I'm fairly content with what we have done so far in the window. Major weaknesses in the past 2 seasons have definitely been:
- Having managers that aren't good enough (yet) for this level, and I mean no disrespect to RDM when I say that.
- Lack of squad depth
- Inability to cope with counter attacks and the transition from attack to defence
- Inability (at times) to cope with physical and big sides
I feel we've almost addressed those areas of weakness. The lack of squad depth has been solved by recalling nurtured loanees from their loan spells. We were laughed to scorn by so called experts and pundits for paying the £18m for Lukaku and buying De Bruyne etc but people are now starting to realise their true value. Lukaku with 17 goals (mainly off the bench) including a Hattrick against United, De Bruyne arguably the best performer in a talented Belgium team in the WC qualifiers and also the only player outside Bayern/Dortmund to make Bundesliga team of the year. Dortmund identified him as their #1 target to replace Goetze which tells you a lot about how highly he is valued.
We've now got an experienced manager in that understands the culture and values of the club, a manager that also happens to be the best in world football at this moment in time.
We've signed Van Ginkel and recalled Essien but I feel we still desperately need experience in the middle of the park. Juventus, Shaktar and City exposed all of our weaknesses in dealing with physical sides and transition from attack to defence. Yaya Toure, Fernandinho and Vidal in particulsr walked all over us, I can't imagine us bein bullied in a midfield containing De Rossi. A lot of teams have realised if they can kick us, they can stop us, hence why we've done better against the better footballing teams like United, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool. The game at West Ham was probably the first time in a good few years I've seen us literally bullied in a league game, we can't allow that to happen if we want to do well.
A striker for me isn't the main issue, De Rossi can play CB & CM which are the two positions we need covering most. Goal scoring hasn't and won't ever be an issue for us. Torres and Ba both had poor seasons and we were still 2nd highest goal scorers in the league. We've added Lukaku and Schurrle to try and remove some of the pressure on Mata to produce the goals. Defending better has to be priority, if you concede 2+ goals to West Ham, Southampton, Reading, West Brom and teams of that ilk you will find yourselves under more pressure.
- Having managers that aren't good enough (yet) for this level, and I mean no disrespect to RDM when I say that.
- Lack of squad depth
- Inability to cope with counter attacks and the transition from attack to defence
- Inability (at times) to cope with physical and big sides
I feel we've almost addressed those areas of weakness. The lack of squad depth has been solved by recalling nurtured loanees from their loan spells. We were laughed to scorn by so called experts and pundits for paying the £18m for Lukaku and buying De Bruyne etc but people are now starting to realise their true value. Lukaku with 17 goals (mainly off the bench) including a Hattrick against United, De Bruyne arguably the best performer in a talented Belgium team in the WC qualifiers and also the only player outside Bayern/Dortmund to make Bundesliga team of the year. Dortmund identified him as their #1 target to replace Goetze which tells you a lot about how highly he is valued.
We've now got an experienced manager in that understands the culture and values of the club, a manager that also happens to be the best in world football at this moment in time.
We've signed Van Ginkel and recalled Essien but I feel we still desperately need experience in the middle of the park. Juventus, Shaktar and City exposed all of our weaknesses in dealing with physical sides and transition from attack to defence. Yaya Toure, Fernandinho and Vidal in particulsr walked all over us, I can't imagine us bein bullied in a midfield containing De Rossi. A lot of teams have realised if they can kick us, they can stop us, hence why we've done better against the better footballing teams like United, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool. The game at West Ham was probably the first time in a good few years I've seen us literally bullied in a league game, we can't allow that to happen if we want to do well.
A striker for me isn't the main issue, De Rossi can play CB & CM which are the two positions we need covering most. Goal scoring hasn't and won't ever be an issue for us. Torres and Ba both had poor seasons and we were still 2nd highest goal scorers in the league. We've added Lukaku and Schurrle to try and remove some of the pressure on Mata to produce the goals. Defending better has to be priority, if you concede 2+ goals to West Ham, Southampton, Reading, West Brom and teams of that ilk you will find yourselves under more pressure.
