I agree. What I was getting at is that there’s immediate improvements needed before the sale of someone like Eriksen. - as you mention. What is likely to happen is that we’ll get some of those players signed, but we won’t get all of them. And at the same time we will likely fail in getting rid of some deadwood, and making squad replacements on those too. A real mix of recruitment/ departures, which ultimately won’t be an improvement.
There's a difference between seeing the issues and recognising they are hard to fix. Our full backs are worse than our centre backs but will still cost a lot to improve on. Similarly getting someone better than Lamela won't be cheap or easy.
Nah, he's got Levy and Uncle Joe in the background telling him to add some water to the bottle to make it thinner, convincing him it's just as good and will go further.
I don't think it is over the top at all. It isn't a figment of the imagination that players wax & wane. Generally speaking, age and bad injuries can and will turn a player from crucial to deadwood. I'm not accusing those players of not putting in the effort or not trying, but a combination of poor recruitment and age/injuries has landed us with a load of unnecessary players who just will not improve and waiting around for them to do so is absurd. 2 years ago, Dembele, Wanyama, Rose and Lamela were seen as crucial members of the squad. Fast forward barely 18 months and one has been sold because his injuries rendered him deadwood while the other 3 returned from what now look like career ruining injuries simply unable to match the levels they were producing pre injury. It all depends on perspective too. If our goal is top 6 with a serious top 4 shout then no, they are not deadwood as they are probably good enough. If our goal is top 3 with a serious title shout, they and many others in the squad (listed earlier) are simply passengers in a race they can no longer keep up with.
The thing with depth signings is they don't have to hit the ground running, they just need to be ready to do a job when called up, with Wimmer the obvious example This is the real issue with our recruitment in the last few seasons, we either leave depth options until late (Llorente) or they're the transfers that become a bloody saga (Foyth, Janssen, GKN) when they realistically need to be the ones in place early so they're better prepared for the games where they are needed to step in
The problem with the fan base is that most of it spends the whole time slagging off our players rather than encouraging them. Including during matches. I don't understand what the basis is for lacking ambition. I want us to be the top club in Europe. It's the route to get there I disagree with most of you on.
Someone wanting to buy Toby has to pay us 25m and cover his wages. We should be able to hold on to him if we want to. Same for Eriksen.
I'm convinced that, if we managed the improbable and won the Champions League this season, within ten seconds somebody will be on Twitter moaning that we sacked off the FA Cup
The retractable pitch doubles the potential for money making events and the premium areas will extract lots of money from wealthy fans. Taken together that could be worth 50m a season above the Emirates
Every top club in Europe will pay £25m for Toby and pay him upwards of £200k without any fuss. If we hold onto Eriksen for one more year without him signing a new contract, he’ll leave for free the following summer.
The timing of it has been advantageous too. Arsenal opened theirs a year before the financial crash and a good few years before truly silly TV money hit the PL.
Difference between Fergie and Pochettino : Knowing when and how to take the lid of the bottle rather than squeezing the bottle to death.
I'm sure you do PS...I have no doubts about that...we are all fans. No one has asked Levy to bankrupt us. He can't even keep up with Huddersfield's spending...that's the problem. We could have done with Tielmans on loan if nothing else. This is just an example...yet we can't create a package to lure him but Lesta can? I understand we have a stadium to pay off but no team can cut it at the top without improving the weaknesses. Answer me this PS based on our past dealings...if we did not have a stadium to pay for...would Poch have been granted a war chest to help him compete seriously with our rivals?
I’d say RB, CM, CAM (Eriksen replacement) and possibly LB as Rose’s fitness is too much of a concern. Then there’s also the matter of CB, we’ll likely be losing one of the best in Europe while the other isn’t getting any younger. We’ll need a top CB sooner or later.
