Although the performance today was commendable i think the weakness of our squad was there for all to see when GTF had to come an and play centre midfield. I believe we need 4 or 5 more players to make the squad competitive. A right back to give RDL some competition A left back to give Konch some competiton A centre back....with Upson out till Xmas A defensive midfielder, A prolific, proven prem striker. Although this week won't make or break our season it could go along way to determing whether we are looking up at the rest come christmas or looking down at those trying to catch us.
Ritchie De Laet has looked poor in his 2 games so he needs to proper competition and I still worry about Konchesky who has put in 2 good performances though. Midfield is the area that needs to most work. Drinkwater and James injured and when Hammond came off it shown how thin our squad is. Wingers are fine IMO as Jeff Schlupp has shown he is more then capable of doing a job Strikers now Vardy is back I think we will be fine. Nugent proved he can't be 1st choice but he still has a role, I still wouldn't buy a striker though So I think we need about 3-4 players
I thought Hammond was superb today before he got cramp Yes a big week ahead in regards to who we manage to bring in. Interesting.
Hammond did play well by the sounds of it but with him, DD & James out injured it only leaves King in the middle. Defo need 1 or 2 midfielders this week i think.
A few weeks ago I would have been all for selling Hammond. After his last 2 performances he has proved he is more then worth his place in the squad
Hammond only had cramp and DD should be available next weekend. Possibly James too The squad will look a lot better this time next week.
I have never criticised him. I have always liked him, he is solid if unspectacular. He comes on and steadies the midfield, King has really excelled next to him
My ideal signings would be: Sakho/patterson for lw Parker (already hitting out at the shoddy management at fulham) Sol bamba(said on another thread would be a great cm option for games like yesterday would harass midfields freeing up the likes of king/james) Zaha been mentioned would be an added bonus for me. Not far off competing for a mid table pos imo
Sako massively over priced and rated We would have to pay over the odds for Paterson Cambiasso looks like signing now but i wouldnt have minded Parker Nigel has already laughes off the Bamba runours Zaha would want too much wages
... agree ... Konch was also very good (I'm not his biggest fan) .. a shame Vardy was not fit ... a combination of him and Ulloa woud have caused even more mayhem ... would also have backed Vardy to have slotted at least one of those chances that fell to Nugent ,,
Where is your assumption that patterson or sakho would be overpriced come from? I think players do have some power when it comes to transfers if they say they wanna go. I reckon around 5mil would get either, which in this day and age, is not a huge gamble for the quality they have shown in a position we need to add to.
And your other assumption about Zaha wages being too high.... well this is the luxury of loan moves you negotiate a wage contribution in return for giving the player match experience.
Both Wolves and Forest look realistic promotion contenders. There not going to risk that by selling one of their best players on the cheap. Neither club is desperate for money either
... we are no longer bound to deals 'on the cheap' ...we need to pay market prices, simple as that ... but some of our posters seem hung up on 'price' ... Assombalonga went for £5m and with a 3 or 4 goal return already has gone from being 'massively over priced' to 'shrewd business' in a very short space of time - if Forest get promoted his transfer will be more than worth it. Yes - we don't want to get mugged but we do need to get realistic on what it is going to cost - great if you can find gems like Vardy and Mahrez who have likely increased their market price by five and tenfold respectively but we should not be cacking our pants at the prospect of several instances of busting our transfer record ... it WILL be required if we are to stay up ... that is the reality.
Can I just say I said that at the time? Selling two of their better players, getting them back on loan and using the money to buy a League One striker sounded foolish to many, but it made good sense to me - but it has to pay off this season. It's early days, but it's already looking like it will.
