Plymouth Argyle Transfer Rumour Round-up

[JannerinCardiff]

Don't shoot the messenger. He's still under contract at Gillingham but available for transfer.

Would love John Akinde. Great player, and we haven’t got a forward like him currently.

 

[Andy S]

I think there is some exaggeration on here of what is required of a ball playing centre back. We don't need a Koeman, Van Dijk, David Luiz... Yes they can all spray a 70 yard pass to the forward, which is great, but that's not the level we are demanding.

We need centre backs who can play quick passes vertically into the midfield or into the forwards feet if they come short, or are at the very least comfortable on the ball when pressed. There are plenty of these available in the lower leagues. The only other requirement is that when they do go long into the channel, the ball stays on the pitch.

Kell Watts was good enough on the ball, he was very comfortable bringing it out of Defence and did it to great effect earlier in the season. He's no superstar is he? Unfortunately he was also fairly bad at the basic aspects of defending, which means he's not the answer.

A good example is Sheffield United's central defenders. They used the overlapping centre backs to great effect up until this season. All comfortable passers and all decent on the ball. Some of them had come all the way up to the PL from League One. Basham, Egan and O'Connell... hardly big names are they?

I agree with most of your requirements, Nobby but, for me, the big essential is that they need to be strong and dominating in the air at both ends of the pitch. Like, most recently, Sonny Bradley.

At League 1 level, strong and dominant in the air is way more important than being "comfortable on the ball". Lowe's supposed ball-playing defenders conceded 80 goals, about three-quarters of which were pretty poor defensively more so than they were good offensively.

The ideal pairing would be Coughlan as a right-footer and Bradley as a left-footer. I'd have 50p with anyone that with those 2, we wouldn't concede 80 goals and Mike Cooper would look even better behind them as well.

However, as good as they are/were as defenders who could also pass the ball to a green shirt, they would never be described as ball-players.

On further reflection, Dave; a Bradley type with Coughlan as our defensive coach would be a good shout.

Davie, you are one of a number of fans who have suggested that we need a defensive Coach.

I don't think Lowe would ever want one, especially if he wants to play with 3 at the back bringing the ball out from our own box.

Because of the way they have to join in the play with the rest of the team, I'm not sure you could Coach the Back 3 separately in the way that you could with a flat Back 4, where the requirements are more straightforward and based mainly on defending as a unit.

My main concern was that, at the recent fans’ forum, Dewsnip was asked this question and he implied that we have a defensive coach but, strangely, he would not say who it is.
Also, I consider that, this season, our organisation at set pieces often looked poor, partly because we did not have a big, commanding central defender (or defenders) who could win a decent proportion of aerial challenges.
This was also a weakness when we had attacking set pieces when the big units come forward to help the attackers but rarely won anything.

Agreed. One of the things I noticed with a lot of the goals, in particular coming from corners, was that there was never a defender on the near/far posts!

Surely that is that absolute basic requirement when defending a corner?

 

[Mr Gillingham]

Don't shoot the messenger. He's still under contract at Gillingham but available for transfer.

I really wouldn't bother to be one bit excited about him. Inconsistent and dropped regularly.

 

[JannerinCardiff]

Don't shoot the messenger. He's still under contract at Gillingham but available for transfer.

I really wouldn't bother to be one bit excited about him. Inconsistent and dropped regularly.

Just checked, John Akiinde is 32. Has scored lots of goals but not so many in the last two seasons at Gillingham, only 8 goals in 53 appearances for the Gills. If we got him on a free maybe he’s worth going for but I would expect we’d not pay a transfer fee for a 32 year old player that hasn’t done great in the last 1.5- 2 seasons.

 

[PL2 3DQ]

 

[EyeOpener]

Don't shoot the messenger. He's still under contract at Gillingham but available for transfer.

I really wouldn't bother to be one bit excited about him. Inconsistent and dropped regularly.

Agreed. He is another Barney imo. (Barney Rubble = Nubble (Nouble))

 

[Pogleswoody]

Don't shoot the messenger. He's still under contract at Gillingham but available for transfer.

I really wouldn't bother to be one bit excited about him. Inconsistent and dropped regularly.

Agreed. He is another Barney imo. (Barney Rubble = Nubble (Nouble))

Perhaps we should target Fred instead?? :think:

Only need one big centre forward; one of A kind(e)?? :coat:

 

[Martyn]

Rather have Jordan Graham from Gillingham, than John Akinde

 

[Willis88]

Are these tweets ever anything more than a random name generator?

Would be interested to find out how many actually were real rumours.

 

[Quintrell Green]

Are these tweets ever anything more than a random name generator?

Would be interested to find out how many actually were real rumours.

Exactly. When journos are paid by the word / column inch, it only encourages 'stuff' like this being published in the media. The names bandied about never challenge them at this level of football.

 

[TheBoldman]

Is it just me or has Argyle's transfer scope narrowed significantly to UK-based players only over more recent seasons? I remember a time when Argyle signed Friio and Larrieu from French clubs, the Hungarian trio of Buszaky, Halmosi and Timar, and a Canadian player (Jason Bent) from a US club by way of Germany. With modern communications systems and data analytics software available to clubs, you would think that the transfer net would widen rather than narrow?

I don't know if politics and Brexit has had an impact on signing footballers as I haven't looked into it, but I would present Lewis Montsma (Lincoln City) as a case of what can be achieved if your scouting network is widened and is effective. Lincoln signed him from FC Dordrecht and he has been one of their standout players this season. Just some Tuesday afternoon musings with a bit of nostalgia...! :scarf:

 

[Tugboat]

Maybe the data analytics play a part?

More difficult to do this for overseas players?

 

[Argylegames]

Bent was an international and met the critera for signing foreign nationals.

The others were from the EU and didn't need to satisfy foreign player cirteria.

Now we are out of the EU all players have to satisfy the foreign national route.

(There is always the "I have a British Passport as great-granny came from auchtermucktie" route too)

I read somewhere on here earlier the comment that data is available through agencies on practically every professional footballer in the world.

 

[Railway sleeper]

Is it just me or has Argyle's transfer scope narrowed significantly to UK-based players only over more recent seasons? I remember a time when Argyle signed Friio and Larrieu from French clubs, the Hungarian trio of Buszaky, Halmosi and Timar, and a Canadian player (Jason Bent) from a US club by way of Germany. With modern communications systems and data analytics software available to clubs, you would think that the transfer net would widen rather than narrow?

I don't know if politics and Brexit has had an impact on signing footballers as I haven't looked into it, but I would present Lewis Montsma (Lincoln City) as a case of what can be achieved if your scouting network is widened and is effective. Lincoln signed him from FC Dordrecht and he has been one of their standout players this season. Just some Tuesday afternoon musings with a bit of nostalgia...! :scarf:

Very true Boldman.

If your a fisherman , do you:
1. Fish in an area where there are lots of other fisherman- with the likelihood of a low catch of poor quality fish ........ OR

2. Fish in an area where there are very few other fisherman , with the catch likely to be large and high quality ?

I know where after footballers not fish, but the same principles apply I think.

Brexit has complicated things, but I still think we should be sending our fishing boats much further afield , if you follow my rather bizarre metaphor.

For example, the non- league circuit is heavily exploited by U.K. clubs , but I’ve never heard of an English club looking at the non- league circuit abroad ( although I’m sure there must be plenty of talent in these leagues)- might that be an idea for Argo ?

 

[Koala Green]

Was listening to the Price Of Football podcast earlier and one stat that amazed me was the average Championship player’s salary.

The very credible Kieran, football finance expert said it was $833,000 per year !?!

Basically I think 3 or 4 players would probably break our budget. This shows just how much of a
step up it is to get into and stay in the championship .

Also looks like Sonny Bradley ion $500k was a bargain!