I’m going to chip in with a comment on Smallwood from a friend that is a season ticket holder at Blackburn. When we signed him he said he’s a great player for getting you out of League One. He also said he’s not a player for the Championship where you need better ability on the ball and use of that ball. This is not a criticism of Smallwood. It’s a comment by someone that watched him in League One and the Championship. With regards to Huddlestone, he’s a player throughout his career that has never had any pace, I don’t see how his age will have had any impact on his already proven lack of pace anyway. I for one hope that we do sign him. His ability to pick a pass will help us get further up the field.
Good for you! But it begs the question - if you dont care what anyone thinks, why post it on a public forum? Now run along now, the grown-ups are talking.
We may well sign him, but he wont be a regular starter. It would be madness to replace a clubs title-winning captain with a player in his mid 30s without competitive football for well over a year. It would be madness to come to an opinion on him after a couple of friendlies against lesser opposition and a weeks training. Slater coming in would change the picture entirely though - between the 3 of them i'd be confident we had enough in that position. Just the one, where as if you havent been pissed all day then you've got bigger problems than me posting on a messageboard.
It’s madness that fans are bashing each other on the relative merits of Huddlestone. At the end of the day the manager/owners will decide along with Tom if he’s to be awarded a contract. The manager will also decide if he starts games or not. Personally, if we did sign Huddlestone he would start most games in my midfield. He’s just got a better footballing brain.
Fair enough - its a rational argument. I could see us having Slater and Smallwood fighting for the starting berth with Thudd coming on as a plan B when we need a defence splitter. I think we're in trouble if we only have Smallwood and are gambling on the fitness of Huddlestone though. If it was still a 29 year old Tom, theres no question he'd be starting in anyones side.
We are, everything is agreed....we are just waiting on sheff utd completing incoming business. Hopefully it happens
There'll be no new CB this window. No ITK, but there wont be. Our assistant is an ex CB and despite wearing shorts on the bench in january he will think he's an experienced and suitable role model. And i think Smith is ahead of Arthur in the pecking order anyway.