Transfer News 2024 January Window Preview

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MustardYellow said:
The concern has to be that if we bring in a good striker (and I pray we do), what is Harris' role? He doesn't start out wide over any of our wingers, so does he just play second fiddle to whoever we bring in?
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Mills has blown hot and cold this season (was great against Burton, but so bad he got hauled off at halftime against Posh); Murphy is excellent right now, but would you bank on him staying fit and keeping these levels up all season?; Edwards and Browne struggle to stay fit; Tyler is still learning his trade, and looks better as a high energy impact sub right now.

I think Harris gets plenty of game time on the wings as and when we bring in a top striker. Reckon we'll see a lot of rotation there all season.
 
Not sure I can get on board with this 'Harris as a winger' notion. Where has it come from? Because he has pace?

Call me old-fashioned, but I expect my wingers to beat a man - as Mills, Edwards, Murphy, Tyler and Browne all can (as long as Browne remembers to go around the defender rather than trying to run through him).

Mark Harris is undoubtedly quick, is fit, and works hard. But I don't think that equates to a winger, or variation thereof.

That said, I still see a place for him in the squad. Imagine we're 1 up at home to Pompey, we're tiring, they are starting to dominate position playing out from the back - on comes Harris to press their defence, harrying, defending from the front, pushing them back - he might win a free kick, a corner, maybe even get a goal.

But I'm not, on the evidence of this season, in any way inclined to shoe-horn Harris elsewhere into the starting XI in order to try and kick-start his season.
 
SirAndyOfCrosby said:
Not sure I can get on board with this 'Harris as a winger' notion. Where has it come from? Because he has pace?

Call me old-fashioned, but I expect my wingers to beat a man - as Mills, Edwards, Murphy, Tyler and Browne all can (as long as Browne remembers to go around the defender rather than trying to run through him).

Mark Harris is undoubtedly quick, is fit, and works hard. But I don't think that equates to a winger, or variation thereof.

That said, I still see a place for him in the squad. Imagine we're 1 up at home to Pompey, we're tiring, they are starting to dominate position playing out from the back - on comes Harris to press their defence, harrying, defending from the front, pushing them back - he might win a free kick, a corner, maybe even get a goal.

But I'm not, on the evidence of this season, in any way inclined to shoe-horn Harris elsewhere into the starting XI in order to try and kick-start his season.
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Because Mark Harris has played as a winger before.
 
SirAndyOfCrosby said:
Not sure I can get on board with this 'Harris as a winger' notion. Where has it come from? Because he has pace?

Call me old-fashioned, but I expect my wingers to beat a man - as Mills, Edwards, Murphy, Tyler and Browne all can (as long as Browne remembers to go around the defender rather than trying to run through him).

Mark Harris is undoubtedly quick, is fit, and works hard. But I don't think that equates to a winger, or variation thereof.
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Mills beats people on the wing purely down to his pace, he's not a tricky player or blessed with a magnet for a foot, just pace to burn, same could have been said when Gavin was here and doing well, pace is pretty important for being a reasonable winger
 
tonyw said:
Mills has blown hot and cold this season (was great against Burton, but so bad he got hauled off at halftime against Posh); Murphy is excellent right now, but would you bank on him staying fit and keeping these levels up all season?; Edwards and Browne struggle to stay fit; Tyler is still learning his trade, and looks better as a high energy impact sub right now.

I think Harris gets plenty of game time on the wings as and when we bring in a top striker. Reckon we'll see a lot of rotation there all season.
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I'd say the difference there is we've seen enough moments from Mills to know he can have them. He's hot and cold, sure, but when he's hot he makes a big impact - can the same be said for Harris? Have we even seen Harris truly 'hot'?

I reckon we'll send Edwards back to Ipswich and bring in a new winger. If we're to genuinely push for autos there's no point having a loan player who you're lucky to get half a season out of. Browne has always been 'one of those'.

Goodhram has more goal contributions this season than Harris, despite Harris playing 1427mins and Goodrham only 814mins (613mins less, equivalent to nearly 7 full matches of game time!).

For some additional context here, Goodhram who is still 'learning the trade' already has more goals and assists this season than Harris has had in any full season in his career, including those at a lower level.

Assuming we keep Edwards, him, Browne, Mills, Murphy, Goodrham and Bodin are all above Harris in the pecking order out wide - that's 6 players. Even if you assume 2 of those players are unavailable at any given time, that's still 4 players who have more merit to be playing.

A couple of decent strikers through the door and I'm not sure where he fits in.
 
Marked Ox said:
Has he? How much have you watched him play as a winger?
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His return in the National League was 3 G/A, and 2 G/A in L2. His season best return is 4 G/A's.

Both Goodrham and Mills, two players who are 4 years younger and deemed to still be raw and developing, have already bested that this season.

My point is, there's very little evidence (not just from this season but over his whole career) that he is or can be an effective winger with output.
 
MustardYellow said:
His return in the National League was 3 G/A, and 2 G/A in L2. His season best return is 4 G/A's.

Both Goodrham and Mills, two players who are 4 years younger and deemed to still be raw and developing, have already bested that this season.

My point is, there's very little evidence (not just from this season but over his whole career) that he is or can be an effective winger with output.
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So you haven't watched him play as a winger then I can only assume.
 
Marked Ox said:
So you haven't watched him play as a winger then I can only assume.
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Completely irrelevant to the point.

A player who has had 6/7 years in professional football as a forward and has never had more than 4 league G/A's in a season is not a player you need to watch to know has poor output.

But no, you're right, we should ignore all available data/evidence because none of that matters till we personally have seen him play there.

Motion to stick McGinty upfront, because although there's no data that suggests he'd be effective I haven't seen him with my own eyes so can't make judgment.
 
SteMerritt said:
You do realise that finding space and making runs is a skill in itself? It is certainly not something 'quite literally any player' can do.
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Yes but don't over complicate it. Space ? Yes, well run in to it. Don't pretend it's like bringing a ball out of the air and sticking in the top corner from 30 yards. I'll guarantee you there's thousands more footballers who can find space on a pitch than there is banging one in like that. Is it a 'skill' as you say ? I'm not so sure, more an attribute maybe.
 
MustardYellow said:
Completely irrelevant to the point.

A player who has had 6/7 years in professional football as a forward and has never had more than 4 league G/A's in a season is not a player you need to watch to know has poor output.

But no, you're right, we should ignore all available data/evidence because none of that matters till we personally have seen him play there.

Motion to stick McGinty upfront, because although there's no data that suggests he'd be effective I haven't seen him with my own eyes so can't make judgment.
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You haven't watched him in that position yet you profess to know how good or not he is at playing as a winger based on 1 metric so very relevant. You don't know how he was asked to play for these teams or what the team tactics were etc etc. And he played wide more than once in the Championship, a higher level, so they thought he could play wide. I don't know how good or not he is as a winger but then I'm not pronouncing judgement based on 1 stat.

I'll go all sarcastic as well and suggest you should produce scouting reports for Oxford based on this amazing ability to judge a player based on 1 stat. I'm sure it will help them immensely and we can save money by letting Ed Waldron and his team go.....
 
MustardYellow said:
I'd say the difference there is we've seen enough moments from Mills to know he can have them. He's hot and cold, sure, but when he's hot he makes a big impact - can the same be said for Harris? Have we even seen Harris truly 'hot'?

Assuming we keep Edwards, him, Browne, Mills, Murphy, Goodrham and Bodin are all above Harris in the pecking order out wide - that's 6 players. Even if you assume 2 of those players are unavailable at any given time, that's still 4 players who have more merit to be playing.
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Sure, Derby away. He was outstanding that day, scored two absolute belters and we thought we'd signed a superstar. All been a bit disappointing since then!

But more generally - I think Bodin on the wing is always a mistake. He doesn't have the pace and he doesn't carry the ball, and I think he slows our game down too much when he plays out on the left. He's a good League One #10 (who, unfortunately for him, is now stuck behind our best attacking player) and a reasonable emergency front man. With Des looking like he wants to emphasize wing play, I think (once we have a striker) he will prefer Harris out wide to Bodin every time.

Unless and until Browne and Edwards can get fit and stay fit, once we sign a striker it'll be Mills, Murphy, Goodrham and Harris for two spots out wide and I bet they all get a reasonable amount of game time.

If we sign another winger in January, that equation changes of course.
 
Absolutely right about Bodin ,it looks like Leigh could be away on international duty in January I hope he stays but Bennett looks good. Then Edwards and Browne if they stay fit and are on form, with Mills and Murphy and Harris and Goodram as extra back up ,another attacking strong box to box midfielder and the 2 strikers we crave for we will have one hell of a squad, I would think the best for a while. I hope Santa can get them all on his slay
 
Let’s get business done early, and then switch off the Fax Machine, and Mobile phones.
 
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