Artell January Transfer Window (merged)

Quoted from The Dogs Testicles

Town v Scunny - Yes

Dog v dog

Problem has been the defence, which is why we have lost almost all our games by one goal and drawn too many. Scoring has been much more consistent this season and hasn't been the main problem.

We have signed almost a new defence in this window, and a solid replacement for Conteh, so job done you would have to say.

January windows are not easy and they have made a decent fist of it.

Quoted from mariner91

How is it much different to a week ago?

Efete has gone and been replaced by Liam Smith, a player with a better pedigree than both existing right backs and full back was a major problem area.
Denver Hume has come in to replace the left backs who are both still here.
Waterfall left and has been replaced by Tharme. It would have been nice to get another centre back but I guess Mullarkey can cover there.
Khan has left but wasn’t getting a look in and we’ve got plenty who can play in those wide areas.
Khouri is only gone for a month.
Conteh will be a big miss but Thompson appears to be a good signing and a good age to strengthen the spine significantly.
It’s not been confirmed that Wilson has gone and I suspect that was pulled at the last minute.

We’re still a little short on out and out strikers but have Obikwu so it’s better than we were at start of the window. The troublesome full back area seems to have been addressed. Conteh seems to have been adequately replaced. The squad is no worse balanced than at the start of the month but we appear to have added more quality and experience in some key areas. It’s not a perfect window but your reaction is way over the top.

It's not so much the signings for me , they could be quite good . It's more the balance of the squad hasn't really improved and it's become more clear that at least 4 are either not in favour or want to leave (Pyke,Wilson,Amos and Hunt ) if Rose is the only striker he trusts to play apart from the kid , who looks green to say the least  ( he didn't even bring Wilson on against Tranmere which would suggest there is an issue there )we are well short up top  and in a mess if Rose does get injured  . Eastwood is effectively unplayable and Ainley is obviously not available for the short to medium term . So you are down to what 14 or 15 players who Artell trusts to play or don't want to leave with 3 or 4 of those being young kids on loan . Hardly anyone thinks Green or Holahan fit Artells style , yet one of them at least is going to be playing most games you would have thought .

Still worried

Quoted from Marinerdeano

I'd be happier if I hadn't known that Wilson was going to. Crawley as it suggests that he isn't happy here and that we missed out on someone who would have excited us.

The thing is there has been absolutely no confirmation that Wilson is leaving.

Why do we think that Pyke wants to leave? He's been out injured, hasn't he?

Wilson isn't getting starts (and looks a long way from getting one, so it's understandable that he might want to move on to get some games, but I can't really see why an injured player would be desperate to move.

Charlie Kirk was in talks with the club and chose to go to Crewe till the end of the season nothing the club could do about that, told it’s not 100% dead in the water and something that may be revisited in the summer. Wilson wanted a move closer to home hence why the club was letting him leave, Kirk falling through meant Wilson wasn’t allowed to leave. NL Interest in Danny Amos but he wanted a FL move.

Quoted from LocalLadGTFC

Charlie Kirk was in talks with the club and chose to go to Crewe till the end of the season nothing the club could do about that, told it’s not 100% dead in the water and something that may be revisited in the summer. Wilson wanted a move closer to home hence why the club was letting him leave, Kirk falling through meant Wilson wasn’t allowed to leave. NL Interest in Danny Amos but he wanted a FL move.

I suspect he'll have to massively change his expectations come the summer. Nice lad but not anything like FL standard.

Quoted from Mappers

It's not so much the signings for me , they could be quite good . It's more the balance of the squad hasn't really improved and it's become more clear that at least 4 are either not in favour or want to leave (Pyke,Wilson,Amos and Hunt ) if Rose is the only striker he trusts to play apart from the kid , who looks green to say the least  ( he didn't even bring Wilson on against Tranmere which would suggest there is an issue there )we are well short up top  and in a mess if Rose does get injured  . Eastwood is effectively unplayable and Ainley is obviously not available for the short to medium term . So you are down to what 14 or 15 players who Artell trusts to play or don't want to leave with 3 or 4 of those being young kids on loan . Hardly anyone thinks Green or Holahan fit Artells style , yet one of them at least is going to be playing most games you would have thought .

Still worried

Well so what? You think there's always perfect harmony in a squad of 20 players? There's always going to be some who are surplus to requirements and some who want to leave. Amos is third choice left back now so that's not really a problem, just a waste of a wage. All the rumour about Hunt was literally just that, a rumour started by a troll account on Twitter that everyone seems to have run with. Wilson wanted away but is still here and still available should we need him and I'm sure he'll be professional and put in the required effort. And there has been nothing concrete or official about Pyke wanting away or being told he can leave. Again, it's not in his interest to down tools so they're both still here and available when fit.

I would have liked another experienced striker to come in but the priority was the defence and replacing Conteh. We've shown that we can score goals, that isn't the issue. If we now have full backs that actually make a half decent attempt at defending and we stop allowing teams to walk in behind us and put in umpteen crosses then we'll concede fewer goals. That alone should be enough to keep us up. It's not a spectacular window but it's really difficult to get good, experienced players who are fully match fit in January because if they are all these things then they're probably playing and wanted at their current club or you're going to have to pay over the odds for them. We should never have been in a position where we had to completely rebuild our back line in January so thanks for that Hurst.

Also told there was absolutely no intention of letting Alex Hunt leave, not heard anything about Pyke but given the fact he’s played and started under Artell when he’s been fit i’d assume it’s player side if there’s any truth to it.

Quoted from mariner91

I suspect he'll have to massively change his expectations come the summer. Nice lad but not anything like FL standard.

I may be wrong but I don’t think the transfer window shuts for a few months outside the EFL so he could still move onto non league if he wanted to.