It's like the Byram (Leeds) deal that never went through as his value went up and up. Kaboul was Spurs captain also, so he must be good. I hope Dick as the last word on any deals.
very happy. slowly but surely building from the back by adding quality and pace. i have faith they'll bring in a playmaker and another forward, then get shot of those wasting a squad space - ideally replacing with solid loanees Fletcher, waste of talent Buckley, not good enough Bridcutt not good enough either
Bridcutt is for sale anyway from what I've heard. Fletcher is capable but seems not to want to. Buckley I have no idea about. He's shown minor glimpses but never enough. His run against the mags to set up AJ was excellent and he looked half decent against Man U in his debut but there have been few other moments! Could be coaching? Or, as you say, not good enough!!
Well first, let's forget anything that happened here before March. I look at three players who are unrecognisable from that time - Coates and Graham are different players to three months ago, and, yes, I still look at Altidore for Alkmaar and U.S.A. and see an entirely different player to what he was under Poyet. So for me, Coates has been a good signing. Matthews can cover Jones, and can come in if Jones ha to cover Van Aarnholt. So we're stronger at full back now. Lens and Kaboul have obviously played at a higher level than we've been used to. On the face of it, Kaboul hasn't played a lot of games in three seasons - but I don't know if that was his fault. Craig Gordon and Darren Bent are both good at what they do, but once they got injured they found themselves on the bench because two young fellers - Mignolet and Benteke - were flying and couldn't be dropped. That didn't make Craig or Darren bad players all of a sudden. So I'll give Kaboul the benefit of the doubt. There is one doubt in my mind. Have we bought better than the teams around us. Stoke in particular, seem to have been punching well above their weight this window, and there have been others who have signed well. So have our signings meant a better season, or have we just kept up with those around us and are standing still? We'll have to see..
My nitial assesment of activity if those around us - early days I know, a lot could happen yet, but comparably we're doing pretty well: albeit i know very little about some of the new lads being brought in......over to you more knowledgable lot Palace - dorty little French git is a quality improvement to a side with pace. just hope awld smug rubber lips bangs his wife, and the squad demise takes hold, as per usual. Mags - definite progress on paper, but with untested premier league players so far. Austin joining would be v. good for them. Saints - lost key players, esp. Schneiderlin and Clyne but showed they can evolve last season, probably the same this season Swans - not too different, some players i know nowt about but Ayew is not a quality replacement for BonyM which could hit them harder this season Stoke - losing probs the best keeper in the league and replacing him with Given is a big step backwards. don't know much about the other johnnies they've added? Nzonzi is a loss, too. Hammers - new faces, know nowt about them. downing going is a loss, esp after his first half season last time out. Leicester - backwards. Ranieri in, Cambasso out. Villa - backwards with Delph reversal and Benteke on his way. Baggies - bag o' ****e. McKnacker in, loads out. if Lambert is the answer to their striking woes it looks like a slog of a season ahead.
I think stoke has gone abit backwards with losing there keeper, Moses and nzonzi. Newcastle look like they going to spend some money but players are unproven in the prem. West brom are the same, villa are getting worse but have money to spend now. Leicester will struggle with that manager and the 3 teams what have came up hasn't signed that many good players.
You are doing ok. Lens - Unproven in this league so could be a hit or a miss Matthews - Back up player I guess?? One for the future anyway Kaboul - Injury prone so risky however if he can get a proper season in, he will do well Coates - If he performs like he did at the end of the season, he will be a good signing. I wouldn't say you have set the heather alight (only Man Utd have in my opinion) but I don't think it is doom and gloom either
Yeah, good balanced post, mate. There seems to be a lot of 'unproven in the premiership' being tossed about for other clubs without including our own Lens and Matthews.
Im generally happy so far. We have added pace with 3 players, champions league and premier league experience all for pennies when you consider the prices Hull shelled our last year on average players, so you cant really fault it. A creative spark and another forward and we should be good to go, which will also add massive depth to the bench.
We have gone in the right direction certainly and with the young kid from Man Utd and Dembelle from Spurs i think we would only be a CB short of a team that should at least stay away from relegation.
Wijnaldum and, if we get him, Mitrovic are awesome signings, but we've so far neglected to strengthen where we really need to. A CB and a LB are an absolute minimum, and ideally another CB and a GK on top of that. Mitovic is better than Cisse but not emphatically, I'm delighted Ashley is splashing the cash I just hope we aren't overlooking our defence. Would have taken Kaboul. Also, is it just me who hates loan signings? If they perform and you want to make them part of your squad permanently, you have to spend big money JUST to stand still.
