Having read all the comments about a lack of deals done in the January sales a thought came to me When is it the right time to buy players, is it when you are at the bottom of the league and relegation is a serious possibility, clearly not according to MM and ME Is it then, when you are 3 points off the top with 19 games left, apparently not Is it then when you haven't got enough players to fill the subs bench, of course not So what do you think would happen if we did get promoted ( not that we will, simply not good enough, no plan B and in a false position) would ME and MM wait until we were on the verge of champions league football or if we were fighting against relegation, I doubt it I blame MM for agreeing to sell Mings when he had the chance, we could have spent that money on a decent striker or midfield player(ME permitting) No I think we have dropped a big bollock here, and with teams around us investing in new players I expect our league position to change dramatically Play offs? Not too sure about that Both ME and MM are equally to blame on this and if we miss this opputunity then they should both resign
There's no good or bad time to buy players, although in January prices do seem to fluctuate. If you need a player and someone suitable comes up for a good price you get them. I think we can cope in most positions with injury unless we get a lot. We can recall Hewitt in defence where we have enough in other positions and we may not have enough quality in midfield but we have decent numbers and our wide players have yet to be given a chance shown what they can do yet, so hopefully the likes of Ambrose, Stewart and maybe even Henshall can step up second half of the season, what I saw against Southampton was very encouraging from Ambrose. Whilst we need strengthening in other positions the one which concerns me is if Murphy is injured for a long time, we're a direct team yet when he is injured we have noone to pump the ball up to. It is starting to look like we were a little silly at the time not to except the astonishing amount of money for Mings and McGoldrick, particularly I have to say McGoldrick who looks out of sorts this season but not also that he looks like he doesn't quite fit into the cohesion of our team. We attack as a team this season, whereas last year we defended as a team and let McGoldrick score worldys or rely on set pieces and Cresswell crosses, now McGoldrick is still trying to score worldys but isn't doing so and needs to start contributing more to a team attacking style of play
I have to say that there is a lot of selective memories when it comes to Marcus Evans investment.. He funded Keane and Jewell to the tune of many millions and therefore we found ourselves sinking into a financial meltdown.. (Epitome of backing the wrong horse(s) in this instance) Clearly, the addition of one or two players with a bit of quality is what we need. We don't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater and I fully expect us to have a couple more bodies in either before Rotherham or some time next week. January very rarely offers good financial value, so the loan market will be the most effective avenue for us this time round. Jonny Williams and one other will see us cement our place in the top 6 without doubt
" ( not that we will, simply not good enough, no plan B and in a false position) " Didn't we lose just one game in 19?!
Our style of football and creative flair ( or lack of) does in no way compare with the likes of Derby, Bournemouth or even Boro Can you honestly see our best 11 competing with the worst the premiership has to offer I cant
We don't need to we are in the championship atm ...let's worry about the premier league if we get there..
Let me put this another way, what do you think will happen next season if we don't get promoted, do you think ME will turn to MM and say we were really close last season Mick so here's 10 million have another go Can't see I happening and that's why I think we've dropped the ball
I don't think we need to spend £10 million... in fact I don't think we need to spend £1 Million.. We have proven in the past that money guarantees absolutely nothing.. (Priskin, Chopra etc. etc.) all you need to do is look around this league and see who has spent the most money and very few of them are experiencing the lofty heights that we currently are (Leeds, Forrest, Fulham) A couple of additions with a bit of quality will go a long way to enhance what is an efficient and functional squad
I must admit that I do share some of Yorkie's frustration about the lack of activity in this window! The fact is that we are desperately short of players in the squad and a 2 or 3 decent additions would have set us up nicely for the slog to the line, I am really worried about how we are going to compete with the other top 8 sides as we go to the end of the season.
I am less concerned with additions to the squad than I am with the way we are set up.Look at the results (and performances)we achieved through Nov and Dec which took us to the brink of an automatic place.At that time we were playing more attacking/passing football.It's only since we reverted to Hoofball that the wheels have fallen off.
Exactly Big Al, this is MM Achilles heel, he doesn't like being out of his comfort zone, thing is if he played that way a bit more often he may get more comfy with it, I know we all would!
The best time to sign a player is when the RIGHT player is available for the RIGHT money and they will add something to the squad. Its pointless signing just because we have an option to and especially with FFP. Also with BigAl on this, our recent form has seen us revert to pointless hoofing. Saturday had us playing the 'murphy' card when he was nowhere near the pitch. Twatting the ball up to use the height of Tabb/ Sears/ Anderson et al was probably more depressing than the cold and snow. We have craft and guile with Bishop and Bru, We have attack minded players if we want to give them the opportunity in Ambrose, Henshall & that injured player whose name escapes me. We had additional defensive options in St Ledger and Collison (to a degree) and neither were near the squad. We have 3 strong central defenders. We have full back options. Im not sure what area we are actually lacking in. There are players in our team I don't especially like (Hyam currently, Anderson, Tabb (I know he does his job well its just not I want from a player)& S hunt) but The latter 3 appear to be main players for MM and we do have other options but its the MM way and mainly it gets us results.
