We should probably sell Hooiveld, and possibly Yoshida depending on whether or not he's **** again by the end of the season. Wouldn't complain if Gazzaniga went either.
Welcome and good 1st post with plenty of questions I'm in a good mood so i'm going to think of the positive scenario and thats Pochettino staying and getting another £30m in the transfer kitty. Goodbye and God Speed to Guly & Hooiveld...**** Off Osvaldo. Astori or another good quality centre back(if only we moved for John Stones) Nick Powell on loan if the powers that be at united are still blind to their talented young squad. Danny Ings looks like he could be worth a shout. I like the look of Redmond but not sure he would fit our formation. Not sure on a goalkeeper. Happy with Boruc, which makes it tricky to find a player willing to start off as 2nd choice(may stick with Kelvin for one more season). Finally blow the budget on a attacking midfielder. I'd be tempted with Will Hughes but feel the team needs experience. Must be someone in continental Europe who fits the bill or that Roberto Firmino looked good
Good analysis, bar the Carroll thing. Can you imagine him playing 90m of pressing? CB, striker to replace Osvaldo and I'll be happy. If we find a good keeper yet to hit his peak but can be relied on (an unrealistic concept).
Carrol gets loads of stick on here, but he is a fantastic player. I wouldn't want him to sign for saints either though.
He's a very limited player, he's only possibly good in a system like West Ham's - even then, fantastic seems like quite a stretch. I think we desperately need to sign a forward, but it'd take me weeks to get over signing Carroll.
Is that an unrealistic concept? Surely that's what Courtouis is. And Ter Stegen. Not that we could get either of those two, but clearly the concept is realistic.
I think the general consensus of opinion is that if or when Saints decide that Rickie needs replacing, then Romelu Lukaku is that player. Mind you, Rickie is at least two players. A superb linking and passing midfielder, with excellent vision, and a cracking all-round big striker, who either nods the ball down for others at the far post or receives a pass and pops it in the back of the net. That's completely overlooking his ability as a dead ball specialist from any distance, but most assuredly 12 yards. Carroll doesn't even come close. Tbf, Lukaku would have to up his game as well, but I'd take him. He could learn off Rickie.
For Saints to mix it up with the megaclubs, we would have to leverage some of our highly prized assets. eg. Sell Shaw for 25m, hope to find a replacement (or Targett) for 5m, and put that 20m somewhere else. It would be highly risky though. Even with all that transfer money, we still may not be able to find players who want to play for us. And if it doesn't work out, we could be totally screwed. Failing that, I think we could make a good run at Europa with just a good CB and one attacker. It would have to be someone who can score, but it doesn't have to be a striker, IMO. I think Rodriguez can play up there. It could be a good winger or maybe a Michu-type top play behind Rodriguez. And if we do that, then we'll generate more revenue for transfers. Between that and maybe the lesser sums we might get from Osvaldo, Mayuka, perhaps Ramirez we could leverage that into some better players. The latter approach would allow us to slowly boot-strap our way up the League instead of going all-in. It's less risky in some ways. But OTOH, if you are looking at a 5 year window, a lot can happen. You'd have to be sure you could hang on to Shaw, Pochetinno, etc. as you build the "supporting cast." Otherwise you end up just spinning your wheels.
Hi all, Agree with a lot that you've all said. The general consensus is "we're doing great but we're not wuite there yet". I think I agree, and it's not a bad place to be (very much enjoying life right now!) From what I've seen Carroll has been consistently overrated and under-performing, but there are certain moments like for Liverpool in the FA caup and that header against Sweden that make me stand up and think "maybe he's alright". So if West Ham got relegated and had to sell him for £5m it might eb worth a gamble... I understand why most don't agree - and I would obviously prefer Lukaku. (Are Chelsea really going to sell him? And if they do will it not be to Everton?) And yes Rickie is 2 (or more) footballers in one, and yes I hope he lives and stays fit forever, but at some point we're going to have to think about the inevitable... Lets all hope it's not yet. Cheers
Please not Andy Carroll! The whole package is wrong; the footballer isn't good enough; the teams he plays for get encouraged to knock it long (the England v Sweden goal was just after the umpteenth time I had heard the commentator say "Hart to Carroll, to Mellberg"); he'll do something stupid off the pitch; he is injury prone; and his wages would be ridiculous.
If we really want push forward next season, we are going to definitly need atleast 2 attacking midfielders, striker, central defender and goalkeeper. We really do relie on Adam far to much.
Fair enough. Let's hope Chelsea win it and Jose never wants Romelu, and Everton lose it and he doesn't want to stay there!
I cannot see us signing a good PL player as we seem to sign promising players (who would fit our system) or players from abroad. A proven PL player would be a change...perhaps our higher profile might make that possible.
Call up a youngster to replace Guly. Sign Hughes so we can actually rotate Lallana and Rodriguez. (9m) Sign Inigo MartÃnez from Sociedad. (10m) Sign a Striker havent a clue who tho. Ings would be ok but not for the 10m they are quoted as wanting. Sign a young keeper that is actually good.
