A lot has been said on here about the team's mental strength this season, having dropped numerous points from winning positions. Meanwhile, in terms of transfers, the priority call from many on here has been for better scouting - identifying and signing talented youth, before others clubs snap them up. And Ross Wilson seems keen to pursue this route too. For the record, I also want this. But it got me thinking. Given both the above issues, is it genuinely feasible to build up a team to compete for PL / CL against Europe's big boys, WITHOUT signing established, big name, ready-made stars, who have already experienced that level of success? The debate about lacking a winning mentality is tricky if you don't have true "winners" in the squad. And I don't mean the League cup, I'm talking winners of the PL and / or top European competitions. 5 clubs have dominated the PL era and only 2 of those rose up during that time, following huge cash injections - Chelsea & Mnan City. Before seeing any PL success, they both signed numerous big name "winners" from other big clubs, like Barca, Real Madrid, Man United, etc. such as: Toure Robinho Tevez Silva Drogba Crespo Robben Makelele Veron So, can we really expect to break into the elite with a policy of primarily signing younger, untried talent and building them up? Is that realistic? Or will we have to get to a point where our revenues somehow enable us to afford (and actually attract - but that's a whole different debate in itself) the equivalent of say Ronaldo, Haaland, Mbappe, Modric, etc?
I was a big critic of the summers approach. Overpaying for players that aren’t much better, if at all, from lesser known gems, or going toe to toe with clubs who can just blow us away. It was a terrible idea but I don’t think it would’ve happened if the Saudis had appointed a CEO and Sporting Director in time. That said we do need to find a superstar goalkeeper. Everything else can be youth at this point.
We can win with a young squad assuming we get the correct profiles in the suit the game the manager wants to play. I believe that Ross Wilson and Suds will have more luck convincing Eddie of European youth than Mitchell did. Only time will tell I suppose, but SCR will prevent most of the big name established winners
Finding talent and adding one or two top players that walk straight into the first 11 is what's required now. Depth occurs naturally this way... I don't subscribe to just padding out the squad at this point.
Agreed. And characters. But I don’t think Howe wants that. When we concede goals I don’t see players having a go at each other or a captain trying to rally his troops (I might be missing that mind). The teams that win top trophies have real characters and leaders in the teams. Players that sometimes grab the games by the scruff of the necks. We seem to fade in games. I can’t think of many second half performances where we have won the half.
Absolutely - we are struggling for the next bracket up of player quality and while there have been some good buys in Livarmento, Hall, Thiaw, Botman, Tonali, Bruno, Woltemade, Gordon, Barnes, (and dare I say it a few who have moved on like Minteh or a certain rat-faced scouse player) they are all players with big potential to develop not the stars that you mention the previous big money buy outs went straight in for to bring immediate success. That being said, the rules have changed to prevent teams just going out and buying Yamal's and the like so we are doing well - just need to find that quality to the depth of squad now to supplement the players above and replace those who came in early doors to do a job (keep us in the league and make us competitive).
We just need two things. Better scouting, and flexibility from Howe. PL experience is not that important any more. Smiley faces and nice guys aren’t going to elevate the team. Whilst I can go OTT in suggesting last Summer was a disaster, I think a total of nearly £200m on Barnes, Ramsey, Wissa and Elanga was not well spent, when you then line up with Burn at left back and Pope/Ramsdale in goal. There’s nothing on the bench that ever changes anything as it’s just slightly worse versions of the players they come on for. We need more of a spark to turn to.
Can you start leaving Barnes out of your bullshit rants. He has 17 goals in 68 games and a lot of those games he never started. He got a weird injury and has taken a while to get back to top strength.
Trouble is that the characters we do have are the ones you guys don't want to play - the Burns and the Trippiers of this world. There are very few players who combine high skill levels with character. Its something that tends to develop late in a players career, with few exceptions. We stood still for ages under Ashley and ended up with a threadbare squad with few saleable talents. If we wanted to compete on numerous fronts we had to improve BOTH squad depth and quality. This is a dificult task with PSR but I think we have done this and now we are in a position where we can add a few expensive talents. I think the plan is going prettty well and should bear fruit over the next 5 years. At the same time we should be looking to really build up the academy so that we can get more home grown players coming through.
