Sone Aluko to China!

[WestYorksRoyal]

We should do everything to shift in Jan, even if it's free.....however if we're stuck with him he may as well be around the squad. He had shown his quality throughout his career before joining us. He's clearly a confidence player who was at the club in the dire Gourlay era. I wouldn't say I expect him to come good, but stranger things have happened.

Name 1 stranger thing.

Rougier eventually scoring.

[John Smith]

I think there is more than a strong possibility that Mannone will be brought back into the squad for the last 6 months unless we get a good offer esp. if Rafael is out with a calf injury.

Would expect a GK order of 1. Rafael 2. Mannone 3. Walker with Virginia returned to Everton in January as that just hasn't worked out and Mannone/Walker likely to move on in the summer and we either promote or sign a new keeper.

Fair chance Coniah Boyce-Clarke will get a look in next season, can't see him sticking around too long if he doesn't get promoted, very highly rated.

I think the low likelihood of a keeper getting injured in a game makes this a very sensible suggestion. Getting him in and around the first team could only be a good thing. Neil Warnock never even used to list a sub keeper which shows how important it really is to list one.

[Greatwesternline]

We should do everything to shift in Jan, even if it's free.....however if we're stuck with him he may as well be around the squad. He had shown his quality throughout his career before joining us. He's clearly a confidence player who was at the club in the dire Gourlay era. I wouldn't say I expect him to come good, but stranger things have happened.

Name 1 stranger thing.

I thought about this long and hard. What about, Ryan Babel playing for Fulham eight years after last being seen in England. Alternatively, Roy Hodgson coming out of the UAE / Viking wilderness to become an established manager again, rising to manage Liverpool and then ENGLAND!

[Victor Meldrew]

We should do everything to shift in Jan, even if it's free.....however if we're stuck with him he may as well be around the squad. He had shown his quality throughout his career before joining us. He's clearly a confidence player who was at the club in the dire Gourlay era. I wouldn't say I expect him to come good, but stranger things have happened.

Name 1 stranger thing.

I thought about this long and hard. What about, Ryan Babel playing for Fulham eight years after last being seen in England. Alternatively, Roy Hodgson coming out of the UAE / Viking wilderness to become an established manager again, rising to manage Liverpool and then ENGLAND!

A good bit of long and hard thinking GW-was the Fulham link between all three deliberate or accidental?.

[Millsy]

If we were playing a 4-2-3-1, for sure I’d like to see him return in the right attacking midfield role. In that formation, the fullbacks carry out the role on the flanks and it gives Aluko more of a free roam position. It was the 4-3-3 where he was the problem because in that formation, the wingers need to actually play as wingers which he wasn’t

But if we are to maintain the 5-3-2 or the 3-5-2 I don’t see a place for him anyway. Possibly to play as one of the 3 midfielders chasing the game but I wouldn’t be convinced

Well he can’t pass the ball, shoot accurately or tackle/put a shift in, so no, I don’t want him anywhere near this team.

Yet many (including you and I) have criticised Swift in the past for example for “not putting a shift in” who has flourished so far this season

It’s all about matching the player to the right environment. Players not performing in an environment not suited to them doesn’t make them a bad player. We saw signs in the couple of months with Aluko and Gomes that there was potential there

Don’t expect him to play for us again but he could be an option if we do ever return to the 4-2-3-1

Some of us like me have always rated Swift, and I'm one of the few to have stuck my neck out to say I thought he was a star player from the moment he joined, with some typically thick comments coming my way (I'll have fun digging those out when I can be bothered). Yes he has bad games sometimes but generally the talent and the drive has been there from the day he joined. The thing with midfield is (having only played there a handful of times in competitive games and I HATED every time) you can be asked to do so many things in so many ways and it's dependent on who's alongside you as well as instructions (attack, defend, win balls, etc). As a right winger I know wing is a relatively easy role and you just have to put a shift in. There's one patch of grass you run up and down and either you could be bothered or you can't. Aluko never put a shift in and I remember only one decent game from him (can't remember if it was against 10 or 11 men and I think it was coming on as a sub with fresh legs). His attitude absolutely stinks.

Having said that I'd love to be wrong, and so take your point, but wouldn't use Swifty as an example. A better example might be Kebe (my lord) who IIRC was a similarly lazy right winger we loved to hate until he decided to start playing, did his famous hand-to-ear thing and the rest is history. I just don't think even shite Kebe was anywhere near as lazy or useless as Aluko as he often did show signs of his passion and ability even when shite.

Would absolutely love a £7.5million right winger though doing what he was bought for, that'd be great. I quite like GMac though.

[Millsy]

We should do everything to shift in Jan, even if it's free.....however if we're stuck with him he may as well be around the squad. He had shown his quality throughout his career before joining us. He's clearly a confidence player who was at the club in the dire Gourlay era. I wouldn't say I expect him to come good, but stranger things have happened.

Name 1 stranger thing.

Rougier eventually scoring.

Keith Scott's goal against Bradford.

[NewCorkSeth]

Name 1 stranger thing.

I thought about this long and hard. What about, Ryan Babel playing for Fulham eight years after last being seen in England. Alternatively, Roy Hodgson coming out of the UAE / Viking wilderness to become an established manager again, rising to manage Liverpool and then ENGLAND!

A good bit of long and hard thinking GW-was the Fulham link between all three deliberate or accidental?.

All that long and hard thinking and nothing actually stranger.

[72 bus]

Would absolutely love a £7.5million right winger though doing what he was bought for, that'd be great.

The thing is he's not really a right winger, which is where we got it wrong with him.
Just another in a long line of players in the last few seasons who did well elsewhere but were shite for us.

Vedra
Grabban
Sharp
Martin
Aluko

Is it them or us ?

[Old Man Andrews]

Would absolutely love a £7.5million right winger though doing what he was bought for, that'd be great.

The thing is he's not really a right winger, which is where we got it wrong with him.
Just another in a long line of players in the last few seasons who did well elsewhere but were shite for us.

Vedra

[Hendo]

I thought about this long and hard. What about, Ryan Babel playing for Fulham eight years after last being seen in England. Alternatively, Roy Hodgson coming out of the UAE / Viking wilderness to become an established manager again, rising to manage Liverpool and then ENGLAND!

A good bit of long and hard thinking GW-was the Fulham link between all three deliberate or accidental?.

All that long and hard thinking and nothing actually stranger.

Donald Trump becoming President, that is strange.

[Greatwesternline]

I thought about this long and hard. What about, Ryan Babel playing for Fulham eight years after last being seen in England. Alternatively, Roy Hodgson coming out of the UAE / Viking wilderness to become an established manager again, rising to manage Liverpool and then ENGLAND!

A good bit of long and hard thinking GW-was the Fulham link between all three deliberate or accidental?.

All that long and hard thinking and nothing actually stranger.

Imagine being a Fulham fan saying to his mate, well we've got Hodgson, he's done nothing in years, he's even been stuck in the middle East, but you know what, if he turns it around with us he could manage england. I'd say that is stranger than the possibility of Aluko rediscovering form in the same division he was previously good in. But ho hum.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Would absolutely love a £7.5million right winger though doing what he was bought for, that'd be great.

The thing is he's not really a right winger, which is where we got it wrong with him.
Just another in a long line of players in the last few seasons who did well elsewhere but were shite for us.

Vedra
Grabban
Sharp
Martin
Aluko

Is it them or us ?

Us, clearly. You need to bring in the right player and have a system and role that suits them. We certainly never achieved this with Aluko.

Martin was maybe an outlier; it has since emerged he had big fitness issues when he was with us.

[NewCorkSeth]

A good bit of long and hard thinking GW-was the Fulham link between all three deliberate or accidental?.

All that long and hard thinking and nothing actually stranger.

Imagine being a Fulham fan saying to his mate, well we've got Hodgson, he's done nothing in years, he's even been stuck in the middle East, but you know what, if he turns it around with us he could manage england. I'd say that is stranger than the possibility of Aluko rediscovering form in the same division he was previously good in. But ho hum.

I'm sorry I just cant imagine being a Fulham fan. Wait. You just nailed it. Being a Fulham fan would definitely be stranger than Aluko regaining some semblance of form.

[Hound]

Vydra was a strange one - could see he had it in him, it just didnt quite happen. Don't think it was the system etc, though obvs lost his confidence

Grabban was just played out of position. Stam probably didnt expect Yann's form to be so incredible that second half of the season.

Aluko was the wrong player at the wrong time. We needed a proper number 9 and ended up with some sort of luxury player. The 4 year deal was madness at his age as well. Never seemed to have the real desire to prove himself, much as I hate making those kind of assumptions

[Millsy]

Would absolutely love a £7.5million right winger though doing what he was bought for, that'd be great.

The thing is he's not really a right winger, which is where we got it wrong with him.
Just another in a long line of players in the last few seasons who did well elsewhere but were shite for us.

Vedra
Grabban
Sharp
Martin
Aluko

Is it them or us ?

Fair enough what is he then? I was under the impression he's a right winger but I don't know his position. The Truth that is wikipedia says he's a forward/winger btu by his goal scoring record he's not much of a forward. He might have been many of those Stam-esque "anyone who can vaguely play anywhere in midfield" bullshit vague signings with no real obvious position other than being a good general footballer.

We also have a list of players who were great for us and didn't do much where they went.

You're right it's important for a manager to get the best out of a player and we have certainly had our fair share of failures, but with someone like Aluko I wonder if he's equally inconsistent in every position so it's never clear where he's meant to play! Good luck to MB though if he can tie him down to a position that works for him. For me the only reason I'd give him a chance is if he can be on the wing, as that's where we're lacking if we need that plan B (although GMac is probably ok a plan B right winger).

[URZZZZ]

Would absolutely love a £7.5million right winger though doing what he was bought for, that'd be great.

The thing is he's not really a right winger, which is where we got it wrong with him.
Just another in a long line of players in the last few seasons who did well elsewhere but were shite for us.

Vedra
Grabban
Sharp
Martin
Aluko

Is it them or us ?

Fair enough what is he then? I was under the impression he's a right winger but I don't know his position. The Truth that is wikipedia says he's a forward/winger btu by his goal scoring record he's not much of a forward. He might have been many of those Stam-esque "anyone who can vaguely play anywhere in midfield" bullshit vague signings with no real obvious position other than being a good general footballer.

We also have a list of players who were great for us and didn't do much where they went.

You're right it's important for a manager to get the best out of a player and we have certainly had our fair share of failures, but with someone like Aluko I wonder if he's equally inconsistent in every position so it's never clear where he's meant to play! Good luck to MB though if he can tie him down to a position that works for him. For me the only reason I'd give him a chance is if he can be on the wing, as that's where we're lacking if we need that plan B (although GMac is probably ok a plan B right winger).

He’s an attacking midfielder. Not a winger

[Millsy]

The thing is he's not really a right winger, which is where we got it wrong with him.
Just another in a long line of players in the last few seasons who did well elsewhere but were shite for us.

Vedra
Grabban
Sharp
Martin
Aluko

Is it them or us ?

Fair enough what is he then? I was under the impression he's a right winger but I don't know his position. The Truth that is wikipedia says he's a forward/winger btu by his goal scoring record he's not much of a forward. He might have been many of those Stam-esque "anyone who can vaguely play anywhere in midfield" bullshit vague signings with no real obvious position other than being a good general footballer.

We also have a list of players who were great for us and didn't do much where they went.

You're right it's important for a manager to get the best out of a player and we have certainly had our fair share of failures, but with someone like Aluko I wonder if he's equally inconsistent in every position so it's never clear where he's meant to play! Good luck to MB though if he can tie him down to a position that works for him. For me the only reason I'd give him a chance is if he can be on the wing, as that's where we're lacking if we need that plan B (although GMac is probably ok a plan B right winger).

He’s an attacking midfielder. Not a winger

Oh great now we know Please update wiki then for everyone else, thanks.

[NewCorkSeth]

To be fair Aluko has played 208 of his 346 career total games as a winger scoring 28 of his 51 goals from there.

Hes played 94 games as an AMC scoring 19 goals and 42 games as a ST scoring 4 goals. Also 2 games as a CM. No goals.

[URZZZZ]

To be fair Aluko has played 208 of his 346 career total games as a winger scoring 28 of his 51 goals from there.

Hes played 94 games as an AMC scoring 19 goals and 42 games as a ST scoring 4 goals. Also 2 games as a CM. No goals.

Well, it depends how they classify winger. For example, he was often called a winger at Fulham but he wasn’t. He was more of a right forward/right attacking midfielder. Sounds pedantic but there’s quite a big difference

[Old Man Andrews]

To be fair Aluko has played 208 of his 346 career total games as a winger scoring 28 of his 51 goals from there.

Hes played 94 games as an AMC scoring 19 goals and 42 games as a ST scoring 4 goals. Also 2 games as a CM. No goals.

Well, it depends how they classify winger. For example, he was often called a winger at Fulham but he wasn’t. He was more of a right forward/right attacking midfielder. Sounds pedantic but there’s quite a big difference

Are you actually arguing against cold, hard facts? He is a winger.