Thinking the 10 mil plus that borrini would have cost can now be used to get a king pin in defence in january as it looks as though we will do ok without his services ,or do you think he will still be wanted in january
Having spent the first half of the season warming the bench at Liverpool I think his price should plummet from what we offered. A commanding centre half along side Vergini would be very nice. Both would show BIG intent by the club and set us up for a great second half of the season.
Not sure - although, from history, January seems to inflate player prices and the same players move for much less in the Summer! Borini's value will be half what we offered now. We know Liverpool want to sell and Borini is hardly getting any first team football (and, from what I've seen of him, he looks nowhere near a £14m player!). If we wanted him I'd go back in with a £5m take it or leave it with a couple of add ons to make it up to 7 or 8m at most. Although a chunk of me is quite glad we didn;t sign him! Go for Virgil from Celtic - we can have Virgil & Vergini at the back!! But invest in a striker as well. I rate Wickham and I know Fletcher is very capable once his head is out of his arse (like it was on Saturday) but still think we need an alternative angle. Altidore (sorry) just isn't good enough for this league from what I've seen of him. Occasional good touches but not good enough and doesn't work hard enough IMO
Im content with our defence this season, but a big signing is needed for next season. Weve only conceded 7 so far.
We withdrew our bid for Borini and bought Rodwell, then submited a loan offer then withdrew that for Coates. That money has gone. There'll be no offer for Borini in Jan unless it's cut price imo.
I'm not, we've got 5 fit defenders for 4 slots, one of them is Brown and one is Jones, both players we could potentially lose at anytime. Of course i'm happy with the performances but we seriously lack depth at the back. Can't see the point of signing a stop gap. May as well just get Shawcross in if possible. If we're given a January Budget. Season Card money may be available then.
Id love Shawcross. Its the fullback positions we lack in though. We have 4 Centre backs once Coates is back, and I think thats enough for 2 positions.
Coates is going to be a while fella, they can't find out whats wrong with him but his thigh is f**ed, his injury is enough to keep him from playing and there's no date on his return. I think we're short at cb as well as full back considering Vergini was signed to cover right back. http://rokerreport.sbnation.com/2014/9/30/6871781/sunderland-liverpool-injury-news-coates Sebastian Coates' stuttering start to this Sunderland career is showing no signs of smoothing, with Gus Poyet confirming the club are seeing more specialised answers to the defender's troublesome thigh injury. The Uruguayan was a deadline day loan arrival from Liverpool, but since then has only managed to play 45 fairly wretched minutes of football against Stoke City in the League Cup. It's nothing serious, insists Poyet, but it's sufficient enough to hamper him. It's not serious. It was a precaution to take him off against Stoke, but we need to check a few more things. It's a strange one. He can do 90 per cent of whatever action you ask him to do. But it's one particular action when it causes him to feel something in there. We want to see if we can do more tests and make sure that it's right. It would be a shame if he can't play. He can run up and down, and do sprinting. But when he's in a position where he's really fighting with a striker and over-stretches himself, or hits a long ball, that's what causes the problem. He can train practically every day. I asked him one day to train and only pass it with his left foot. I asked him if he felt it and he said ‘no'. Then in the Stoke game, he had a few fights with the striker and he didn't get injured or pull up. But it was there, so you feel it. It's fair to say that Coates was clearly not fit for purpose against Stoke, so you wonder whether Poyet is really telling the whole truth here. I just hope it is the 'Steven Fletcher solution' that is being pursued here. You know, when you do nothing and just kind of hope the player quietly reveals himself to be a medical marvel, then wind up losing him for twice as long through sheer indecision. Whatever happens here, with Wes Brown also struggling with injury, the defence is starting to look pretty threadbare right now. That's no good to us, CBs have to fight strikers from kick off to full time in this league. Long time and a lot of games until the window opens.
Sh!te, i didnt realise he was out that long. We should send him back to Liverpool if hes not fit by Jan, and free up his loan space. I agree 3 centre backs is a worry.
Should be getting word back on what it is soon. I presume he's been for scans. Just hope there's no tear in there somewhere. Hoping we can go the 12 plus games until we can get someone in without any injuries to Wes and Jones or we'll be playing Rodwell at the back
Rodwell might just be the answer, he is not fully up to speed in the middle of the park, but he may be OK at CH a position I have heard he is comfortable with.
