Matt O'Riley

[Finnegan]

8 minutes ago, Muzzy_Larsson said:

I would be amazed if he left us this summer but even if he did that wouldn't be wise, he's not really a wide player at all.

 

He didn't say it would be a good idea, he said we might do it.

[Dan]

6 minutes ago, Lesta Legend said:

With Congerton gone it would hopefully be a sign that club admit the mistakes of the signing the likes of Vesty and Bertrand. Two players that should never have been recommended and then signed off by the club. 

Yeah agreed. The vague names we've been linked with this summer, bar Bednarek, are more encouraging.

 

We were warned on Congerton and everything we were warned of came true.

[The_77]

11 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

He didn't say it would be a good idea, he said we might do it.

Exactly 

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, Stadt said:

And as far O'Riley he looks a talent but Callum Wright is a similar player and obviously already at the club.

 

O'Riley scored 7, set 5 up in 26 League 1 games for MK Dons

Wright scored 9, set 4 up in 29 League 1 games for Cheltenham

Alex Scott at Bristol City is the one we should be looking at in the ACM position too.

[Deebhoy]

O'Riley is a fantastic talent and was a great bit of business by Celtic. Fans love him because they see the potential. Downside is he is not the finished article, plus side is he is developing quickly.  As Muzzy said I'd be surprised if he left. He is loving it at Celtic and Champions League football will develop him further. 

[Pliskin]

This window will go one of two ways. Either we will have the most orgasmic deadline day ever, or Peter Odemwingie will appear in the car park. 

[Muzzy_Larsson]

1 hour ago, Scotch said:

I agree. He's clearly not a wide player but correct me if I'm wrong, he does seem to drift into wide right positions to utilise his left foot? 

 

From what I recall, he seems to create a fair bit from that part of the pitch. 

Yeah your right but it's totally different playing as a wide player when that's your starting position.

[Scotch]

12 minutes ago, Muzzy_Larsson said:

Yeah your right but it's totally different playing as a wide player when that's your starting position.

Yeah ofcourse. My thoughts are that it seems to be the opposite of KDH who predominantly links up with the left. 

[AKCJ]

2 hours ago, Dan LCFC said:

I don't think many dispute the situation we're in and it's a good explanation of it from Percy, it's more this attitude that it was unavoidable when it clearly wasn't. If we learn lessons then fine but we've been here before.

Yep, we all naively applauded the club for signing good depth when the fact is we've not signed a player that improves the starting 11 for a long while now.

 

Since the 18 summer window (arguably our best ever) I would say we've signed Tielemans, Castagne and Fofana that immediately came in and improved our starting 11 at the time.

 

That's 3 seasons where we've signed the following;

 

Daka

Soumare

Vestergaard

Bertrand

Lookman (Loan)

Fofana

Castagne

Under (Loan)

Tielemans

Perez

Praet

Justin

 

3 out of 12 is a shit return. To improve the team we need to be improving the Starting XI. Of course Justin eventually improved the Starting XI and I think Daka eventually will too but they both took time to get up to speed.

 

We've continued to collect players like Praet, Perez, Bertrand, Vestergard and Soumare that havent' been good enough on a big wage for relatively long contracts. Who other clubs won't want to pay money for and will just leave on a free, taking a space in the squad.

[AKCJ]

4 hours ago, Dusty said:

My Celtic mate reckons he’ll be off to a champions league club within the next year, he absolutely loves him. He did think we’d struggle to buy him this summer tho with them having only just signed him in jan and he’s got a 4 year contract behind him. 

Everyone knows a Celtic or Rangers fan that thinks they've got about 30 players each that could play for Real Madrid.

[st albans fox]

21 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

Yep, we all naively applauded the club for signing good depth when the fact is we've not signed a player that improves the starting 11 for a long while now.

 

Since the 18 summer window (arguably our best ever) I would say we've signed Tielemans, Castagne and Fofana that immediately came in and improved our starting 11 at the time.

 

That's 3 seasons where we've signed the following;

 

Daka

Soumare

Vestergaard

Bertrand

Lookman (Loan)

Fofana

Castagne

Under (Loan)

Tielemans

Perez

Praet

Justin

 

3 out of 12 is a shit return. To improve the team we need to be improving the Starting XI. Of course Justin eventually improved the Starting XI and I think Daka eventually will too but they both took time to get up to speed.

 

We've continued to collect players like Praet, Perez, Bertrand, Vestergard and Soumare that havent' been good enough on a big wage for relatively long contracts. Who other clubs won't want to pay money for and will just leave on a free, taking a space in the squad.

You can’t continue to buy players that improve the first eleven having finished 5th twice !

 

we don’t shop in that market 

 

we invested in the future and in squad depth 

 

[Ric Flair]

7 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

You can’t continue to buy players that improve the first eleven having finished 5th twice !

 

we don’t shop in that market 

 

we invested in the future and in squad depth 

 

Yes and no. You can improve the starting XI if you have the ability to identify players better than your current players at transfer fees we can compete with. It's by no means easy but we have to do this when we sell 1st team players and largely have done so without paying anymore than we might ordinarily do so.

 

Also the latter part about buying for development and squad depth has failed recently, we've done neither very well.

[Dan]

35 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

Yep, we all naively applauded the club for signing good depth when the fact is we've not signed a player that improves the starting 11 for a long while now.

 

Since the 18 summer window (arguably our best ever) I would say we've signed Tielemans, Castagne and Fofana that immediately came in and improved our starting 11 at the time.

 

That's 3 seasons where we've signed the following;

 

Daka

Soumare

Vestergaard

Bertrand

Lookman (Loan)

Fofana

Castagne

Under (Loan)

Tielemans

Perez

Praet

Justin

 

3 out of 12 is a shit return. To improve the team we need to be improving the Starting XI. Of course Justin eventually improved the Starting XI and I think Daka eventually will too but they both took time to get up to speed.

 

We've continued to collect players like Praet, Perez, Bertrand, Vestergard and Soumare that havent' been good enough on a big wage for relatively long contracts. Who other clubs won't want to pay money for and will just leave on a free, taking a space in the squad.

Our best starting XI is in my opinion, two players different to what it was three years ago. That's Fofana in for Soyuncu, and then whichever of Justin or Castagne in for Chilwell. You could maybe argue KDH in for Perez if you shift Maddison to the right but even still. That's a really poor indictment on the recruitment given we have spent money in that period.

 

The big takeaway for me is buying 'depth' is just wrong. It's a flawed method guaranteed to not give you value for your money. It's why I was so anti Bednarek too - buy somebody who can push Evans to become the backup rather than somebody to be backup to Evans - especially given Evans really can't have that long left either.

 

Even with someone like O'Riley, only do this if we think he'll either start for us or be able to in a year or so ala Justin.

 

We aren't a big enough club to absorb the hits we've tried to do so. That's why we're in the shit this summer simply.

 

On this I never ever understood why we paid what we did for Ward. Just burning money.

Edited 20 July 2022 by Dan LCFC

[Tommy Fresh]

1 minute ago, Dan LCFC said:

Our best starting XI is in my opinion, two players different to what it was three years ago. That's Fofana in for Soyuncu, and then whichever of Justin or Castagne in for Chilwell. You could maybe argue KDH in for Perez if you shift Maddison to the right but even still. That's a really poor indictment on the recruitment given we have spent money in that period.

 

The big takeaway for me is buying 'depth' is just wrong. It's a flawed method guaranteed to not give you value for your money. It's why I was so anti Bednarek too - buy somebody who can push Evans to become the backup rather than somebody to be backup to Evans - especially given Evans really can't have that long left either.

 

Even with someone like O'Riley, only do this if we think he'll either start for us or be able to in a year or so ala Justin.

 

We aren't a big enough club to absorb the hits we've tried to do so. That's why we're in the shit this summer simply.

 

On this I never ever understood why we paid what we did for Ward. Just burning money.

Ward strikes me as an FM signing, 500k up front (or as little as you can get away with) the rest made up of instalments and appearances. Nothing better than thinking you're thrifty then seeing the transfer debt page.

[Dan]

Just now, Tommy Fresh said:

Ward strikes me as an FM signing, 500k up front (or as little as you can get away with) the rest made up of instalments and appearances. Nothing better than thinking you're thrifty then seeing the transfer debt page.

We must play FM differently. I'm not paying £12mil for a designated backup keeper even if my budget is £500mil

 

As a side note everyone in Argentina are paupers!!!

[Finnegan]

1 minute ago, Dan LCFC said:

We must play FM differently. I'm not paying £12mil for a designated backup keeper even if my budget is £500mil

 

As a side note everyone in Argentina are paupers!!!

 

FM backup goalkeepers are 95% out of contract 35 year olds for a season or regens with high potential that will either be your next first choice or flogged off for 50million to some sugar daddy AI with no idea how to spend a transfer budget.

[st albans fox]

3 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Yes and no. You can improve the starting XI if you have the ability to identify players better than your current players at transfer fees we can compete with. It's by no means easy but we have to do this when we sell 1st team players and largely have done so without paying anymore than we might ordinarily do so.

 

Also the latter part about buying for development and squad depth has failed recently, we've done neither very well.

 

Daka.   Jury is out - cannot judge a player on their first season 

Soumare. - can only assume that he has issues. His first couple months showed promise and if he had kicked on then we wouldn’t be trying to sell him. 

Vestergaard - panic buy. Disaster. 

Bertrand.  Pre his covid illness he looked ok. At his age,  I guess you only need to lose a couple percent of your fitness to be nigh on useless. 

Lookman (Loan).  Did enough to warrant a buy at a price 

Fofana.    Star 

Castagne.  Successful buy 

Under (Loan).   Didn’t work out re attitude and fitness 

Tielemans.  Successful buy 

Perez.  Bought a player for a role we didn’t need to fill.  Ok for squad depth but must have been cheaper options out there. 

Praet. He did well enough when he was given a chance but seemed to fall out with the coach and that has inevitable consequences. Ok for squad depth.  

Justin. Successful buy. 
 

I reckon quite a few clubs have a worse performance than that over the past three windows

[Dan]

6 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

FM backup goalkeepers are 95% out of contract 35 year olds for a season or regens with high potential that will either be your next first choice or flogged off for 50million to some sugar daddy AI with no idea how to spend a transfer budget.

Correct. So Leicester on that particular signing were actually more dense than the FM AI.

[Ric Flair]

7 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

 

Daka.   Jury is out - cannot judge a player on their first season 

Soumare. - can only assume that he has issues. His first couple months showed promise and if he had kicked on then we wouldn’t be trying to sell him. 

Vestergaard - panic buy. Disaster. 

Bertrand.  Pre his covid illness he looked ok. At his age,  I guess you only need to lose a couple percent of your fitness to be nigh on useless. 

Lookman (Loan).  Did enough to warrant a buy at a price 

Fofana.    Star 

Castagne.  Successful buy 

Under (Loan).   Didn’t work out re attitude and fitness 

Tielemans.  Successful buy 

Perez.  Bought a player for a role we didn’t need to fill.  Ok for squad depth but must have been cheaper options out there. 

Praet. He did well enough when he was given a chance but seemed to fall out with the coach and that has inevitable consequences. Ok for squad depth.  

Justin. Successful buy. 
 

I reckon quite a few clubs have a worse performance than that over the past three windows

Another way of looking at it is that we were told our squad depth wasn't sufficient as we ran out of steam 2 seasons running. However our recruitment in 2020/21 and 2021/22 is very hit and miss in giving better squad depth which could be seen last season where we struggled. 

 

I don't rate our success in the transfer market for more than 2 seasons now bar Fofana. Every other player, even Daka and Castagne haven't really done anything that good yet. I appreciate the difficulty and it's a fluid situation where someone like Daka or Soumare could become a hit (like Iheanacho has done and Soyuncu after a season).

 

 

[Merchant_Banker]

29 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Yes and no. You can improve the starting XI if you have the ability to identify players better than your current players at transfer fees we can compete with. It's by no means easy but we have to do this when we sell 1st team players and largely have done so without paying anymore than we might ordinarily do so.

 

Also the latter part about buying for development and squad depth has failed recently, we've done neither very well.

The problem is that buying players that immediately slot into a top 5-8 side is expensive. Our business plan appears to be buying those players who might have the potential to become first teamers. Some times it takes time sometimes it doesn't happen. God knows where Vestergard and Bertrand fit in that model though.

Edited 20 July 2022 by Merchant_Banker

[Tommy Fresh]

19 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

We must play FM differently. I'm not paying £12mil for a designated backup keeper even if my budget is £500mil

 

As a side note everyone in Argentina are paupers!!!

I love being held to ransom by Colombian clubs for a regen back up keeper (who inevitably is better than your first choice but you're not ready to part with him) 

 

20 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

FM backup goalkeepers are 95% out of contract 35 year olds for a season or regens with high potential that will either be your next first choice or flogged off for 50million to some sugar daddy AI with no idea how to spend a transfer budget.

Sugar daddy owners at lower levels don't even spend it though, it's pretty annoying.

[Finnegan]

21 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

Correct. So Leicester on that particular signing were actually more dense than the FM AI.

 

Narh I wouldn't go that far, Ward is about the quality that the lcfc AI signs to be in the starting lineup on FM and then gets relegated season 2 after selling Fofana for like 10m to Chelsea or something. 

[Finnegan]

6 minutes ago, Tommy Fresh said:

Sugar daddy owners at lower levels don't even spend it though, it's pretty annoying.

 

AI transfer policy and player selection has been dreadful in the FM series for twenty odd years. Its comfortably the worst thing about the game and never seems to have been addressed. I'd say its probably a big part of what keeps me from playing these days. 

 

It's just way too easy to quickly assemble and maintain a near perfect squad while the AI flounders around signing muck. 

[Babylon]

38 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

Our best starting XI is in my opinion, two players different to what it was three years ago. That's Fofana in for Soyuncu, and then whichever of Justin or Castagne in for Chilwell. You could maybe argue KDH in for Perez if you shift Maddison to the right but even still. That's a really poor indictment on the recruitment given we have spent money in that period.

 

The big takeaway for me is buying 'depth' is just wrong. It's a flawed method guaranteed to not give you value for your money. It's why I was so anti Bednarek too - buy somebody who can push Evans to become the backup rather than somebody to be backup to Evans - especially given Evans really can't have that long left either.

 

Even with someone like O'Riley, only do this if we think he'll either start for us or be able to in a year or so ala Justin.

 

We aren't a big enough club to absorb the hits we've tried to do so. That's why we're in the shit this summer simply.

 

On this I never ever understood why we paid what we did for Ward. Just burning money.

You know we aren't Man City and pump £40m on every player don't you? And if you come back and say, you don't have to spend money to buy quality... you have to spend money to buy proven quality. Otherwise you are gambling and they MIGHT not be better than the starting 11. 

 

I agree with people like Ward, it was nonsensical, so was Vest' when he manager isn't going to adapt his style to fit him in. But, we got screwed by the injury and we just don't know what was available at the time. 4

[VLC86]

41 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

Our best starting XI is in my opinion, two players different to what it was three years ago. That's Fofana in for Soyuncu, and then whichever of Justin or Castagne in for Chilwell. You could maybe argue KDH in for Perez if you shift Maddison to the right but even still. That's a really poor indictment on the recruitment given we have spent money in that period.

 

The big takeaway for me is buying 'depth' is just wrong. It's a flawed method guaranteed to not give you value for your money. It's why I was so anti Bednarek too - buy somebody who can push Evans to become the backup rather than somebody to be backup to Evans - especially given Evans really can't have that long left either.

 

Even with someone like O'Riley, only do this if we think he'll either start for us or be able to in a year or so ala Justin.

 

We aren't a big enough club to absorb the hits we've tried to do so. That's why we're in the shit this summer simply.

 

On this I never ever understood why we paid what we did for Ward. Just burning money.

Recon Kasper was gone without some owner intervention if I’m honest. Last game of that season spurs away he warmed up despite not being in the squad.

 

I also witnessed him clearing out his entire locker the day before that game, he was the only player to do so. 
 

Either way, the Ward signing is a complete joke.