After the summer transfer window closed last year, the first game afterwards was home to Arsenal, ok the game was lost 1-3. But let's look at the team that started..Although there were injury problems, we can all see massive changes in a year. ...................................Westwood......................... ..Celustka........Roberge..................Diakite........That ginger twat..... ...Johnson......Franky Vaughan........Ki..............Mavrias................ ......................Fletcher...........Altidore............. subs..Mannone, Brown, Cuella...Gardver, Larsson, Wickham and Bor**i Not much change in the forwards, but a lot of changes to the rest of the team... Mannone got his place and kept hold of it, now has stiff competition.. In fact apart from the forwards, there is more competition all round for places, not so much the numbers, but slightly better quality competing for them places..'
I can't believe some of the ****e I have been reading about the team, manager, etc, particularly on some of the SAFC Facebook pages. I really despair at times, and think that with so called fans like this we will never get anywhere..
I think people forget what a ****e position we were in previously. Its not just the players that Gus has bought in its the ones like Catts and Wickham who are now playing to their potential.
You're right Comm, it's a work in progress that started when Poyet signed a new contract ....... our best signing in recent years imo. Cattermole is another great 'new signing', Poyet even has him scoring. I believe Poyet wants a style of play whereby goals come from all over midfield, the need for an out and out target man is lessened. Alvarez will be another Mannone or Vergini who arrives quietly and becomes a hero. Giacherrini will soon make people forget about the superstar from Liverpool. I know you don't have any time for Altidore but he'll come good I reckon, he's the first name on the team sheet for his country. Our form over the last couple of months is good and I rate the manager despite the fact that he's still learning by the odd mistake.
another point :Altidore has the captain's armband for the US against Czech today - has to be a confidence booster
I keep being told how much better Newcastle's transfers are, even by Sunderland supporters. It's as if the money from Cabaye, Debuchy etc is shared out amongst the Mags. People conveniently forget the many disasters like Yanga-Mbiwa who cost about 7 million quid on a 5 year contract or Ben Arfa on a long deal. Both gone and whinging about the manager. If we'd taken Ben Arfa on loan people would be going mad, Hull sign him and it's a great move by Bruce.
World apart ..................vito Vergini..o'shea..brown...pva .....................catts ..............rodwell .................alvarez.....giacc ....aj ..............wickham Bench : pants, fletcher, jozy, coates, jones, buckley Reserve : gomez, bridcutt etc Much much stronger with options
Poyet has worked wonders with Mannone, Cattermole, Wickham and I'm sure he'll do likewise with the likes of Altidore & Rodwell.
Really looking forward to spurs next week to see how we line up, mind i'll dispair if he persists with wickham on the left
I think overall we had a great window, the proble lies in people seeing deadline day as the window, and calling it a disappointment. I never thought in a million years when Rodwell was first linked we'd get him, we did, Gomez, Pant, quality additions. Buckley looks sharp and a creator, PVA, defensive work needed but a very intelligent runner with pace. Alvarez, clearly a first choice Argentinian squad member, when have we ever had it so good? Add to that Giacc after a year to bed, Jozy hopefully improves, Mavrias looking excellent pre-season, Mandron & Wickham both showing signs, and a top keeper, and we look alright. Finally we have Cattermole, a new man, player, an absolute boss out there, you know, we are very decent indeed. We did ideally need 2 more, but we are ok, the main thing is that the players brought in look a solid fit to Gus style, and that is often as important, sometimes more, than ability or status.
Yet he came in with barely any excitement, how far we've come eh? I suspect if Hull or Newcastle had signed him some people would've been claiming we'd missed out again.
I reckon he's the surprise gus was on about Look at those lot, yet he gets in http://m.fifa.com/worldcup/teams/team=43922/players.html
I actually agree we've made progress and are in a much better position now than a year ago. Funny old game though, looking purely at that team without any other knowledge it almost looks like we've gone backwards... Mannone, Brown, Larsson, Wickham all first choice now but couldn't get in the team back then. Borini was a bench warmer now spend a whole transfer window desperate to get him in the squad. And catts, our first choice CM for me, couldn't even make the bench! Crazy how much can change in a year!!
The fact that Gus has made quite a few of your players better should have you looking up rather than down. Wickham, Catts...Vito..they've all looked a lot better lately, if he can do the same to Johnson and the defenders you suddenly have a solid team without actually adding new bodies. Good manager will do that for you. As opposed to having a manager where players progressively become worse over time.
Whilst I think your comments are bang on, there's probably a couple of reason's for the apparent disappointment. I think most of us were still expecting a striker to come in on the last day. And secondly, those hopes had been previously boosted by Gus's comments about an imminent "WOW" signing, wihch didn't materialise over the last few days to the close of the window. I think some of Gus's comments are sometimes "lost in translation". He's speaking a foreign language and I think sometimes he doesnt realise that his comments are quite literally taken as read. He could probably do with some coaching on the idiosyncracies of the language he uses, but the fact is he tends to speak from the heart and not the head. As for the WOW signing, I think that was Alvarez too. He's got some real quality, this kid. I just hope he shows us his best and doesn't fade like some of our other South American signings.
The small problem for me is the squad size, but we've improve massively on all our outgoings. Rodwell or Colback? Gomez or Vaughan? Coates or Cuellar? Jones or Bardo? Aanholt of Tossana? Alvarez or Gardner? Obvious we've improved massively. I'm happy with the window. ****ting it if we get a few defence injuries though.
In my opinion, our best signing was Poyet by a mile. Sadly for him the owner has been previously persuaded by the likes of Bruce, O'Neill to bring in useless lumps for big fees on daft contracts. PDC was present during the last fiasco although I'm not sure how many of the purchases were down to him. I can't see one of our newcomers as silly money tbh. I can see other clubs lashing out on Long, Snodgrass, Riviere etc and be grateful we haven't done the same. Clearing out plodders like Gardner, Bardsley, Graham every window is demoralising and expensive. The squad is better than last season and we have a proper left back, 2 class keepers, internationals all over the pitch and a good manager. I'm sure Poyet is still learning but I think he's the best chance we've had for donkey's years.
