Daniel Levy - Chairman

[Baleforce]

Peter Crouch was a notoriously poor header of a ball relative to his height. Llorente will do a good job for us in the short term. He is 32. Not like he's on the 5 year plan. And am I right or are you comparing Llorente to Janssen?????? Good grief. Why don't you throw out a name to match your personal requirements?


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

yet ironically he scored the most important header in the clubs history

 

[billyiddo]

@Libero put my thoughts across thoroughly enough - It's been an *acceptable* window, more or less. But not exceptional.

I believe our net spend is now only about 5-10m this window, and actually non-existent if we include the sales of Bentaleb and N'Jie in our figures for this summer's activity. So it's back to type on that front, and we've spent what we've earned, no more. I'm actually mostly okay with that, though - we can't expect a Sissoko-esque late outlay exceeding our transfer income *every* summer, so it's not something I'm too hung up about in relation to this window.

However, in terms of the players we did bring in, it's a mixed bag. Sanchez, Gazzaniga, Foyth, Aurier and Llorente - a good bunch of players brought in, with some real class in there (Sanchez and Aurier), a kid with potential (Foyth) and an old head with experience and Prem-proven skills in front of goal (Llorente). However, our single most identified need heading into this summer was for a pacy attacking midfielder, not for a CB, RB or backup striker in particular - and that need remains unaddressed.

Overall, there have been better windows in terms of addressing squad needs - but there have also been atrocious penny-pinching, short-sighted nightmares of windows, so overall, I can't complain. Here's to all five of our signings getting the time and support they need this time around, instead of being instantly f*cking demeaned like Sissoko and Janssen were. And let's hope our as-yet unproven signings from last summer (i.e, the aforementioned duo and N'Koudou) really show us what they can do this time around.

Walker replacement was the standout priority this summer and we done about as well as we could have hoped for there.

I personally thought CB was the next priority either an improvement on Dier (probably the easiest of our starting XI to improve) or better cover than CCV and Wimmer - with Sanchez and Foyth we have potentially improved both our staring XI and cover whilst also freeing Dier up to cover Wanyama with less disruption to the rest of the side. Again I'd say we have done very well here.

A plan B forward wasn't really on my list but it certainly makes us stronger on paper.

Pace in the attacking areas was important and we failed to get anyone in here, so that's a negative afaic

Barkley was clearly a long standing target which I think we would have got done were it not for the injury - I imagine the lad from Barca was seen as an alternative to him but it sounds like they wasn't interested in a loan deal which we wanted so we could go back in for Barkley at a later date, possibly?

Window was a lot more good than it was bad imo - but yeah far from perfect

 

[Libero]

Walker replacement was the standout priority this summer and we done about as well as we could have hoped for there.

I personally thought CB was the next priority either an improvement on Dier (probably the easiest of our starting XI to improve) or better cover than CCV and Wimmer - with Sanchez and Foyth we have potentially improved both our staring XI and cover whilst also freeing Dier up to cover Wanyama with less disruption to the rest of the side. Again I'd say we have done very well here.

A plan B forward wasn't really on my list but it certainly makes us stronger on paper.

Pace in the attacking areas was important and we failed to get anyone in here, so that's a negative afaic

Barkley was clearly a long standing target which I think we would have got done were it not for the injury - I imagine the lad from Barca was seen as an alternative to him but it sounds like they wasn't interested in a loan deal which we wanted so we could go back in for Barkley at a later date, possibly?

Window was a lot more good than it was bad imo - but yeah far from perfect

Pretty much my feelings overall. Not knocking Levy, I think he has done and continues to do a fantastic job on balance but I always feel like we have left something and not quite finished the job, especially when we are in a position of strength being in the CL for a second year running and the pull of Wembley and the New stadium.

Aurier is a fantastic replacement for Walker and its funny because I was thinking at the time when the rumours really started to surface, what RBs could we go in for and he was on my mind but I never thought we would go for him given his issues in France. Llorente was a bonus because I do like the player and I think he gives us someone who can actually put some pressure on Kane so he isn't totally comfortable and a different option if we need to use it.

Sanchez is obviously highly rated and I think and hope he will prove to be a wonderful signing but I think our need for extra pace/trickery in the front areas was greater and if it was an either/or then I would have personally put the money towards that.

 

[Libero]

Every club could always have done more .. as I'm sure every fan site/forum/reddit is saying today, I disagree about the general theme

- Aurier is an amazing signing, a lot of people in the game rate him as a better player now (and 3 year younger) than Walker is, has pace, power, more assists and CL experience and has played in a side that has won trophies.
- Sanchez to me is this years Wanyama, a lot of people think he's a bench option, I suspect he's will be first 11 more often than not. People question why we spent so much money on defense, here' the thing, Verts/Toby +Dier are very good, we do however want to play 3 at the back that allows us to commit our FBs up the pitch and help us score more. That strategy does leave us open to diagonal balls from deep to wide pacey players (something Pool & Chelsea have shown us with some regularity), Sanchez pace is hopefully in part to cover this.
- Llorente scored 15 goals for a truly brick Swansea side in his first year in the PL, has experience, has won stuff, has scored everywhere, hard to say we would find a better backup option to Kane and is actually different from Kane.
- Foyth is our typical for the future buy, we will know in a year or two if he works out.

The obvious miss that people refer to is that wide attacking player, problem is we have 4 players that already score goals (Kane/Alli/Son = 20 goal range each, Eriksen will get you 10), goalscoring isn't really an issue. A more direct player yes, but not many out there.

The who is the issue, Lemar? the guy that turned down 92M, Mahrez could have been an option, but suspect he is a risk and probably wants bigger than us.

Not disagreeing with your overall sentiment and it does tally generally with mine. My issue with the window is only that if Sanchez and that money was either/or in terms of buying someone with pace/trickery for the front areas (which we don't know, we could have purchased Sanchez and that front player) then I personally think that money would have been better off invested there rather than in defence but it is a personal opinion and choice. As for doing more, of curse every club could say that. My feelings are that Levy could gamble a little, he did last year obviously with Sissoko and probably feels burnt but in he end we needed him just numbers wise to fill out the squad. We are not capitalising on a position of relative strength. I am not suggesting going and spending £150m net but now is the time to make that one extra signing. Next year we might not get the chance, we might not have qualified for any European competition and therefore hold no sway over any rivals regardless of the stadium project. It just feels a little unfinished and the pressure to right that issue will grow by next summer.

Totally agree on the numbers with the three you mention behind Kane but our problem is then outside of that........Sissoko? Likely not to make it here for a variety of reasons. Lamela? By the time he is back it is going to be 14-15 months out. N'koudou? Possibly the right attributes but might not be good enough to earn a proper chance right now. Edwards? Again, very young, don't want to put too much pressure on and burden him with expectation. Other than that, we have no options in the front three really. That's why I say we need to 2 of those type players next summer as the absolute priority above anything else imo. If it pushes Son, Alli or Eriksen to the bench at certain times then that is brilliant because that will mean the two brought in are really doing it performance wise and that then gives us a stronger bench where we can change the game if it isn't going to plan.

Sanchez will definitely play, no way he won't at the price we payed and it will be as part of a three which I think is great because I think 3 at the back really suits how we play and allows the full backs to really get involved.

Llorente is a fantastic deal at £12m. Plenty of experience, good on the ground and great in the air, totally different option if we require it during a game and genuine quality that will keep Kane on his toes.

 

[NoLimits01]

I just love how we fans can effortlessly opine about spending mega millions worth of money like they're molecules of air.

To Fuqk with chairmen, boards, agents and players. Fuqk the whole notion of sensibly managing a business. It's all about us and what we want right now.

And fuqk you if you don't agree with me.

And I thought I was the only one who sometimes feels like this reading this forum.

I don't know how many people on here actually have to deal with these amounts of money, but the pressure involved in making sure you have made the best possible decision is quite high regardless of what commodity or facility is being brought[/QUOTE]

 

[Libero]

I just love how we fans can effortlessly opine about spending mega millions worth of money like they're molecules of air.

To Fuqk with chairmen, boards, agents and players. Fuqk the whole notion of sensibly managing a business. It's all about us and what we want right now.

And fuqk you if you don't agree with me.

Think this is slightly throwing the baby out with the bathwater tbh. I haven't read every comment on this thread but the way your post goes on its like you feel people are baying for us to spend money we certainly haven't got. They aren't. People are merely suggesting that some more potentially could have been spent or money spent elsewhere could have been re-prioritised in a different area.

Your notice me response is totally at one end of a spectrum where I would imagine 0.1% of this board actually is in reality.

 

[Libero]

And I thought I was the only one who sometimes feels like this reading this forum.

I don't know how many people on here actually have to deal with these amounts of money, but the pressure involved in making sure you have made the best possible decision is quite high regardless of what commodity or facility is being brought

[/QUOTE]

Its a forum. People discuss what they like/don't like etc and voice opinions. Some people feel we could have spent more certainly, I don't think people are looking to push this club over a financial cliff and that is not being advocated by anyone, not that I have read anyway. If it makes for such irritating reading then I hardly see the point of signing up and posting tbh.

 

[alekaras]

I don't think we can judge this transfer window right now. Yes, we could have used some pacy attacking player, but we also could have used a backup to Kane a couple of seasons ago and we did just fine. And when we got a Kane backup (Janssen), it was the players we had bought the season before that that chipped in with the goals (Alli and Son).

Did we need defensive strengthening to the extent we got? Probably not, if we're just looking forward to next season. But let's not forget that Verts isn't getting any younger and the Toby situation is not resolved (and he's not going to get younger either), so a little succession planning doesn't hurt in an area where some of our oldest players play. And to go off on a bit of a tangent here, I think the fact that we are doing this kind of succession planning may just mean that Poch isn't planning on moving on anytime soon. [end of tangent]

So personally I am very happy with the transfer philosophy this window. Whether I'll be happy with the specific players we got, that remains to be seen.

 

[jts1882]

Llorente is a fantastic deal at £12m. Plenty of experience, good on the ground and great in the air, totally different option if we require it during a game and genuine quality that will keep Kane on his toes.

There is not secret that we play one up front and Kane is firmly established as first choice. This makes it extremely difficult to find a suitable back-up. A player of the quality to challenge Kane is probably beyond our means and other options will be lesser players and/or inexperienced. To get a top quality player, who offers something different, and presumably accepts the more limited role is a great coup. He also brings experience to a squad that is very young so he could also play a mentor role.

 

[NoLimits01]

Its a forum. People discuss what they like/don't like etc and voice opinions. Some people feel we could have spent more certainly, I don't think people are looking to push this club over a financial cliff and that is not being advocated by anyone, not that I have read anyway. If it makes for such irritating reading then I hardly see the point of signing up and posting tbh.[/QUOTE]

Oh I've been signed up to this forum for years it's just that I rarely post and I know what a forum is about and it's one of the reasons I normally enjoy reading this one. Sometimes thought I do feel the need to comment, but that's alright as it's a forum and I'm allowed to state my views as much as anyone else.

 

[lovely rita]

Think this is slightly throwing the baby out with the bathwater tbh. I haven't read every comment on this thread but the way your post goes on its like you feel people are baying for us to spend money we certainly haven't got. They aren't. People are merely suggesting that some more potentially could have been spent or money spent elsewhere could have been re-prioritised in a different area.

Your notice me response is totally at one end of a spectrum where I would imagine 0.1% of this board actually is in reality.

Exactly - no one is saying we should spend mega millions. But actually our current policy is extreme austerity. We have the lowest nett spend in the PL.

There is plenty of room between the madness of City and Utd and the extreme. austerity of us.

 

[Pirate55]

Walker replacement was the standout priority this summer and we done about as well as we could have hoped for there.

I personally thought CB was the next priority either an improvement on Dier (probably the easiest of our starting XI to improve) or better cover than CCV and Wimmer - with Sanchez and Foyth we have potentially improved both our staring XI and cover whilst also freeing Dier up to cover Wanyama with less disruption to the rest of the side. Again I'd say we have done very well here.

A plan B forward wasn't really on my list but it certainly makes us stronger on paper.

Pace in the attacking areas was important and we failed to get anyone in here, so that's a negative afaic

Barkley was clearly a long standing target which I think we would have got done were it not for the injury - I imagine the lad from Barca was seen as an alternative to him but it sounds like they wasn't interested in a loan deal which we wanted so we could go back in for Barkley at a later date, possibly?

Window was a lot more good than it was bad imo - but yeah far from perfect

I agree with you. Overall, a good window for us I feel. If Barkley would have been fit, as Poch clearly wanted him, that would have been the icing on the cake. However, we might still pick up a fully fit Barkley in January at a reduced price - a win -win I feel.

I am not sure we desperately need a fast, tricky wide player. We already have an established Son for this role, Lamela might come back and Sissoko and NKD might yet come good. Poch seems to prefer that the pace in the side is provided by flying wing backs and we have Rose and now Aurier as first teamers with able understudies in Trippier and Davies. Sessegnon from Fulham would be a good additional acquisition.

Most importantly for me, is that we kept our first team at the club, wth the exception of Walker. He has been replaced by a similar beast who is younger and cost half the money. Llorente is proven class who even at 32 brings a proven winners mentality at the highest level. Add in a beast at CH with pace and power in abundance and a couple of good young prospects complete our squad with almost zero net spend.

A fantastic window overall. Well done Sir Daniel, a masterly performance. I rate it A+.

 

[Baleforce]

Exactly - no one is saying we should spend mega millions. But actually our current policy is extreme austerity. We have the lowest nett spend in the PL.

There is plenty of room between the madness of City and Utd and the extreme. austerity of us.

nah, we do take risks, njie, n'koudou, sissoko, janssen, paulinho etc, so on and so forth

also, how does extreme austerity fit with the most expensive stadium build in PL history?

if we were gonna be cheap we'd have time shared an athletics track

 

[parklane1]

Exactly - no one is saying we should spend mega millions. But actually our current policy is extreme austerity. We have the lowest nett spend in the PL.

There is plenty of room between the madness of City and Utd and the extreme. austerity of us.

Rubbish.

 

[Lemonade Money]

For people pining for pacy players, is that not Aurier and our wing backs generally?
If we bought a pacy forward, who is he going to replace out of Kane, Dele, Eriksen?
Which target did we miss out on who's pacy? Seems like Poch is happy with the system, just wants a better squad.

 

[milo]

Exactly - no one is saying we should spend mega millions. But actually our current policy is extreme austerity. We have the lowest nett spend in the PL.

There is plenty of room between the madness of City and Utd and the extreme. austerity of us.

Which players that did move clubs during the window and were achievable, should we have signed?

 

[Baleforce]

For people pining for pacy players, is that not Aurier and our wing backs generally?
If we bought a pacy forward, who is he going to replace out of Kane, Dele, Eriksen?
Which target did we miss out on who's pacy? Seems like Poch is happy with the system, just wants a better squad.

if we bought a pacy forward where would he run, our opposition normally sit deep with 10 men between us and the goal

 

[afsoc4life]

Did someone say 88m spend was extreme austerity? Dear LAWD!! ROTFLMAO!!

 

[Lemonade Money]

Which players that did move clubs during the window and were achievable, should we have signed?

I don't agree with the Windy piece you posted, saying the window was only rated as acceptable because we didn't sign a long term replacement for Rose.
1. We can do what we did with Walker when we sell Rose?
2. In theory the squad is stronger than last year.
I still think that in light of the stadium costs, and our recent zero net spends, Poch knew he had to sell to buy and identified the biggest asset he was happiest to sell (Walker), in order to provide funds.

 

[lovely rita]

Did someone say 88m spend was extreme austerity? Dear LAWD!! ROTFLMAO!!

Everything is relative - we have a zero nett spend over the last 5 years. Compared to every other PL club that is extreme austerity.
Perhaps we are pushing our luck if we think we Poch can continue to over perform .