Taraabt had plenty of end product in the Championship. Where he fell down, like lots of others, is that he always wanted too much time and space on the ball. I can't say I remember ever seeing Vadillo play so I've no idea about him but I always said Falque was similar to Taraabt in that respect. I agree with SoS though, we don't need anymore wingers, I'd love to see us sign a Modric type who can play deeper but they're hard to come by. If we are going to sign a new midfielder they better be the finished article, we have more than enough "work in progress" players.
this is what pisses me off about this club.....we actually had a 'Modric' type of player...he was called Luka....and if we get another player as good as this Luka bloke..we will sell him on too....if someone says we only sell because the player wants to leave then this new 'Luka' will want to leave too. We will not progress unless we gain success with an average team like Atletico managed to this year....otherwise I have resigned myself to being the also rans. So for clubs like us it is more important to have the right manager as oppose to the right players....a point Pulis proved with the worst squad in the PL this season with Palace.
What are we supposed to do if players don't respect their contracts? Like Atletico we have to take risks in the market because the very top players and managers are often out of our reach. Where they have the advantage is that they can have third party ownership, like with Falcao, so whilst they had no say in where or when he left them they got one of Europe's best strikers for a few seasons and even get to make a profit at the end. Essentially they do the same as us though, fishing in the transfermarket hoping to pick up the players that teams with more money overlook. They are the 3rd biggest spenders in Spain though and generally finish around that position, much like we're the 6th and generally finish around that position. Picking up this season as an example of beating the odds is much like picking up us finishing 4th as beating the odds, they just have a higher start position and for all the frustration of us finishing 6th, Atletico have underachieved badly in several seasons. They've been through all the lows that we have with bad managers, losing your best players and signings not working out and they'll go through all that again. A few years ago Dortmund would've been the example you'd use but they lost their best players to sides with more money and it's very difficult to sustain success when you've always got to get the best out of the transfermarket season on season. Money is the single biggest factor in long term success for football clubs, any club without the resources to match the other teams in a competition will not be able to stay ahead for long.
If Pullis was manager he would install confidence, belief and get Lamela settled and the players wouldn't dare to disrespect Tony. But I don't know why anyone (yes you SOS ) is even mentioning Richards as at the start of the season this was meant to be his season back playing, ready to prove he still has a future. He played 160 minutes of league football all season. The guy is finished and has no future, even if at one point he looked to be a top prospect, as highly rated as Luke Shaw is now, but unless he wants to move on Zero Hours Contracts, he gets nothing if he doesn't play, then no top club is going to hand him a contract with a basic wage if he can't even play two games a season!
The guy has Pablo Zabaleta in front of him though mate, apart from Coleman this season, he's pissed over any other RB in the league for the past 3 seasons. He's up there with the best in the world in that position so I'm not surprised Richards's playing time has been limited, 95% fullbacks would've had the same treatment. Walker's a good player don't get me wrong but when looking at defensive units, I think Richards is a very good defender and one who'd be more reliable when on the back foot than. I'm not overly fussed though if we sign him or not, Walker's more than good enough, just feel from a defensive aspect, Richards is better.
Why are we discussing Micah Richards? He's not a left back, so not a necessary signing. Priorities, people!
you all sound like a football manager...trying to convince the rest of us that square pegs work in round holes!
What do you guys think to Ashley Cole? Yes he is an ex goon and soon to be ex chav. but could fill that left back position?
For some reason, pretty much every website has come to the conclusion that there's no point in us trying to sign any Dutch players as they're all going to sign for Man Utd now because Van Gaal is in charge. If only the same applied for Scottish players, then we wouldn't have pissed away £10m on Alan Hutton...
Ignoring the obvious elephant in the room, he would certainly be able to do a job for at least a year. Rose has been patchy, Naughton is terrible wherever he plays and BAE hasn't set the championship on fire.
When Redknapp first made it clear he wanted to sign Adebayor, first thought was "you must be ****ing joking"! ex goon, just someone I looked at and thought "can't stand the guy". Then he comes in and puts in a season playing with a smile on his face and was superb upfront. OK after that he went back to being the Adebayor that divides opinion but its the same with Cole, don't like the guy, ex Goon and would rather he wasn't anywhere near our squad but in terms of ability he is a top defender who still has a season left in him and even at his worst, hes still a better defender then Rose or Ekotto.
Sentiments aside Ashley is still a ****ing brilliant LB. Yes it'd be awkward seeing him in a Spurs shirt as I'm 90% sure that in the past he's slagged us off but that won't stop a club signing a player if he's of the right calibre and available (and now interested in joining?). We've already had Gallas who's played for both Arsenal and Chelsea so why not add Cole to the list. Besides, if it means seeing less of Rose in a starting position, I'm all for it.
The only problem with AC is he's looking for a payday, not for the first time in his career either, so I would expect him to rock up at one of the monied clubs which definitely isn't us!
we should snap Ashley Cole up on a 1 year deal right now. His wages will be steep, but we won't have to pay a transfer fee, so we should be able to cope with that if it's only for a year. I hate the guy, but he's still a top quality defender.
