So the transfer ban has been lifted, and we can sign players in January. I know it's generally a difficult time to get the real good players, but any thoughts about signings we could or should be making?
I read Haaland has a reasonable buy out for January. Could be bollox but if not, that's a no brainer. Giroud will be off this window or next so we'll need another striker and he looks class and young and gettable. I like Van Der Beek and Chilwell as well but we certainly won't get either of those in Jan.
I think we all know who would be leaving, however would we be buying for the sake of it in areas other than a striker?
I hope the club doesn't undo all the good work Frank has put in, getting into the top 4 with the squad we have. I'd rather wait until seasons end and then bring in only young and absolutely top whack players, than go down the path of more Danny Drinkwaters, Ross Barkleys and Emersons. It would also totally expose all the youngsters to a season long test, and see which ones flag and which ones thrive.Unless a truly fabulous player comes on the market in January, then pass.
I'd have zaha, but not at the £80m Palace would want for him He is a decent Willian replacement Sancho and Chilwell are the two players I really want
Who would Sancho replace though? CHO? RLC? Mount? Pulisic? Midfield is not really an area we need help with. For the money he would cost he’d be expecting a regular first team place and I’m not sure he’d get it.
With you playing quite well do you want to add to a squad and piss someone off in January or should you wait until the Summer?
At the moment I would sign no one. Not till summer. Maybe some back up in the striker department if Giroud moves on, but other than that, no one.
I agree, the team is doing well and unless there's a clear long term target available it may upset the squad.
Crying out for some left footers, didn’t start with any in the team today and it showed, really unbalanced. I think we should go after Ziyech rather than Sancho and wouldn’t mind Chilwell either but he’ll be hard to get. Would look at Ake too if that 40m buyback is true. Left footed centre halves are hard to find.
It's pretty obvious we need a CD, a left back and at least one striker and a GK. I'm not a fan of Christensen, he seems tepid, weak and unable to impose himself. Zouma is far from perfect but does more and will get better I hope ,with Rudi or an even better CD alongside. Left back is now dire, Dave has been pretty poor, the other two even worse.Kepa is a time bomb and we need to think about a better than good back up who can improve, not a past it older type. Tammy is looking unable to take on defenders, and too easily sat on his arse by strong defenders, Michy just can't get into Franks starting line up. Tammy needs more time and a few more muscles, and will get both. No point rushing in January, keep developing the youngsters and get the right players in the summer.
Rudiger and Tomori looks a decent partnership that can develop but they have both had a lot of injuries leaving us with Christensen and Zouma who seem to make errors weekly between them. Kepa deserves time and a decent centre half pairing in front of him. Transfers is a tricky one to balance. There are a few positions that could be looked at but if we can get RLC and Rudiger fit, that's 2 first teamers there that Franks not had all season. Clearly a Giroud replacement in the next 6 months will be needed though. So do you buy big as a genuine Tammy rival or someone to fill in when necessary. Again tricky. Depends who is available I guess. LB looks an obvious one but will Frank drop Dave or just move him to RB again? After Everton you could say new GK, CB, LB and back up striker at least! But can't be too reactionary.
Frank's now talking about needing a creative goal scorer type as we are not taking enough of our chances. I think Defence looks more of an issue but we also need to be more clinical as well I guess.
Isnt that what Pulisic was bought for? To replace Hazard in that role? Mount pops up with goals too. Maybe they could be a tad more clinical, but its Mount and Pulisic's first seasons in the PL, and Tammy has spent most of his playing career thus far in the Championship. They will improve. We need to sort out the defence. Frank should know from Jose that you build a team from the back!