Agree, we really need to find an actual number 10 in the summer aswell. Vilhena is not the finished article and is not good enough yet to be playing week in week out in such an important position.
Vilhena will definitely take time, and if we make Europa (still quite likely) there'll be plenty of playing time to go around. We absolutely need a creative attacking central mid...one willing to shoot would be a plus.
I'm very interested to see what the clubs plan is if we make Europa. Looking at the squad I reckon we need an extra 10-15 players if we want to be competitive in both competitions (taking into account Schneiderlin and Clyne leaving and us not making any of the loans permanent). Whether these spots are taken up by a signing or an academy player I do not know
On my shopping list at the moment are: Clasie, Vilhena, Trippier, Keeper (Krul maybe if Newcastle go down), Austin/Ings, and then as you say a number 10 and Toby (if possible) Get rid of Elia and Djuricic. Davis cannot be a first team regular next season. He just hasn't been good enough this season.
All looks good to me. Probably need another RB, a wide man or two, and if Toby is going a very good CB. I've grown enamoured of Hakim Ziyech with Twente (insofar as one can from highlights) as a 10 because he doesn't appear to be afraid to take on shots.
I'd still be surprised if we got Clasie, think he will be aiming higher. Agree with the others, although I wouldn't be completely against signing Elia as £4m is peanuts and he does have something, whether or not he will ever be consistent enough to show it on a regular basis is debatable though. I also think we should be looking at getting 2 strikers as Pelle is useless and Long doesn't score enough.
Ok thanks. But were there any major errors that led to goals? How was gazza- has his shots:goals ratio improved?
We never got off the bus. No heart, no desire. Not a case of particular poor performance from Gaza. Just all round lethargy.
Awful. He got the team pretty much bang on today and they still didn't perform. The players need to wake up and take responsibility now. I think we might lost to Villa and Man City now
Come across this on SaintsWeb (nuclear meltdown over there!) Right I've compiled the statistics, since the Newcastle game, on minutes Eljero Elia has been on the pitch, we have scored a total of 1 goal!
I thought Djuricic was okay. I wouldn't buy him at 9m or whatever the rumored buyout fee is on account of we haven't seen nearly enough of him to make it worth the price. So that makes it unlikely he'll be here next year, in which case there's no reason to play him. But if he cost 4m instead of Elia I might be somewhat interested..
