New centre back priority for January

Souttar has been miles ahead of Goldson this season. He was fantastic last season no doubt, but I’d guess that is levels he has never hit and will never hit again.


The main defensive stat there that stands out is that Souttar blocks more shots than Goldson. Which will be largely because Souttar plays in a team that faces a higher volume of shots to block.

Defensive stats like that without context aren't really valued by analysts. In fact, there's a whole debate in analytic circles about how you measure defensive performance.

More defensive actions per 90 doesn't necessarily reflect the quality of actions and teams who are more defensive in nature will generally have players who perform more defensive actions.
 
Are the latter two actually any good? Or is it Veerman Syndrome?

Both play for Vitesse. They conceded 5 against Ajax, 4 to Twente and even 3 to Willem II this season. Even Dundalk put 3 past them in conference league qualifying.
Doekhi was injured at the start of the season which led to them shipping a lot of goals.
And they're generally across the starting eleven a slightly above average team in the eredevisie.

Also, Being captain at such a young age usually means a player has something about them.

For the record 'Veerman syndrome' is horrendous patter mate, seriously.
 
A centre back and I would like another midfielder in the same mould as Scott Arfield. Strong runner and wants to break the lines with his running beyond. Something I think we really lack.Really makes us a different proposition to teams when we have that as we’re otherwise quite predictable(under Gerrard anyway)
 
Doekhi was injured at the start of the season which led to them shipping a lot of goals.
And they're generally across the starting eleven a slightly above average team in the eredevisie.

Also, Being captain at such a young age usually means a player has something about them.

For the record 'Veerman syndrome' is horrendous patter mate, seriously.
There are various syndromes on here tbf. However, it’s not patter - some of the obsessions folk develop over players we don’t get can be likened to Stockholm Syndrome. Veerman didn’t want us, he said as much; yet folk remained obsessed.

Doekhi looks a good option, not sure about his partner. Looks to have been subbed a lot too.
 
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3 clean sheets in 14 league games.

Conceded more league goals already than the whole of last season.

I worry every time the ball goes into our penalty box these days, don't think there's any doubt that the defence is the area of the team most needing strengthening.
 
With Helander and Balogun due back and the option of recalling Katic if we get really desperate, I don’t honestly see the need of using what scant resources we’re likely to have in January on another centre half.
 
A centre back and I would like another midfielder in the same mould as Scott Arfield. Strong runner and wants to break the lines with his running beyond. Something I think we really lack.Really makes us a different proposition to teams when we have that as we’re otherwise quite predictable(under Gerrard anyway)
Red star Belgrade midfielder ?
we were interested in summer
 
With Helander and Balogun due back and the option of recalling Katic if we get really desperate, I don’t honestly see the need of using what scant resources we’re likely to have in January on another centre half.
Has helender started light training ?
 
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we signed aribo for 300k morelos for 1 million kamara for 50k its all about potential theres bargains in that dutch league. Watch this space
Aribo might have cost 300k Cross border compensation fee but there will be a significant sign on fee on top of that again.
 
This needs to be constantly repeated ....
Aye, people seem to think it isn't a big deal, but it is.

It's all well and good saying you can just go without them... Blah blah blah

The reality was shown in that first Slavia game were we had to go with Bassey and he had a mare.

You can pick up a homegrown CB for a similar wage as your 4th choice CB (Simpson), who he is much better than. It's a no brainer for me.

Same reason we should have went with Ali McCann on a cheap fee as a project player.
 
A good centre back signing has to be the priority. Get Helander back and move Bassey to left back.

Our attacking players are more than good enough
The problem with Helander is we're never going to get a full season out of him.

I'm not going to get onto goldson for that goal today, it was a cracking ball played over him and the livi player done well controlling it.

It was a good away win at what is a tricky away game. No complaints from me.

2 games for gio in charge. Scored 5 lost 1, good start.
 
Doekhi was injured at the start of the season which led to them shipping a lot of goals.
And they're generally across the starting eleven a slightly above average team in the eredevisie.

Also, Being captain at such a young age usually means a player has something about them.

For the record 'Veerman syndrome' is horrendous patter mate, seriously.
i watched Doekhi recently I thought he looked like a carthorse, maybe a bad game but looked slow on the turn and running back to his goal wasn’t the quickest
 
If the boy Doekhi is so good won't he have better options than the SPL?

Is it a case of foreign name syndrome?
 
Aye, people seem to think it isn't a big deal, but it is.

It's all well and good saying you can just go without them... Blah blah blah

The reality was shown in that first Slavia game were we had to go with Bassey and he had a mare.

You can pick up a homegrown CB for a similar wage as your 4th choice CB (Simpson), who he is much better than. It's a no brainer for me.

Same reason we should have went with Ali McCann on a cheap fee as a project player.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of our youngsters be given the 4th choice CB role next season, similar to how we moved Patterson and Bassey up the pecking order by letting players go
 
We desperately need at least one other centre half.

Goldson is way off form.

It remains to be seen what Katic will be like post injury,if he does get recalled.

Simpson just isn't good enough.

Helander out long term.
Any update on that one?
I thought he’d be back after the winter break.
 
Lewis Mayo didn't play for partick thistle in the scottish cup on friday night. Be interesting to know if he was injured or Rangers requested he didn't play to keep him from being cup tied. I can see us recalling him in January
I asked the next door neighbour, a Thistle fan, also a Nat, if he knew anything about this.
He said “no” but there was definitely no reason to drop him.
 
Robertson gave an interview on RTV where he confirmed it took circa £2m to get the Aribo deal over the line.
Think it's pretty standard with the cross border fees. Obviously works in our favour paying a lower comp fee than English clubs but we need to offer something to these young players and their agents to get them to turn down English clubs.

£2 million for Aribo though obviously still a brilliant investment, as we will make that back and then some. (providing we don't let his contract run down)
 
I’m a little more easy with Goldson now as I think our new management team will have contacts across Europe and wider.

We have a manager who’s played in England, Holland, Spain, managed by some huge names.

An assistant manager in Mackaay who backs this up and some.

They will have plenty of connections and options to pursue.
 
Souttar has been miles ahead of Goldson this season. He was fantastic last season no doubt, but I’d guess that is levels he has never hit and will never hit again.


The joy of introducing facts and stats into a debate where others are purely emotional and generalising is top positing.

Good work, numbers make a compelling case for Soutter being an option. Obviously his injuries are of concern but if wages and cost of buying were appealing, it could be a great piece of business.
 
The joy of introducing facts and stats into a debate where others are purely emotional and generalising is top positing.

Good work, numbers make a compelling case for Soutter being an option. Obviously his injuries are of concern but if wages and cost of buying were appealing, it could be a great piece of business.
Those stats though are comparing apples and oranges in a lot of ways.

Goldson defends higher up the park, and Souttar might have more defensive blocks but also has more attempts on goal to have to block. Not saying Souttar wouldn't be a good addition, but that the stats are somewhat misleading.

The shots blocked stat using as an eg. - the chart makes it look like a huge difference but check the actual figures on the axis.
 
People aren’t going to realise how good Goldson and Tav are until they’re away.

Thankfully we look like we’ve got a replacement for Tav, won’t be easy to find one for Goldson.
 
Gio will have many appropriate contacts.
I think our team could change significantly over the next year - especially at CB
Goldson gone
Simpson gone
Helander & Balogun stay
Katic back
Souttar signed
King progressing
One or two from Gio “contact” list
We will be in great shape.
 
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