He seems to be unable to remain concentarated and composed troughout the match, he has lapses in concentation and is known to make some wrong/hasty/rash decisions which can be very costly _______________________________________ Sounds like a perfect fit to me!
Precisely. And when we get into europe by all means discard our premier league journeymen. But you're not signing the journeymen for next season. You're signing them for this season. By next season you're not looking to consolidate any more. You sell them to Crystal Palace. We did spend a fortune. We spent more than most other clubs. We spent substantially more than anyone around us, except maybe QPR in January. I'm not suggesting staying on the treadmill. I'm suggesting not starting your debut premier league season with only one first team standard player with top flight experience (i know cork had one season on loan with burnley, let's say more than one season of experience) and not starting the season with Kelvin and Danny in the team. Signing Clyne and Rodriguez, Fine. Inducting JWP and Shaw into the first team, Fine. Bringing in Mayuka, Yoshida, Ramirez in on top of that was risky and we need only have sacrificed one or two of them for a couple of experienced heads. In the end we didn't have to sacrifice anyone for Boruc but the decision should have been made earlier.
But you don't get into Europe with journeymen. Except that it rarely works that way. It's very difficult to transition from a staid, veteran side to a young one in a blink of an eye, without risking the very things you're afraid of risking. Again, you're looking at one half of the equation. We spent big in transfer fees. We spent considerably less in wages, largely because we bought from leagues where wages are much lower. Both sides represent expenditure; you cannot look at one in isolation and ignore the other. But we did, we survived, and now we can push on.
We spent 12m on gaston- this was a big purchase. If you are one of his detractors and can't see quality then I won't bother to attempt to convince you he was good value. J-Rod 7m, showed his potential mid-late season and most would agree he wasn't a bad purchase. Clyne has been outstanding. Davis has been very good at times. Mayuka has still not been given a proper run- too early to say. Not entirely sure why he wasn't used. Boruc- fine piece of business. Forren- is one for the future, may see him next season. Don't see what your problem is with our purchases. As for players on the books do I need to go through the steps necessary to sell a player? Please don't tell me I need to explain what a contract is?
Indeed, it was weird, thinking maybe for some reason in translating he got a little confused, like he meant he was going to be 24 this year or when the season started or something? Pretty bizarre.
I regularly forget how old I am, sometimes missing by as much as two years, so Lovren missing the mark by a month isn't too bad.
The journeymen were for consolidation. We got away without them. It might have been more comfortable with one or two more. Pushing on to europe we're not going to discard Davis until we get there are we. Now the kind of journeyman we'd need to sign is one who has European experience. But it would be better to sign a high end player like maybe Verdu. Who said we should have a team of journeymen? One or two more experienced players. Just not nine kids on the field with Lambert and Davis. We offered bonanza wages and seem to be continuing to do so. From what i read about Lovren, he was set to move to whoever paid him the most this summer. Until Manchester united came calling we were undoubtedly doing the same with Buttner. I'm under no illusions that the kind of hefty wages we're paying for talents who are unproven would get us proven journeymen. I'm not saying don't go for the talents, but don't ignore experience. we took a very risky approach and only in hindsight does it stand up. And? It doesn't mean the transfer business was wise at the time.
This experienced journeyman thing sounds a bit QPRish to me. Don't know anything about Lovren and reading this thread will probably make me annoyed. His record looks good so I'm happy. Can't change title on tablet.
Good, because last season he was worth about £4m to us at best. Forget resale value. What was he worth in terms of his contribution? Not a £12m player. No way. He may become good value. But he wasn't good value. The problem is that only clyne and davis were really fit for purpose throughout last season. We spent something like £30m and the players who were worth the money we paid (and more) were only about a couple of million of that. No you don't. My point is we're overloaded with players who contribute nothing regardless of the purported aim not to pick up journeymen that's exactly what we're getting. tons of chaff.
THe silver lining is that with the ludicrous increase in revenue, the chaff will now be a tiny proportion of the budget.
Gastons price never sat well with me, but I can see that he is worth closer to 12 than 4. I think he'll do well next year, but even if he doesn't we will not lose out in any big way.
Only because of potential. On performance last season, let's say he had peaked or if he was 29, he'd be nowhere near that.
