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Bergen Blade

Bergen Blade

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I remember this being a regular feature in the Flashing Blade, on the opposition players that had impressed the most against us.

While we've tried to shop from Scotland and the cast offs from higher leagues, Bristol City won promotion after cherry picking the best talent from this level, and maybe we could learn a bit from that? So, which opposition players have impressed the most against us this season, and could they be a realistic target for us in January?
 



Fully agree about the principle of looking out for talent in the division & going after it (both because of it being a proven quantity at this level, but with it having the added bonus of weakening - & pissing off - rivals).

As for this season, amongst the games I've seen, I'd pick these out -

Sam Morsy (Chessy)
Nathan Cameron (Bury)
George Moncur (Colchester)
 
I like this thread. I always like to play at scouting. Here goes on a game by game basis. Apologies if I’ve missed any.


Gillingham- Dack, Egan and Garmston


Chesterfield- Morsy and O Shea


Blackpool- Potts and Cullen


Swindon- Byrne (gone) and Gladwin


Bury- Clarke, Riley, Cameron and Mayor


Colchester- Sordell, Moncur and Harriett


Bradford- Marshall and Cole


Rochdale- Henderson and Vincenti


Port Vale- Ikpeazu, Innis and the little black winger- Andoa or something like that?


Doncaster- Keshi Anderson


Fleetwood- Nobody really- the big lad up front (Proctor is it?) was a bit of a handful but lacks quality. Ryan is a decent DM (looked good at the lane last year for Chezzy) but didn’t notice him this time round.


Oldham- Again, I’m not sure they have any players good enough for us to go for. Poleon seemed a threat the last 2 times we played them but can’t say I want him back.


Millwall- The right winger (Onyedimna?) and George Saville


Crewe- Colclough has scored a decent goal against us in each of the last 2 meetings but I’m not convinced they have anyone that we should be in for.


Southend- Payne seemed to do well. Bentley is well rated though wasn’t brilliant against us. Did make one good save from Sharp second half though. Weston has pace and would be a decent impact sub but not much more than that.


Walsall- Bradshaw, Sawyers, Lalkovic, Evans all seem like good players. Chambers seems to do well against us as well but he seems to have been around for an age and I’m not convinced he could play at a higher level. Seems an Andy Butler type. Mantom was doing well for them as well prior to injury.


Not all of those would make good signings for us but they are the ones that have impressed me. I think Dack, Garmston, Cameron, Moncur, Harriett, Cole, Innis, Anderson, Saville, Bentley, Bradshaw, Evans, and Sawyers all have a very good chance of playing at a higher level than this league.
 
Then there’s those we’ve not come up against yet. Armstrong, Ricketts, Vinceolot, and Murphy seem very good signings for Coventry. I quite like Grandison and Collins at Shrewsbury (not sure either is good enough for us but they looked good in League 2). Also, do they still have Ryan Woods? We might get a look at them tonight.


Just realized I missed Peterborough off. They seem a different team now to the one we beat. I saw a bit of their game against Donny and the little Turkish midfielder (Oztumer is it?) looked a class above in that game. Marcus Maddison has also impressed me in the past and they have a kid called Lee Angol who looks a prospect. I also quite like Jon Taylor. Saw him play for Shrews when he was younger and really rated him. Jermaine Anderson also looks a prospect and Kgosi Ntlhe impressed me at the lane last season. They really do have a lot of promising young players.
 
George moncur from Colchester, controlled pretty much the whole game against us and scored 2 good goals!
 
1danewhitehouse said:
I like this thread. I always like to play at scouting. Here goes on a game by game basis. Apologies if I’ve missed any.


Gillingham- Dack, Egan and Garmston


Chesterfield- Morsy and O Shea


Blackpool- Potts and Cullen


Swindon- Byrne (gone) and Gladwin


Bury- Clarke, Riley, Cameron and Mayor


Colchester- Sordell, Moncur and Harriett


Bradford- Marshall and Cole


Rochdale- Henderson and Vincenti


Port Vale- Ikpeazu, Innis and the little black winger- Andoa or something like that?


Doncaster- Keshi Anderson


Fleetwood- Nobody really- the big lad up front (Proctor is it?) was a bit of a handful but lacks quality. Ryan is a decent DM (looked good at the lane last year for Chezzy) but didn’t notice him this time round.


Oldham- Again, I’m not sure they have any players good enough for us to go for. Poleon seemed a threat the last 2 times we played them but can’t say I want him back.


Millwall- The right winger (Onyedimna?) and George Saville


Crewe- Colclough has scored a decent goal against us in each of the last 2 meetings but I’m not convinced they have anyone that we should be in for.


Southend- Payne seemed to do well. Bentley is well rated though wasn’t brilliant against us. Did make one good save from Sharp second half though. Weston has pace and would be a decent impact sub but not much more than that.


Walsall- Bradshaw, Sawyers, Lalkovic, Evans all seem like good players. Chambers seems to do well against us as well but he seems to have been around for an age and I’m not convinced he could play at a higher level. Seems an Andy Butler type. Mantom was doing well for them as well prior to injury.


Not all of those would make good signings for us but they are the ones that have impressed me. I think Dack, Garmston, Cameron, Moncur, Harriett, Cole, Innis, Anderson, Saville, Bentley, Bradshaw, Evans, and Sawyers all have a very good chance of playing at a higher level than this league.
Click to expand...

I like Grant at Port Vale. Anderson at Donny has bust his leg. Not many centre backs is there.
 
Bradley Dack
George Moncur
Romaine Sawyers
Macauley Bonne (not against us but has impressed me on TV for Colchester).

Personally (in an alternate reality where we actually recruit properly) I would sign them all along with any two centre backs playing for a side with a better defensive record than ours. All much of a muchness at this level but we definitely need changes in that area and frankly anyone is likely to be better.

This is all of course pure fantasy akin to many of the transfer related threads on here.
 
Problem is. We've made such a hash of this season that any realistic target in August is not likely to be realistic in January.

Why would a player currently leave Gillingham/Walsall etc to come to us in Jan? There's no incentive. Even the potential financial reward isn't worth it because if you are instrumental in getting a side out of league 1, you're guaranteed to sign for a championship club (or stay at the same club in the champ) We've missed the boat for these players now.

To get players in Jan, considering where we are, you need to find a gem who is bossing League 2 in the hope they can easily make the step up. Therefore, I would be looking at the likes of:

Carey - Plymouth
Nelson - Plymouth
McDonald - Oxford
Stevens - Portsmouth

As several examples. The aforementioned in this thread would be great signings in summer but it's too late for this season.

Also, they'd cost money, and, you know, well, that might be, sort of, a bit of a problem for our board.
 
How many fans of clubs who we have played would wish to sign any of our players?
 
1danewhitehouse said:
Walsall- Bradshaw, Sawyers, Lalkovic, Evans all seem like good players. Chambers seems to do well against us as well but he seems to have been around for an age and I’m not convinced he could play at a higher level. Seems an Andy Butler type. Mantom was doing well for them as well prior to injury.
Click to expand...

You missed the best of the lot in Rico Henry.

Like one of your fellow fans says anyway, all of our best players have proven themselves long enough to get offers from the Championship at least, and there are clubs queuing up for all of them. Like usual we'll probably lose our best players again, but at least we'll get decent money this time.

Anyway, your point about playing at a higher level is irrelevant, you're at this level. You need players that perform at this level then worry about the Championship, when you get there. Butler and Chambers have been our most consistent performers in Smith's reign, if not the best.
 
Barry Blunt said:
You missed the best of the lot in Rico Henry.

Like one of your fellow fans says anyway, all of our best players have proven themselves long enough to get offers from the Championship at least, and there are clubs queuing up for all of them. Like usual we'll probably lose our best players again, but at least we'll get decent money this time.

Anyway, your point about playing at a higher level is irrelevant, you're at this level. You need players that perform at this level then worry about the Championship, when you get there. Butler and Chambers have been our most consistent performers in Smith's reign, if not the best.
Click to expand...

Not seen much of him to be honest. Others I would be looking at in the league below are:

Curtis Nelson (Plymouth)
Josh Windass (Accrington)
Kemar Roofe (Oxford)
Graham Carey (Plymouth)
Gozie Ugwu (Wycombe)
 



I will take a slightly different view on the OP.

Whilst impressed by numerous players I have seen, what pisses me off is that we have let the opposition PLAY - particularly at BDTBL. Biggest gripe for me (and some others) is we do not close down the opposition.

It is quite frankly easy to play against us, and if any of the players from other clubs mentioned above had been closed down quickly and had we had not given them time and room to play tippy tappy football then a lot of them would look damned average. Lets be honest, most are in this division for a very good reason.

The reason those players are in this division is they are average - United now (and in previous seasons) have made them look better than what they actually are. Accepted, it's our fault or style of play.

At Barnsley on Saturday, we looked stronger than usual - no surprise as we have Coutts/Bash and Hammond all in there. OK, the dingles scored in the 5th minute of injury time - that's football for you. Our fault for not closing the game out sooner.

We may have seen the blueprint for what is to come - tough to beat. Better being tough to beat than to simply gift games to the opposition by having soft and pansy type players.

UTB
 
1danewhitehouse said:
I like this thread. I always like to play at scouting. Here goes on a game by game basis. Apologies if I’ve missed any.


Gillingham- Dack, Egan and Garmston


Chesterfield- Morsy and O Shea


Blackpool- Potts and Cullen


Swindon- Byrne (gone) and Gladwin


Bury- Clarke, Riley, Cameron and Mayor


Colchester- Sordell, Moncur and Harriett


Bradford- Marshall and Cole


Rochdale- Henderson and Vincenti


Port Vale- Ikpeazu, Innis and the little black winger- Andoa or something like that?


Doncaster- Keshi Anderson


Fleetwood- Nobody really- the big lad up front (Proctor is it?) was a bit of a handful but lacks quality. Ryan is a decent DM (looked good at the lane last year for Chezzy) but didn’t notice him this time round.


Oldham- Again, I’m not sure they have any players good enough for us to go for. Poleon seemed a threat the last 2 times we played them but can’t say I want him back.


Millwall- The right winger (Onyedimna?) and George Saville


Crewe- Colclough has scored a decent goal against us in each of the last 2 meetings but I’m not convinced they have anyone that we should be in for.


Southend- Payne seemed to do well. Bentley is well rated though wasn’t brilliant against us. Did make one good save from Sharp second half though. Weston has pace and would be a decent impact sub but not much more than that.


Walsall- Bradshaw, Sawyers, Lalkovic, Evans all seem like good players. Chambers seems to do well against us as well but he seems to have been around for an age and I’m not convinced he could play at a higher level. Seems an Andy Butler type. Mantom was doing well for them as well prior to injury.


Not all of those would make good signings for us but they are the ones that have impressed me. I think Dack, Garmston, Cameron, Moncur, Harriett, Cole, Innis, Anderson, Saville, Bentley, Bradshaw, Evans, and Sawyers all have a very good chance of playing at a higher level than this league.
Click to expand...



Don't need to post owt now here, except to say I was wrong, because I always said we should sign championship players who would be a better class than this division and then when promoted, would hold thier own.....

It's quite obvious we need young / hungry players who want to do something, not players who think they've already done it all....
 
Tezza1889 said:
Don't need to post owt now here, except to say I was wrong, because I always said we should sign championship players who would be a better class than this division and then when promoted, would hold thier own.....

It's quite obvious we need young / hungry players who want to do something, not players who think they've already done it all....
Click to expand...
Tbf Tezza, it could go just as wrong signing players from this league and below.

I honestly haven't a clue what's wrong at the core of this club, there's so many potential contributory factors I don't know where to start.
 
BushBlade said:
Tbf Tezza, it could go just as wrong signing players from this league and below.

I honestly haven't a clue what's wrong at the core of this club, there's so many potential contributory factors I don't know where to start.
Click to expand...

Bush - in essence your quote above reflects us all - no one has a clue, even though we all have (good) opinions in most areas.

What is clear - our CLUB needs a sound, experienced manager to solve the said problems.

Adkins "should" be that type of manager - question is: how many will give him the amount of time needed?

He is right for me - and would give him this and two more seasons to sort it - then decide if he goes on.

UTB
 
grafikhaus said:
McNulty (Portsmouth). Hearing good things about him...
Click to expand...

Will make no secret - have always been a fan of Mcnulty. Fans had a right go last season, but considering he was "made" to play 1 up front, which is not his natural game he still did ok.

Put Mcnuts in a 4-4-2 and he will shine, even at 3rd tier level - just hope he comes back and gets that chance under Adkins.

It will come back to haunt us if we sell him to pompey.

UTB
 
sitwell said:
Are you a landlord ?
Click to expand...

Har-di-har.;) Maybe a stronger manager would make it plain that such off-field activities won't be tolerated?

Fulwood Blade said:
Will make no secret - have always been a fan of Mcnulty. Fans had a right go last season, but considering he was "made" to play 1 up front, which is not his natural game he still did ok.
Click to expand...

But the, 'some fans' had a go at Porter when he was our top scorer. A lot criticised Murphy. Some didn't rate Stephen Quinn. It's the Blades way.
 
Bergen Blade said:
I remember this being a regular feature in the Flashing Blade, on the opposition players that had impressed the most against us.

While we've tried to shop from Scotland and the cast offs from higher leagues, Bristol City won promotion after cherry picking the best talent from this level, and maybe we could learn a bit from that? So, which opposition players have impressed the most against us this season, and could they be a realistic target for us in January?
Click to expand...
Yeah but most of the best players are linked with Championship teams, however Bristol loaned in a lot of young players from big clubs and so did teams like MK Dons, however we just loan in the rejects
 
grafikhaus said:
Har-di-har.;) Maybe a stronger manager would make it plain that such off-field activities won't be tolerated?



But the, 'some fans' had a go at Porter when he was our top scorer. A lot criticised Murphy. Some didn't rate Stephen Quinn. It's the Blades way.
Click to expand...

I love how we are crying out for a no nonsense Morgan type captain.

I can remember when he was nowt but a hoof merchant and a liability amongst other things.
 
Not that we had any chance of getting him,but Louis Thompson is back at Swindon on loan until January,and all of a sudden they are going to Chesterfield and winning 4-0.I remember being impressed with him when we beat Swindon 2-0 at the Lane last season,although he was injured and didn't play in the Play Offs...runs past people,very mobile,box to box,scores goals,creates goals,gets stuck in..If Norwich want to Loan him out again in January it would be worth trying to get him to the Lane.
 
Can't remember his name, but the Port Vale keeper was fantastic when they gave us a footballing lesson at their place a few months ago.
 
Sam Morsy was good when Chesterfield played us at BDTBL and Dack would be a good signing.
 



1danewhitehouse said:
Then there’s those we’ve not come up against yet. Armstrong, Ricketts, Vinceolot, and Murphy seem very good signings for Coventry. I quite like Grandison and Collins at Shrewsbury (not sure either is good enough for us but they looked good in League 2). Also, do they still have Ryan Woods? We might get a look at them tonight.


Just realized I missed Peterborough off. They seem a different team now to the one we beat. I saw a bit of their game against Donny and the little Turkish midfielder (Oztumer is it?) looked a class above in that game. Marcus Maddison has also impressed me in the past and they have a kid called Lee Angol who looks a prospect. I also quite like Jon Taylor. Saw him play for Shrews when he was younger and really rated him. Jermaine Anderson also looks a prospect and Kgosi Ntlhe impressed me at the lane last season. They really do have a lot of promising young players.
Click to expand...

With the Murphy twins, I do wonder sometimes what our scouts actually do. I went to the youth cup final game in 2013 at Stamford Bridge and those 2 were the best players on the pitch and both looked like they'd comfortably handle league one. One of them is now in the championship, and the other is indeed doing well in league one. I'm not pretending to be an expert by any stretch - I went to what is probably the most high profile youth fixture in the football calendar, saw some players and thought 'hmm wish United could get players like that'. Sure enough, once again, our rivals can and we can't. Martin bleeding Woolford it is.
 
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