Mikele Leigertwood

[Hoop Blah]

we did it before- ended up setting us back a bit when they left us for their original club, as the players we wanted to then step up hadnt played for the last few months.

When?

Do you just mean Upson?

[Who Moved The Goalposts?]

I understand what people are saying about the loan system being fundamentally wrong and they are entitled to their opinion but as the system is in place then why not use it to the best benefit of your Club.

Leigertwood is a decent palyer but if the aim of this season is to do all we can to get promotion then I cannot see why we wouldn't want a player like Henri Lansbury to improve the team in the short term even if there may be little chance of signing the player permanently. I agree we don't know whether we would have got him but why exclude the chance of getting a player like that just because he wouldn't become a permanent signing. Ian Holloway didn't seem to worry about having Seamus Coleman on loan from Everton for example and he played an important part in their promotion last season. Nottingham Forest have a left back on loan from Chelsea this season too who might have saved us signing two other left backs neither of whom defend as well as him.

If we are still on Brendan's three year plan and have decided we are not ready for promotion yet then I can understand why we want permanent sigings so they can bed in for next season although we do not seem to be targetting players with a great deal of potential for development.

Great post! I think at the moment I'm just a little confused at what our direction is.

[brendywendy]

we did it before- ended up setting us back a bit when they left us for their original club, as the players we wanted to then step up hadnt played for the last few months.

When?

Do you just mean Upson?

errr......yes


only player i can remember we loaned in with no real chance of getting for good.

[Hoop Blah]

Fair enough.

What about the likes of Bertrand, or some of those like David Lee we had back in the 90's?

I think the Upson signing is an example of exactly why we should go out and get another player in. His presence for a dozen games or whatever it was gave us a real chance of success. It wasn't because the other players weren't match sharpe that we had a problem when he left, it was because they (Viveash and Mackie) just weren't as good at the time (or ever).

[brendywendy]

Fair enough.

What about the likes of Bertrand, or some of those like David Lee we had back in the 90's?

I think the Upson signing is an example of exactly why we should go out and get another player in. His presence for a dozen games or whatever it was gave us a real chance of success. It wasn't because the other players weren't match sharpe that we had a problem when he left, it was because they (Viveash and Mackie) just weren't as good at the time (or ever).

agree on bertrand. but i do think we had a chance of getting him permanantly at the start, its just he did too well!
either way - you may not agree with brians policy-but you must be able to see his point

[ankeny]

Two of the best loanees we ever had were goalies,Tommy Wright and Jim Leighton,if only we had a one half has decent as them now

[Hoop Blah]

I totally see the point yes, but I disagree with it when it means we have weaknesses in the team and squad that could be addressed via the loan market.

I don't think that needs to weaken our long term prospects either. If anything it means we're more likely to lose our better players because we'll be further down the league and be showing less signs of progressing and giving them improved prospects without leaving.

It's a tough one, but I think we've got it wrong if our budget doesn't allow us to buy quality players.

[Maguire]

Only just seen this news. I did feel that the main thing lacking in the Norwich game was the fact that we didn't have a black player in the team. In this respect, Mikele is a very astute signing by Brian.

[Snowball]

Only just seen this news. I did feel that the main thing lacking in the Norwich game was the fact that we didn't have a black player in the team. In this respect, Mikele is a very astute signing by Brian.

On this list, I thought Irish counted as black.

[Chillitsphil]

Am I the only one who thinks this is probably because Brynjar is crocked? This new lad offers defensive mid,CB, and potentially full back cover - just like Brynjar did. Like for like.

[Victor Meldrew]

Signed on loan til Jan 2011.

Official text.

NOT a striker! Midfielder, and a versatile one if the text is to be believed!

A centre-back who sometimes plays in midfield in a Bryn sort of way,i.e. breaking up play but not a playmaker.
An interesting one which implies to me that there could be ongoing fitness doubts with Ivar,Bryn and possibly Kish.

You are not the only one Chilli.

[Thankgodisfriday]

Signing a loanee is potentially good news,however this season will not be be about promotion no matter how you wear the RTGs
The annoying thing about it is ....will JM fund a promotion thrust?

I personally cannot see this ,however I am enjoying our season as Maccy D learns his trade as an honest progressive manager

[under the tin]

we did it before- ended up setting us back a bit when they left us for their original club, as the players we wanted to then step up hadnt played for the last few months.

When?

Do you just mean Upson?

errr......yes


only player i can remember we loaned in with no real chance of getting for good.

Maybe it's my 50 odd year old memory playing tricks with me, but didn't I read somewhere (on here) that we were actually in with a chance of getting him in permanently, but someone "upstairs" pulled the plug?

[under the tin]

For my twopennorth, I don't think that loaning is in any way "cheating".
In my opinion, it is the future for most clubs in the prevailing economic climate.
The top heavy big Prem clubs have too many players, many pulling in very decent wages, and with the 25 man squad thing, have staff on their books who are not in any real position to contibute to their parent club on the pitch.
Given the amount of money that most of the Prem clubs are losing, it seems to me that any club chief executive worth his salt would look favourably upon this form of cutting costs, by getting someone else to pick up all or part of the wages.
The flip side is that the clubs lower down the ladder can get someone in who can make an instant on pitch contribution, without committing themselves to sometimes lengthy and expensive contracts. This mirrors what is happening in the wider world of employment, where there has been a movement towards things like zero hours contracts.
Get temps in (even if it means at a small premium) when demand is plentiful, let them go, with no redundancy issues, if the demand dries up.
Seems to me that loaning suits both parties.
The players involved can often benefit as well. Matty Upson, and Jim Leighton spring to mind as two Reading loanees whose careers underwent a renaissance as a result.
I reckon that clubs like ours will continue to use, and even expand their use of the loan system to supplement the team, whilst the home grown talent in the academy develops over time. Jake Taylor might be the next big thing, but if Brian doesn't think he is ready, then he has to look carefully about how he maintains the squad's competitiveness in the shorter term. Loaning fits the bill.

[Barry the bird boggler]

According to my QPR supporting mate, Leigertwood is a player who very much divides supporters' opinion.

Great! McDermott seems keen to build up a team full of players who divide supporters' opinion!

So we take on a defensive midfielder and continue to ignore the fact that it is missed goalscoring opportunities which is costing us so many points!

Actually in recent games I'd say it was our crap defending that's cost us points.

[Hoop Blah]

Maybe it's my 50 odd year old memory playing tricks with me, but didn't I read somewhere (on here) that we were actually in with a chance of getting him in permanently, but someone "upstairs" pulled the plug?

I'm sure Pardew laughed off any such suggestion at a fans forum, saying there was no way we could afford him. I think he said if we'd offered him our top salary it still would've only been about a quarter of what he was on at Arsenal, apparently anyway.

[brendywendy]

Signing a loanee is potentially good news,however this season will not be be about promotion no matter how you wear the RTGs
The annoying thing about it is ....will JM fund a promotion thrust?

I personally cannot see this ,however I am enjoying our season as Maccy D learns his trade as an honest progressive manager

JM doesnt need to fund anything.add a striker now on loan, or in jan, and there is no reason why this season can't be about a serious playoff chance.
we are only two points off them after a tough period. just dont see how its such an unbelievable prospect. not in this league as it is.

[Snowball]

According to my QPR supporting mate, Leigertwood is a player who very much divides supporters' opinion.

Great! McDermott seems keen to build up a team full of players who divide supporters' opinion!

So we take on a defensive midfielder and continue to ignore the fact that it is missed goalscoring opportunities which is costing us so many points!

Actually in recent games I'd say it was our crap defending that's cost us points.

Well said. Of course it is. After all we are top-scorers in the league over the last six games

Goal 1 v Doncaster. Poor cover by HRK, no help from Harte, cross not cut out, Mills fails to win header, maybe an OG
Goal 2 v Doncaster. Free-kick given away by Howard (albeit unluckily) in a dangerous area. Mills done by movement. Poor
Goal 3 v Doncaster. Harte error as he chests down ball. Mills doesn't close down striker. Poor

Goal 1 v QPR. Poor MF cover by Howard and HRK? Karacan and Griffin skinned in box. Howard makes reckless challenge. Penalty.
Goal 2 v QPR. Harte done by clever pass inside him, cross-shot back-heeled in his own box by Mills. Rest of defence slow to react.
Goal 3 v QPR. Free-kick saved and again, defence very slow to react.

Goal 1 v Cardiff. Not sure whether Fedders should do better, but Bothroyd does get free shot away

Goal 1 v Norwich. Hunt fails to track runner. Zurab tries to be cute. Bad goal
Goal 2 v Norwich. Howard gives ball away, break, Mills tries ridiculous back-pass when he could give away safe throw-in. Feds leaves a gap goal-side
Goal 3 v Norwich. Howard gives away dangerous free-kick. Terrible wall, Zurab absent, wall breaks to allow shot through. Not brilliant by Fedders.

Goal 1 v Watford. Fedders allows himself to be cramped on line. Long fails to stop running number 9
Goal 1 v Swansea Howard gives away poor free kick edge of box


That's 12 goals and at least 11 are poor defensive errors. We will always let in goals, sometimes "done" by a quality move, but most of these goals were BAAAAD, some criminal. We can add in Zurab's error at Preston, Fedders kick-out error versus Forest, that makes 13 out of 23. We allowed a free header for Scunthorpe's second goal, an almost free header for Boro's third goal.

At least 50% of our conceded goals are due to self-inflicted injuries.

The attacking side, for all the moans, is well up there on 28 goals, only 5 goals short of QPR and Cardiff.

The defence is the issue. IMO only Griffin and Pearce can say they've done well defensively, and Fedders not too bad.

[Hoop Blah]

I agree that a lot of the goals we've conceeded are ones we should've prevented, but although we're still scoring a decent number of goals it's still partly down to what happens at the other end of the pitch.

Our defence soak up a reasonable amount of pressure but between our midfield, the front line and our style of whacking it into the channels far too often, they are put under more pressure than I'd like. That means they're more likely to make errors just through the law of averages.

Leigterwood may help reduce that by giving us more of a physical presence in midfield and actually being better placed to get a hold in the midfield. We still need to keep the ball a bit more and not expose the defence so much, but I can see why we've brought him in (especially with Gunnarsson, predictably, not being involved).

[Snowball]

I agree that a lot of the goals we've conceeded are ones we should've prevented, but although we're still scoring a decent number of goals it's still partly down to what happens at the other end of the pitch.
Our defence soak up a reasonable amount of pressure but between our midfield, the front line and our style of whacking it into the channels far too often, they are put under more pressure than I'd like. That means they're more likely to make errors just through the law of averages. Leigterwood may help reduce that by giving us more of a physical presence in midfield and actually being better placed to get a hold in the midfield. We still need to keep the ball a bit more and not expose the defence so much, but I can see why we've brought him in (especially with Gunnarsson, predictably, not being involved).

I miss having a player you could give the ball and ask him to HOLD it to give us some time (eg Little).

Everything is always a RUSH