Tell you what I think Comm...These are decent players who if were part of a decent set up..say like West Ham, Swansea would really shine. The fact we are getting a right royal stuffing every week now is draining their confidence. So I still think they are good signings ( Coates apart) I just think our teams current situation if draining the life out of them.
You are probably correct. Take Lens for example of being bitten by the SAFC curse. No doubt a very good player but he.s hardly been that impressive lately. Do they just get drained of any confidence or do they not have faith in the other players/manager/formation etc? But surely with Lens M Vila Toi Borini all so called better players things should have been better. (This is not just about man u game).
We've definitely improved on last season from an attacking perspective and are creating chances in every game, but the defence is shocking. We might improve with a change in tactics, because time after time our full backs are caught up field which the opposition exploit every time. Lens, M'vila and Toivonen Kabul and Mathews the jury is still out Coates
Danny Murphy hit the nail on the head on MOD last night, he said that it's not that they aren't trying, it's just that we haven't got the quality . In my opinion he's exactly right.
Think they'll be great signings when they get up to speed. Rather than criticize the signings why not criticize the Budget? Clearly the budget meant we went for next level who were unwanted and unfit rather than the average players who don't improve us like we have done for the last five seasons. I don't know what people want us to do when we don't have the money to work with. Perform magic tricks apparently.
I think its the total opposite. On paper we have a better team than 5 or 6 teams in this league who are doing better than us. All our problems come from lack of closing down and concentration. Lazy and a poor mentality in certain players cost us stupid goals. Look at utds first goal. Blind carries the ball 30 yards without a single Sunderland player going near him. He lumps a hopeful ball in the box and PVA just watches Mata stroll past him. Second goal. Cattermole spots Rooney half a dozen times, too lazy to track the run and ended up trying to grab his arm then actually shoved him into the ball. Game over. Laziness
Laziness or defeatest? They looked beaten before kick of. Maybe the reputation of man u was to much for some of them.
I'm still happy with the signings I was pleased with at the time (Lens, M'Vila, Borini) and still not that happy with the ones I wasn't (Kaboul , Coates) so no change really. The season as a whole is testing my sanity though.
Lens, M'Vila, Toi, Borini are all very good signings. Kaboul, Matthews, Coates have been underwhelming to this point.
I think the signings are fine, though they will need some confidence back. I just hope the last couple of defeats havent dented their confidence so much that they fall apart in the next few games (West Ham, West Brom, Newcastle, Everton). Nothing wrong with losing against Man U and Man City (to be expected), but we now need a change of fortune against the other teams.
I'm generally happy, I do have one concern and this is not a dig at Borini however he was bought to increase our goal scoring chances and in the three league games in which he has started we haven't scored any goals. Is it just a matter of time in DA finding the right formula cause that time is fast running out. The squad need a lucky break in front of goal to get us going and that needs to happen against the Hammers.
Quite happy with the singnings, even though some are not exactly what we had earlier hoped for. I hope YK listens/watches the same pundits as me as they are all to a man ridiculing him, and us for going anywhere near him. So far he has had one outstanding game, a shocker and the others OK imo, I still have hopes for him and like the way he does not hide in games and is not afraid to take players on, just hope we back him and dont help the media destroy him, and us in the process, come on Younis lad, show em.
I'm happy that we've gone for better players, rather than another dozen lower priced bottom six players like we have been doing. Bottom six players keep you in the bottom six. So this summer has shown more ambition. We can't afford ten new Euro stars, so it's going to take time to build it. But it can be done - Stoke proved it. Pulis began with Crouch and one other (can't remember who). Next season they signed another couple of that standard. By 2014-15, they finished in the top ten! We just need to ensure that we don't get relegated in the meantime.
