Its all speculation as this is a fans forum and not the SAFC boardroom mate? Its what should be discussed in here is it not? I can’t think of any other reason as to why Bent was sold and no replacement brought in. Also, it wasn’t me that said to the fans way back in January, that we would take our time, look at the market, scour the planet to find a replacement for him and if we needed to break out transfer record to land one, we would. Was it? Did Niall just feed us that line to sell season ticket renewals in March? You make up your own mind but the Quinn 'quick to talk slow to act' (remember how we would scour the planet for a world class manager before the totally untried Roy Keane was brought in; then the utter bullshit that we were looking around the European and world game for a replacement for him, only to then appointed the hapless Ricky Sbragia and now a top replacement was promised and a last minute loan deal for a player we didn’t target until the last gasp of the window. Quinny has too much past form when it comes to promising one thing and then delivering the opposite and if that’s an unpalatable thought for some, then so be it. I for one wouldn’t believe anything else he promised regarding signings, or plans and would take those promises for what they are. Fairy stories form a bloke I really love but cannot really trust to his word anymore. I would rather be told the truth if there is a limited budget, or we need to balance the book as we've been there before and it would hardly be a crushing blow would it but I really hate it when someone fills me with hope, only to constantly let me down. That is a crushing blow, especially when it happens regularly.
This may sound strange but lets face it, the common denominator for ALL of us is the club. SAFC. We argue (discuss / whinge, call it what you will) because we all want success and all think we have the right answers. That is most of the enjoyment! We are all sad b**t***s really because we are on here in our spare time (or, even, not spare time....!) focussing on the lads! What has happened has happened and we have to move on. Peeps on here know I dont rate Bruce. Others of you do. I don't think NB was a last minute panic but I do think he was not first choice either. Anyway THE TITLE OF THE THREAD! This now is Bruce's team and mostly his squad. He has asked for these players and been allowed to get them. No excuses now from Mr Bruce, or for that matter, Mr Quinn. Can we at least agree on some of this? x
Actually, to correct you (if thats allowed of course) if you read the opening original post there isnt a single criticsim of Bruce supporters? You will need to read it properly first to admit to that? Secondly, I have been back subsequently to have a go at those posters that replied to it in manner, that although wasnt entirely surprising to be honest, was merley diggin back at those that had a dig at me first. Thirdly, I dont really care what some people think but I am very happy for them to think it. If i say that once I say it constantly but the personal stuff always starts when the reasoned argument is lost and I take it as sign that my argument is profiting, when the personal insults fly. Chelsea and Stoke here we come? No doubt we can all take up the debate again after another 2 home games? What would you say is a reasonable return form those 2 games? Could it be 1 point? 3 points? All 6 points? Watch Peter Crouch in 2 weeks this Saturday and see what 10m buys you in todays market, at whatever age he may be.
As I will never know the ins and outs of why Bent was sold (also how much for) and as I will never know how much we really offered for players in cash and wages and even which players we did try for. The only facts as I can see them is we have sold one forward Bent and bought 2 ,Conner, Ji and now have one on loan Bendtner. What I have to decide is are we better off now that before, as Ji and Conner will probably not feature much this year, it will be down to how Gyan and Bendtner gel and how many goals they score between them. IMHO and its only my opinion we are worse off, and still do not have a LB or a LW, both positions being filled might have resulted in a better team balance and results. So Chelsea are next up, whats the odds that SB picks a very odd team and plays then in all the wrong positions?
Hello Baldy, hows life mate? Apparently I am once again a cross between Hanibal Lecter and Adolf Hitler for daring to be so negative? Its a shame because its only my opinion at the end of the day but some people get a bit hett up on here if you stray from the prepared script? I'll always be someone who calls it as he ses it and thats always going to upset some. So be it. PS - Bendtner is a canny player mate. Dont worry.
Wenger, Dalglish, Moyes, Mancini, Rednapp, and the Portuguese bloke at Chelsea all made signings in the last hour of the transfer window, most of which had never been linked previously, do they all come under the same catagory as Bruce? are they also being lambasted by their supporters for leaving it till the final hour? Just a thought.
Parkersafc, your second team is what i believe is our strongest team be it home or away. I'm a 4-4-2 man but with the players at our disposal, 4-5-1 (or 4-3-3, depending how you look at it, i say 4-5-1) appears clearly stronger to me. The midfield you have in the first team, the 4-4-2, will get pushed back and seperated from the strikers because there's a lack of pace and skill in there, the Swansea game being a prime example. The midfield was truly terrible in that game. Obviously Sessegnon is in the midfield this time but as good as he is, i don't think he'll be enough to get the midfield moving forward and joining in with the strikers. So, for us, i think the 4-5-1 with Sessegnon and Gyan pushing forward from wide will be more attacking that the 4-4-2. Also, the 4-5-1 much better utilises Larsson (and probably Vaughan) who i think is a really class player that is wasted on the wing. I think Larsson and Vaughan will be excellent for us in this set up, especially with 3 targerts ahead of them (Sess, Bendtnar and Gyan). We should even get the best out of Cattermole, who can stick to purely defending and just laying off simple passes to Vaughan, Larsson etc. If Gyan and/or Sessegnon drift inside, Vaughan and/or Larsson could easily drift out wide to get in crosses. It seems like a team that could play off each other and actually build an attack rather than hoofting it in the general direction of Gyan. All-in-all, this team seems really good and the more i think about it the more i like it. We may have stumbled upon something pretty special and i've a strong renewed optimism that i couldn't see happening. My concern is that Bruce won't see this and will play the 4-4-2...to be honest, i just really don't like the look of that team and think it could be tough times.
How dare you even contemplate correcting me.....To be fair mate I don't think I stated that you had criticised supporters in your original post. What I did say was that you rarely miss an opportunity to do so, and even you must admit that you often refer to Bruce backers as 'happy clappers' etc... As I've stated on many occasions, I'm well aware that this is an open forum and there will always be differing views and opinions, and it would be pretty boring if we all agreed.
Why is it assumed that it was Bruce or SAFC that caused the Bendtner deal to drag out until very late last night. Let's be honest Arsenal were trying to get people left, right and centre (and I'm not talking positions on the field here). So maybe that was a contributory factor to any delays that happened.
My main critisism is Bruce has had since January to find the number one priority signing, which I think ALL of us agreed on last May was the clubs underlying weakness and yet we were still scrapping around at the 11th hour for any kind of striker. Not a good look for me. We needed a goal scorer to replace Bent but we still havent got one mate, as Bendtner isnt a Darren Bent sort of player at all. He's a good player and I'm happy he is here but he isnt the one we so desperately needed is he? I think he may well help Gyan but I fear how many times they will be played together whilst Bruce stubbornly tries to prove to everyone he was right about Sessegnon? I want to see Sess used on the left but I fully expect that we will still be 4-5-1 v Chelsea with the exact same team we went out to play the mags (with the exception of Richo out for Bardo and O Shea in) and sess in the hole? We shall see. I like the look of 4-1-3-2 with a solid midfiled and 2 strikers. Gyan should have that free role behind the targetman as he can operate form wide very effectively. Mig O Shea, Brown, Bramble, Bardo Vaughan Larsson, Gardener, Sessegnon Gyan, Bendtner
Not argueing or dissagreeing with you mate, it's well documented and commented on by the club that we need a replacement for bent, we all know that as we all know we also needa left sided attacking midfielder. Cisse never wanted to come, neither did Crouch, you can't blame anyone at the club for that and Bruce went on record the other day saying that they were looking at one purchase and a possible loan. Sounds to me like the purchase decided not to come and the loanee did. The fact remains that we got a decent player who most on here seem to agree and are happy with, how or when we got him is errelevant, it's what he does out on the pitch that counts not the finite details of the deal. My own personal opinion of Bruces dealings this window is that the bloke seems to have done his homework, we had 10 signings long before most other teams had made one, the outstanding deal just happened to be the one we needed most, why? i don't know and neither do you. You raise some valid points but most of your arguments are based on guess work as neither you or i or any of us know what goes on within the club or any other club for that matter.
Gannin' canny Cest mate. TBH my frustration is more with Bruce than Bendtner. He seems to have a completely incoherent transfer strategy to me. We needed two proven forwards to start the season and we see over 10 spent on a couple of bairns. Promising bairns they may be but bairns none the less. It's OK signing prospects; JUST AS LONG as you have dealt with the priority of (a) PROVEN goalscorer(s). He didn't do this and signing Bendtner was as you say a "face saving act." Not a genuine target, and he came in at the death to avoid complete embarrassment. He may have saved his own skin with this but there is just far too much brinksmanship in his approach for me to be comfortable. He tried to sign Fuller in Jan and since then Stoke have added Jerome and Crouch to their forward line so why didn't he go back to get Fuller? He must be on the fringe down there now. James Beattie is a free agent, and I would have him in as well. People are correctly saying that Bendtner is better than what we already have. It's not difficult because we have nothing else. Even a telegraph pole or electricity pylon would be more useful in the box than the alternatives.
5 transfer windows on and I shudder to think how many players have gone out and come in and even in his 5th window, there has been something like 15 or 16 deals? Its not steady team/squad building to me but constant fire fighting. That said, I really do like Bendtner and however we actually got him, I'm quite excited to see how he does if he is given a good run in a team. Only hope that if he does score a hatful of goals Arsenal dont either bang up his asking price or just take him back as Welbeck was at Utd. You take care and keep your head down for the flak you will now take for having a different view to the pre-ordained club script. Lol
Well, we can discuss Bent's replacement all we like, but whomever we'd brought in counts for practically nothing when you consider the following. Colback,Catts,Gardner,Larsson That was our midfield against Swansea, and i'm afraid that's just not good enough. I STILL haven't calmed down from the Swansea game. Bruce brought in god knows how many players this transfer window and that's the best midfield we could put out? Well that just shows a serious lack of understanding of what's required at this level. People need to get off Gyan's back, and indeed not write off the Gyan/Sess combo (which i sort of did until i opened my eyes and noticed how appaling is that midfield), until he/they have been dealt a chance of playing well.
How much better does this sound mate? Larsson, Gardener, Vaughan, Sessegnon If only we could have signed these kinds of players to play in our .................................................................hey, wait a minute there!!! Lol
Yeah, a lot better mate! And, as you imply, we could easily have played that midfield against Swansea and put Wickham up front with Gyan. I think we'd have another 2 points on the board right now had we!
With a little more imagination and less fear of losing, Bruce could have indeed helped himself no end. 2 strikers up front and on top of that midfield and I really think we would have beaten the mags and swansea and be in the bext round of the carling cup. 7 points and in the cup and SB would have not been given the hard time he has been. He just had to get away to a good start but his constant erring towards negative teams leads to us struggling and losing/drawing games we should easily be winning IMO. The 1 up front policy is fine at Anfield but he simply isnt, or wont be flexible at home. Even against the best teams I'd still play 2 up front as attack is the best form of defence anyway. Bet we go 1 up front v chelsea though and will contain for large parts before conceding a couple of goals and losing the game. I'd rather we go for it and get beat 2 or 3 than humbly hand over the points without trying to win them.
