Well we headed for the sales with one thing on our minds, to get a decent steak knife to tackle the toughish weekend roasts we're going to be served up in the months ahead. Alas we didn't get one but we did manage to get some cracking dessert spoons and butter knives.
OK so we've some fresh spicy boys with potential at what appears non-exorbitant rates, BUT satisfaction = hitting the bullseye and loss of He Who Scores (even if predictable) makes for sub-orgasmic outcome.
a 9 for me. Given the way remy let us down last minute and the fact that all the cards are stacked in favour of players and agents on the final transfer day i think we have done incredibly well. Hats off to tony and the team for refusing to have their pants pulled down by borini. I also seem to recall that Spain played a few tournaments without a designated striker on the pitch ( though i appreciate Spain we aint but just saying ) I think the Board will be a little dissapointed and rightly so that they didnt land a striker but all in all I am very happy with the signings made. Upwards and onwards.
Forgot to add..........................we still appear to have the most expensive tea boy / boot cleaner on the planet in SWP!
I voted 9. STRIKERS: We tried our best to replace Remy with a quality player in Defoe (thankfully Borini was greedy!), so that wasn't really our fault. MIDFIELD: But our midfield looks very very strong now. Delighted with that. And remember when we went down that was the area that let us down. Remy scored goals but our midfield was atrocious. I think we have midfielders capable of scoring to help Austin etc. DEFENCE: Centre back is looking very strong, but my one problem is right back. No back up for Isla. But the main factor is that we haven't been held to ransom by clubs or agents this time. Borini tried, and got shown the door which is great news imo. Don't want people like that at the club. The likes of Sandro and Niko genuinely look delighted to be here.
8 from me. I agree with the recurrent themes on this thread: 1. Good young players brought in with ambition and potential. 2. The more mature recruits (Rio, Nico) still appear motivated and offer valuable experience. 3. Concerned that we lack cover up front but Vargas, Hoilett and Taarabt can all fill in if necessary. 4. Glad we weren't held to ransom by Greedi Borini. We have learnt. 5. Sensible, affordable level of overall expenditure. 6. Concerned about cover at right back. I would have liked Simpson in the squad and wouldn't have sold him. 7. Thought we might need another fit, young, speedy CB if we are to play 3-5-2. 8. Couldn't we have given SWP away?
7 for me. Simpson going made no sense. No striker (although i think they really made every effort to get one. Sometimes it just doesn't work out I suppose) Until we've seen what Vargas, The Beast can do etc can't be too complacent about how brilliant the signings are. We did that last time we were in the Prem and half of them were bollocks. Apart from those niggly things, everyone's obviously busted a gut to bring in some real talent and on paper we've got a real chance of survival.
Last night's window 1/10. Generally not bad..6/10. Would have been more if we bothered to get a striker in the last 3 months.
6 out of 10 from me because; - Never good when the biggest news from your club is a player being sold. When Remy went I assumed Harry must have a top quality proven striker lined up as a replacement. Seems he didn't and I hope I am proven wrong, but the replacements seem a step below Remy in terms of calibre. - We bought Fer, Sandro and Mutch who are all central midfielders, some more attacking than others, but all central midfielders. We bought one striker. That makes no sense to me. - We got rid of Hitchcock, Ephraim, Balanta and Mo Shariff. I wouldn't say any of these players have set the world alight, and understand why they have left...but Harry decided to let these guys go, and keep SWP. I just think we could have anticipated Remy going and planned accordingly. Hopefully Vargas will bang them in all year now, and I will regret ever doubting him.
7 My reasoning is that 8 is too generous and 6 is too harsh. The striker situation really Is an error- and the club know it. We should've had an "A/B/C/D" option lined up after Remy's inevitable departure. They're obviously aware of the urgent need for one, or wouldn't have chased the likes of Deeney/Borini/Sigthorsson. 13/14 Austin, Zamora, Johnson, Doyle, Keane, Maiga, Hitchcock 14/15 Austin, Zamora, Vargas If Austin or Vargas get injured then we lose the option to play 2 up front (Bobby's incapable of 90 PL minutes). Simpson is the other main black mark, and I'd have liked to see SWP dumped. It's a shame Hitchcock/Magri didn't work out. Overall though the tone of the transfer window is massively improved from previous seasons, and it's fair to say "lessons have been learned". 16 games to play before the January window opens..
Only time will tell, but it looks pretty good. Gave it a 7. The positives are predominately youngish signings, and the one old player has been all right and stayed fit so far, for what that's worth. But I see Rio doing a lot of organising back there, and we did look quite solid in the centre of our defense against Sunderland. We kept Adel and have supplemented his ability to open defences with Niko and Fer, and hopefully Vargas. They are the sort of players I want to watch, and they have the quality we need to survive in the PL. The negatives are obviously losing Remy and ending up with only 2,5 genuine strikers, we needed at least 1 more, maybe 2. Selling Simpson was a mystery, especially when we seem to have gone back to a back 4, still Ned can do a job there as back up for Isla, especially in a back 4. I used to think Ned was a better RB than CB, and still think he is as good there, but he can't play left side. Not sure either Yun or Traore are good enough at LB or LWB, and as Arry would have sold Traore he is obviously unsure of him - at least now he is named as a defender in the squad where I think he is clearly best. We also look a bit light weight out wide midfield with Hoilett and Phillips, but Vargas I hear, and Adel can play very well there, and Traore and Isla can also cover. Think this Squad should at least be able to compete with the lower 10 Clubs or so if Charlie and OBZ stay fit, but we will need another striker in January for sure
7 from me as well. My major concern is the striker situation, an early injury to Charlie or OBZ and we'll be struggling unless Vargas turns out to be Superman. I still am concerned about our defence but surely the training will sort that out, we're going to really benefit having Sandro as the DCM, a real beast we've lacked. I just hope we can score enough goals up to January to keep our heads above water, I remember how our good start under Warnock evaporated so quickly and that type of rut can be difficult to pull out of. Overall a much better window than our previous PL windows...
