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Transfer thread

A fit Nicolas Jackson is super athletic but a wild finisher, so not worth a huge outlay, but remember he is far better than a crocked Ritchie on the treatment table.

Chilwell is perma-crocked.
 
billyiddo said:
This window is becoming increasingly frustrating, barely any real movement in or out when what is needed for both should have been fairly obvious.

Had we brought in MGW i'd be reasonably content so far with seeing 3 first team options coming in (kudus + MGW + Palinha) but having seen our movement stall since then, compounded by the loss of Maddison, then a different picture is forming.
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I agree. But as you point out one signing is essentially the difference between a frustrating window and a window to be reasonably content with at this point.

Hopefully we get that one right and over the line fairly quickly.
 
braineclipse said:
I agree. But as you point out one signing is essentially the difference between a frustrating window and a window to be reasonably content with at this point.

Hopefully we get that one right and over the line fairly quickly.
Click to expand...

We just need to hold our nerve even if it means buying nobody. We only need 2 type of buys in my opinion

21-26 year olds that compete immediately in the first team
U21s to nurture and turn into first teamers

I know we probably feel a little beaten up from the BM game. We went into it with a long injury list and that probably equated to 4 first team unavailable. We played one of Europe's finest teams and it probably did us some good in a perverse sort of way, especially exposing the left side weaknesses. Even with our first team, it would have been incredibly tough as we're not at that level just yet.

Obviously a big signing would be great but the most important thing is that any new signing maps to our long term plan like Kudus does. Just buying for the sake of buying or plugging short term gaps is a mugs game. We should know that from our history.
 
Going into another season 2 to 3 players short would be a disaster if it happens. Udogie can't be relied upon so a LB is needed, Solanke is ok but has injury issues so another CF is needed and with Maddison now out and Kulu a while away we need another ACM.
If we don't get these issues rectified we will struggle, our squad isn't deep enough or have enough quality yet.
 
Grays_1890 said:
As someone who I think it fairly level on the board and ownership I have to say, watching last night made me realise we need at least 2 fairly hefty additions to this team. We are way off it
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It's an interesting equation. How can all of these be true at the same time?

1) We desperately need 2 or 3 more quality additions
2) Fans have only identified Richi and Biss that are surplus 1st team.
3) 1st team players will have to miss out on the UEFA squad as it's too big
4) Most of the U21s are being shipped out on loan, with no 1st team space available

There is something clearly amiss here and I think it always comes back to the quantity over quality equation. Are we still buying too many players that don't have high enough ceilings? Our squad is rammed.
 
Muttley said:
It's an interesting equation. How can all of these be true at the same time?

1) We desperately need 2 or 3 more quality additions
2) Fans have only identified Richi and Biss that are surplus 1st team.
3) 1st team players will have to miss out on the UEFA squad as it's too big
4) Most of the U21s are being shipped out on loan, with no 1st team space available

There is something clearly amiss here and I think it always comes back to the quantity over quality equation. Are we still buying too many players that don't have high enough ceilings? Our squad is rammed.
Click to expand...
What you don't seem to be putting into the equation is that some of the players you think are great or good enough, actually aren't. Our big/established buys have been Solanke/Maddison/Richi which says it all. A lot of our players we are living in hope turn top class in a couple of years, or blind faith that Frank is going to convert into amazing players.

Whilst we are always living in hope of players becoming better rather than investing in actual quality we will always end up being way off it because the league is far too competitive now. Even Man U, who we needed to apparently beat in the final to get CL football and acquire better players have gone and bough Cunha/Mbuemo/Sesko. All three players would absolutely walk into our team, and they aren't even one of the title challengers. We are way off it.....
 
Muttley said:
It's an interesting equation. How can all of these be true at the same time?

1) We desperately need 2 or 3 more quality additions
2) Fans have only identified Richi and Biss that are surplus 1st team.
3) 1st team players will have to miss out on the UEFA squad as it's too big
4) Most of the U21s are being shipped out on loan, with no 1st team space available

There is something clearly amiss here and I think it always comes back to the quantity over quality equation. Are we still buying too many players that don't have high enough ceilings? Our squad is rammed.
Click to expand...

I think we are short genuine left back cover and competition for Solanke to have a reasonably solid starting point for a squad :

Vicario/Kinsky
Udogie/Porro/Spence
Romero/VdV/Danso/Dragusin
Palinha/Gray
Bentancur/Sarr/Bergvall
Madduson/Kulusevski
Kudus/Johnson/Tel/Odobert
Solanke

That's 21 players without counting Davies & Takai (and of course the players believed to be on the way out) The Maddison & Kulusevski situation leaves a big hole regards to linking midfield with attack and is a pretty critical position area that we are now lacking - if both of these players were available then things look better but as it stands we are now missing a starter and cover in an area that can make or break your attacking/possession play - we could be in for a pretty turgid start to the season as things stand
 
Muttley said:
We just need to hold our nerve even if it means buying nobody. We only need 2 type of buys in my opinion

21-26 year olds that compete immediately in the first team
U21s to nurture and turn into first teamers

I know we probably feel a little beaten up from the BM game. We went into it with a long injury list and that probably equated to 4 first team unavailable. We played one of Europe's finest teams and it probably did us some good in a perverse sort of way, especially exposing the left side weaknesses. Even with our first team, it would have been incredibly tough as we're not at that level just yet.

Obviously a big signing would be great but the most important thing is that any new signing maps to our long term plan like Kudus does. Just buying for the sake of buying or plugging short term gaps is a mugs game. We should know that from our history.
Click to expand...
I mostly agree. And our plan A and B respectively should imo be signing a first team ready quality #10 and a young player who can already do a job with big potential. Both should be players we'd want regardless of Maddison's injury.

But I also think gap plugging can be useful if no such options can be found/signed. Massive holes in the squad or severe imbalances can harm us long term even if the solution itself is more short term gap plugging.
 
harr1984 said:
What you don't seem to be putting into the equation is that some of the players you think are great or good enough, actually aren't. Our big/established buys have been Solanke/Maddison/Richi which says it all. A lot of our players we are living in hope turn top class in a couple of years, or blind faith that Frank is going to convert into amazing players.

Whilst we are always living in hope of players becoming better rather than investing in actual quality we will always end up being way off it because the league is far too competitive now. Even Man U, who we needed to apparently beat in the final to get CL football and acquire better players have gone and bough Cunha/Mbuemo/Sesko. All three players would absolutely walk into our team, and they aren't even one of the title challengers. We are way off it.....
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was drawing a difference in my mind to us buying a Kudus versus buying a Danso or Tel. These 3 were part of our list this summer. How would our squad look with just Zabaryni and Kudus. Would that fit the profile of what Pool or City would do? Nothing against Danso, but we bought a squad player that we knew was a good egg and a decent player. We never expected him to be in the PL team of the season. We also seemed happy to give another good egg Davies another year.

To make the change, the next phase has to be different. Apart from the LB slot that BillyYiddo has identified aboce, we're at squad capacity. It has to be about shifting players next and buying quality over quantity.
 
Muttley said:
It's an interesting equation. How can all of these be true at the same time?

1) We desperately need 2 or 3 more quality additions
2) Fans have only identified Richi and Biss that are surplus 1st team.
3) 1st team players will have to miss out on the UEFA squad as it's too big
4) Most of the U21s are being shipped out on loan, with no 1st team space available

There is something clearly amiss here and I think it always comes back to the quantity over quality equation. Are we still buying too many players that don't have high enough ceilings? Our squad is rammed.
Click to expand...
Reality good post IMO
I keep on hearing we don’t buy enough… yet we have way way too many players
Things always pick up pace as the end of the window gets closer
Teams know what hand they have to deal with for a start
2 more in and 4 out is my guess
Fans will then say we have only signed 2/3 first team players (depending who they are of course)
Yesterday’s game has sparked more anger and creates a fan reaction
 
braineclipse said:
I mostly agree. And our plan A and B respectively should imo be signing a first team ready quality #10 and a young player who can already do a job with big potential. Both should be players we'd want regardless of Maddison's injury.

But I also think gap plugging can be useful if no such options can be found/signed. Massive holes in the squad or severe imbalances can harm us long term even if the solution itself is more short term gap plugging.
Click to expand...

On your second point, we are way beyond that at this point. There are no massive holes or imbalances in the squad, even at LB. The club made their choices on Davies and he is one of 4 full-backs. We have Johnson and Kudus for the right and Odobert and Tell for the left. We have Solanke and Richi for 9 and we have Madds and Kulu for 10.

When you look closely, every position is filled with at least 2 players. We also have a few utility players who can make the squad look bigger.

As you say, number 10 is perhaps the only immediate need because of a long term injury. You get away with these because you don't have to name players in PL or UEFA squads. You can carry one more in the overall squad.
 
Grays_1890 said:
As someone who I think it fairly level on the board and ownership I have to say, watching last night made me realise we need at least 2 fairly hefty additions to this team. We are way off it
Click to expand...
I agree
But I actually think if…. If we had Maddison or kulu playing yesterday and Solanke… plus a left winger instead of shoe horning Johnson in.. we would have looked miles better
I think Frank got a few things wrong with the line up but I also think he learned a bit too which is the whole purpose of those games
 
Bedfordspurs said:
I agree
But I actually think if…. If we had Maddison or kulu playing yesterday and Solanke… plus a left winger instead of shoe horning Johnson in.. we would have looked miles better
I think Frank got a few things wrong with the line up but I also think he learned a bit too which is the whole purpose of those games
Click to expand...

I think the left side problem was more than just Johnson. Even with the changes you suggest, I still think those waves of attack down our left side wouldn't have been quelled. Spence was a massive weak link, and I'm still confused as to why Davies is a Spurs player in this part of the journey. The only LB I trust is Uodgie and he has his own defensive moments that leaves me wondering.

We either need a Zabarnyi to release VDV to left back in these fixtures, or we need another LB to go head to head with these big sides.
 
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