I mean in terms of how much we shot ourselves in the foot, not necessarily the players we signed. We sold/released players we didn't need to (hell, in retrospect we could have kept Traore just for some consistency, although who knows what his wages were compared to Palmer/Zambrano), sacked a manager who finished 7th, and took until the closing weeks of the window to do anything of note about it.
I can’t imagine his wages were that high, i thought he was worth keeping. That first season he was fantastic, Rosey just didn’t really fancy him second season and he never got a fair run. Who knows though, some people suggested he was on 30k, I can’t believe that but if he was… 10k I think he’d have been worth another season.
Odd, ain't it? Now that he's gone, we didn't realise what a key, top player he was for us. Or I suspect appreciate.
Not really, I was banging that drum all along. One of the top 5 things Rosey got wrong was not trying to get the best out of him IMO.
Rosenior was the one who got him fit and firing though, but it was the same issue we've seen this season where Acun has an obsession with signing number 10s and makes it the manager's problem figuring out how to fit them all in.
Tufan had spent over a decade playing as a proper central midfielder, it was only Rosenior who chose to play him up front, out on the wing or anywhere except his main preferred position.
In the first 26 games last season he played 12 games in the 10 (and scored 7 goals), spent 6 games out injured, and didn't come off the bench in three games we won comfortably. After that point we had Carvalho in the squad and it's hard to argue who was the better option. He was pushed up front usually when we had no other options and he was the best player to put there, not because Rosenior thought that's where he should be playing.
Yeah his finishing was his best asset. Wasn’t great off the ball in deeper areas, pressed well higher up though.
I thought we didn't play that badly, and on balance were the better side. However, we seem to have got into a downward spiral of losing games, which we need to get out of fast. I am not sure whether TW is the man to do it, it seems from what is being said, some players are not enamoured with the style of play. They are trying, but it just doesn't seem to be working. How long Acun will give him remains to be seen, but clearly he is desperate for it to work as getting rid of Liam was his call. On the 2 goals they scored, I think Pandur would have saved the first of Jones had not deflected it, but the 2nd one was just awful marking. Nevertheless, to be fair at 2-0 their head could have gone down, but they didn't give up and dominated the latter parts of the first half and all the 2nd. I thought Hughes, Simons and Drameh had good games as did Pedro, no one to be fair had poor games, but again we just can't put enough chances away. TW for the moment still has Acun backing, let's hope our fortunes and TW's can change around quickly.
We will only score when we attack quickly as that’s when there is space , as soon as it’s slow build up there’s no room and in the Champ’ship not enough skill . Even in the Prem it’s only Man City and Arsenal who seem to be able to break a 5 across the back defence .
Pace I think is a massive missing element. For as much as were better than WB yesterday when they did get the ball and put their foot down the difference was stark.
I think Puerta is a fantastic player. He was let down by the system and our own players bravery to want to receive the ball. Numerous times he took the ball and created a bit of space for himself to play a progressive pass. If you have your other midfielders in there he could have utilised them. They were, however, just stood further forward conveniently marked by a West Brom player. Back to Hughes and Jones it went.
He had a good second half, but he only got a few touches in the first half. He was moving, but we barely picked that pass to him. Imagine this squad now with an established Millar, Alzate, Belloumi, Zambrano combination added in as starters. Simons is playing well. Should really have had 4 goals in his last 4 games but for finishing. He's getting into good positions though.
I don't think you can blame Simons for his woodwork yesterday. I watched the game back last night and what he had to aim at, with a Brom player directly in front of him, it was a fantastic hit.
he's now beaten Rosie's record of no wins in 6 earlier this year - don't remember so many knives out for him at the time although that run was undoubtedly part of the reason why we failed to make the top six and why he was eventually sacked
There's a view that we've been unlucky in games, and could have had more points with a bit more luck. On the other hand, in the three games we won the opposition had 51 shots, perhaps if they'd had a bit more luck the situation would look a lot worse. Perhaps teams get the luck they deserve.
