I seriously think we will struggle if we go down, like Sunderland and Sheff Wednesday in the past. I cannot see where we get the goals from to compete
He’s outgrown us out on loan, meanwhile we have spent £20m to cover his position. I doubt he will be coming back.
Yeah but let's face it. None of us were too worried about him going out on loan. I hold my hands up with that one; I could see he needed a year in the Championship to improve. Same with Smallbone. Neither would have done very well for us this season. The team is rotten unfortunately. This is why I'm not bothered about going down. As posted already, half our squad needs a season in the Championship. AND we will get Tella back. AND, we at least seem to have a competent manager already in place.
I don't think the issue is a spine or lack thereof, we're just lacking dynamism. The reason we look better against teams that come out and play is that we're shockingly bad about playing through, behind or over defenses. The only good crosser in the squad is JWP, and he's often playing centrally, and we struggle badly with the sort of quick interplay in traffic that can generate a good chance against a wall of defenders. The only player who seems to have the requisite qualities is Alcaraz, but unfortunately after hurting his knee he doesn't have 90 minutes in him. Though I'd probably restore Edozie...even if it hasn't come off yet, he got closer to making things happen than any of the others have (though that's a ridiculously low bar).
All a bit bizarre as we thought he was poor and sent him to Celtic for two years. It likes we keep hoping he was be as good in the prem as he was in the SPL. Just strange
Tbf he looked on paper like a good signing when we got him (unlike quite a few of our signings where they looked wrong and turned out to be wrong). He did have a reasonable purple patch under Ralph for about half a season but hasn’t looked like repeating it, just too slow for me.
I’d say there is something about Sulemana tbf. But Orsic is almost certainly leaving already and Onuachu hasn’t really been afforded a chance but from the brief glimpses we’ve had he doesn’t look to offer much, too early to judge for sure though.
I think we'll have goals in the Championship. Adarma scored a bunch, and he's awful. Tella is scoring for fun, and he wasn't (when we let him go) PL level at all. As I have said, CGT and Schad have said above too, our team is full of a lot of players that given a loan in the Championship could and probably will become very good players. Charly, Sulemana, Edozie, Tella, Onuachu for starters, Lavia and ABK I think are good enough for the PL already. So if we can keep the former bunch, they'll be just fine. Added to that people like Stu, Perraud, Bree etc and even Adarma will be effective. If we are to go down, I wonder if we can sell Lavia back to City, on condition they loan him to us for the season. That would see us back up again.
I thought Onuachu looked okay when he came on, and has done generally. We just have a complete aversion to crossing it anywhere near him, which is odd.
Agree with first paragraph. Very worried on second. I think we will struggle. We have no characters. The championship is tough. We will be bullied out of games unless we go and buy five horses for courses players
4 goals in 70 appearances. Says it all. Mane 21 in 63 Tadic 21 in 134 Lallana 48 in 235 Davis 12 in 193
.... But teams will pick up Lavia and ABK. We lose two rising stars. We are then in a physical league without two of our strongest players. I would expect Che to shine, but them am struggling. Whilst we may have some skillful players, you need to be strong in that league. I do not see many strong and powerful players which ultimately we will need. We nee those, that will them compliment your Edozie etc. As for Ardama, I think we were sold a pup and Stuey I'd no longer young and I am not sure he will age like a Bordeaux
We really can't be having that conversation until we know what our squad will look like. But, if the likes of Adam Armstrong and Nathan Tella can score 20+ goals, then I think we'll be okay. Most important thing is having the right manager in place nice and early, as we do.
I know what you mean, but I don't agree necessarily - Adarma has already scored a billion goals in the Championship, and he's both rubbish and about as strong as a wet bar of Twix.
