We don't get a lot of luck do we? Still hopefully it's not too serious - Kaca seems okay climbing onto the plane to Austria - please log in to view this image
I assume that you're not referring to Riether or Hangeland and its way too soon to pass judgement on Amorebieta, so I can only assume you mean Richardson. Grimmer is not a left back. Dan Burn is a centre back with experience playing left back at a League One standard; I don't want us to wreck his confidence by throwing him to the wolves for the sake of a slight improvement on Richardson. Burn and Grimmer are great prospects and Burn especially is on the last year of his youth career - he'll be in the first team or gone next year. I don't want to pursue the Aston Villa model of mentally scarring our young players whilst hoping one of our summer purchases turns out to be Benteke. And before someone else points out that Jol isn't integrating young players, the following all played against Werder: Kaca, Mesca, David, Kasami & Briggs.
You and I see the world in very different ways, Rosc. My point is you tend towards hasty doom-mongering, regardless of what's actually happening. Last season we reached the mythical 40pts way earlier than any of us expected. Admittedly, after that point our results were shocking, but I wouldn't say that the season as a whole (or the previous two, where you were just as negative) was anything like as bad as your posts make out. Whenever we've had a bad run - and, admittedly, one or two of them have gone on too long for comfort - it's been possible to take a reasonable perspective about the causes (key players missing, etc), rather than slamming the manager and coming over like Private Fraser from Dad's Army (kids, ask your parents). When Jol's team is on song, we're much much better than your posts make out. I'm not complacent about this season: I still think we are missing a couple of key players in key positions (notably a central midfield playmaker) and if we don't either sign one or get very lucky with a youngster stepping up we could be in trouble. But I also don't think we're done in the transfer market yet. It's too early for hitting the panic button. Some people see the glass as half full, some see it as half-empty, but you seem to think the contents of the glass have been replaced with hemlock!
I take the other points you made Surly, but would debate this one. Mesca was obviously a straight swop for Kaca (although that meant him playing out of position) and okay he gave Briggs a little game time. However it's the other two I'd take issue with. As I said in my earlier post, Kasami came on in the last 15 minutes for Ruiz and at the same time Berba came off. What I wanted to see was Kasami playing with Berba for at least a full half. Similarly David came on for Sidwell 5 minutes from the end and played the game out beside Karagounis. What I wanted to see was David and Boateng for at least a full half. If they don't play with the first choice players how will Jol know if they are real contenders.
Quite agree Captain,we do see things in a diferent light my views are what i perceive a premiership team like ours should be acheiving. lets face it since being in the premiership,apart from our Euroyear we have produced very little, and i like most of the season ticket holders around me, would like to see something apart from the constant white knuckle ride from Christmas to March. Wigans chairman constantly said my clubs ambition each season is to remain in the premiership ok now they will be looking at new horizons. Surely our supporters want and deserve more than that. But without added quality some of the present intake does not fill me with enthusiam.
The problem is to get in the top six you need to spend serious money which is unlikely other than maybe the odd rare season when we over achieve! We all want more ambition than to just stay up each season but realistically that's where we are along with 14 other teams in the league
Not sure if you noticed, but we were recently taken over by a billionaire chairman. The fact is that there aren't 14 teams looking to stay up each season, realistically there's no more than 10. The likes of Swansea, Southampton, Norwich and Sunderland are pushing on by spending big and will most likely reap the rewards this season with quality signings such as Hooper, Wanyama, Bony and Giaccherini. We need to spend or risk getting left behind the pack. Jol has done marvellously with freebies and loan signings in the past, which was fine as other teams around us were not only not progressing but regressing (Newcastle, Stoke, Villa etc) but the majority of the teams who finished in and around where we did and even those below have made improvements. Now is our time.
Great piece with Scott Miller on the FFC site - reminder that this is pre season; why certain people are playing and others not; what is happening for individuals and the squad in terms of prep. Makes sense to me.
Sunderland are spending big Bandit but their squad was ****e. Don't forget that. So in a way they are just playing catch up. We have signed some great players so far. I agree a CM is needed but I'm not panicking, yet!
Undearstand what you're saying Tosh, and the Scott miller interview about how they plot fitness in groups was interesting. Pity he didn't name names, although there is one he probably couldn't find - "stage left" please log in to view this image
And we have Berbatov, Dejagah, Kaca, Hangeland, Reither, possibly even Ruiz who would walk into theirs.
Jack Grimmer's choice in the "newbie singsong" at the team dinner tonight - [video=youtube;6hzrDeceEKc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6hzrDeceEKc[/video]
I always try not to be the guy who screams 'I told you so', but... When Wolves went down and I said we should make a move for Fletcher, the very idea was met with utter derision! The other thing with Sunderland, besides the quality (good or bad) of their players is that Di Canio is a loose cannon. He might get them playing like titans, or he could spectacularly self-destruct and take Sunderland with him. He's the polar opposite of a safe pair of hands. The comparison between him and Jol is, I think, entirely in our favour.
There's something about footballers and Oasis, isn't there? Mind you, they can't all have good taste, like our old boy Marcus Hahnemann.
I thought it was a comparison of clubs, as part of the greater debate about whether we are losing 'our' place in the Premier League pecking order. Unless we're saying managers make no difference, it's a valid point to bring up.
