[Archived] Herold Goulon

[Tim Southampton Rover]

How far can he throw the ball?

Goulon is French for Delap

[brian_gallagher85]

N'Zonzi went missing? explain.

I believe that he is refering to the fact that his passing was crap and he smashed it out of play every time he tried to play a ball out wide...

[joey_big_nose]

I believe that he is refering to the fact that his passing was crap and he smashed it out of play every time he tried to play a ball out wide...

True. Major problem for us. Nzonzi had a decent season last year but now seems well off the pace, meaning we do not have a single passing player who is close to an acceptable level of performance. Jones has done well but he is not going to move the ball for us.

I can see Andrews starting the next game - Grella and Nzonzi have been so poor I can't blame Sam if he makes that decision. ANdrews for his many failings does at least look to progress the ball forward and make runs. I want to see Linganzi get a chance too.

[Balwer]

True. Major problem for us. Nzonzi had a decent season last year but now seems well off the pace, meaning we do not have a single passing player who is close to an acceptable level of performance. Jones has done well but he is not going to move the ball for us.

I can see Andrews starting the next game - Grella and Nzonzi have been so poor I can't blame Sam if he makes that decision. ANdrews for his many failings does at least look to progress the ball forward and make runs. I want to see Linganzi get a chance too.

Still suffering a groin injury apparently, has been withdrawn from the Ireland team.

[67splitscreen]

I believe that he is refering to the fact that his passing was crap and he smashed it out of play every time he tried to play a ball out wide...

Are you sure that is what he was referring to.

So you say his passing was crap and smashed it out of play, which game were you watching.

The only part of his game that changed was the actual passes he made, around 50% down on his average, but that has dropped off since Jones has been playing along side him.

Another factor may well be the introduction of Emerton who sees far more of the ball than the likes of KA and Grella.

His game or Sam's plan for his game is win it give it, that usual means short passes to a Rovers shirt. Fourteen in total against Stoke and each one finding it's intended target.

His three shots at goal were, one blocked and two wide, if that is what you are referring to as smashing it out of play.

Highest amount of tackles winning over 60% of them.

If all that adds up to going missing then God knows where Jones was, N'Zonzi's stats for the game out performed him in all areas.

[tony gale's mic]

Established creative players, yes. There must be attacking midfielders out there worth taking on trial.

You always come out with this argument, eg you said before "there must be a cheap young striker out somewhere"; but as someone else said if they're any good they almost always won't be a free agent. There's thousands of clubs out looking for players, why would our club suddenly find a player out of nowhere that other sides haven't picked up yet? I'm sure there are creative players but it's a massive gap between being creative and being remotely good enough to operate at the highest level. Even when we trial someone good and creative (eg Gai Assulin) someone like City could easily move in and snap them up.

Sure it happened a few times before with Samba, Friedel and N'Zonzi to name a few but fact is that was partly down to great scouting and partly down to excellent luck - if it was that easy to adopt that approach then other Premier League sides would be filling their side with quality players out of nowhere. It's also no coincidence that those are all defensive players - due to the nature of their role creative players tend to get noticed and snapped up a lot more readily, just a few flashes of quality amongst a match of mediocrity will turn heads a lot more quickly than a defensive minded player getting on and doing a solid job extremely well.

[Smithy]

Just as we loaned in Diouf we should have loaned in some cover for Dunn. 1.5m would easily have covered the fee for a decent loanee from somewhere. It seems silly to base your whole tactics around someone who's whole career has been blighted with injury and not have back-up for him.

I find it strange that Olsson isn't playing more and N'zonzi as well as surely its the managers job to ensure they don't get too big for their boots and that they continue to develop. Olsson's exclusion especially worries me as for me he was one of the main reasons we did so well tail end of last year.

[MarkBRFC71]

Just as we loaned in Diouf we should have loaned in some cover for Dunn. 1.5m would easily have covered the fee for a decent loanee from somewhere. It seems silly to base your whole tactics around someone who's whole career has been blighted with injury and not have back-up for him.

I find it strange that Olsson isn't playing more and N'zonzi as well as surely its the managers job to ensure they don't get too big for their boots and that they continue to develop. Olsson's exclusion especially worries me as for me he was one of the main reasons we did so well tail end of last year.

I think both Hoilett and Olsson should be playing tbh. Without Dunn we have absolutely no creativity and much more often than not resort to hoofing it which is ineffective as (1) we don't have a target man, and (2) every team expects it, plans for it and largely nullifies it.

One thing defenders hate is pace, and Hoilett and Olsson have that in abundance. Why are we not exploiting that? Surely during a game when the hoof isn't working, changing the way we play, trying to get the ball down, bringing Olsson and Junior on and letting them run at defenders is better than saying "right lads - lumping it at Niko isn't working. I've got a f**king genius idea - I'll bring Benjani on and lump it at him instead. If that fails I'll shove big Chris up for the last 5 and you can lump it at him as well" .....

[tony gale's mic]

Just as we loaned in Diouf we should have loaned in some cover for Dunn. 1.5m would easily have covered the fee for a decent loanee from somewhere. It seems silly to base your whole tactics around someone who's whole career has been blighted with injury and not have back-up for him.

You do realise that loan players don't grow on trees don't you?

For us to get a loan player, it needs to be someone good enough for regular Premier League football, who would definitely not be needed this season by their clubs.

This restricts us to about 5 clubs in the league who have squads of that depth, and only a handful of players at each of those clubs who would satisfy both criteria. Then we have issues both with fees and with wages and whether the player would want to come to us or whether he'd prefer to fight for his place at the big club.

If after that you're then stipulating positions, chances are the player doesn't exist.

Yes loans from abroad are theoretically possible, but quite unlikely for various reasons.

[Amo]

You always come out with this argument, eg you said before "there must be a cheap young striker out somewhere"; but as someone else said if they're any good they almost always won't be a free agent. There's thousands of clubs out looking for players, why would our club suddenly find a player out of nowhere that other sides haven't picked up yet? I'm sure there are creative players but it's a massive gap between being creative and being remotely good enough to operate at the highest level. Even when we trial someone good and creative (eg Gai Assulin) someone like City could easily move in and snap them up.

Sure it happened a few times before with Samba, Friedel and N'Zonzi to name a few but fact is that was partly down to great scouting and partly down to excellent luck - if it was that easy to adopt that approach then other Premier League sides would be filling their side with quality players out of nowhere. It's also no coincidence that those are all defensive players - due to the nature of their role creative players tend to get noticed and snapped up a lot more readily, just a few flashes of quality amongst a match of mediocrity will turn heads a lot more quickly than a defensive minded player getting on and doing a solid job extremely well.

Do you know how many players there are playing professional football in EUROPE, let alone the WORLD? There will always be underrated, undervalued players waiting for someone to take a chance on them. Of course, it's not easy to pluck players from obscurity who can handle PL football, but we've made a pretty good record of it for it to be coincidence or luck. I don't think Sam is doing everything to find the creative spark this team needs, which is why our next signing could be another 6 foot-something defensive player.

[tony gale's mic]

Do you know how many players there are playing professional football in EUROPE, let alone the WORLD? There will always be underrated, undervalued players waiting for someone to take a chance on them. Of course, it's not easy to pluck players from obscurity who can handle PL football, but we've made a pretty good record of it for it to be coincidence or luck. I don't think Sam is doing everything to find the creative spark this team needs, which is why our next signing could be another 6 foot-something defensive player.

Well outside Europe is irrelevant anyway since any non established player would never get a work permit.

Yes there will always be underrated, undervalued players but the players who fall within our transfer budget and would do a good job in the league are still few and far between and is like finding a very fine needle in a very large haystack - with hundreds of other clubs/people looking for that same needle.

What more do you want Sam to do? Employ more scouts? That costs money. Go round Europe himself? How do you know what he's doing to find players to make a comment that he's not doing everything?

We've made a pretty good record of cut price buys but when you break it down there was usually some kind of a factor there. Friedel and Tugay - known by Souness at Galatasaray. Bentley - was in the Premier League, just happened to fall out of favour at Arsenal. RSC and McCarthy were Champions' League winners but even then cost a lot more money than we could buy anyone with right now, not to mention wages.

The two that really, genuinely did come out of nowhere in the manner you're suggesting and who we could have just as easily have signed in this window are Samba and Nelsen and it's no coincidence that they're both defenders. Like I said, great defenders/defensive players can go unnoticed for far longer than creative/flair players.

[philipl]

So how is Goulon doing?

[philipl]

answering my own question, having a medical.

Strikes me as being a Fellaini type hopefully without the elbows and injuries.

[Iceman]

answering my own question, having a medical.

Strikes me as being a Fellaini type hopefully without the elbows and injuries.

and thank fook, without the hair.

[Smithy]

You do realise that loan players don't grow on trees don't you?

For us to get a loan player, it needs to be someone good enough for regular Premier League football, who would definitely not be needed this season by their clubs.

This restricts us to about 5 clubs in the league who have squads of that depth, and only a handful of players at each of those clubs who would satisfy both criteria. Then we have issues both with fees and with wages and whether the player would want to come to us or whether he'd prefer to fight for his place at the big club.

If after that you're then stipulating positions, chances are the player doesn't exist.

Yes loans from abroad are theoretically possible, but quite unlikely for various reasons.

Players grow on trees??? Don't be silly everyone knows the stork delivers them down your chimney.

I'm sure most people on here understand that we don't just need any player and that he must satisfy certain criteria, surely that much is obvious and doesn't really need stating.

Your really just saying we cannot do anything, there's no way possible to improve our squad as things stand. There isn't a single player out there of semi decent standard who could have provided cover for Dunn, which most believe we needed. What about the chelsea lad Kakuta (sp), Dos Santos at spurs, as two from these shores. Loans from abroad are possible in reality and given that 70% of the players here are not from these shores it seems feasible one or two could cut it in this league.

Did JW not say that we had cut the wage budget down to a more manageable 80% or so? So we could have signed Guti, who would have been exactly what we need and he's hardly made a poor start in the physical Turkish league.

Isn't the lad Judge a central creative player why not give him 10 or so towards the end and see if he can step up?

I hope this Goulon chap is gravy and that he can bring something to our team, competing alongside, Grella, Jones, Andrews, N'zonzi, Lingzani for those fabled 2 positions.

[deryck guyler's spoon]

Just wondering why we are bringing in a 22 year old, unattached, midfielder from France when we've got one of our own pulling up trees in The Championship? (20 yr old Alex Marrow at Palace) The lad's contract is up at the end of the season, maybe he'll opt for South London rather than be overlooked in favour of foreign players who are unwanted in their own countries.

[RoversSG]

Just wondering why we are bringing in a 22 year old, unattached, midfielder from France when we've got one of our own pulling up trees in The Championship? (20 yr old Alex Marrow at Palace) The lad's contract is up at the end of the season, maybe he'll opt for South London rather than be overlooked in favour of foreign players who are unwanted in their own countries.

Has anyone watched Marrow in action lately? I heard that he was doing well last season but I didn't hear any news since then.

I didn't realise his contract is ending so soon. This is the type of situation the club should avoid, especially when every cents count. JW needs a wake up call if we let potentially good young players leave on a free when we could at the very least get some money selling them to Championship clubs.

[philipl]

Palace want to extend Marrow's loan. He had a great start and is clearly very good at Championship level.

Palace are struggling so this is a big test for him but obviously great for him to be alongside Edgar Davids.

[Iceman]

agree,and we are giving journeymen like Grella and Andrews big fat pay cheques. Give this youngster a chance, the same with Ramm and Morris. im not concerned with Goulon, he is young and has potential. however, its players like Grella and Andrews, Chimbonda and Zurab who are given money for doing nothing.

[Amo]

Just wondering why we are bringing in a 22 year old, unattached, midfielder from France when we've got one of our own pulling up trees in The Championship? (20 yr old Alex Marrow at Palace) The lad's contract is up at the end of the season, maybe he'll opt for South London rather than be overlooked in favour of foreign players who are unwanted in their own countries.

And he's over 6foot!

[Kelbo]

Palace want to extend Marrow's loan. He had a great start and is clearly very good at Championship level.

Palace are struggling so this is a big test for him but obviously great for him to be alongside Edgar Davids.

Strangely, he has been playing at right full back and done pretty well!!

[LeChuck]

Just wondering why we are bringing in a 22 year old, unattached, midfielder from France when we've got one of our own pulling up trees in The Championship? (20 yr old Alex Marrow at Palace) The lad's contract is up at the end of the season, maybe he'll opt for South London rather than be overlooked in favour of foreign players who are unwanted in their own countries.

I'm pretty sure there is room for both of them.

Of our current central midfield options, only N'Zonzi looks to be in it for the long haul; Andrews and Grella should be off soon hopefully, and Jones will move back to centre half.

Also, as Marrow is playing well at full back, he could play there as both our right backs are out of contract this summer.

[RoversSG]

When does Grella and Andrews contracts expire anyway?

Off the top of my head, brown, zurab, rigters, salgado, chimbonda & roberts contracts are all up at the end of the season. We just need vince and andrews to join them and i think most of the deadwood would be out.

[T4E]

When does Grella and Andrews contracts expire anyway?

Off the top of my head, brown, zurab, rigters, salgado, chimbonda & roberts contracts are all up at the end of the season. We just need vince and andrews to join them and i think most of the deadwood would be out.

*block*

[S15]

"Hard wood" more like.