Last throw of the dice

[robswfc]

According to the media we are interested in signing another striker on loan, could this be the last throw of the dice for DJ.

DJ’s player assessment and signing record doesn’t look too good at the moment, most of his signings either aren’t playing or are failing to make an imact (see evidence below). If you were MM would you trust him with your money in January particulaly if we are in the bottom three come the new year, which is starting to look likely at the moment.

Taylor- dropped after making elementary mistakes.

Mattock – dropped after poor performances.

Maguire – not played, injured and nearly loaned out.

Lee – one appearance only

Rodri – has fallen short after a promising debut – does not start much.

Pecnik – looks skillfull but can’t be trusted to defend when played in midfield, hence not started .

McCabe – has promise but doesn’t impose himself on the game enough – needs time.

Mayor – not really played that much.

Bothroyd – has talent but played out of position in current formation, one goal is a poor return.

Corry – has promise but will need time to develop – hope we have it

Barkley – good player but if team is built around him and he is a success he will be back at Everton in the new year.

Antonio – best signing but was spotted by GM.

Only Gardner and Kirkland have really lived up to expectations.

If we are in the bottom three in the new year I think DJ will be toast.

What a load of poo . As DJ said himself, he builds teams. He has brought in players on a very low budget compared to a lot of championship teams. A lot of these players are young and will develop, but are not at the stage yet where they will put in consistent performances that allow us to saunter to the top of the table. Some will fail, but some will go on to be mainstays of our side for many years. None of these players should be judged yet. Our spending strategy may be frustrating to those of you who want everything right now, but it is the correct way, the only way to proceed in order to be successful in the long term. Short-term gambling has cost us before, as it will cost many of the clubs currently spending beyond their means.

Mattock

Maguire

Lee

Rodri

Pecnik

McCabe

Mayor

Corry

Antonio

All these are examples of what I have just said, and of DJ and Milan's long-term strategy for the future prosperity of our club. As expected some are looking better than others. But that was always going to happen.

Bothroyd

Taylor

Gardner

Kirkland

These are the experienced players brought in to help our youngsters. Kirkland is a fantastic signing. Gardner is also starting to look very good. Bothroyd and Taylor may come good if given the chance.

Fact is, we are a newly promoted club with not much money to spend. We were never going to romp this division. Stop chucking your toys out of the pram because you're not getting exactly what you want all the time.

What a world we live in today. The same short-termist attitudes are ubiquitous throughout our society. This can never result in continuous improvement, only in boom followed by bust.

P.S.

Barkley- what a signing he looks, no way we could have got him without DJ.

Danny Batth- still don't understand DJ's indifference towards him. Would have been a shining example of us building for the future. May turn out to be DJ's biggest mistake.

[robswfc]

Whether or not it is the last throw of the dice, or the final piece of the jigsaw, it's one we simply have to get right. On the face of it this summers recruitment has been in the main, uninspiring. Some good players but also a lot that don't seem to fit into any obvious plan. However, I'm not too pessimistic and believe we are only a couple of players off fashioning a decent side. An experienced midfield leader and goal scorer with pace and good movement. I believe in Jones, but he really has to get these next two signings right.

The plan is completely obvious to anyone with more than half a brain. And strange as it may seem to many of you- it did not involve getting promoted this season.

[robswfc]

A further thought. Would you prefer to finish 16th-20th whilst developing our squad through blooding youngsters and building for the future (what we did from 2005-07)? Or would you prefer to finish 10th-15th whilst fielding an ageing team of deteriorating quality (what we did from 2008-10)?

We absolutely CANNOT afford to do what the teams with parachute payments and major investment are doing, which is signing proven players in the 24-28 age category, who will immediately do the job and improve over the year at the same time. Neither can we afford (or even come close to being able to afford) any of the best players in this division to improve us immediately.

[owls101]

If we survive this year, which I think we will. The likes of Mccabe, Madine, Antonio, Lee, Mattock, Corry et al will be much the better for the experience, and we be a much stronger team and squad. We've be on the decline for the best part of 15 years through bad management and short termism, we are addressing that now , but it really doesnt help with some of the short sighted (boardering on messed up) fans we have.

[kingsidney]

Taylor - Proven at Championship

Mattock - Proven at championship

Gardener - Proven at Championship

Kirkland - Proven at Championship and above

Maguire - Proven at championship with Portsmouth

Bothroyd - Proven at Championship and above

McCabe, Corry, Mayor were all signed for the development squad Jones stated this when signing them, they've just excelled moer than he anticipated

So that leaves Rodri(signed from Barca) Lee(player of the year 2 years on the trot at Oldham) Pecnik (unproven) Antonio (our best player) Barkley (future international)

I don't think you can say on the outset he's gone for unproven players, ok they haven't performed but we were all quite happy in the summer with these signings because they'd done it before at this level on the whole, the ones who weren't proven in general got the fans the most excited. The 3 for the development squad don't really come into it because he never intended them to be good enough this season, they just happen to have been better than he expected

Youre really arguing that we did good transfer business?

[Dan_the_owl]

Youre really arguing that we did good transfer business?

No, not said that at any point, a poster further up has said we need to go for proven players at this level, for the most part we have, I'm not saying they've been good for us but the majority have done it in this league over the past few seasons until now, so they are proven at this level

[swfc-dan]

How can you make that assessment so early? How many times have you seen those players play? I bet some of them it’s zero, as they haven’t played much at all. However, this doesn’t make them bad players.

If you look at those listed, most of the permanent signings are in their early 20’s. They are still developing as players and we SHOULD NOT write them off. We cannot afford to go out and spend millions on the finished article, but what we have done, is try to invest in potential and nurture them a little. We need to move away from this short term, and short sighted, mentality and play the long game a bit.

Granted the loan signings and more experienced players haven’t worked out as planned, but again, lets not write them off just yet.

Lots on here keep saying stuff like ‘we need a twenty goal a season striker’. No sh!t Sherlock. Everyone wants one, or two for that matter, but only a few club can go out and get them. We have to gamble and take risks on young players in the hope they will become that 20 goal striker or that future world beater.

Lets stop slagging off young players, that we don’t yet know much about, and concentrate on giving them all the support we can. We have some really talented lads in the first team squad and the development squad looks to be shaping up nicely too. The future looks really bright in that respect.

To answer your question, yes I would trust DJ with money in Jan. Not that I believe he is likely to get a great deal to be honest. It will be more wheeling and dealing, with more experienced players coming in on loan. A lot will also depend on what happens in terms of players going out too.

The thing is how much can youngsters like Mayor develop when theyre not playing?

[TheBoyBeevers]

I think people have gone overboard on the Taylor criticism.

He struggled initially and after the 2nd goal against Bolton (which was largely his fault) people just seem to have written him off.

It was only 2-3 weeks ago that he came back into the team away at Blackburn and had a very decent game.

Taylor is a good player and will settle down into the team. Probably starting from Saturday, when you suspect that Llera will get dropped for Taylor.

[gurujuan]

Loan em out Dan

[Tommo_]

"Last throw of the dice".... Oh yeah expect Milan to sack the man he brought in to get us into this league after a bad run. The mind boggles, we're not even in the bottom 3 for flip sake, get a grip.

[Utah Owl]

Inclined to agree with the Op's assessment.

[Plonk]

bit of balance. I didnt expect promotion, but I also didnt expect a relegation battle and some of the defeats we had. I can see the plan to build for the future but as someone else said thats not going to happen if these youngsters arent playing. I honestly think we are two players short; a left back and a striker so what baffles me is we have a left back injured and let another go out on loan. We need a striker (the ones DJs bought just arent doing it and look like poor signings) but clubs are only going to let players out that are inexperienced or struggling. I would love us to bring Kenwyn Jones in but in terms of cost v impact it wouldnt make sense. It wouldnt be enough on its own to get us up

[CrosbyKitchens]

You ask the questions 'is anyone writing them off?' then seem to answer it by saying 'Bothroyd and Rodri will get sent back without helping our club'

Don't both their loans end in January? I'd like to see Rodri more, but DJ isn't playing him and yes, to be fair, I've written off Bothroyd.

[theowlsman]

Wayne Veysey ‏@wayneveysey

#Fellaini to Belgian media: "I've seen everything with #EFC & in January or at end of the season, I will turn to a new club or new league".

Retweeted by Gordon Watson

Does this mean Bedders is Gordon Watson?