle. We had years (on donsmad) of suggestions of Hammill and Goodwin just because they were hard-men, with no one noticing they were totally inept footballers. I'm think Draper is better than those two, but nearly as good as folk make him out and we should not be looking past the massive flaws in his game because he's strong.

Tansey, Draper etc lazy signings which is de rigeur for Mcinnes, do we have no scouts abroad are we looking for value in scandanavia, eastern europe etc . Tansey and Draper will not improve the team. There are talented players out there outside of SPL, lower English divisions

Tansey, Draper etc lazy signings which is de rigeur for Mcinnes

I'm not sure it is to be fair to McInnes. He bought the very best players from other teams (or who had been at other teams), who were streets ahead like Rooney, McLean and Shinnie who have improved our team. But otherwise we've just had punts in defence like Quinn and Morris which haven't quite worked out. Lewis, O'Connor, Taylor, Logan, Maddison, Burns and plenty of failures have all been from down south with no prior SPL experience.