That is the firs time I have seen "FLT" and "like a greyhound" in the same sentence for over 25 years.
Yes, really. I don't have too much of a problem with any of the attacking guys getting extensions in isolation. But giving out so many doesn't make sense. People have been saying even before we lost Mane that we needed to bring in one or more attacking players. So let's say we bring in another attacking player. We'd have Austin, Rodriguez, Long, Tadic, JWP, Redmond, Davis, new guy. Which is 8 players for 3 spots. So why are we extending the likes of Davis, JWP, Long, and Tadic? These are the guys we thought weren't quite good enough collectively last year. It seems strange that we are spending money to try and maintain a core that wasn't that all great to begin with. It also leaves us less opportunity to try and play the youth.
Speak for yourself. 4 good players that we don't need to replace for a while. Can still strengthen as we have more games to play so need a bigger squad. What the extensions give us is continuity. Dusan's stats say it all for me, lots of assists and a fair few goal so far which I think he will continue to improve upon. Plus it would be 8 players for 4 spots not 3
We went trough this with you earlier this close season. The bits above... Firstly many people think it makes perfect sense. The second part above, well... I don't know where to start. "We" didn't think good enough, or you didn't? I really wonder reading that post, particularly that last bit above. Completely baffling.
We are extending the likes of davis,jwp,long and tadic simply as they are all good players. And im suprised you say people were saying they were not good enough last year,the players that helped us to 6th place not good enough? ........
I certainly never thought Davis, JWP, Long and Tadic weren't quite good enough last season. They all played a major part in our PL record finish, are all full internationals, & I'm happy to watch them all continue to improve at Saints.
No, this is not right. Our core was good enough last year, but even if it was not we would still have to maintain it by offering new contracts, or it will be gone. Say Ward-Prowse had an excellent season, played for England and got top-6 interest next summer, that would be it, now we have more bargaining power (and in return he has more money). There is no other way to fend off teams like Liverpool/Spurs unless we match their spending - Leicester have experienced the same. There is a bit more to it than that though. If we want to develop into a team capable of hanging around the Euro spots long term we have to grow the amount we pay, which we have done gradually over the last few seasons. Growing our salaries sensibly is a good thing. Even though there were 2 outliers last year (Leicester and Chelsea) salary bill is still the best predictor of success, and I think they will both be closer to where they should be this time round.
It's not like if you don't extend players they vanish into thin air. It's not like paying them more money is suddenly going to turn them into world-beaters, either. All of these guys would be playing for us next year anyway. We're just paying them more to do it. And now we'll also be paying them in two years where, if things go according to plan they will probably be bench players.
Haven't seen that plan so can't comment. Personally, I think there is room for, and the ability to improve in all the players (except possibly Davis who to be fair is probably at his peak now )we have given extensions to, so what these extensions have given us is time for all of them to reach new heights and have better resale value when they do move on.
What the extensions give us, hopefully, is the chance to dictate the direction of next summer. In recent years, many of our choices have been made for us...we let players run down enough of their contracts that we had zero leverage when they wanted to move, and we sometimes sold them for less than they were worth. Allowing Tadic to reach the final year of his deal would make absolutely no sense...even if he has a great season, we'd have no recourse if he wanted a move, and we'd get a pittance for him.
In my opinion he is better than lallana. Lallana is hugely talented by doesn't deliver anywhere near enough. You could argue similar for tadic but I see better end product in him Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk
Other thing to remember with Tadic is that while he id undoubtedly incosistent (as are most wingers tbh), in his 2 seasons he has provided more PL assists than anyone bar Ozil & Fabregas. Baring that in mind, IF he can find more consistency, particuarly playing centrally, he could be the sort of player that transforms a decent team to a very good one. If we can get Austin in the team in this system then I can see him scoring a hatful from Tadic assists alone.
Well sure, every transfer or signing looks like a good deal if you assume the recipient is going to have a breakout season. But what if Tadic doesn't? We do lose leverage next year if Tadic only has one year left. But we also lose leverage if at 29, Tadic is currently making a larger wage on a long term contract and will therefore demand more money from whatever club wants him. Other than JWP, we are essentially buying up post-peak seasons. The odds aren't on your side when you do that. And in my mind none of these guys are big enough superstars where it's like "Okay, the contract is for four years but really we're just paying them a ton of money for two good seasons and spreading the payment out over four years."
