CONFIRMED Hamza Choudhury joins on loan with option to buy

[Bladeloyal]

Shirecliffe busy today

Yes the car wash at the timbertop

 

[TJ blade]

I agree, and having watched a few Leeds and Burnley games, the speed that they also are back defending when possession is turned over is incredible.

Contrast that with our players trotting back we lose the ball and its very different.

Hopefully Souza and Choudhery can change that.

Could be a Wilder ploy?

 

[Jon Bon II]

View attachment 202833

I'm also just hearing the Hindenburg's crashed in flames. Oh the humanity.

 

[Blade56]

I'm also just hearing the Hindenburg's crashed in flames. Oh the humanity.

Nah, just seen it fly past our gaff

 

[Keen Blade]

It's these last 3 games where we've really needed the squad depth we haven't had all season, as well as 1 or 2 similar runs of games earlier in the season.

In 6 days we've played pretty much the same starting 11 and subs for each game, with a few exceptions as we haven't had the depth to give certain players (like Davies and Peck) a much needed rest.

If we had the squad depth that we will have post JTW (Cannon, BBD, Choudhury, JJK, new CB) we would have been able to manage these last 3 games a lot easier and probably would have played better in the 1st half against Swansea and the game against Hull, as we wouldn't have been forced to play Burrows at CM and an out of form Gilchrist continuing to start.

I fully appreciate and accept your point about injuries ,
But I was thinking if all available , what would you think is the best plan ?
Just wondering what CW objective is when recruiting and setting up his best team.
It's a hypothetical question.
But imo , CW is falling between 2 stools in his thinking.
He wants 2 DMs to make us tight.
He wants the Hamer / O'Hare partnership , but he also wants wingers.
He's mainly played 1 striker all season , but even doing that , he's had to shoehorn Hamer onto LW.
Now he's got BBD , Hamer will have to come central or play RW.
So who does he drop - O'Hare or the R winger ?
If he puts O'Hare on RW , it's just the mirror-image of the Hamer/LW problem we've had all season.
Perhaps we could make a special case to the EFL to field 12 players

 

['Doc' Pace my hero]

The constant stream of injuries together with a ridiculously small squad has changed things dramatically.In addition,we have also been unable to replace both Arblaster and Soutter with comparable quality players from our existing squad.
We have been cobbling together a matchday team and somehow we have stayed in touch at the top end of the table,the need for a less attractive risk averse style is mainly due to the constant team changes and players being asked to play in unaccustomed positions.
I agree it has been a hard watch and some of the victory’s have been achieved by sweat and tears and not particularly attractive football,however,they do deserve a lot of credit for staying in touch.Unfortunately,on occasions we will be vulnerable,but i’ll reserve criticism until after the January transfers are completed and the new arrivals have settled in.

 

[raul]

Hamza Choudhury
Comes to the Lane on loan to play midfield
What will it yield?
Also plays right back
Gives us some strength and some nous in our four
Now Gilchrist is poor

All the loany people.....

 

[Down the Channels]

The constant stream of injuries together with a ridiculously small squad has changed things dramatically.In addition,we have also been unable to replace both Arblaster and Soutter with comparable quality players from our existing squad.
We have been cobbling together a matchday team and somehow we have stayed in touch at the top end of the table,the need for a less attractive risk averse style is mainly due to the constant team changes and players being asked to play in unaccustomed positions.
I agree it has been a hard watch and some of the victory’s have been achieved by sweat and tears and not particularly attractive football,however,they do deserve a lot of credit for staying in touch.Unfortunately,on occasions we will be vulnerable,but i’ll reserve criticism until after the January transfers are completed and the new arrivals have settled in.

Excellent post. Fully agree.

 

[Frank the tank]

Hamza Choudhury
Comes to the Lane on loan to play midfield
What will it yield?
Also plays right back
Gives us some strength and some nous in our four
Now Gilchrist is poor

All the loany people.....

I think when everybody's fit and available
Choudhury might play the glchrist role as a kind of inverted pep style fullback /centre back /def mid

 

[Pollingtonblade]

It's a bit of a disease running through this team
I rem one raking diagonal picking out burrows in space but he decided to touch it back behind himself even though he had a acres of space to run into

I give hamer some stick for surrendering possessing so thoughtlessly but he never ever takes the safe option and we missed him last night

It must come from the coaching, there has been numerous examples of heading back towards Cooper from attacking positions, very frustrating.

 

[ancientblade]

It's for his work rate and defensive contributions. Which is the most important thing for a Chris Wilder number 10

When did Wilder take this turn? It was never this defensive in his first spell, even after the 3-3 at Villa which seemed to be the catalyst for a change in approach

its not how he was used at coventry for me weve played him in his wrong position all season

 

[Large Mendonca]

The constant stream of injuries together with a ridiculously small squad has changed things dramatically.In addition,we have also been unable to replace both Arblaster and Soutter with comparable quality players from our existing squad.
We have been cobbling together a matchday team and somehow we have stayed in touch at the top end of the table,the need for a less attractive risk averse style is mainly due to the constant team changes and players being asked to play in unaccustomed positions.
I agree it has been a hard watch and some of the victory’s have been achieved by sweat and tears and not particularly attractive football,however,they do deserve a lot of credit for staying in touch.Unfortunately,on occasions we will be vulnerable,but i’ll reserve criticism until after the January transfers are completed and the new arrivals have settled in.

Bang on the money, and something the throat-slitters need to bear in mind when we have the odd and inevitable setback.

 

[BigBed]

I'm also just hearing the Hindenburg's crashed in flames. Oh the humanity.

Probably one of those fucking drone things!

 

[raul]

I think when everybody's fit and available
Choudhury might play the glchrist role as a kind of inverted pep style fullback /centre back /def mid

Worst second verse ever. Youre a foul-mouthed Scouser too....

 

[ITALIANO BLADE]

hurry up sign him please

 

[Carlton Blade]

I think when everybody's fit and available
Choudhury might play the glchrist role as a kind of inverted pep style fullback /centre back /def mid

That doesn't even rhyme

 

[Keen Blade]

With all these issues it’s incredible we’re second!!!

Yes but these issues are causing us problems and the only objective can be to win the league (and end up as close as possible)

 

[MartBlade]

The constant stream of injuries together with a ridiculously small squad has changed things dramatically.In addition,we have also been unable to replace both Arblaster and Soutter with comparable quality players from our existing squad.
We have been cobbling together a matchday team and somehow we have stayed in touch at the top end of the table,the need for a less attractive risk averse style is mainly due to the constant team changes and players being asked to play in unaccustomed positions.
I agree it has been a hard watch and some of the victory’s have been achieved by sweat and tears and not particularly attractive football,however,they do deserve a lot of credit for staying in touch.Unfortunately,on occasions we will be vulnerable,but i’ll reserve criticism until after the January transfers are completed and the new arrivals have settled in.

Absolutely spot on assessment.

 

[Carlton Blade]

The constant stream of injuries together with a ridiculously small squad has changed things dramatically.In addition,we have also been unable to replace both Arblaster and Soutter with comparable quality players from our existing squad.
We have been cobbling together a matchday team and somehow we have stayed in touch at the top end of the table,the need for a less attractive risk averse style is mainly due to the constant team changes and players being asked to play in unaccustomed positions.
I agree it has been a hard watch and some of the victory’s have been achieved by sweat and tears and not particularly attractive football,however,they do deserve a lot of credit for staying in touch.Unfortunately,on occasions we will be vulnerable,but i’ll reserve criticism until after the January transfers are completed and the new arrivals have settled in.

All true, but Friday was (by the numbers) the worst, non Leeds performance of the season. Without Hamer, nobody wanted to take ownership of chance creation or being brave in possession. Feels like a knife edge moment. Kick on and shape a new team based on incomings or hit a bad run and fall just far enough behind the top two to make it too much to recover.

No idea which way it will go, fingers crossed this week off sees some intensive work on how we plan to create chances the rest of the way

 

[Keen Blade]

Hamza Choudhury
Comes to the Lane on loan to play midfield
What will it yield?
Also plays right back
Gives us some strength and some nous in our four
Now Gilchrist is poor

All the loany people.....

Where DO they all come from ?

(Leicester mainly)

 

[loyalblade95]

I fully appreciate and accept your point about injuries ,
But I was thinking if all available , what would you think is the best plan ?
Just wondering what CW objective is when recruiting and setting up his best team.
It's a hypothetical question.
But imo , CW is falling between 2 stools in his thinking.
He wants 2 DMs to make us tight.
He wants the Hamer / O'Hare partnership , but he also wants wingers.
He's mainly played 1 striker all season , but even doing that , he's had to shoehorn Hamer onto LW.
Now he's got BBD , Hamer will have to come central or play RW.
So who does he drop - O'Hare or the R winger ?
If he puts O'Hare on RW , it's just the mirror-image of the Hamer/LW problem we've had all season.
Perhaps we could make a special case to the EFL to field 12 players

Good point, I think it remains to be seen whether we will go 2 defensive midfielders (Souza and Choudhury) or if we might stick with the same 6 (Souza, Choudhury or Peck) and 8 (Davies, Peck, Hamer potentially?) that we've used so often this season.

On ability alone, I think our best available midfield is probably something like either of these:

Souza----------Hamer
----------O'Hare

Souza plays deep in his usual role, Hamer plays alongside him (he dropped into this position in the 2nd half against Swansea) and O'Hare stays in the 10, exactly what we've seen this season but changing Hamer for Peck/Davies.

-----------Souza
Hamer-----------Davies

Again Souza plays deep, but we sacrifice a number 10 (O'Hare) for another box to box 8 (Davies) which would give us more balance but rely on both Davies and Hamer to bring the ball forwards more.

Personally, I don't CW will drop O'Hare, his off the ball pressing (among other things) is key to how we attack teams, I think he does play better with Hamer, simply because he knows his game too well and knows exactly where and when Hamer wants the ball.

It's our forward line that will probably change the most over the rest of the season as we've now got enough options to suit whoever were playing against.

BBD will probably play the most out of our forwards (at LW), Brewster might end up playing more games at RW, whereas Cannon, Campbell and Moore could be changed to suit whoever we're playing against, e.g. Campbell and Cannon for the slower CB's as they can run at them and turn them.

 

[Harrisblade]

I knew someone would say that.
Question you have got too ask yourself do you honestly believe we will still be 2nd come the end of the season playing like we are ?

It might be easier if we had something more like a full team?

 

[Harrisblade]

I fully appreciate and accept your point about injuries ,
But I was thinking if all available , what would you think is the best plan ?
Just wondering what CW objective is when recruiting and setting up his best team.
It's a hypothetical question.
But imo , CW is falling between 2 stools in his thinking.
He wants 2 DMs to make us tight.
He wants the Hamer / O'Hare partnership , but he also wants wingers.
He's mainly played 1 striker all season , but even doing that , he's had to shoehorn Hamer onto LW.
Now he's got BBD , Hamer will have to come central or play RW.
So who does he drop - O'Hare or the R winger ?
If he puts O'Hare on RW , it's just the mirror-image of the Hamer/LW problem we've had all season.
Perhaps we could make a special case to the EFL to field 12 players

Or we can choose different formations depending on our opponents?

 

[Moan? Nope-I saw Longhorn]

I knew someone would say that.
Question you have got too ask yourself do you honestly believe we will still be 2nd come the end of the season playing like we are ?

Well,
‘playing like we are’ has got us to 2nd (top without the deduction ?!) whilst winning more games than any other team

 

[thehet]

I expect our first team will be

Cooper
JJK Anel CB Burrows
Souza Choudhury
O'Hare Hamer BBD
Cannon

We're not suddenly going to change our starting formation which we've used all season for some 3 in midfield or 2 up top kind of thing.

To me, JRS and Brooks have been way off it to justify a place ahead of O'Hare. They can be good impact players. When O'Hare and Hamer are on it, which they have been of late, we look a good threat. I think Cannon will start more often than Campbell not only because we've forked out big money for him, but we don't need Campbell pulling up again.

It's going to take time for the new lads to get up to speed but provided we get a CB in I think we'll be ok.

 

[Down the Channels]

I expect our first team will be

Cooper
JJK Anel CB Burrows
Souza Choudhury
O'Hare Hamer BBD
Cannon

We're not suddenly going to change our starting formation which we've used all season for some 3 in midfield or 2 up top kind of thing.

To me, JRS and Brooks have been way off it to justify a place ahead of O'Hare. They can be good impact players. When O'Hare and Hamer are on it, which they have been of late, we look a good threat. I think Cannon will start more often than Campbell not only because we've forked out big money for him, but we don't need Campbell pulling up again.

It's going to take time for the new lads to get up to speed but provided we get a CB in I think we'll be ok.

With a bench of Davies, Seriki, Robinson, McCallum, Peck, Campbell, Brewster, JRS, T Davies
As form dips in and out we also have options with Brooks, RND, Moore, Shackleton, Gilchrist.
That squad should be good enough for us to go and get the 13 wins and a few draws we need.

 

[Keen Blade]

I think when everybody's fit and available
Choudhury might play the glchrist role as a kind of inverted pep style fullback /centre back /def mid

Are we going to Cloan him ?

have to say i agree with everything youve said in that post i was a massive fan of wilder first time round and wasnt against him totally when he came back but for me hes styfling our more creative players with these negative tactics and its starting to concern me just dont like the type of football we are playing just now for a start we need new tactics where we can get 2 strikers up front weve addressed the lack of strikers situation now and got 4 strikers who will get goals in this league play 2 up top with hamer in behind and souza and choudray as the midfield pivots utb ftp

He is never gonna play 2 strikers in a month of Sundays when he's got BBD on the LW - we only have 4 spots for attackers , so that's BBD LW , Cannon ST , Hamer AM & a RW.

Unless he's gonna drop the wingers altogether to allow JJK & Burrows to operate as WBs but surely that means 3 CBs ?

I honestly think CW is stuck between his 352 from the last iteration and his 4231 from this season and he wants the best of both worlds - but obviously can't have it coz it needs 12 players - and he just can't make his mind up.

You can see this from this season playing a winger on the RW (albeit inverted which is daft coz Alfie can't support him)
but a central creator in Hamer on the LW , most of whose best contributions come from right of centre with his favoured R foot.

Our offense (sorry for USA speak) is a muddle and that's why Burnley & Leeds have far superior GD.

 

[Keen Blade]

have to say ive been totally underwelmed with o'hare how hes kept his place week in week out is beyond me

No one works harder or more successfully out of possession than O'Hare.

 

[Keen Blade]

Well at least it's not an obligation

Having an option on BBD & HC is perfect - we can re-assess in the summer depending all sorts of factors which aren't foreseeable at this stage.

 

[Keen Blade]

I expect our first team will be

Cooper
JJK Anel CB Burrows
Souza Choudhury
O'Hare Hamer BBD
Cannon

We're not suddenly going to change our starting formation which we've used all season for some 3 in midfield or 2 up top kind of thing.

To me, JRS and Brooks have been way off it to justify a place ahead of O'Hare. They can be good impact players. When O'Hare and Hamer are on it, which they have been of late, we look a good threat. I think Cannon will start more often than Campbell not only because we've forked out big money for him, but we don't need Campbell pulling up again.

It's going to take time for the new lads to get up to speed but provided we get a CB in I think we'll be ok.

That is exactly my starting eleven , hoping that O'Hare can cross the ball from the R.