Recently harry has made it abundantly clear with his tactics, formation, and press conferences; that we don't "have enough" to play attacking football (even since Remy's arrival). We've been playing false nines, lone strikers- all with the intention of eking out every point possible from an under-strength squad, whilst awaiting the new recruits this January. Since our hiding from Liverpool, we've gone ultra defensive in all of the following four PL matches we've played. Throughout that time, Redknapp has repeated his assertion that "we're short" and "need to strengthen" in certain positions. It's clear one of those positions was 'defensive midfield'. We supposedly had all but signed M'vila and Livermore, and then chased Capoue- all to no avail. Similarly a striker seemed a priority, he suggested earlier that he was disappointed because we'd hoped to sign both Odemwingie and Crouch. We needed wins, Harry knew that, but he was biding time until the Transfer window to make acquisitions that would help enable those wins. We were supposed to alter our style of play after last nights signings. But did we get enough to do so? Samba is a great buy, but is simply replacing a player who was doing very well for us anyway. Nelsen was never a problem! Other than that, we've got ben haim/Yun Suk(whom Harry hasn't even mentioned since the guy signed, was this really one of his picks?). They're not exactly going to change our tactical approach drastically. Then we've got Townsend and Jenas. These are the only two who might possibly help us become an attacking force, and pick up the 7 wins required. But are they enough? In my opinion, no. (it's pretty late, apologies if that was a bit of a ramble)
Sorry Grifter, don't agree with you mate. Remy's played two games and scored one, that's pretty good and I'm sure it'll get better. Then we get one of the best centre halves in the world, I think we agree he's an absolute beast and pretty quick for his size. That on it's own will allow us to be a litte more expansive. Could we play a higher line now Samba is with us? I guess that'll become clear tomorrow. The Korean lad is a pretty tasty ball player as well isn't he? We all know Jenas can be a bit of a cock/sick note but he can also be an outstanding footballer. So I have to say I'm pretty happy with the business done.
we didnt sign the players we may have needed, but we should still have a squad capable of finishing above wigan, reading and Aston villa. If we dont, then we need to look at the players who have been playing for us, rather than ones who have not.
I am not sure we were playing safe...."till the cavalry came". I think we were "eking out the points" from an extremely difficult string of matches...till the winnable ones came....They have now come, We have better players now than we did last week....certainly Samba and Remy are better then Nielsen (though a hero in my eyes) and Cisse. In Remy we have a player who can score for fun given the right service. Odenwinghe was never the right player, Crouch may have been. We have got them now...it is eenough...lets do it Come on u RRRRRRRRRRRRRrs
Crouch and Odemwingie?. No way we would have signed both and Im glad we didnt. Ok,we all wanted another striker but DJ is back with us and I would really worry about spending another 15 million on top of the 24 we have already spent!. Lets get Zamora fit and DJ back in
Grifter i get where you are coming from. We really need goals. the fact with have samba now means we wont have to sit so heavily in front of the defence. which in turn means we can play more of an attacking style of football. townsend has more quality than mackie on the right which will result in more service for the front two players. not sure why jenas Harry must believe that he is a bit more experience than granero. But at the end of the day we still goals. i hope that they come.
So this is the new improved Attacking lineup that's going to drag us to safety? Cesar; Fabio, Samba, Hill, Traore, SWP, Derry, Mbia, Townsend, Taarabt, Mackie. That extra striker and CDM is starting to look very enticing right now... Harry didn't get his targets in the window, and the resulting trepidation in his voice during recent interviews is starting to rub off on me. In the man's own words, "we're short".
Just imagine the addition of one of crouch/odemwingie and one of m'vila/capoue/livermore to that lineup! We'd be a completely different prospect. Nelsen has essentially cost us 12.5 million by buggering off. If he'd remained, i'm sure the owners would have been more inclined to splash out on two of the 5 listed above. As it is, i don't think we could really justify paying the inflated fees for any of them given we'd already spent 20 mill.
Bids rejected for: Olsson, Hangeland, Rolando > Have to splash out 12.5 mill on samba last minute to desperately replace Nelsen > No money left to buy a CDM or extra striker It's very unfortunate! I guess we've got what we've got now. Just have to strap ourselves in and get ready for what might be a bumpy rid!
