I was thinking we'd done pretty well, but according to TalkShite, our transfer business is 3rd worst in the league, behind only Norwich and Arsenal. http://talksport.com/football/trans...-2015-transfer-business-ranked-worst-best?p=2
We might go for someone who is not attached to a club, Vlaar would be a great shout. Also I believe Collins is available on a free too and would do a job for 12 months.
They're full of ****, I wouldn't worry about it. They could produce some good programmes but they like to be controversial. They do it deliberately to provoke a reaction.
Only ever listened to it twice. Both times it was Malcolm McDonald. That blokes about as straight as his ****ing legs. Pathetic programme.
How do I feel now? Realistic still. It's still going to be a long tough season and I still feel we will be battling relegation, I think calls of a comfortable mid-table finish are very optimistic. When we don't sign players for a couple of weeks, the knives come out and all the doom mongers are certain we are getting relegated. Equally as daft in my opinion is every time we sign a couple of players, a lot of supporters get ahead of themselves. A young kid who can't get near the team for Tottenham and Fabio Borini, when I take a step back, haven't greatly improved the team at all. I still feel like it is largely going to be up to ' Dick's signings' to pull us clear this season. I am concerned about the lack of height across our midfield and forwards, I still think we will miss not having a big strong centre forward up top and the defence is still looking woefully poor to me. However, the pace and creative options we have now with players we know can chip in with goals (Defoe, Lens, Borini, Johnson, Watmore, Alvarez?, Toivonen and Rodwell) is potentially the best we have had since the days of Peter Reid. I'm actually very excited for the rest of the season now, I understand why Rangers fans say their best footballing days were under DA, we might not have many points so far but our games are exciting with plenty of goals in them! I expect this to continue. I believe DA's biggest challenge to be getting the balance right between defence and attack. We all know the defence needs to be worked on, however, tightening up the defence is often at the expense of attack and that's something we need to be wary of. I think Kaboul is finding his form now, if him and O'Shea can get an understanding over time then we should have enough to survive again. DA and especially Congerton both deserve a huge round of applause after the fantastic work they have done on what was obviously a restricted budget, I stated a few weeks ago that for the first time I genuinely feel like we have got the right combination of DOF and manager with these two. Our squad was never going to be sorted in one transfer window but looking at the likes of M'Vila, Lens and Toivonen, you can see that DA knows what he is doing and is bringing in quality that is making a difference. Slowly putting the squad together instead of complete overhauls, like in previous seasons, must surely be the way forward? Another 2 - 3 transfer windows like this one and I'd expect us to be in a very solid position within the Premier league.
We all asked for quality. We got Lens, M'vila and Toivenen. We also got Borini and most on here are quite happy with that (I'll put a few noses out of joint and say I'll reserve judgement although I agree, yes better than SF and DG). We also got Matthews, who I believe will prove himself in time. Finally, we got a fast little ****er speedy gonzalez who can play anywhere he wants to, coz wherever he is, he's gonna get to the pass or make that tackle! We kept Pants, Mannone and Defoe, and there's still time to offload some into the championship (fingers crossed!) I'm a happy mackem tonight, In spite of the fact I had a blow out on the motorway and missed watching the window close! Thanks Mercedes yer bugger's!!!!!
Cracking post mate. Your summary's much better than what I just threw up. Still just buzzing about that blow out! Like you though, I'm really excited about the rest of the season.
Careful mate you do realize your views may differ with others on this board and must be jumped on and sniped at
Great post mate. I think it would have taken a dream window to turn us into a midfield outfit this season, but I'm confident relegation isn't as nailed on as it was and we've got squad capable of the fight ahead.
I'm very pleased with this window. And especially with the midfield area which is a thousand per cent better than what we had. I'd rather not comment on the two centre backs because, as Juan said on a thread a couple of weeks ago, bedding two of them in at once is difficult. I notice now Dick has brought O'Shea back in and is bedding the new pair in one at a time. I'll give Kaboul and Coates a bit of time before making any comment. I would have liked a target man because I'm not convinced on our goal scoring ability yet. Defoe anticipates and positions well, but his first touch sometimes isn't as good as it might be. Borini's work ethic has never been in question and I think that might help PVA, but he won't score a lot. He scored 12 for us when he was here, but at least one half of them were penalties. Still, there'll be more chances created from that midfield. Matthews is obviously a work in progress, but let's face it, he's got a damn good pedigree at 23 years old to build on, hasn't he? I liked the Yedlin late loan deal - it allows Jones to move to the left if necessary. All in all, I'm happy with this, but especially, especially the midfield. Well done, Short, Congerton and Advocaat.
Agree with this pretty much, although I'd argue we may not need the big strong centre forward. Lens, Borini, and Defoe (and potentially AJ / Watmore) can play it on the ground, and in theory the height should come from Toiv and, if he can get his act together, Rodwell. Both very good in the air. If them two can get the timings right bombing into the box to get on the end of crosses could be lethal. On a side note - marginally annoyed we won't get to see Yedlin for three weeks.
I must have missed that, why? Fully agree about them two being good in the air. I was meaning more of the central target man to hit, maybe Toivonen could actually play there? He's played there before.
