We are better off though mate because Adams hasn’t missed a game whereas Phillips missed almost the whole season
Yes but that's a very short term view Doc and we should always judge players over their entire time with us. Phillips is a miss. Raphinha is a miss. Alioski is a miss. That's three very good players who would have made us better this season. Yet we've kept Cooper, Ayling, Klich and Forshaw who were the ones that needed to be upgraded.
But we’ve kept those four because nobody would want them at their ages and size of their contracts surely
We needed to keep the older players from the Championship team for 2 years after promotion but yet it seems some will still be here 4/5 seasons later. Unless of course the plan was to sell off the younger crown jewels every summer once they've gone up in value. Frustrating as we could have been pushing top 8 this season if we'd followed the more ambitious, but obviously financially challenging route. Imagine if we'd done something along the lines of... Alioski...all it needed was a new contract. Ayling...thanks for the memories but we've decided to go Danish. Coops...you'll have to be happy on the bench if you stay. Klick...bye bye and hello Aaronson. Forshaw...on yer bike son and welcome Tyler Adams. Phillips...you're going nowhere Kalvin so suck it up. Raphinha...one more season please and then you maybe go next summer with our blessing. Strangely the one player we probably should have cashed in on was Harrison and then we could have still signed Sinisterra as well.
O One man convinced rads we would be ok with what he had. Marcelo had it all worked out in his head but football is played on a pitch.
When a player asks to leave it always leaves you with a dilemma but Firpo, Llorente and James, if someone hadn't squandered that money you do wonder if we could have kept Phillips a while longer. I am not too fussed about Raphinha as he did have lengthy spells of being poor. That £50m or so squandered would have purchased Adams and Aaronson and we would still have had change after selling Rapha not to mention the wages saved on the three of them. Throw in the money lost on Augustin, its awful
I think the difference with our signings this summer is it being Marsch with the main say. Previously it was Bielsa saying yeah or nay to what Orta brought him. When you add big Kev to firpo llorente and James then Bielsa didn’t cover himself in glory in the buying area. A wonderful coach, not so good at spotting players maybe
In Fairness, if Jesse had lengthy injuries to Adams, Aaronson and Struijk we'd still be screwed and that's just three injuries on top of the ones we have already. I am not defending Bielsa or pitting one coach against the other, it's not changed much that we still depend on certain key players
That’s because clubs preferred option is to operate with a small squad. We will always be in trouble if we lose key players
Agreed I have always said this, I found it strange that Bielsa came in and virtually worked with what he had and changed an average Championship team into the best in the Championship. He had zero choice about working with what he had apart from shifting out Saiz and swapping Pontus for White which was one of the few that actually worked. Give him a supposedly ready-made player and it didn't work, but it shouldn't have been an option, the director of football should really have total say, that is where you hope fluidity when changing a coach. I think we had to make exceptions to lure Bielsa in and then after his first two seasons it would have been a daring chairman who didn't give him the control he was given in the transfer market
Yep if his face didn't fit we should have made someone pay £20M and taken a relatively small financial hit. Now his value is plummeting and we'll likely have to take him back next summer which won't suit either party. Feel a bit sorry for the lad as he never gives less than 100% and ever since the deadline day fiasco he's been used as a pawn in other peoples games.
Agree with this as he was never a £10m player so we tried to have Swansea over with that, but Man Utd paid the right £15m price and then had us over for £25m. The only regular football he got was Swansea so that tells you something. Hes been a bit part player since leaving South Wales. Not his fault, just not good enough. Think us using him as a No9 under Bielsa and Marsch damaged him too
If only Orta and Bielsa tried to buy this kid and a fee was agreed. The young lad who was 17yo at the time was wanting to come but said he wasn’t ready and feared making a fool of himself. He signed for a German club with a view to going to the prem in a year or two. He apologised to Bielsa and said it would be great to work with him in the future……
