I don't know if you're alluding to players like Aguero, Mata, etc, but £23m would just about buy you their shin pads. Sad, but true.
ah, i see carrabuh is still living in his fantasy world, where physical traits are the work of the devil and norwich city should have a team of midgets who play like spain. even he admitted we'd made good signings in the summer! now they aren't good...
I didn't say they aren't good. I say they are not players focused on skillsets. You must be right though Pyjamas, because the focus on physicality is what has brought so much success to the England football team. Your ideals are the very reason English football is the shambles it is today.
£23m better is misleading because you're assuming the rest of the league have been at a standstill. Transfermarkt values our squad this season at £74m, or the 17th most expensive in the league. Only the promoted sides were assembled more cheaply. Last year our squad was worth £64.5m, only Reading were more cheaply assembled. So rather than the question of "are we £23m better?" it should really be more like "have we moved from the 2nd cheapest squad to the 4th cheapest squad?" It seems fair to me to correlate squad worth with league position, so for the first time since promotion, we're in a position where a manager doing averagely well (and assuming Malky, Bruce and "Pulis" don't do extraordinary jobs) should lead us to survival. So far, I'd say we do look an improved side even if the results don't show it, and the market values of other clubs suggest we're asking for miracles from Hughton if we're asking for much more than just survival.
I'm judging our team, not everyone elses. Whether we are 23 million pounds better is the correct way to measure against our improvement. Take us to the end of last season, apparently the defence was sorted. 23 million pounds later and we still can't score goals, the only difference I can see is that we attack more without conceding lots of goals, not that we keep clean sheets, we just don't concede lots. He's blown the money on the stereotypical Premiership players and none on the elements we required most of all. Tettey, Fer, Redmond, Olsson, Hooper. Even Wolfswinkle was bought for his aerial threat (what a waste). 23 million on power in the middle and pace on the wing. What a modern master of the game Hughton is, I don't think anybody else could have thought of that. Its bullshit management grasping at the easiest rung (just above Allardyces own personal little space) available.
HEY! Allardici masterminded a 3-0 win away against Tottenham. No strikers, total football, if only he had a foreign name...
