Dickie Heads

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Kairdiff Exile
Mid-life Crisis
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Joined: Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:59 pm

Dickie Heads

Post by Kairdiff Exile »

To QPR, for an undisclosed fee (believed to be around the £1m mark, with add-ons but presumably also some money due to Reading too). I'd imagine we all feel he's worth more than that but have to temper that emotion with the fact that he's got less than a year on his contract.

For me the bigger question is who takes over from him. I've not watched any of our preseason games (watching football on a laptop isn't really my thing) but I gather from the Fence End podcast that young Rob Atkinson has performed well in that position and seems likely to get a chance. Any other thoughts?
Dr Bob
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Re: Dickie Heads

Post by Dr Bob »

KY - your first point is more or less exactly what the RadOx guys said during the QPR game. With the fee undisclosed, I assume we shall not hear either about all of the possible add-ons.

I have seen the Palace game, the second half of the QPR game and as much of the Brentford game just now as their technical gremlins allowed. Defensively Atkinson looks OK - and it is no surprise to suggest he is not as good as Dickie. What I would be looking for is Moore to step up as Dickie did previously, with Atkinson developing as Moore has done. With Clare looking good, we have Long who can cover in the centre, as can Mous. Can Nico Jones make more appearances, at least in the squad, this season? I do think we are a good centre back down on where I would want to be though. And what we have no idea about is whether some of the new signings made already were based on the fee we would get for Dickie, or whether some of that is earmarked for a new CB.

With the Palace game, we looked OK but were clearly against a Premier League team, given the pace and precision of their play - and their thinking. Comparing the two Championship teams, QPR did not look any great shakes, especially compared with first-half-Brentford. In the QPR game, we were getting down the wings and causing quite some problems with our crosses. At times today (until the picture went down) we were chasing shadows. As the second half wore on - and especially after we went two goals down (just like last season) - we suddenly picked up and really went at them. I was very impressed with Osei's goals, from their creation as we really pressed high and in numbers (the Brentford commentators noted how we were starting to dominate midfield), and their execution. Osei should be banned from trying to tackle, but the rest of his game, to my eyes, has improved with each of these matches.
OtmoorYellow
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Re: Dickie Heads

Post by OtmoorYellow »

The pick up in our play was down to personnel changes.

I wouldn’t worry about the first half. That will never be our starting line up, and Robbo was just trying out different combinations.

For me, when our best XI was on the field, in all the pre-season matches, we have competed like a Championship side.

The loss of Dickie isn’t going to help, but given the wage cap, I reckon we have a strong squad. There will be bigger teams having to cut their cloth rather than improving their squad, and smaller teams probably won’t reach the wage cap anyway. I think Robbo and the recruitment team have done a very good job this summer.
Dr Bob
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Re: Dickie Heads

Post by Dr Bob »

On top of everything OY says, it appears that Karl does not think we need another CB:
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/sport/1869 ... -robinson/
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