Looking at the team it is starting to look like a shambles. Who have we bought that we can turn a profit on? We have a team of 5-10 players with some free's thrown in. Mig is a saleable asset. Gotta be worth more than we paid. The back four. They are solid and do a job but there is not an individual in there that would command a good fee. They are all quite old and back up is poor. Midfield Larrson we would make money on. Mcclean we would make money on but his stock must be dropping. There was talk of 20 mil for sess. Not anymore. Johnson losing stock. Up front. Over the odds for ffletcher, wickham. Ji no sign of improvement. Quite frankly our squad is being badly managed and money has been thrown at it. Is there a transfer policy? Mon has had little time to sort this out. Really only one window. Much more needs to be done. We are poor in all departments and thread bare. How did it come to this?
IMO I rekon in todays market Mignolet - 10m Westwood - 1.5m Bardsley - 3m Rose - 5m (I know he aint our player but rekon thats the price we would have to pay for him) O'Shea - 4m Brown - 500k-1m Kilgallon - 500k-1m Bramble - 500k-1m Cuellar - 2.5m Larsson - 5m Cattermole - 6m Colback - 3.5m Gardner - 4m Vaughan - 500k Meyler - 1m Johnson - 10m Sessegnon - 12m McClean - 8m Fletcher - 15m Saha - 1m Wickham - 3m Ji - 500k-1m Campbell - 1.5m
shown plenty of potential last year to show that he can do it in the premier league needs to add more to his game to be a success over a long period of time as he is far to predictable and when I speak to him I will be asking him his thoughts on whats so different from last season but I do think IF a club came in for him they would offer around that sort of money maybe a tad more because if a manager can get it right with him and add more to his game he could be a top quality winger.
When you look at how much money we have spent. We have a poor squad IMO. Our policy seems to have shifted as well, we have sold our better players or they didn't want to stay. Who have the coaching staff ever turned into better players? Larrson, Gardner, Wickham, Ji, none that I can think of.
I think Fletcher's stock is rising - don't think, on performance, we paid over the odds Cattermole at any big club would be worth £20m - he is a much better player than he was when we signed him for £6m and is improving all the time We'd also turn a profit on Westwood, Mignolet and McClean (although not much on the latter) - Sessegnon is looking poor although didn't do too And Larsson
With honesty... Mignolet - 15m -Age , potential, I reckon he's the most valuable asset at the club, and will become a star, a real star, at some point. Westwood - 2m Bardsley - 4m Rose - 4-6m as it's Spurs, and they are demon negotiators. O'Shea - 0, age, contract. Brown - 0, age, contract, made of bone china. Kilgallon - 750k, would be worth mre with games, a very solid player in fact. Bramble - 500k, but will be free IMO. Cuellar - 2.5m average. Nice Bentley. Larsson - 7.5m You may think it's high. It's not. A goalscorer at club and national level, a potential weapon to any side. Cattermole - 6m Due to influence more than ability. Colback - 4m inc English premium. Gardner - 6m, good player, but not enough influence. Vaughan - 500k, never a Premier League player, scared to go forward. Meyler - tough to judge, but due to international call up i'd expect £2m Johnson - 8m, unquestionably he is worth less than we paid currently. Sessegnon - 10m, a brilliant player, unfairly blamed for others not giving him options. Still our best outfield player by a country mile. McClean - 0, clueless, greedy, clashes with other players, doesn't cross anymore.. i could go on. He CAN turn it back tho, if he gets his head right. Fletcher - 15m. Worth all and more of what we paid, movement, finishing & touch all beautiful to watch. Doesn't deserve the **** he's having to wade through, could play top 6 easily. Saha - 1m, age, still an asset. Wickham - 4m, purely on u21 record and reputation, will come good if given games/loan opp. Ji - 2m. Half decent, but probs not Prem standard. Campbell - 1.5m. Short contract, awful positional sense. Loses ball in flight. Top lad though.
I'm not trying to sound like a dick, but when people told you that your good start with MON was just a honeymoon period, maybe people were right? I think MON is a good manager, but you didn't seriously think that your good start was gonna carrying on long term, did you? I think you will improve and have your good periods, and I think you will challenge for the top 10, but I can't help remember you all ****ing over the points gap closing around Decemeber last year, and a load of you thinking you had a chance at the top 7/8.
Yes we honestly did and i'm not trying to be a dick but if Pardew can do it, why would anybody have any doubts about O'Neill?
the problem is mate the tactics and how we set up, its so, so negative, it seems as though we are going out to make sure we don't get beat and shooting and scoring has been totally forgotten about. we have some very good players going forward in Johnson, McClean, Sessegnon and Fletcher and we are not playing to there strengths at all.
My worry Tash is that there's not an excuse, the players are EASILY good enough to control games and push for top 10, maybe even to 8th. Yet, we are completely toothless. Sess, Fletch, AJ & Seb alone should make us a threat, and then there's Rose , Gardner, Saha all capable. It's gotta be put down to a common denominator when it's so widespread, and that has to be the manager when it's football.
It's a totally different set up mate. You guys have had over 100m to spend over the last 4-5 seasons. You had the freedom to buy who you pleased, and you didn't reallly buy all that well. We had limited funds, and had to buy sensibly, plus we have, if not the best, one of the best scouting systems in the league. MON may have more achievement than Pards to his name, but why does that necessarily make him a better manager in every aspect? Some managers are right for some clubs. Right from when Pards took over, no we didn't really see a massive improvement in results, but he gave youngsters and fringe players a chanec to improve, and has gotten the best out of players we didn't exactly think were that good before. Pards has signed the players he's thought were the best for certain positions, and he's been 85% right so far. We've made a few poor/question sigings, but most have turned out to be gems. Plus we've seen some youguns and some players that were classed as **** before, and they've blossomed under Pardew's plans. Fletcher IMO is still not a 12m player, but he seems to be great in the right set up, so if he scores the goals then he's paying back the transfer budget. Johnson was a gamble that wasn't worth 10m IMO. Inconsistency and injuries have played a significant part in his career, on top of problems in his personal life and not having a sparkling attitude either. Johnson can still come good, but if you're paying that much for a player, he needs to make significant impact early on. He needs to show at least some promise, despite his team mates not doing well. Johnson hasn't really done that. MON hasn't really signed brilliantly, but I think he'll turn things around soon and have you pushing for top 10.
I also get what you lads mean about tactics. In our 4-3-3 formation last year were looked like a champions league side, passing and cutting through sides and playing technical football. Pards doesn't seem to want to revert back to that formation, and is trying 4-4-2. I guess it's maybe because he thiniks 4-4-2 is better defensively, and we have the quality to win games that we play average in. Despite being in the top 4 for most of last season, we really didn't play well that often until the end of the season when we adopted the 4-3-3 thing. But we won due to hard work and quality. I guess that's what Pards wants for us. 4-4-2, comfortable football and winning due to quality moments, not performances. It may take some time, and we're willing to wait, but there's no way we're gonna get up there with the best if we play like we are now. I think both our clubs may be going through some transitional period, the only difference is we still have what it takes to win during tough periods, where as you do not. Not an insult, just stating facts. We've been poor but we've been clinical in front of goal, plus we've had Ben Arfa and Cabaye suppyling the ammunition.
Totally wrong on this one Tash mate, have a look at our signings incomings and outgoings, I will be surprised if we have any more than a 10m net spend. We do exactly as you do, balance the books. Who said O'Neill is a better manager in every aspect? All I said is looking at the records of both managers, then we had cause for optimism that we could go on and emulate yourselves and I stand by that.
Cattermole is worth much more than £6m but will only get that due to his reputation (watch last night - Boror player rakes the back of his leg - shocking dirty challenge, not a word from the ref - simple trip in a non-dangerous area from Cattermole and the ref has a word - one of the best outside of the top 6 clubs in his position (and maybe including some of the top 6!)
