Being a little down over recent signings and sales i decided to Look at it like this and compare last seasons player with his replacement if possible.... Westwood/Mannone -v- Mignolet/Westwood.....Worse (Mig is a top top Keeper who anyone would struggle to replace) Celutska/Diakite/Roberge/Colback/O'Shea/Brown/Dosenna/Cuellar -v- Rose/Bardsley/Bramble/Killgallon/Cuellar/O'Shea........Better with the exception of Danny Rose this is a big improvement Cabral/giacherinni/Johnson/Ki/Ba/Moberg Karlson/Mavrias/Gardener/Vaughan/Catts -v- Vaughan/Larsson/N'Diaye/McClean/Johnson/Gardener.....Better by Far (Wish we had kept N'Diaye) Fletcher/Borinni/Altidore/Wickam/Ji/Mandron -v- Fletcher/Sess/Mandron/Graham/Wickham........Sess will be a big miss but I think we may be a little better if Jozy finds his Boots and Fletch stays fit I Know I may have missed one or two but there has been so many commings and goings it is hard to remember them all. Apart form the Goalkeeping situation which is unfortunate I think we look stronger than before. I hope after a couple of games Westwood will start to improve and even come off his line for corners and crosses. I am still not 100% sure we will be OK but we have a richer vein of talent and choice in the club for certain. The only worrying thing is can they get up to speed with the Premier pace BEFORE we fall too far behind and will PDC's Ego ,Temper and Tantrums remain a possible threat to us imploding. I, like the rest of the Fans WANT us to do well, I am Willing us to do Well but only time will tell and we will still have more than our fair share of detractors, doom merchants and of course the Gutter Press to contend with. We must learn to look for Positives in our play and the team and give praise where and when it is due but not be afraid of criticism or shy away from the truth no matter how bad or brutal it may be, there are those who do not like the truth when it is told, everyone has his own version of events and what one sees as Good another sees as poor (opinions are like Ar**holes, Every body has one). To sum up and get back to the point I was making, it does look on paper that we are a stronger team/squad then last season, I think PDC may tinker in January but above all I think we are definately in for a bumpy roller coaster ride of a season, hope we are all still smiling come May.. FTM KTF Viva La Revolution
I think we're much much stronger. but yet again we lack depth. I pray to god Paolo's techniques limit injuries because if we suffer them like last year we're going to have a mare.
I always thought Westwood was better than Mig. I too thought N'Diaye was farmed out to quick. Haven't seen enough of Altidore to make a definitive decision, sometimes looks good sometimes looks as if he couldn't control a simple knocked on ball. He has made some canny runs though that weren't spotted, so jury still out but he is clearly streets ahead of Ji and Wickham so it's win win.
That proves why we have a new scouting network instead of paying over priced dross, also that doesnt show the value of money coming in. Christ we were 17th last year!
Agree with Ndiaye comment but 'westwood better than mig'. You cannot be serious. Mignolet is quite simply the best gk in the premier league.
Mig was a bit dodgey when he first came in, Give Westwood time to grow and gain confidence and I am sure he can become a very good PL keeper. Must be hard after being on the bench all of last season.
We can;t expect overnight miracles BUT it is very difficult to move away from a bottom 3 that you're already in (I'm talking 6 or 7 games not 2 or 3) - we need a few wins on the board this month - expect nowt from Arsenal but they may have an "Ozil expectation Hangover" with a bit of luck!! I've paid £200 for my season ticket so far and seen 1 game! This is a bit worryingly like last season where a lack of home games at the start was disappointing and also caused us a few problems (The postponement of the Reading game, even though we won the rearranged fixture, cost us a bit I think as everyone was on a high with Fletcher and Johnson signing that week) Hope to see improvement in the coming weeks - am looking forward to the rest fo the season with a tinge of worry in my head!!
I think the squad as a whole is better, I just still don't think we have a creative player who can boss a game. I think Ki could end up being better than NDiaye to be honest so he is not a massive miss. Rose and Sess will be the big misses but maybe Sess was as much of the problem as the solution, I guess we will soon find out. Our options up top are certainly better now with Borini and Altidore coming in, we have 4 different options now who I am confident will all score goals.
