SIGNED: Craig Dawson (West Ham)

[Scallywolf]

Excellent signing in a position we definitely needed to strengthen.

Loads of Premier League experience and s ores the odd goal as well. Not a gamble and a sensible fee.

4 signings in the January transfer window already and nearly 2 weeks to go. Unheard of!

Matt Hobbs doing a job eh. Just get a goal scorer in and we have had a great window.

 

[Glow69]

Great signing.

Kind of mentality we need.

 

[Hrothgar]

Bit similar to Coady leaving us for Everton and in my book a very shrewd move after the pure folly of allowing Coady, Saiss and Boly all to go last summer. We need an experienced and steadying influence at the back massively.

 

[Wolf in Kenilworth]

Jack Price probably had a hand in this,

 

[Wolfmeister75]

Always a good sign when the fans at a players previous club are gutted they’ve moved on. A leader on & off the pitch. Brilliant signing in my opinion. I suspect Collins will be dropped to the bench, he needs to improve his concentration levels because he makes too many mistakes. Think he’ll be fine in time and players like Dawson will help him.,

 

[Surrey Wolf]

Decent signing, much needed experience

 

[hollo]

Always a good sign when the fans at a players previous club are gutted they’ve moved on. A leader on & off the pitch. Brilliant signing in my opinion. I suspect Collins will be dropped to the bench, he needs to improve his concentration levels because he makes too many mistakes. Think he’ll be fine in time and players like Dawson will help him.,

Albion fans love him too. The guy i work with raves about him.

 

[Urko]

WestHamOnline.net - WHO The Online West Ham Community

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[Northampton_wolf]

He will help Collins and kilman understand there roles and responsibility. Will steady us and provide a good platform the other two to keep learning

 

[Aimless Balls]

So Dawson on in the 80th min instead of Toti?

 

[sillytuna]

Read some of the Hammers forum. Makes a few mistakes (well hey, we're used to that) but scores goals (well hey, we're not used to that).

Solid signing. Don't expect an amazing defender but a leader who can do a job and hopefully score from set pieces.

May have to play him centre forward at this rate.

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

Good deal, but not the end of the pitch I am worried about.

We need a CB. Remember Lage/Sellers replaced Coady/Saïss/Boly/Donk with Collins and... er... well, just Collins.

 

[Bill S Preston Esq.]

Just looked at his record, 52 goals he’s scored in his career, 52!

Lump him up top. Who was the CB at Leicester who played as an auxiliary striker?

 

[Irish_Wolf]

Great, play him up front.

 

[inaglasshouse]

I like him, hope he likes us. Clearly a commited player for west ham.

 

[Scallywolf]

Lump him up top. Who was the CB at Leicester who played as an auxiliary striker?

Was that Matt Elliott?

 

[MrJamez]

Straight in for Kilman please Julen.

 

[manchesterwolf17]

The sort of signing we've almost ignorantly completely bypassed for years.

Fully behind it. Very astute business.

 

[Mr Jingles]

Has definitely got a strikers instinct, and from memory scored a cracking overhead goal in the last minute for Watford against Leicester during the pandemic.

I actually remember my dear late dad saying at a time wouldn’t it be nice to have an old fashioned centre half like that son up the molineux.

Well Dad, if you are looking down on your beloved old gold, you have got your wish mate

 

[JayStringer]

The new Jody Craddock we've needed for a while.

 

[Supadavewolf]

We have a square shaped hole, and Dawson is a square shaped peg

Good addition

Agreed.

Reminded me of a few of our past defenders who had square-shaped feet

 

[SuperGran]

Lots of love for him from West Ham fans seem generally gutted that he’s leaving

 

[SA Wolf]

On the face of it, an underwhelming signing, but may turn out to be an astute acquisition. But, we need goals and even if Dawson does get a couple, he's not been bought to remedy our lack of scoring.
We need goals!!!!

 

[Perton Wolf]

On the face of it, an underwhelming signing, but may turn out to be an astute acquisition. But, we need goals and even if Dawson does get a couple, he's not been bought to remedy our lack of scoring.
We need goals!!!!

How is it underwhelming? We've been crying out for an experienced CB all season.

 

[groundhogwolf]

No one has mentioned about him being an Ex baggie?

Eventually someone will, ahhhh

 

[IANWILSON]

The new John McAlle. Its been coming. Great short term signing.

 

[Road runner]

Was that Matt Elliott?

Walsh?

 

[Scallywolf]

On the face of it, an underwhelming signing, but may turn out to be an astute acquisition. But, we need goals and even if Dawson does get a couple, he's not been bought to remedy our lack of scoring.
We need goals!!!!

Nothing underwhelming about his signing imo. Excellent signing.

Loads of Premier League experience, been starting for West Ham until the last couple of weeks and scores goals.

Do you mean underwhelming because of the fee or because of his age? They are both irrelevant. The fee is peanuts and the likes of Thiago Silva at Chelsea and Pepe of Portugal are nearly 40, still playing and are both fit as a butchers dog.

 

[Bigcheese]

No one has mentioned about him being an Ex baggie?

So was ally robertson but he was what we needed at the time

 

[Sedgley Gold N Black]

WestHamOnline.net - WHO The Online West Ham Community

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www.westhamonline.net

“Dawson completely won me over in his time with us. The first step in doing that, and it was a refreshing change, was when he bullied the Burnley attackers who usually bullied us, in one of his early appearances. “

Love this comment on there, we could certainly do with that!

 

[yateleywolf]

Lage /club wanted Dawson in the summer but West Ham pulled deal in the end and we had no back up plan. I think it's just what we need and start regularly soon.

 

[Glass ankles]

Happy with this

 

[Rauls Headband]

We need scrappers and players who don’t mind a battle to survive the drop this season, Dawson clearly wants to be here, even if the reasons are more family related and personal, but that’s still better than the motivations of some other signings the last couple of seasons, he’s got heaps of experience in the PL which will also help Collins and Kilman, he’s home grown, he’s going to cost us less than most of our recent loan flops, and weakens a relegation rival.

What we should have learned from the Nuno/Thelwell era is that the sum of the team was greater than the parts, and for some reason after 3 years of that successful model we splurged a lot of money on some strange signings (and got rid of players) to the detriment of that team dynamic (for reasons maybe that contributed to Thelwell leaving).

This accelerated during the Lage/Sellers era, and we all know the result of that.

With the Lopetegui/Hobbs era I see the Dawson signing as a hopeful return to that model that gave us Championship success, two successive 7th place positions, a run to an an FA cup semi final (which we should have won), and an amazing run in the Europa league.

He could be a great signing in a SQUAD that hits bigger than its individual players suggest, and we have to think like this as a club because simply we can’t spunk £200+M each window so it’s great to see us returning to being smart with our transfer business.

 

[Adrian_Monk]

Lump him up top. Who was the CB at Leicester who played as an auxiliary striker?

Matt Elliot? Steve Walsh?

Paul Warhurst is probably the best example at Sheffield Wednesday. Pretty sure Ian Marshall went the other way from striker to centre back occasionally towards the end of his career

 

[WV10Wolf]

Matt Elliot? Steve Walsh?

Paul Warhurst is probably the best example at Sheffield Wednesday. Pretty sure Ian Marshall went the other way from striker to centre back occasionally towards the end of his career

Wasn’t there a player at Norwich (Doherty?) who was hey shoved up front in an emergency and he kept scoring?

 

[Big Saft Kid]

At last a bit of grit and experience. We could do with another one like him leading the line. You need a mix of characters, body shapes and skill sets. For too long we have been a team of Portuguese show ponies. I like Lemina and I like Dawson and I like Boubacar. Get ****ing stuck in!

 

[sillytuna]

Dion Dublin also moved to CB late in his career and did very well.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

Danny Batth last 5 mins whenever we were losing!

Absolutely in favour of this signing, but not at all convinced he should be starting ahead of Collins or Kilman. Also feel for Toti dropping down the pecking order when he's been excellent, so quick and physical. If Dawson can explain to Kilman that he should dominate strikers and atack the ball then it will be money well spent.

 

[Redhillwolf]

West Ham fans don’t dish out praise easily and they seem to be gutted he’s going…I wasn’t initially too keen on him signing but coming round to the idea that he could be just what we need right now.

 

[sillytuna]

Toti's really good when 1-1 and love that he never hides, but he's way too dodgy on the ball and needs more time to sort that side of his game out given how we play.

Kilman needs an experienced head as he's so quiet and doesn't dominate. Collins does dominate but 1-2 daft mistakes usually when he can just take the simple option.

All 3 are good at the basics but all also lack the experience to play clever.