Oh I agree totally about Tella. And we really couldn't afford to turn down the money Leverkusen were offering.
Yes because we retained Che. I guess we just didn’t expect him to tail off in the way he seems to have. He did his usual of having a brief purple patch just before the window closed. If Stewart had been 100% fit and ready to go from day 1 then I expect we would have let Che go as well I expect we thought (not unreasonably) that Che would be fine in the championship up until January. Do you not remember the hysterical reactions when we looked like we were selling both Che and Tella - talk of losing 30+ goals. Well that hasn’t exactly transpired since Che hasn’t looked remotely like getting anything close to his share of that And in reply to another post - we didn’t “get rid of” Tella. We sold him to a large bid from a bundesliga club playing european football. It was never really viable to keep him. We did fail to replace him though. That much is obvious
Does this apply to other youngsters from other clubs? I think it might. I’m sure some of United one’s have had bad injuries. I wonder why that might be? Too fast paced perhaps ?
Number 5 has also been a problem as well. As we have signed players whose records suggest goals - and they don’t come
There were definitely confident claims that letting him and Che go would mean we would lose 15-20 goals from the team. His record so far suggests that isn’t really the case
You do realise of course, that we could have lost CA at the start of the season & it was very, very fortunate that that he actually stayed. Without AA’s stellar form & goals we’d be a tad short? Anyways, all water under bridge, apart Stewart’s team impact? Feb, at best?
It’s of course impossible to say but had Che gone I don’t think Stewart would have been our only striker signing. No way of knowing though. Perhaps if he leaves in January we might get an idea of the answer if someone does or doesn’t come in Because I’m sure there might be some clubs sensing a “bargain” when he only has 6 months left. And if said clubs are going to offer him a big pay rise he might well leave. That said he seemed to be something like 3rd or 4th choice on lots of lists in the summer
All ifs & buts. The original question revolves around whether relying on on Stewart was wise. At present, me thinks not. You think sensible.
Absolutely nothing to substantiate it but Che and Rangers feels like a thing that could happen. I would have been disappointed if he left in the summer, but he really hasn’t been up to it. Now I think his time here is just over and it is what it is, he will pick up form again at some point but it won’t be here.
Hard to single out players after such a dominant display but Manning was brilliant. I have given him stick in the past but yesterday he was the perfect left back and close to being MOTM. if that would have been his 1st game for us, we would be excited about having one of the best in the league. A Armstrong rightly got the award and that is why we signed him. As well as the 2 well taken goals, he just doesn't stop. A constant threat going forward with dangerous balls into the box and his work rate, harassing defenders and breaking up play was a joy to watch.
I mean that isn’t what I said though is it? I said relying of Stewart and Che combined was considered sensible. You can manipulate what I said if you want or reframe the question but it isn’t really an honest thing to do. I’ve even been clearer elsewhere in saying had Stewart been fully fit we probably would have sold Che. The point is we never even intended to “rely” on Stewart. So framing a question on that premise isn’t really reasonable in my opinion So let’s not pretend I said it was sensible to rely on Stewart and just Stewart. I didn’t Now it can be reasonable to question why we didn’t wait until January or the end of the season to try and sign him. Those are good questions. Likely because we thought we might get a month or more out of him extra. Which hasn’t happened. And/or ensure we secured the signing
Alan nixon has linked us to Charlie Cresswell of Leeds on loan in January. Also apparently closer to 18 Yr old midfielder from Ireland foe the under 21s.
Cresswell would be weird, if he is better than Bednarek, THB or Stephens then surely Leeds would want him there. And if he’s not then why loan him out to a team where he would be at best 4th choice? Not even counting Holgate
For northern clubs in general I think. And he has wafer thin skin. Big fan of the block button on Twitter. He cannot stand anyone even questioning the gospel according to himself
