Confimred loan - Ovie Ejaria

[Forbury Lion]

loan makes sense to me - prob wouldn't sign permanently being as there is a fair chance we'll in Div1 next year

Plus not knowing who our managers will be over the next 12 months.

[3points]

Sounds like Liam Kelly to me from TTE article. Perhaps we've signed him to bolster our push for the U23 title

[Snowflake Royal]

loan makes sense to me - prob wouldn't sign permanently being as there is a fair chance we'll in Div1 next year

players like this that we have little hope of signing just don't do it for me.
if he was exactly the absolute rock/bulldog we need to fight us out of relegation this season I could accept it, but that doesn't sound like him.

Don't really understand why you think we don't have much hope of signing him.

He's not convinced at Sunderland or Rangers despite some promise. Not much chance Liverpool are desperate to hold on to him. But we aren't going to want perm deal straight away in case he's shit or we go down.

Yes,not necessarily the class we want, but the loan bit is the most sense about it.

[Victor Meldrew]

I think that this must have been lined up before Gomes arrived and he's had a look and okayed it. Still with the intent regardless of reducing the squad overall. From what he's said Gomes has realised the need to have a tight squad working for each other.

So we have a talented youngster, who is still not mentally as strong or confident as he hopefully will one day be. From the Sunderland quote "I’d hope for your sake the culture around Reading is less toxic than the losing culture that engulfed the Stadium of Light last year, because that could be crucial in getting the best out of the youngster."

Are we as fans not as likely to get on our players backs as Sunderland (and Wolves when they were doing badly)? Giving him support, a tighter team and please God some wins could allow him to flourish. But we'll see.

I wonder if O'Shea had any input for this loan deal having obviously played with him at Sunderland?

[NewCorkSeth]

Who?

[Hound]

Think he loan at Rangers was quite successful wasn't it? Looked like he was playing 90mins up until he cut it short.

Few bitter Rangers fans having a whinge coz he didn't like Scotland isn't really a good judge

[Maneki Neko]

if we are offloading 6 and looking to get 4-5 in, that's not really trimming the squad very much is it

[Duffy]

Think he loan at Rangers was quite successful wasn't it? Looked like he was playing 90mins up until he cut it short.

Few bitter Rangers fans having a whinge coz he didn't like Scotland isn't really a good judge

Liverpool fans seem to rate him for the most part.

[NewCorkSeth]

if we are offloading 6 and looking to get 4-5 in, that's not really trimming the squad very much is it

Maybe he wants to trim fat but then build muscle? Like, he likes the weight he's at but wants a different physique?

[Maneki Neko]

like it.

ok. I will accept 6 out 5 in

[Silver Fox]

players like this that we have little hope of signing just don't do it for me.

Would you say no to Tammy Abraham?


NB before everyone gets overexcited I'm not comparing Abraham and Ejaria in any way

[Maneki Neko]

like I said, the only time it makes sense for me is if its a top quality player in exactly the position required to fill a specific hole in the team in order to fulfill a short term aim, such as....Tammy Abraham on loan for 4 months, specifically to score/create the goals needed to keep us up.

this is not that. this seems more like the sims loan.
speculative punt on an unproven player in a position that isn't a priority

[NewCorkSeth]

like I said, the only time it makes sense for me is if its a top quality player in exactly the position required to fill a specific hole in the team in order to fulfill a short term aim, such as....Tammy Abraham on loan for 4 months, specifically to score/create the goals needed to keep us up.

this is not that. this seems more like the sims loan.
speculative punt on an unproven player in a position that isn't a priority

Greed. But would argue Sims was a position we should have prioritised in the summer.
Whether a new winger is a priority now I don't know.
McCleary, Barrow and Harriott is all we have right? People on Twitter seem to hate Baldock but I thought he does a decent job as an AML.

What does everyone think is our priority (for transfer in)?

[Maneki Neko]

for me it has to be the defence. and a striker

[NewCorkSeth]

Loan or transfer?

I presume the full team we are looking at right now is:
Jaakkola, Walker
Yiadom, Gunter, Obita, Richards
Moore, Ilori, Blackett, O'Shea
Bacuna, Swift, Kelly, Rinomhota, Aluko, Ezatolahi, Ejaria
McCleary, Barrow, Harriott
Bodvarson, Meite, Baldock

*Edit* forgot Loader... what position are we calling him these days?

Bringing in a new striker will displace one of Meite or Bodvarson who I don't think anyone can fault for effort so I'm not sure I'd be up for it unless it's someone of true quality.

Wings seem to be our weakest area (despite our defense being shocking I can't see anything realistically being done there - who are we going to get that can fix the problems there? Yiadom, Moore and Ilori should all thrive at this level)

[Hound]

CB, Keeper and winger for me. Think Meite, Bod and Baldock are ok CFs. We are relying on someone who has 1 start in 2 years, an injury prone ageing chap who has not scored for 2 years, and a horribly out of form and possibly disinterested Barrow on the wing

And wingers are massively impt in our system

[NewCorkSeth]

CB, Keeper and winger for me. Think Meite, Bod and Baldock are ok CFs. We are relying on someone who has 1 start in 2 years, an injury prone ageing chap who has not scored for 2 years, and a horribly out of form and possibly disinterested Barrow on the wing

And wingers are massively impt in our system

They are indeed. For me not much has changed since Clement (in terms of our best team). Barrow still shows all the signs of being better as an impact sub till his confidence/mojo returns and McCleary still just hasn't been good enough.

Does anyone know whether, statistically, we are bad at creating chances or bad at finishing chances(or both)? Last 10 games would be appropriate.
I know that both Bod and Meite still have fairly good goal per min ratios so obviously they have a huge effect on any of our stats.

[Sutekh]

Add Osho and maybe McIntyre too.

[Maneki Neko]

Loan or transfer?

I presume the full team we are looking at right now is:
Jaakkola, Walker
Yiadom, Gunter, Obita, Richards
Moore, Ilori, Blackett, O'Shea
Bacuna, Swift, Kelly, Rinomhota, Aluko, Ezatolahi, Ejaria
McCleary, Barrow, Harriott
Bodvarson, Meite, Baldock

*Edit* forgot Loader... what position are we calling him these days?

Bringing in a new striker will displace one of Meite or Bodvarson who I don't think anyone can fault for effort so I'm not sure I'd be up for it unless it's someone of true quality.

Wings seem to be our weakest area (despite our defense being shocking I can't see anything realistically being done there - who are we going to get that can fix the problems there? Yiadom, Moore and Ilori should all thrive at this level)

I'm not after effort per se. I want goals.
I'm happy enough with bodvarsson and meite being in the mix, but neither is good enough, together or on their own (maybe bod, but given fitness concerns...) to be first choice.


the defence IS terrible, they SHOULD all thrive.
I'm not sure who we could get, but I do think its possible to improve on what we have, in terms of individual quality and/or partnership quality.

we keep the ball ok and create chances(or at least get in good positions), but cant finish them.
our defence makes too many mistakes and concedes too many goals.
hence why I think striker and defence should be priorities.

I mean the wingers and midfielders are all shite too, but ive got to prioritise here!

we really are in a pickle

[Maneki Neko]

Add Osho and maybe McIntyre too.

they both look like great prospects,but I think we need some know how, experience and strength in this situation. not kids
imo