A classic example of rattling off stats as if they tell the tale of the performance. Delap's impact for us extends far beyond the number of goal contributions he has, and even then 7 goals as a 20 year old is brilliant. Translates probably into 13/14 goals for the season. He would absolutely start for Ipswich and I don't think claiming he wouldn't start for a parachute club is particularly revelatory, although I think a case could be made that if he'd been at Southampton all season he'd be starting for them by now.
I mean Hirst is a bit of an unsung hero for them so I don't think he'd start. I think the stats show that he's not a ruthless finisher, athletically he's fantastic but he's still got some work to do in front of goal (I don't think that's an unfair criticism in the slightest).
My point was recruitment has/is a bit of shambles when you look at what we’ve got available currently Your counter points are all very “Yes but we can play X here instead” Yes of course Tufan can play on the wing, he can also play centre back but if we’re serious about top 6 the squad needs a lot of incomings.
Very true, just makes you wonder what could’ve been if we didn’t consistently mess up on recruitment.
We don't constantly mess up on recruitment. The first summer under Acun was scattergun but since LR has come in, it's been absolutely fine. There are always going to be some that don't come off but most of the ones that haven't worked have been punts like Lokilo who was only coming in as a backup winger anyway
We’re still making mistakes when it comes to recruitment Vinagre X Allsop X Lokilo X Furlong X Twine X (I rate Twine but the fact he could be leaving already is a mistake) In addition to not strengthening at fullback and on the wing
I made a post several pages ago about why, while it appears haphazard, there's a pretty clear reason why we're recruiting players almost window upon window to replace each other. I don't think Tufan can play CB. He played wing on the weekend though and has looked quite reasonable there when required.
Putting Furlong in there is absolute stupidity, he was bought as one for the future so why would you judge him after 6 months? Twine's done okay, he's not been garbage, he's just significantly overhyped before coming.. Allsop has done fine too, bought for peanuts and won't be on a fortune. Lokilo has been alright too, another bargain basement signing that was a bit of a punt but he's put in some decent performances especially when Philogene was on the other wing. Vinagre hasn't worked out fair enough but he's still looked a decent player in the glimpses we've seen of him And we tried to strengthen the full-back and wing positions but we couldn't get the players over the line, it happens but as a window, it was pretty decent
Allsop has been perfectly adequate for the outlay on him and Furlong was a youth signing ffs. Of the remaining players you've listed two were/are loans (one of whom has 4 goals and 3 assists for the season) and another was a cheap squad option. If that's what you're clinging to to suggest our recruitment has been shambolic then you're looking for things to moan about. Not strengthening on the wing? We signed Philogene for 5m pounds ffs.
You really shouldn’t be judging Delap on goals and assists solely though. He’ll be playing premier league next season because lower league sides will need players who can lead the line like he can.
How can he be perfectly adequate if we’re replacing him 6 months later If you think recruitment has been good, then great. Personally I think it’s been poor, hence why we look threadbare currently.
Are we? Where's he off to? We look threadbare because we've had a bunch of injuries to key positions. You take any team's best 3-4 players out and any team in the division would look weaker.
