I know there's no point in signing players that the management doesn't want but we needed to have a Plan B. We wanted Wanyama and Berahino, if they weren't signed by the morning of deadline day then Plan B should of come into play and we could have easily signed Alex Song and Charlie Austin to give the squad depth.
It's utterly nuts that we have one exhausted young striker in only his 2nd season and Charlie Austin is playing in the championship despite a relatively modest price. Must be something we all don't know surely?
That Levy is a tight git? One good thing about the ludicrous money pumped into the Premier League is that clubs have far more ability to tell other clubs to **** off rather than it just being a given that Chelsea get who they want from a club on Everton's level or Spurs on WBA's level. I guess when we get to the next window, clubs' tactics will need to be a bit different.
Yes, I think Levy completely misjudged the effect that the extra TV money would have on smaller clubs' cash flow. They are mostly all now in a situation where they don't have to cave in to the demands of the bigger clubs.
And he's definitely a tight git, which has served us fairly well up til now. But I'm pretty worried for this season now
The window has been closed for over 12 hours, we have all had a chance to sleep on it and can now look at where we are and what the actual team looks like. First the good news and in my opinion there is plenty of that. We have not lost any players from our 1st choice first 11 from last season (and they finished 5th). We have generally increased the strength of our options in most positions, as well adding 2 genuine first choice players – Toby and Son. The players sold are the ones that most of us are pleased to see leave, with the possible exception of Stambouli who may have warranted a 2nd season, and Lennon who certainly deserved a better end to his time with us, and who I hope reignites his career at Everton. We have also have Carroll and Pritchard back in the squad and there should be plenty of opportunities for them to get game time and hopefully prove themselves as players who deserve to be in and around the first team Now the not so good news. Leaving ourselves with 1 genuine centre forward option is criminal, there must have options beyond Berahino that we could have considered even if it meant having 3 forwards in the squad if we had signed both. But I do not think that we should have paid more than we were offering for Berahino, but we should have moved on sooner and looked elsewehere. I would also have liked to have added an old head in midfield, I am not convinced that Wanyama was right for us, but Cambiasso would have been ideal to my mind. Finally we come to Adebayor, I like many here would have been quite happy to have never seen him in our shirt ever again, but needs must he is a centre forward he is employed by our team and therefore bridges must be built so that he can play in Europe .I would give him the number 9 shirt and suggest that we need him and he needs us, he wants another contract somewhere next season, playing for us and scoring goals may enable him to maintain his earning power in the future and you never know it could be win / win. I am a glass half full type of person and I am looking forward to seeing Son and N’jie playing for us, and think that they will offer something we are currently lacking. The league looks as competitive as ever, probably even more so and maintaining 5th looks a challenge, but we met that challenge last year and we will be there or thereabouts this year too. As for the cups – Capital one looks like a short journey this year (maybe a good thing); Europa let’s give the B team the competition - it maybe the making of them if we get out of the group that will be an achievement in itself, finally the big one the FA cup, I really want to win the FA cup, let’s hope the draw is kind and we take it seriously.
Agreed. Plus, what we have also seen is the whittling down of "player power," that the media loves to prattle on about. With such huge sums going to clubs, chairman can buy your replacement and put you in the reserves until you buckle down and do what the **** the club pays you to do! I think Peace (a) never intended to sell Berahino, and (b) planned for Berahino's revolt by getting in a couple of replacement options. Personally, I like the fact that the clubs have regained some of the higher ground. Sure, it's been disappointing for us not to get the man that Levy had spent so long in unsettling, but it's a level playing field, and our rivals have all be caught in similar fashion: Arsenal, United, Chelsea, 'Pool... all have failed to get players they wanted. Where top players have been signed, it's been for stupid prices. I hope it stays like this, because then we'll get back to how it was in the good old days, when managers could rely on the same team sticking together for season after season, and any new addition had to be right for the balance of the squad, and had to work his way into the team. I think Levy was stung badly by the club's huge loss on Soldado, and the huge loss he will have to swallow when Lamela eventually goes. I cannot imagine that he, or any other chairman, will be prepared to take that kind of hit too often, so I think we're going to see a massive recoiling from last-minute panic buys. We clearly wanted Berahino, and he was the player that we went after. WBA were not prepared to sell him (for what ever the reason), and that's how things stand. There was no plan B simply because we didn't want any player other than Berahino. What's the point in getting in a striker merely to fill a slot? If he's not right for the club, he'll never be right for the club.
Ok, so now that we've all had the chance to have a bit of a rant; moving on, if we needed to rest Kane or god forbid he gets injured, who do you think Poch can use to fill in for Premier League games? Assuming Adebayor is not an option what will Poch do: a) Play a formation with no out and out striker a la Spain in the World Cup? b) Try someone like Chadli, Son or hell even Lamela there as a gamble and see if it miraculously works? c) Get an emergency free agent player in to fill the void? d) Try out one of the youth team players and pray we find the next Kane? What I find incredibly sad about all of this is the fact our Number 9 shirt is vacant. If there was ever a big red flag staring us in the face that we made a massive f**k up this transfer window, that's it right there. The club shop will have an abundance of number 9 transfers lying around for several months now which will really rile Levy - loss of shirt sales revenues. Ouch Levy, that's gotta hurt!
On Charlie Austin, there was a message on SSN late yesterday from QPR official that said the club hadn't received any bid for him since the rejected bid from Bournemouth or whoever it was over 3 weeks ago. That being said, maybe there is more to this than we know. It's baffling that zero clubs showed an interest in a player in 3 weeks, especially when he's gone and scored 3 goals in those 3 weeks. Maybe the club knew something we don't about his injury record? We were surprisingly astute about Sandro's ability to ever make a full recovery so maybe a similar problem was spotted with Austin? As you can see, I will be eating straw for breakfast, lunch and dinner today so that I have something to clutch.
I agree somewhat with what HIAG says in regards to not just buying any random player for the sake of it if we couldn't get our primary target (Saido) but at the same time it's also quite vital to just have an option should we need someone. If Kane gets injured that leaves us with no recognised striker, meaning one of Chadli, N'jie or Son will need to play there, which also isn't that ideal as that then means a second choice player has to play in their original position. Really don't see why the club didn't put a move in place for Austin when doubts surely must've arisen after our second Saido bid was rejected last week, let alone the 3rd (& 4th) yesterday. I'd seriously hope that we consider the possibility of bringing in a free transfer, Berbatov is obviously ideal for this current situation but I'm sure there's a few others out there who could "do a job". Having no recognised second choice striker for 3 months+ is worrying.
a) We are not good enough to play a false 9 b) Or Clinton? I don't think Chadli works up there tbh, despite his goals. Lamela would be my hope, but its pure hope. Its also worth trying Dier there, seriously, he's great everywhere. c) If we were gonna do that we should have gone in for Berba already. But as someone pointed out earlier he doesn't track back or work so won't fit in Poch's side d) Coulthirst seems next in line having appeared in preseason. He's on loan at Wigan til beginning of November. Not sure what the loan deal is other than that. Who else is there?
It's strange that no one came in for Austin with a serious bid (Bournemouth made a bid, but I assume that it was nothing more than an opening token). There has to be something behind that, either issues with the player, or the club making it clear that he's not for sale.
Just having a look at free agents. We could get Palacios back Shola Ameobi is a available too. Hardly a goal machine but seems to run around a lot
Jeez... how desperate is our situation? We're all sat here talking about grabbing free agents like Berba, Ameobe etc. Who would have imagined that three months ago. What a shambles!
We alway There is a little bit of whipping yourselves up into a frenzy of expectation and then being disappointed when your self created dream does not materialize. Meanwhile as Changing Man pointed out we are actually in good shape and potentially better shape than last season. Our situation is not desperate at all as a few more games will no doubt show us.
In better shape as long as Kane stays fit, on form and not exhausted. Last year he had a freakishly good season, we shouldn't expect that again. Last season we also had Ade (a bit) and Soldado to take the burden. They didn't get the goals but Soldado at least knew how to play centre forward a bit. Right now i just can't see how we can rest Kane and expect to win. There is a LOT of pressure on that poor lad now.
Correct. And those saying that Son can be pushed up top if Kane is missing haven't factored in that Son will also be a regular starter, in which case one of the two players is going to be run into the ground this season.
If it proves to be the case we can buy in January we also have Son who is listed by his national side as a striker and Ade and Chadli come to that. Kane is a young man who will have the capacity to recover quickly especially once he starts scoring again. Far from desperate.
CK we buy these players to BE regular starters they will not have to be TWO players in the same game. Calm down dear!
