Disillusioned

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So after all this talk, what would you do to remedy it? Seriously, Jan is around the corner and we've got - say £5m to spend plus any sales.

In an ideal yet realistic world, i would...

Send HBA and Gaston back (if this is possible)
Sell Davies for anything north of £7m
Sell Robertson for anything north of £12m (cos Bruce clearly doesnt fancy him in a flat 4)
Sell Huddlestone for anything north of £8m
Sell Jake for £5m
Sell Meyler for £1m
Sell Sagbo for £1m
That gives a war-chest of £39m.

I'd try and get Giampaolo Pazzini on loan and bring in a box to box midfielder to play alongside Diame cos for all the money we've spent and all the numbers we have our centre mid is lumbering, slow and predictable (Diame excepted).

If we were to do that would you want to give Bruce another chance at spending it all or want a new manager to come in and have big money to build a new side? I know people hark on that managers are sacked too readily but look what progress Southampton have seen by switching through 3 different managers.
 
Don't really know if we need massive changes. Just think yesterdays team selection was just plain wrong. Can't see any situation where Robertson and Brady don't play when we need to be winning games .
 
If we were to do that would you want to give Bruce another chance at spending it all or want a new manager to come in and have big money to build a new side? I know people hark on that managers are sacked too readily but look what progress Southampton have seen by switching through 3 different managers.

Or look what happened last time we were in the Premier League and sacked our manager.
 
We can't sell most of our first team.
Gareth Bale was playing left back not long ago.
I don't see the point of selling a talented player just because he's not a good full back.
 
We have plenty of good players. More or less they all put in a solid effort and don't do anything particularly wrong.

The problem is the team. It doesn't work.

All this season it has been clear that the midfield doesn't work. Livermore and Huddlestone don't do enough. They are perfectly good at what they seem to be asked to do, but it isn't enough, they sit, are good positionally, and can pass a ball to the wing. And... that's it. That's our central midfield.

At one point today, Meyler made a break, and unfortunately gave a bad pass to Hernandez - but it was exciting - it felt like a special event. Meyler also put in a few hard tackles, and went for some 50/50 balls - they also felt like special events.

Midfielders should really be doing things like making runs forward, and challenging for balls SEVERAL TIMES EVERY GAME. Meyler would do that if he played centrally. He isn't a world beater, but he will give you that.

Also, maybe I am delusional (because nobody else seems particularly bothered), but I am desparate for Quinn to be in the middle - either behind the strikers or just a CM. All game, he is the only person who is constantly looking for the ball. Moving all over the pitch WANTING the ball and then passing it on. He could make the difference in an attacking sense. He could actually play threatening balls from a central position, rather than Huddlestone/Livermore passing it to the wings or occasionally shooting wide.

I just think we are so close.

I agree with so much of this except the bit about us being so close, as I think SB has shown misplaced confidence in Hudds and Livermore for quite a long time now and don't really see him changing it. I actually think Livermore is the bigger issue. Hudds clearly offers something different despite his weaknesses, but really think Livermore tackles less well, plays fewer decisive passes and gets into attacking positions less than either Quinn or Meyler.
 
We can't sell most of our first team.
Gareth Bale was playing left back not long ago.
I don't see the point of selling a talented player just because he's not a good full back.

What's Bale got to do with it? And i said at a price that would give us 400% profit. And why cant we sell much of the first team? We've got a far too large squad so we could shift out 6 or 7 and just bring 2 in. Plus the fact we've won 2 league games this season suggests that first team isnt good enough.
 
I agree with so much of this except the bit about us being so close, as I think SB has shown misplaced confidence in Hudds and Livermore for quite a long time now and don't really see him changing it. I actually think Livermore is the bigger issue. Hudds clearly offers something different despite his weaknesses, but really think Livermore tackles less well, plays fewer decisive passes and gets into attacking positions less than either Quinn or Meyler.

I agree that it has been like this for a long time, we are close in the sense that a few changes of team/tactics would make a pretty big difference, but I share the fear that it isn't going to be solved any time soon.

Mainly because Huddlestone and Livermore don't make many mistakes to get dropped, because they do so little.

But yeah, I'm indifferent about which one of Hudd+Livermore should be dropped to get Meyler in the middle. I was slightly on the side of keeping Livermore in the team, because he seems to do slightly more offensively, but it really is only slightly more - and Huddlestone is probably better at the long balls. I suppose we could just drop them both for a while.
 
What's Bale got to do with it? And i said at a price that would give us 400% profit. And why cant we sell much of the first team? We've got a far too large squad so we could shift out 6 or 7 and just bring 2 in. Plus the fact we've won 2 league games this season suggests that first team isnt good enough.

Bale was a left back who has quality going forward. So is Robertson. See the link now?

The players we have are not playing to their ability but I still believe they can and will play a lot better. If we get rid of a lot of players we will have to accept slashed prices.
 
What's Bale got to do with it? And i said at a price that would give us 400% profit. And why cant we sell much of the first team? We've got a far too large squad so we could shift out 6 or 7 and just bring 2 in. Plus the fact we've won 2 league games this season suggests that first team isnt good enough.

We made a big profit on selling Long but what good did it do us?
 
Bale was a left back who has quality going forward. So is Robertson. See the link now?

The players we have are not playing to their ability but I still believe they can and will play a lot better. If we get rid of a lot of players we will have to accept slashed prices.

Erm, no i dont. Robertson wont become a forward.
 
Robertson doesn't have anything like the physical prescence, dribbling ability and skills, or powerful shot that Bale has. He just doesn't really have the skillset to be a top forward. He will be a very good attacking full back with some defensive frailties, just like most top full backs in world football. Look at the best; Dani Alves, Marcelo, Alba etc. their main strength is their attacking ability and their defensive work comes a distant second.
 
If somebody is not a very good defender but a good attacker I know what I'd want them to do and what I'd not want them to do. I don't really care what Barcelona do.

Remember when it was all the rage to have centre backs who could bring the ball out of defence? That didn't last long after they all seemed rubbish at tackling and clearing the ball.
 
Robertson doesn't have anything like the physical prescence, dribbling ability and skills, or powerful shot that Bale has. He just doesn't really have the skillset to be a top forward. He will be a very good attacking full back with some defensive frailties, just like most top full backs in world football. Look at the best; Dani Alves, Marcelo, Alba etc. their main strength is their attacking ability and their defensive work comes a distant second.

Which is the reason Elmo will always be RB over Rosenior.
 
Which is the reason Elmo will always be RB over Rosenior.

Yes but I still believe we would be much better out wide with Rosie behind Elmo and Robbo behind Brady. At the moment Elmo is severely limited in how far forward he can go so crosses far too early making it almost impossible to score directly from the header as the ball is coming from between half way and the goal rather than being cut back from just next to the by-line. I think one of Bruce's greatest failings is not sorting the lack of variation from crosses. They have been our main outlet every season he's been here and yet they are continuously the same, crosses from deep to nobody.

If we had Rosie behind Elmo and Robbo behind Brady our attacks out wide would be much more varied with overlaps and link up play. We would be far less predictable and much more dangerous on the attack as well as more defensively solid.
 
Yes but I still believe we would be much better out wide with Rosie behind Elmo and Robbo behind Brady. At the moment Elmo is severely limited in how far forward he can go so crosses far too early making it almost impossible to score directly from the header as the ball is coming from between half way and the goal rather than being cut back from just next to the by-line. I think one of Bruce's greatest failings is not sorting the lack of variation from crosses. They have been our main outlet every season he's been here and yet they are continuously the same, crosses from deep to nobody.

If we had Rosie behind Elmo and Robbo behind Brady our attacks out wide would be much more varied with overlaps and link up play. We would be far less predictable and much more dangerous on the attack as well as more defensively solid.

Totally agree. Its square pegs in square holes and the oppo would never know where the cross was coming from whereas at present its painfully obvious. At present we NEVER play the best right back at the club at right back!!

I only said sell Robertson cos Bruce clearly doesnt fancy him at left back. I'd have him there with Brady in front so he has the adequate defensive cover from Robbie.

My team would be

McGregor

Rosie Chester Dawson Robertson

Elmo Diame New Signing Brady

Hernandez

Jelavic

Cash in on those I identified in the other thread, get the new midfielder right and that team stays up with ease.
 
We can't sell most of our first team.
Gareth Bale was playing left back not long ago.
I don't see the point of selling a talented player just because he's not a good full back.

Didn't Gareth Bale play in a losing Spurs team twenty odd times before he was actually on the winning side ?
 
So after all this talk, what would you do to remedy it? Seriously, Jan is around the corner and we've got - say £5m to spend plus any sales.

In an ideal yet realistic world, i would...

Send HBA and Gaston back (if this is possible)
Sell Davies for anything north of £7m
Sell Robertson for anything north of £12m (cos Bruce clearly doesnt fancy him in a flat 4)
Sell Huddlestone for anything north of £8m
Sell Jake for £5m
Sell Meyler for £1m
Sell Sagbo for £1m
That gives a war-chest of £39m.

I'd try and get Giampaolo Pazzini on loan and bring in a box to box midfielder to play alongside Diame cos for all the money we've spent and all the numbers we have our centre mid is lumbering, slow and predictable (Diame excepted).

A million for SAGBO!

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