Actually ok with how things have gone? Prepared for some abuse here but I'm actually fine with how the window has gone. A big negative is of course...Sess. Very sad to see Sess leave but it just didn't seem to be working out. A smaller negative is that Ji is still with us. After Saturday I don't see football going well for him in Sunderland. Positives: We have a left back. An actual left back. Who we own. That's a player who plays on the left side of defence in case anyone was wondering. I had to look it up myself. I think Ki's passing will make life a lot easier for Giac/AJ/Mavrias/Karlsson. We have options up front, **** loads of them. We have more depth than I can remember us having. We have a box office/insane manager and a very good back room set up. We are not the mags. The mags still have Sir Joseph of ****innear.
I'm feeling pretty good. A lot hinges on Ki though. A LOT If he isn't up to scratch then we're absolutely screwed. Really pissed off we sold Sess to WBA though. Wouldn't have minded if he went abroad but not impressed at all with where he ended up
Our first eleven actually looks fairly decent. We have a left back now meaning Colback is available in the middle and although he is not superb there he is a better option than Vaughan and Larrson for me. Like the op says loads of options up front now and hopefully we will be a more balanced side now we don't have to worry about what to do with Sess. Would like to see us lineup like this for Arsenal. Westwood Cetluska/Diakite/Roberge/Dossena AJ/Cattermole/Ki/Giacherinni Fletcher/Altidore Means we have a decent looking bench with brown, mavrias Borini and Cabral there, as well as prospects like DMK and Ba gettin the odd game. Plenty to be positive about.
I for one am very happy with what we have. Two weeks ago everyone was complaining we needed RB, LB and a CM. well we got them and another forward to boot. If you think about it, with the new LB, moving Colback back to CM is like another signing too and he's a better option than Larsson and Vaughan in there. I have only one reservation about our squad, PDC should never let Ji near the pitch again. He is absolutely shocking right now and has zero confidence. Wickham on the other hand does present another option but with Borini signing I think he falls further down the pecking order. My desired team would be as follows: Westwood Celustka brown roberge dossena Cabal/Catermole Johnson. Ki/Colback. Giacherrini Fletcher Altidore
No way id play Dossena left back against Arsenal, Walcott would rip him inside out. Id have to start with Colback there still as he's quite effective against pacey wide men. (had Lennon in his pocket against Spurs in the Asia trophy and out ran him when lennon tried to knock the ball past him)
the negatives for me are: We have planks like Bardo, Vaughan and Ji ( I wouldn't ave said Ji until I saw him the last 2 games, who would?) still on the books. in an ideal world they'd be gone Sess has been moved on. he is a game changer on his day, but that day was about 1 in 6 and sometimes it could be negative as well as positive (red card). Frustrating, thoughts on what could have been but all in all should be no great loss. Nee cnut wanted him bar a desperate WBA, remember. With Alf out on loan and only Ki in place, The jury is out on CM. ain't seen enough of Cabral and it is early days so we'll see how this pans out but another player was needed. Catts may yet make a comeback from injury? Positives We got rid of some deadwood in Killgallon, Bramble, McClean, Elmo, Graham. We sold Mig at the right time for decent wedge with quality back-up in place. We have a better RB although a dubious loan LB, with utlility back-up in Jack and Gards. We have two new CB's offering diferent skills - one is a beast, one better with the ball. Brown may even make a few cameos, so much stronger here. We have better, younger wide/attacking mid player options in AJ, Giacc, and grooming Mavrias and Karlson We have better options up front with Fletch now back, Jozy the beast, Borini....Whickam for sub appearances or to go out on loan for the year. Can Mandron make the step up? We have a much stronger development/reserves squad and hopefully some of those players can make the step up. All in all, i would say we are better off. We're still missing A quality Midfield pairing which would make all the difference and it's down to both management and players to get the best out of Cabral, Catts, Ki, Larsson.....shame we didn't get Gylfi which could have made all the difference. it's going to be a tough few months but wasn't it always?
Agree with most of that. Not about Ji though. We still have him as a squad player but more importantly, he could help Ki settle in a little quicker.
Having slept on it, I am resigned to the fact that we had to balance the books after years of pissing money up the walls. Still gutted about Sess leaving but that is how the new model is run. Does anyone know if we managed to balance the books with his sale? My only worry is that players brought in are not good enough, so far I think Fletcher is the only quality player you could sat is irreplaceable.
Yes I just wouldn't throw him into a debut against the fastest player in the league. Walcott gave Rose nightmares the other day and all of Arsenals good work goal included game down that flank.
I think we spent a net £1m. Very deliberate by the club and I can't say I blame Short/Byrne as our spending has led us to posting considerable losses for years now. Di Canio has paid the price for the failures of Keane, Bruce and O'Neill. I do however also think that Short might have been reluctant to give Di Canio a warchest due to the unpredictablity of pdc and the fact he's had to fork out for new managers and players half way through the past few seasons.
Dossena is a specialist left back who's played for his country and in Europe. Last season we had various people in that position including right footed Phil Barsdley. I can't understand why people are pulling faces about Dossena as he's surely an improvement on that kind of situation. I can only assume it's because some had convinced themselves that Rose would be coming.
Full list of Sunderland signings Modibo Diakite cb Duncan Watmore cf Valentin Roberge cb/rb Cabral cm David Moberg Karlsson rw Vito Mannone gk Jozy Altidore cf El Hadji Ba cm Emanuele Giaccherini lw/cm/rw Ondrej Celustka rb/cb/lb Charis Mavrias rw/lw Ki Sung-Yueng cm Fabio Borini cf Andrea Dossena lb Out Sess Mig Killa Shambles Graham Mclean Elmo N'daiye And £2/3m in profit and maybe a reduction in the wage bill? I'd say we now have a more balanced team, meke them gel pdc at top speed please
We've brought in some good players who are way above the likes of Graham, Mclean, Bramble & Elmo. If we can get a season out of Wes Brown we have a very good first team and enough quality in the squad for a cup run.
I feel that Colback is one of the most underrated players at the club by some of our fans..In my opinion he has done a cracking job at filling in at left back, but with the signing of Dossena, it will enable him to be moved back to his preferred central midfield role, which will add a player with bite, fight and passing ability in that crucial position.
