The transfer window that promised much has, it seems, delivered little but I'm not too despondent tbh. We are as a squad now 12 months on under Gus. We have strength in depth in goal, improved our defensive options and certainly improved in the centre with Roswell's arrival and Gomez. If Alvarez signs its a plus too. We have shipped out some average to poor members and upgraded them. Our much maligned strike force is intact and Fletcher, Wickham and Altidore will fight it out for places. They are not top draw but good enough IMO to see us through. The lad Mandron may well step up now there is a chink of light for him. Most of all Giacherinni is still here, fit and hungry to show us his quality. He is potentially a far better option in the Borini role anyway for me and will be a huge player for us now. He has come on as sub twice and improved our overall play and he should be a starter now IMO. Would I have liked to see Fabio back? Of course I would but I am genuinely not that depressed he isn't. If his heart is elsewhere then we would have pissed £14m up the wall and still had to look for others in January. At least now we can shift attentions to other targets in January and reinforce for the 2nd half of the campaign. My glass is firmly half full with Gus. Upwards and onwards.
We've done well, I'm more happy with the squad this year than last (bar borini, who I hoped would come after all this) Gomez is a player I really like, glad he's here. Just hope Wickham starts in the middle from now on
Just underwhelmed piss poor threadbare squad, going pub had enough, let's see if I'm smiling at 11:30
Giacc is 5 times the player Borini will ever be, that doesn't fill the gaping holes in the squad though sadly. My anger ain't with QPR, Harry, Borini, his bird, it's with, once again, SAFC and the lack of any vision or backbone, he should have had a 7 day deadline and we move on. We left it hanging for 9 ****ing weeks, to deadline day, and now we are fighting a tide. Short of a real curve ball, all I can say is that ****ing Byrne woman, the constant of several failed windows, needs to **** off, and Congerton with his talk and nice suits, but no ****ing results, can suck my dick.
our first team is ok on paper but any kind of injury crises and were ****ed. our squad is paper thin and the club have knew this since the last day of last season. i am completely flabergasted that it has come to this late stage and we are still well short in my opinion. after last season it was clearly everdent we needed more than 15 million's worth of investment and im surprised gus re signed if that was the war chest he was promised
Thing us EVERY team other than Chelsea and Man City are 2 injuries away from disaster mate. Its a fact if life for some 15 or 16 clubs and one we will have to live with . Coates and Vergini are able to fill in for dual roles and cover a few positions if necessary.
Thing is I'm not disagreeing or agreeing but would suggest we just don't know who is to blame here do we? I'd love the club to lift the lid on this saga though, after all the cryptic bollocks spouted by all parties, if only to show us who is too blame. Not holding my breath on this BTW.
Its piss poor no doubt but I fancy Borinis agent has led us the merry dance not the player himself, or the club tbf.
It's the same every window and I would have been ok with it had they not promised suprises. My earlier posts predicted two signings including alvarez and the suprise would be we don't sign anyone and I'm unfortunately right. Same old safc, but we will put this behind us in two weeks and get behind the lads.
We've just confirmed Alvarez, maybe HE is the Borini alternative, but the worry is that he's better central, and is left footed, like AJ. That said, now the worry is the poor form of the strikers, and a paper thin backline. First XI looks very good. --------------Wickham------------------ Buckley-------Ricky-------------------AJ -------------Rodwell-------------------- ---------------Catts-------------------- PVA-----Wes--------Coates-------Vergini ------------Vito------------------------ Looks good and balanced, and we would still have JOS, Seb, Gomez, Pantimillion, Fletch, Jozy, Jones. The defence is a worry.
Good post and agree that if injuries and suspensions don't hit us hard then we should be ok till January. My concern is if we are around the bottom due to lack of goals etc and then it will be another transfer window where the panic button is pressed. Would love to know what is in Gus's mind right now. Did he foresee the transfer window working out like it did? Is there a possibility he feels let down by Congerton's work? Is there a possibility he might walk? Hopefully the guy stays....maybe someone has said to him this is Sunderland and how it always is....lol
It's a slow process because we're not an attractive club and don't pay daft wages. We've been hovering on the verge of relegation and lucky to have attracted the likes of Rodwell, etc. Would we better taking a huge risk and paying huge amounts for the likes of Borini, Micah Richards etc ........ I dunno tbh. I'd love us to be spending big today but wouldn't want to be Blackpool, Leeds or Boro. The top clubs have the whole thing stitched up now and there's no going back. We have a better squad, and a much better manager, than in many previous seasons ........ let's hope we see some good football and some success soon.
Buckley should be back up, I know I will get shot for this as he has had a couple of good games but I think he's a bit of a one trick pony who will get found out quickly. A really good championship player or a bit of pace to bring off the bench. We needed Borini or Welbeck for that position and that's a good team and decent bench. Another cb for depth and we would be flying. A few hours to get 2 in but can't see it so fingers crossed we don't get injuries.
Maybe one more defender and perhaps a striker before 11pm and I think its job well done personally. Shipped some poop and replaced with far better options. Unlike last summer, every new face will contribute to the season and our squad lookjs better balanced, pacier and more options for goals outside just 1 or 2 strikers. Not spent ridiculous money and wages will be controlled. That's a prudent and professional running of the club IMO.
That's all we need. There were rumors of Jonas from Valencia this morning, would be solid business, but I don't see another CB coming now.
