Gk - Mannone, Pickford, Stryjcek Rb - Manquillo, Jones, Love Cb - Kone, Djiliboji, Denayer, Oshea, McNair Lb - PVA, Robson Cm - Kirchoff, Catts, Ndong, Rodwell, Gooch, Pienaar Wing - Januzaj, Khazri, Borini, Watmore St - Defoe, Asoro I think injuries and we few weakend line ups have made us all think we were thin on the ground when actually I don't think we are unless there's a sustained injury crisis. One thing that does stand out like a saw thumb is the lack of strikers. We really dropped a bollock not bringing in a forward before the window closes. Anyone have Lord Bendtner on a free?
Wingers mate. Borini is out for 6 months and Watmore simply isn't good enough, yet. We are relying on Januzaj and Khazri. Both have failed to impress so far this season and Khazri doesn't appear to be fit, or ready. From what I have seen of Robson at left back, I'm not impressed at all and it would scare the life out of me if he was to start a Premier league game. I'd rather stick O'Shea out there. We definitely need a physical presence upfront, somebody like Ulloa, would have been ideal. M'Vila coming in January, may mean Rodwell, or Cattermole, being sold on. Overall though, the squad isn't ideal, but it is manageable until January when we have another chance to top it up.
When half of them bugger of to Africa. Ok not half but a few. Add Larsson to the mortally wounded list.
Scratch beneath the surface and the quality drops right off. Once we're past the first 11, we're down to inexperience, players who are past it, or those who just aren't good enough.
Hopefully Aroso can make us forget about the lack of established strikers coming in. Other than that I don't think we could of done much better just a shame that we have to wait for Mvia, 4 months of waste all round.
We'll have to cope. Not going to join the 'Make excuses for Short not backing us' crew though. Not funding a Striker was unacceptable. 1 striker who's nursing an injury and a 17 year old kid. No good enough.
If we take the youth players out, we are well short. Then take out Borini and Mannone, who have long term injuries. Catts is a crock, Kirchhoff is a crock and can't play 90 minutes, Pienaar can't play 90 minutes. It's got me worried...
Long story short. Yes. We're lacking depth in several positions. There not one position there in which I feel we have both good enough starters and adequate cover.
The squad as a whole isn't that bad, in fact very strong in places. The issue is the long term injuries to key areas, keeper and striker for instance.
The thing is we can't have it both ways, lots of people want to see our talented youth players get a chance, if we have a full squad of 1st team players they will never get a chance and those average 1st team players will kick up a fuss if a youth team player gets the node ahead of them. I would personally rather have less of the Danny Grahams and more of the youth. That's the positive view. The real issue at the moment is the number of injuries but Hoff will be back in a couple of weeks. If Pickford picks up a bad injury, but we could get an emergency loan in that case. The biggest concern is Defoe, if we lose him for any period of time it's a big issue. Maybe Kone could be a makeshift striker
Absolutely spot on. I'm disappointed we didn't get a striker but don;t buy into the "Short didn't fund it" we don;t know what happened behind the scenes for certain but I reckon Moyes would've had his eye on a striker and I'd be amazed if no attempts were made to sign one - couldn't loan one as we have our 2 domestic loans. Januzaj is capable of playing up front too - he likes playing up top as it gives his greed something to feed off so you can add him to the strikers list (players who can play in more than one position!) As said earlier in the thread - ACON in January/February will see us lose N'Dong and Djilobodji. Luckily we have cover in CM if everyone's fit (big if!) but Defence would see us with one of McNair, Denayer, O'Shea playing for a prolonged period. Nothing against those three - never seen Denayer play - but that will not fill me with confidence!!
I agree mate, the weird thing about our transfer window was that when we all thought Short was skint and not funding anything 2 things happened. 1. Kone was not allowed to leave even thought the money was massive and 2. We broke our transfer record. That told me 2 things and I am speculating here. 1. If there is a player that the manager and his team think is worth the money then it can be provided, both Bodj and Dong were not cheap acquisitions. 2. The wage bill could be a massive factor. Kone is under contract probably not on massive wages, replacing him would be costly in a fee but also to get a player of his quality the wages would be massive. I also suspect Dong is not on massive wages as he is 22 and from the French league. I very much suspect wages (apart from the ludicrous fee) is one of the reasons Mvila will come in Jan, we save 4 months big wages and then he will replacing Dong when he goes to the ACN, perfect timing.
Not sure where you are getting Januzaj is capable of playing upfront? He certainly wouldn't be added to my list of strikers. We pushed him upfront at the end of the game against Man City and he looked completely lost. Apart from that, I've seen nothing to suggest he has the requirements to play as a striker. Isn't Kone going to be playing in the ACON, next year? That's both of our centre backs who will be out...
But we got a player of Kone's quality for 5 million and wages weren't very high either. So not sure why you think that big money is required to get outstanding players? M'Vila won't have played competitive football for about 7 months, he's going to need time to get match fit again, but more importantly, he needs to get match sharp.
Just sure I'd heard Moyes say it too! Aye you're right about Kne. For some reason I thought he was French!! But Ivory Coast, Senegal, Gabon and Tunisia all there according to wiki. There's 4 of our squad gone end of Jan. Ivory Coast and Senegal normally do well
Adnan can play the 10 role mate, he's played there for us, he's played a **** load of games there for our u-21's as well.
