How have you come to that conclusion? I thought Joel was excellent before his injury. Tommy will just keep getting better.
Home grown, versatile, would fit into a back 3 or 4 and has plenty of Prem experience! He would make a great squad player and at his best could become regular starter, so if the money is right, it's a yes from me!
The reality is that we don't know which members of the squad will actually make the step up. On that basis, signing a player who has proven he can cop it in the Premier League and who is also homegrown is hardly a bad move, particularly when he has such strong Watford links. We know he'll play for the club. Affordable homegrown players are hard to find. The list of homegrown and affordable players who are not only about to approach the prime of their career but will also genuinely give a crap about the club is going to be very slim indeed.
Matthew Connolly or Adrian Mariappa, or both? If we're in for Mariappa does that mean we're not in for Connolly, or do you think the club might want to bring in both? What price would represent value if we get Mariappa? If he's genuinely not in Palace's plans, which looks likely as he's only made a dozen appearances this season, the fee could be very, very low. I doubt we'll pay more than £2million given the current regime's track record, but it might not be anywhere near that if he's a player Palace simply don't need any more.
The way I look at it we should aspire to be a Swansea or a Southampton. If the players suggested are good enough to get into those teams then they are good enough for us. I don't see Mapps or Connolly in either of those sides. We're not Watford the plucky bottom feeders trying to survive a season in the Prem, we're part of a multinational footballing empire with probably the world's greatest scouting network and the Pozzos are going to want us an established solid mid table side capable of giving anyone in the league a game. jmho ....we can, should, and I think will be looking for better than these.
I wanted him in January and really he would be an excellent acquisition for us. Would love to see him back. One thing I remember he did have when he first broke through was an outstanding long throw, almost Delap like but he was never, ever used as a tactic after his first couple of games. Could prove useful against the likes of Arsenal and weak defenses like Newcastle.
Yep - Guedioura should really be our baseline level for a squad player. Anyone else needs to be better than we had in the Championship.
When Swansea went up they signed players from us, Leeds, Wrexham, Cliftonville and Middlesbrough among others.
Looking at their transfers I'm surprised they did so well. Most of them were squad players. Southampton only signed 3 players, one of which was Osvaldo who didn't do much.
Interesting titbit here which possibly increases the chances of this deal happening: http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/reading-fc-left-short-changed-should-9304846
That makes me think he's as good as sold, either to us or someone else. They probably would only let him reach the 50 appearances mark if he were a key member of the squad, which he isn't.
Perhaps better was the wrong word. I doubt Joel will be fit enough to complete 90 minutes until at least Christmas and Hoban is young/inexperienced, and at times last season, he looked uncomfortable on the ball. Marriapa could be a good cheap option with Premiership experience, perhaps the Pozzo's have better options lined up but compared to the what we have available at the moment he'd certainly be a useful addition.
I wonder what Mapps would be like at wing back, should we stick with the 3-5-2 formation. He's always had a good engine, a bit of pace and decent technique for a centre back and as others have mentioned he has featured mainly at right back for Palace, and played there for us a fair amount also in his earlier days.
As we have at least 8 slots for home-grown to fill I don't see any harm in signing Marriappa even if he turns out to be only a bit part player.
If we sign Mapps then I'd prefer he was added to the squad as a centre back rather than a right back. Brilliant that he can be versatile, but always thought he played at his best in the middle.
What's that got to do with it? I'm talking about where they are now and the sort of players they would sign now. If we want to be a mid table prem team we need players of the quality of a mid table prem team or above.
Well... our goalkeeper played 97 times for a top 6 side and won 11 full caps for the most successful international team on the planet... so err no.
Robinho has made about 100 apps for Brazil, doesn't mean he's worthy of a place in the Chelsea team. If you think all our signings will be proven top 10 PL quality, you're in for a long summer.
I don't recall saying 'proven' and I didn't say 'Chelsea' so please don't try and put words in my mouth I said players that a mid table side would be interested in - they might be proven, they might be young prospects Robinho? .. the fella who played 100 odd games for Real Madrid, 100 odd games for Madrid, 40 odd games for City, 100 caps for Brazil...? His age aside pretty sure he's top 10 quality If you honestly think success in the prem is achieved by signing players who can't get onto CPs bench there's not much point in discussing further
Well Robinho wasn't good enough for mid-table team in Serie A so perhaps not. Palace signed Jason Puncheon who was deemed not good enough for Southampton. We'll likely sign Guedioura who is deemed not good enough for Palace. Leicester signed Marc Albrighton who was deemed not good enough for Villa. They also signed Huth who couldn't get in Stoke's team. Sometimes a player just doesn't fit into a manager's plans. Doesn't mean they're not good enough for that level.
Robinho has been plagued by injuries in his latter career, but if you think that in his prime he was not top 10 PL quality... well I just don't know what to say to that....
Well I just don't know what to say to the fact you expect us to sign people of the quality of Sigurdsson, Jack Cork, Gomis you'll be underwhelmed with a lot of signings this summer
The pozzos gave us players the quality of Abdi, Vydra, Tozser, Gomes whilst we were a championship club It's not unreasonable to expect at least the same quality now we are a premier league club Why would the Pozzo's now start giving us squad level carp??!!?? If anyone has a reasonable argument about why that might happen I'm all ears....
Wait what? Where did I say that? I don't think he'd start week in week out for most top 10 PL clubs right now. Not sure why you chose to ignore the rest of the post.
Most players who do well in the Championship make the step up to the Premier League fairly easily. There isn't a magical dividing line where players become worthy and anyone else below it can **** off back to the Championship. Football is more fluid than that. Reputations shift all the time. What you currently consider to be a top ten signing could be playing in the Championship in a couple of years, and what you consider to be a weak signing may turn out to be brilliant. Most of the Palace team were playing Championship football a couple of years ago. Ricky Lambert, Adam Lallana and Morgan Schneiderlin were playing League One football in 2010. This group of top 10 players didn't just appear there, they worked their way up to that stage. You look at football in an astonishingly simple way if you think that, just because we've been promoted, we have to sign players that fit in with your idea of a mid table player. Mariappa was clearly a very good player for us, and clearly did something right for Palace to sign him when they went up. All you have to do is look on the Palace forum and you'll see that a lot of people rate him, just like they rate Guedioura, and just because he hasn't been able to nail down a permanent starting role, does not mean he isn't good enough.
