Summer window

Look I'm in the anti-Speakman camp tonight but as per my point above - we can't say "no excuses". The Stewart injury has well and truly ****ed all planning. EIther he's fit and scores for fun or is sold or he's injured and we have no money to spend.

Not defending the fact we have one striker. Just that its unfair to say he's had 18 months to plan for this exact scenario. He probably did have strikers lined up to sign to replace Stewart once he was sold, but hasn't been able to sell Stewart to fund them

 

In our squad we have no Championship ready CF. That is not acceptable for our club.

 

We do but he's injured.

We should have two - that's what's not acceptable.

 

He was injuried in Jan wasn't he ? It's now august mate. It's not good enough. Recruitment has picked more buy low , sell high wonderkids. Should have sacked a couple of them off and put it towards a striker.

 

We new he was not going to be fit until late September also he may leave..we have no Championship CF for our...its unacceptable.

 

How the **** does such a camp even exist?! Look where we were when he came in and look where we are now (in a minuscule period of time too in the grand scheme of things).

As usual, all perspective has been lost.

 

18 months ago we had Ross Stewart flying and he tore the championship up before his injury. Then we have Simms doing a job until Everton recall him late on. Then despite that we still end up 3rd top scorers in the league. Imagine which experienced strikers are going to sign here with Stewart in position. I would argue the only window where we could and should be signing the sort of strikers we want is this one. January windows are absolutely shocking times to do business, particularly strikers when everyone is panic buying. We cant just force a club to sell and a player to come. We arent in the market for any old striker either, there are attributes needed to add to our side. Then we are all of a sudden fixated on experience when last year everyone loved our youthful approach.

I dont see any logic behind the sudden demand for experience. I think we all know our approach is different now, so not much point expecting a change. I am sure a striker or two will come in, as Mowbray has said, but they are going to be of a certain profile I think. Exciting too in my opinion still.

 

Yeh I'm referring to the 18 month comment.

 

If you dont get experience you get what you got on Sunday. Hemir is miles off and will not offer consitency and goals on a regular basis.

 

My point is purely he's still here and that hampers things. Anybody saying it doesn't is intentionally ignoring it.

It doesn't excuse it entirely, of course. But it makes things more difficult.

 

Its certainly a balancing act and we are short on that sprinkling of fit experienced players needed to help the youth in the side. I think Dack could turn out to be a great signing…but…he will need a good striker in front of him still.

We have height in the first team now so I really hope we are putting more focus on corners and set pieces in training as they are diabolical. Both attacking and defending them.

Other than the strikers the big worry for me is in defence. We conceded 16 goals in 7 preseason games and now 3 in 2 since, something just doesn’t seem right but it’s still very early days so we have time to correct it.

 

Love the work up to now but we’ve had some fantastic professionals alongside the kids at all times. Now there’s less and less of the experienced players they need replacing. Also the board need to remember this is Sunderland AFC. Go out and buy a ready made player who will get you bang up there.

 

It’s catch-22, unlikely anyone will sign him while he is injured and contract is in limbo it seems so we can’t replace him.

It’s getting to the point where the club need a definite answer from the lad so we can go out and get a replacement now, then hopefully sell him in January if he has no intention of staying.

It’s bloody frustrating for the fans and I’m guessing for the club too.

 

I’m not anti-speakman by any means I think he’d love to have a few quid to spend and I’d love to see what he could do with it. But clearly we aren’t going to give him it and he’s working within a very small budget which ultimately then means Mowbray is working with his hands tied.

I think people are pissing in the wind with this whole “we’ll spend £8m on someone if we think it’s the right player”.

 

I do wonder if Mowbray's comments last week of expecting attacking reinforcements soon were almost a passive aggressive statement of expectations, rather than a genuine hope.

 

Where are there less experienced players? Who am I missing? I can only see that we’ve added Dack to what we already had in terms of experience in the squad.

 

The thing that concerns me is that strikers are the players that actually cost money and it’s strikers we have been horrific at bringing in. I really hope it’s not down to not having the money. But we have learned with this regime, don’t judge a window until it’s shut. So fingers crossed.

 

This is what Barnes said on Total Sport tonight...issues behind the scences...listen to what he said tonight...

 

Our signings seem focused on ensuring ease of return on investment. And naturally larger investments in strikers come with greater risk in that regard. Might make it more difficult to pull the trigger.

That said its easy to forget we've signed two strikers this window. They're just not the right calibre yet.

 

Amad and Michut both contributed last season and came in late on.

TM and Speakman have both said we are pushing hard for deals on attacking players.

If we win Saturday the pendulum will be back in full swing.