Transfer goss and rumours, Summer 2016.

I was at every home game, they DIDNT TURN UP! What are you talking about? Did they turn up against Sunderlland in the MUST win game, NO they didn't!!!! Bournmouth away, Nescastle away, Villa away. Were you watching?

 

I agree where possible that we need to upgrade and we need to constantly look to improve. But all the low end Pl clubs will be looking at the same players as us and we won't compete with them financially or with the PL carrot for the player. Unfortunitely for any club such as ourselves it is getting more and more to be the scenario that you describe, that a promoted team needs to buy near enough a whole team. Some of us scoffed at Watford for pretty much doing that, believing that you could never settle in the 10-11 players they bought last summer, but it worked!
I think the club is/was building steadily toward a PL quality squad, but it is tough when your best are pinched with relegation. I think if by some miracle we keep hold of; Klose, Brady, Howson and Redmond. These are the foundations of that PL side we aspire to be. Lose them and it's back to square one. but if we can keep them, add a striker or two, and another couple then I think our yoyoing could end in the right direction.
That said if we sell those players and don't replace them with great champ players then we might end the yoyoing the other way


Bah!

 

In fairness to the players, I think they did turn up vs Sunderland, yes the scoreline was horrible, but we outplayed them for long periods of the game and worked hard. Unfortunately our wretched finishing meant we couldn't capatalise on our chances and good periods in the game. Newcastle away could have gone either way, the other two games I can't really argue with and would add Manure at home. They were dogsh#t, we were just even worse!

Bah!

 

Actually canario, I have to say that I totally disagree.

You´re suggesting that we keep the players who are PL standard, in my opinion, one only ( Redmond) then bring in some more players who are at the moment not PL standard but who might just become so, in a year or so´s time, along with some other, promising Championship players, still yet to taste the Premier League, and you think that will give us a better chance, long term, of staying in the Premier League than possibly getting promoted with this lot, then rebuilding next summer.

Doesn´t fill me with any more confidence. -

 

Our Engineers tried new materials but: Bamfordite, Mbokanium, Naismithium Pintoine but they didn't quite work. Engineers also don't tend to over engineer at great cost if they have an existing solution fit for purpose.

Bah!

 

Exactly Melchy - I was just about to say something precisely similar!

 

Bit harsh on; Klose, Brady and perhaps Howson. I actually think Redmond would fall into one of canario's catagories of good champ with potential to in 18months to be a PL player. Trouble is we've been saying that for a while now!
Like I said before, at least our championship competent players may be nearing the finish of their contracts and could be more easily off loaded were we to get promoted. A unknown at PL level freshly bought would be a good deal harder to move on.

bah!

 

Agreed, was a bit harsh on Klose, who although still relatively unproven, has class. Howson and Brady?

 

Your missing the point, the thing is some of us actually want to be doing better than we've been doing.

 

That's not quiet what I'm saying though, is it !!!!

 

i would like us to do better, but our oportunity to make our team a proper PL quality team is only realistic when we are actually in the PL. We can make incremental changes to have slightly better Champ players but the leap forward can only happen upon our return, but probably won't!

Bah!

 

There´s no need to shout, I can almost hear you from across the North Sea as it is

Yes, there were a handful (max) of games, where a perceived lack of effort might have contributed to our downfall in those particular games, but taken over the whole 38 game season, there was only one reason we were relegated - we just weren´t good enough.

And I don´t agree with you about the Sunderland (h) or Newcastle (a) games - I think you might have been having a nap there yourself . In the Newcastle game for ex. in the second half, they only crossed the halfway line three times, and scored on each occasion, otherwise we were all over them. Against Sunderland it certainly wasn´t lack of effort that caused Wisdom to give away a needless penalty, quite the opposite actually, nor was it lack of effort that caused Bassong to fumble with the ball at his feet - those two incidents helped to lose us that game, plus the fact that they had a striker who could score, and we didn´t.

There might easily have been a lack of decision-making and a lack of nerve, through most of the season, but not lack of effort. But that´s what keeps this board nice and spicy, diametrically opposite interpretations of the same incident.

 

Results don't lie, no matter how white you paint them. It seems as if you don't think we should have been relegated because we were unlucky. We were awful most of the season, beginning with the first game against Palace, the manager couldn't put it right and the players (who you seem to want to keep) were totally inept in putting the performances needed to keep us up. As I said before, keep this squad and somehow get promoted, they will be relegated straight away. Promotion will mean a almost total clear out of this squad if we have any ambition of staying up. So come the end of the season and the start of the new one we will need to sell most of them (who will want them) and sign premiership standard replacements ( where are they coming from) in one window. It's a terrible plan and as I said smacks at lack of ambition, not only from the club but from the supporters who agree with it. We need to be looking forward now, but that's only my opinion and I'm only a season ticket holder who have watched the dross we've played this season. Maybe we need to sign the squad who produce the "clappers" blow up birds etc, that should help! All done without shouting.
Edit: Wisdoms tackle was not a penalty, his foot hit the ball about 2 thirds of the way up, rolled over the top and made contact with the ankle, it has to be deliberate to be a penalty, it wasn't.

 

d

Goodness knows where you get that idea from, on the contrary, I was realistic enough at the start of the season to half expect relegation to happen, so when it did, I wasn´t anywhere near as surprised or angry, as many others seemed to be.

And as for the penalty decision - As I said, diametrically opposite interpetations of the same incident - fortunately neither of us had to make that decision.

 

Wenger finally signs a young quality DCM. Granit Xhaka joins Arsenal. Class little player. A reported £35M.

Has the penny dropped?

 

Like Martial?

 

So I guess you didn't think the squad was strong enough to save us? Yet You still support the manager who totally failed to strengthen it, his purchases bar one failed!
I want to see us in the top flight playing and competing against the best players and teams in world, others it seems are happy to accept us floundering in a lower league playing mediocre teams and football.
I will never accept that as long as I've got a hole in my a**e!

 

As GM and RBF are suggesting, we need a step by step development to push for promotion and onwards. The squad we currently have is more than capable of doing that. We will need to replace Mbokani with at least one quality goal-scoring striker. That could be someone like McCormack and/or perhaps the 'up-and coming' Bamford, but neither of those are 'proven' in the PL. I don't think it's that our squad wasn't good enough in the PL, but our strikers didn't score enough goals and our defenders made too many mistakes. The defence improved dramatically when Klose came in, until he was injured. Players like Brady, Howson, Redmond, Tettey, O'Neil, Pinto and Olsson are good enough, but we need that 'quality goal-scoring striker' more than anything and the transfer budget should be aimed at that. Obviously if players leave, replacements could be signed to strengthen the team, but the idea of a wholesale clear-out is ludicrous.

 

We can't clear the squad and start from scratch. Can't afford it, couldn't offload all players, We have to sign the right players, not just bulk buy anyone like QPR. Lets wait until teams start signing players before we get too many handbags out.

The season ended 10 days ago.