Oops, I forgot Maloney...ok, up to 10. Reason for ignoring unfit senior players is pretty obvious- we cannot play them and only one, Davies, is likely to be able to play again this season. Reason for ignoring goalkeepers- you can only play one of them. Point is, league 2 teams own bigger squads of players than we've got- we are massively reliant for staying up on integrating a bunch of loanee foreign rejects (5 if the guy joins from Inter) and this isn't asset stripping? Second to this, what have we left if we go down? There, pissed my pants...happy now?
If Robertson's that good and undervalued, where is the queue of PL clubs coming to sign him - there really isn't one - Robertson's good pushing forward, so was Brady and he's not missed - however his defensive duties are sadly lacking - Josh Tymon already looks a better prospect so lets not get too hung up on players that got us relegated two years ago and struggled to get out of the championship last year
But we can play the loan players which you've ignored... You're either making a list to highlight our squad when we go down (in which case include the unfit guys) or a list to highlight our thin squad for the next six months (in which case include the loanees).
Robertson, Livermore and Snodgrass didn't get us relegated- it was can't be arsed loanee types like Ben Arfa, N'Doye and Ramirez, plus Bruce sticking Davies on the naughty step and playing ever more defensively as the season went on that did for us, along with some unlucky injuries. On Tymon- if Robertson out was about reshaping the squad and allowing Tymon to come through, why haven't we tied at least tied him down to a long term professional deal?
Probably because not many clubs are gagging to spunk money on a LB in January. Another reason to wait until summer when a lot of clubs do the bulk of their business.
Ben Arfa started 5 games and N'Doye started 13 and scored 5 goals - hardly instrumental in our relegation and absolutely nothing to do with our poor 4th last year - I agree with the rest
I'm highlighting just how much we are relying on a bunch of loanees who have no real affinity or understanding for the club, nor, perhaps just as important, any time to settle in, whilst also putting in black and white how few assets we actually have left available to us. It highlights how little sense it makes to break up yet more of our ever decreasing tightly knit squad when that togetherness is likely our best asset in relegation battle. Of course, if it makes you feel better, do your own list and stick Mason, Davies, Henriksen and that crap forward on it if you like.
So mbokani has no understanding of the club does he? I'm just pointing out you compiled a useless list despite saying you weren't being pessimistic.
I wonder how Marco is feeling, his footballing mentality around being fast and agile seemed perfect for Robertson. I can understand Livermore and Snodgrass leaving, but MS must be seriously p***** off if Robbo goes. Especially for 10 mill!
For the record: Fit permanent players Jakupovic Marshall Kuciak Robertson Elmohamady Dawson Maguire Bruce Maloney Clucas Huddlestone Meyler Diomande Hernandez Loan/New players who have bedded in/shown promise: Mbokani Evandro Niasse Loan players who the jury is out on: Markovic Ellabdellaoui Injured permanent players: Davies Henriksen Mason Odubajo So 14 fit permanent players to pick from plus three loanees who either know the squad well or have shown promise since arriving, plus two players who have only played 1-2 games for us but seem shakey. So let's say 17 players with 2 who could go either way. If we're looking from the perspective of the squad we have after going down (of which we may well sell some to raise funds) we have 19 players (McGregor is out on loan). In addition to those, we have bids in for a number of players, with at least one coming on a permanent, and another loanee coming in who would probably go into the 'jury is still out' category. I'm assuming if we do sell Andy then it'll be one in one out. This isn't including Bowen or Tymon who have both shown themselves to be competent in the first XI.
