£12 million Diouf - £4 million Austin or something like £9 million for Rhodes...the most prolific British striker since 2012 (source BBC) Confused me !!!!
INJURED...good god above!! What are our famed medical team doing. Remember Demba Ba? Oh and his knee has 'not exploded yet. An expensive N'zonzi replacement, less of course the attitude. Given what we need ( and I think we all agree) I'm underwhelmed. No disrespect implied to Imbula
Well with the Shawcross injury's and no adequate cover or support we will be finishing further down the table than most expected of us.
I think we have missed a golden opportunity to get our highest finish ever, however I can deal with that as long as we get things right player wise for next year
Likewise Smithers, as you have said before consolidation of the team, shows us how much we miss Huth though.
There have been many comments regarding Huth since he went to Leicester, the fact that he hadn't played for a long time after recovering from injury, how Hughes preferred ball-playing CBs, how we had our best season last year without him......etc. Even I was not overly concerned at the time when he left, as we were moving on. However the Shawcross/Huth partnership was probably the best we had for a long time and I now feel that the defensive solidity they provided would have outweighed the perceived 'footballing' improvement Hughes was introducing. I have no concerns about Hughes and what he has achieved since taking over from TP but how we could do with Huth now! To think that someone who was regarded as perhaps 'unsuitable' for the Hughes revolution, is within sight of a premiership winners medal and a place in the champions league.
I don't understand all of this garbage about CB being able to play good football. In my opinion CB are there to defend and then do a 10 yard pass to a more creative player. In defending terms Huth is still probably the best in the prem. A massive mistake letting him go.
Agree. When playing out from the back the holding midfielder often sits between the 2 CB's when coming to get the ball - so as you say - a 10yard pass is all that's required.
For all of his many qualities, Ryan is not exactly a Rio Ferdinand. The word is Stopper and that is exactly what he is...and does. Lets get Munisea up and he will fit the bill quite nicely
Any stokies want Rudy Gestede, currently at relegation bound Aston Villa, as our striker in the summer ?
We have an inherent and fundemental problem regarding strikers - we need to take the plunge and invest heavily in this area. We can not keep reverting to type.
Maybe What puzzles me is that one of the better strikers of recent years..Mr Hughes does NOT appear to see a decent striker and sign him.
