Personally, I can't see how Livermore will get a game for us. He struggled last season, and with the addition of paulinho, he's certainly no closer. Agree on Townsend though. He was hungry for it. FairPlay to him! There's rumours of an exodus. If true, I think that'll be the likes of Livermore, naughton, Gomes, Benny, Ade and Parker for definite.
I am beginning to think that Ade may have some serious personal problem, maybe starting with his near death experience in Africa. Best, Gazza?
I think that Adebayor was just left out because he's going to be sold. Can't see him being happy with a non-starting role and he's on big wages.
same applies to Benny I reckon. Both were regular starters last season, yet haven't featured at all so far. It does make you wonder who many new faces we're going to see in this window. Already we've seen Caulker and Dempsey depart, who were not exactly top of anyone's list of people we thought would be ushered out first. If we're planning to get rid of the likes of Ade, Benny and possibly Parker, Livermore/hudd, Naughton, we're actually going to be put in a position where we've gone from a poor quality bench, to no bench at all! It seems bizarre that Caulker and Dempsey were allowed to leave over some of the others. You really would have thought we'd have been sensible and hung on to those guys first, whilst getting rid of "deader" wood first.
HIAG - there is no evidence that Levy has ever chosen the players to buy and sell (with the exception of VdV) and that must still be the case now we have Baldini. He simply negotiates the terms.
Yeah - I second that. I think that there is plenty of evidence that Levy has targetted/signed players. Even when we've had no manager or DOF we've set deals up. This pre-season is starting to depress me. Same old same old. Star player acting like a tosser to engineer a move, ludicrous (and in this case self-inflicted) gaps in the squad and the very high likelihood that transfer activity will not be tied up before we're well into the season and already a few points behind. Bloody ridiculous. And Real Madrid should have a special relationship with us in court. Absolute scumbags. Whilst Bale (apparently) is, disappointingly, as much of a soulless arse as the next pro footballer who kisses badges and does heart-shapes, it is Real Madrid who have proven, yet again, how cowardly and ineffective football's governing bodies are. I would be very happy to throw a petrol bomb at the Bernabeau now. Except for the fact that Spanish taxpayers would no doubt foot the bill for repairs.
We are a football club - I'd hope there was some long-term planning in who we sign. If we were watching a player for years (eg Vertonghen) why would we need to wait for a manager to be in place before signing him?
Yeah that sounds reasonable enough in any other context but in football a manager has traditionally been able to have final say on who is purchased simply because he chooses the team. What if he wants to play with five at the back? Or only one up front? Shouldn't this have an impact on transfer dealings regardless of who we've kept tabs on? (And no doubt that is hundreds of players anyway). Besides, point is that Levy seems to have done more than negotiate terms. He has turned "interest" into firm bids. Not sure if any other chairman does that.
I completely agree Lenny it has been a depressing pre season to say the least. What is most frustrating is how close we are to being a really good side. We have made some great signings as well. Just so frustrating the Bale saga and the usual injuries to key players.
?? Am I the only person that is fairly happy with our preseason? It could have been a lot worse we have made some great signings and it looks like there will be more to come. I personally am excited for the next 3 weeks of the transfer window and the start of the season.
It was looking uncharacteristically good about 2-3 weeks ago until we sold our fourth-choice centre-back, leaving us with one (?) fit one and the Bale nonsense had not got to the stage of him being left home for trips abroad and him communicating via third-parties that he's "not happy" at, er, possibly having to honour a contract he signed a year ago. And many of our first-teamers seem to be getting next to no playing time in the pre-season. Not ideal.
Pre season form is never a major concern, it may cause some slight rumblings if we lose matches or get thumped but in reality we know pre season form means nothing, you only need to remember the days of David Bentley and that thrashing of Roma. This pre season (n terms of planning/sales) does cause me concern, as we're two weeks away from the season and have yet to even test our new team, not once have we been able to field what may be our best team, or experiment with line ups, we have a lack of central defenders (when last season we had dawson, verts, kaboul, gallas & caulker) and not to mention the Bale saga (which means our manager can't fully plan). Sure some of this can't be helped, such as injuries, yet for a club that wants to reach the top four and at least the champions league, each year we play catch up and come the end of the season we miss out on our targets by frustratingly tight margins.
Seems like every other one of our pre-seasons except this time round we have actually made decent signings and look like making atleast 2, 3, maybe 4 more. I really think people are just getting carried away and if anything I don't think the Bale situation is as bad as either the Modric or the Berbatov one. With Modric and Berbatov both players were our standout players by a country mile and frankly the players we had around them weren't that impressive. On top of that they were "only" going for £30m~ which meant we could buy 1 top class player, or 2 good but not world class players. With the Bale situation, while he is better than both Berbatov and Modric, we have a squad with quality all the way through it (Lloris, Verts, Kaboul, Sandro, Paulinho, Soldado, Lennon, Dembele, Walker - all players other top 4 teams would be interested in). On top of that IF he is sold we will be getting in the region of £80m - £100m - Enough to sign 3 Top class players or 2 top class players and 2 up and coming prospects. I just don't understand why everyone is going so overboard this year.
Our preseason purchases have been ok, but the prep is a farce. Most 1st teamers not featuring, will they be fit for the start of the season? Looking like a slow start AGAIN. And then there is the sale of caulker when we have no CBs. If chiriches was the replacement make sure he is signed before letting the other one go. Rookie
