Josh Cullen’s future has been very much a talking point over recent days following a full pre-season involvement thus far and Charlton boss Lee Bowyer remaining keen to take him back to the New Valley permanently.
But a decent point has been raised on the CandH Forum from a follower known simply as Dom.
And he suggests that with Pedro Obiang’s imminent departure at hand Cullen may be the replacement we need.
Boss Manuel Pellegrini has said that he will be replaced which has many assuming we will spend the proceeds from the sale on doing so which may or may not be the case.
With Cullen available plus free and loan signings probably available that remains to be seen but in the meantime Dom makes his point that Cullen may be the man to take on Obiang’s role.
He writes: “I’m still of the opinion that Cullen would do just as well if not better than Pedro Obiang did last season. If the role is to play 10-15 minutes every 3 games, I don’t see how Cullen could be worse than Obiang.
Nice as Pedro is, he just offers nothing on the pitch so why is it a big deal to let Josh Cullen fill that spot? I’m not saying we don’t need better. I’m saying I’d rather see him or Coventry in the team over Obiang and Sanchez. They’d care more and they’d cost far less.
If we do sell him on the cheap to Charlton, perhaps it might be worth inserting a buy back clause in the deal.
If he suddenly becomes the player we thought he could be, we get him back at reasonable money, if not, he stays at Charlton. He has always wanted to be a West Ham player so I think he’d be pretty happy with it.”
Agree about JC, a few players in the past have left to be good additions to their clubs
Junior Stanislav,Leon Britton and Ray Houghton?
Obiang’s replacement needs to be a tenacious ball winner, as well as just a neat passer of the ball. Not sure Cullen has those attributes. I still think we need someone like Gary Medel to be the rottweiler in midfield. We simply don’t have that kind of player and it makes our core weak and easy to walk through
It’s so hard to find a tenacious ball winner who doesn’t pick up perpetual bookings and bans. The game is gradually becoming less and less physical and with the advent of VAR will become more so. Many players only have to feel or anticipate initial contact and they go to ground. Most times the Ref buys it. Tackling was an exiting and inherent part of the game that is, sadly, slowly being leeched.
I make him right.
Agree with that Mooro. It drives me mad because it slows up the game so much. I think it came in partly to protect skilful players (fine) but also partly to make life easier for refs. They can just say ‘any contact between two players outside the box in which one falls over- free kick for that side’. Same with the ‘new’ handball ruling. Basically now if it hits your hand it’s a penalty. Simple for refs but it is creating ludicrous decisions. Refs no longer have to use judgement, which means the stick they get will be reduced. But the game is losing a lot.
I’m rather hoping VAR will result in less diving and increased punishment for the divers. But it could well be a forlorn hope. But hey ho, glass half full eh lads?
I think the trouble is that most of this falling over stuff is not regarded as diving. The tv commentators call it ‘drawing the foul’ & often seem to imply it is clever play. And I can’t remember seeing a ref book a player for one of those. I think VAR might help a bit with the game changing penalty area dives. It should also help with the penalty area pushing & shoving at corners, although watching some of the Africa Cup of Nations recently the refs seemed more obsessed with giving penalties against players who were hit on the hand/arm with no chance of getting out of the way.