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Daniel Levy - Chairman

Brooks I like and would have liked him here.

But I think it’s also true to say that unless he turned out to be some Alli-style phenom, he’d likely have had fewer minutes with us than he has Bournemouth.

He may well have gone for more minutes at a club that size, and at his age I think that was the right decision.

Same with Sessegnon at Fulham. And interestingly, not a huge amount of clamour for him now after a full season in the top flight.

I’ve not seen enough of or enough from Maddison to conclude that he’d improve us.

With Lamela being injured and Christian having to play almost every minute I think it’s fair to say he would have gotten a decent amount of minutes.

Same with Maddison/Lamela -
 
With Lamela being injured and Christian having to play almost every minute I think it’s fair to say he would have gotten a decent amount of minutes.

Same with Maddison/Lamela -

Sure, quite possibly.

Like I say, I’d have Brooks. Maddison not so much.

Man for man though, a significant drop in quality vs Eriksen and Lamela, when on form and fit, respectively.
 
I also think people are forgetting that it looked like Lamela started this season with the worst of it behind him. He was playing and we were keeping Eriksen on the bench in more than one game. At what point do we stop saying we need signings and just admit we’ve been really unlucky with a whole bunch of players this year? We don’t want to end up in a situation like with Drinkwater at Chelsea where we have a fit player that never expects to play.
 
I also think people are forgetting that it looked like Lamela started this season with the worst of it behind him. He was playing and we were keeping Eriksen on the bench in more than one game. At what point do we stop saying we need signings and just admit we’ve been really unlucky with a whole bunch of players this year? We don’t want to end up in a situation like with Drinkwater at Chelsea where we have a fit player that never expects to play.

At the point where we do what Liverpool, for example, did. Address the shortcomings in your squad.

We were woefully short in midfield. If Dembele and Winks were fit, then fair enough. But we knew neither would be. We were obviously short in that area and did nothing to address it or move on the deadwood.

Trippier proved long before this season that he wasn't a good enough right back in a back 4. We should have signed someone in there too.

Yes we've been unlucky with injuries but we were also obviously short in areas and did nothing to address those weaknesses. That's resulted in having to play Danny Rose in midfield, in rushing Dier back to play there when he's not right and in putting a not-up-to-speed Big Vic in there against Ajax. Trippier's shortcomings have resulted in us playing a young centre back there.
 
I also think people are forgetting that it looked like Lamela started this season with the worst of it behind him. He was playing and we were keeping Eriksen on the bench in more than one game. At what point do we stop saying we need signings and just admit we’ve been really unlucky with a whole bunch of players this year? We don’t want to end up in a situation like with Drinkwater at Chelsea where we have a fit player that never expects to play.

Because we haven’t been unlucky in the CM area, if anything we have been lucky with Sissoko.
 
Imo

Summer window was about Alderweireld and Dembele not finding moves that suited them, so we couldn't make room in the squad, or release money for transfers/wages.

Winter window, Poch didn't want to spend money on what was available.

What part of that is Levy's fault?
 
At the point where we do what Liverpool, for example, did. Address the shortcomings in your squad.

We were woefully short in midfield. If Dembele and Winks were fit, then fair enough. But we knew neither would be. We were obviously short in that area and did nothing to address it or move on the deadwood.

Trippier proved long before this season that he wasn't a good enough right back in a back 4. We should have signed someone in there too.

Yes we've been unlucky with injuries but we were also obviously short in areas and did nothing to address those weaknesses. That's resulted in having to play Danny Rose in midfield, in rushing Dier back to play there when he's not right and in putting a not-up-to-speed Big Vic in there against Ajax. Trippier's shortcomings have resulted in us playing a young centre back there.

That’s all well and good, but we will need around £200m+ to do what Liverpool did.

iirc, approx figures -
VVD £75m
Becker £66m
Keita £50m
AOC £30m
Fabinho £39m
Shaqiri £12m

Plus an absolute bargain in Robertson, so credit there!

We just have to understand that, currently, we don’t have those kind of funds.
 
That’s all well and good, but we will need around £200m+ to do what Liverpool did.

iirc, approx figures -
VVD £75m
Becker £66m
Keita £50m
AOC £30m
Fabinho £39m
Shaqiri £12m

Plus an absolute bargain in Robertson, so credit there!

We just have to understand that, currently, we don’t have those kind of funds.

We don't need 6 players, we needed 2 at a minimum. They didn't need to be at VVD or Becker's level price wise. We were in a stronger position than them at the end of last season.

Either way, I wasn't looking for players to challenge for the league. I was looking for a couple of players to freshen up the squad and address the two positions we were really short in.
 
We don't need 6 players, we needed 2 at a minimum. They didn't need to be at VVD or Becker's level price wise. We were in a stronger position than them at the end of last season.

Either way, I wasn't looking for players to challenge for the league. I was looking for a couple of players to freshen up the squad and address the two positions we were really short in.

Cool, no worries.

I was just going off your point -

“At the point where we do what Liverpool, for example, did. Address the shortcomings in your squad”.

Really interesting discussion and I don’t want to go around in circles so I’ll just finish on view that I believe Levy and Poch, who are two hugely experienced, professional and skilled individuals will be all over this.

They will be feeling it more keenly than any of us. I just don’t accept the view (not yours) that we are simply stubborn or miserly or penny-pinching or complacent or incompetent.

I believe Levy and Poch do their best within the constraints we have and by-and-large the results have the great, the development is going the right way and these have been done wonderful seasons for us.
 
At the point where we do what Liverpool, for example, did. Address the shortcomings in your squad.

We were woefully short in midfield. If Dembele and Winks were fit, then fair enough. But we knew neither would be. We were obviously short in that area and did nothing to address it or move on the deadwood.

Trippier proved long before this season that he wasn't a good enough right back in a back 4. We should have signed someone in there too.

Yes we've been unlucky with injuries but we were also obviously short in areas and did nothing to address those weaknesses. That's resulted in having to play Danny Rose in midfield, in rushing Dier back to play there when he's not right and in putting a not-up-to-speed Big Vic in there against Ajax. Trippier's shortcomings have resulted in us playing a young centre back there.

This is the Liverpool that very clearly waited for precisely the players they wanted, rather than second rate alternatives, correct? Also the Liverpool that had the Coutinho money burning a hole?

Again, not suggesting we shouldn’t make signings, I’m just saying appreciate the context of the time.
 
That’s all well and good, but we will need around £200m+ to do what Liverpool did.

iirc, approx figures -
VVD £75m
Becker £66m
Keita £50m
AOC £30m
Fabinho £39m
Shaqiri £12m

Plus an absolute bargain in Robertson, so credit there!

We just have to understand that, currently, we don’t have those kind of funds.

But we would not need to spend £200m if we had spent some money over the last 12 months. But because we failed to we are now behind the curve and now we need to spend money to be competitive to compete for a CL next season
 
Imo

Summer window was about Alderweireld and Dembele not finding moves that suited them, so we couldn't make room in the squad, or release money for transfers/wages.

Winter window, Poch didn't want to spend money on what was available.

What part of that is Levy's fault?

I would suggest maybe it was Levy's fault because he priced both players out of moves. He did a similar thing to Janssen last summer even though Poch had made it crystal clear that Janssen has no future at this club. We could have sold him and got some funds in but Levy asked for too much money and could not get a deal done. So we have been playing his wages for the past year when we could have sold him
 
I would suggest maybe it was Levy's fault because he priced both players out of moves. He did a similar thing to Janssen last summer even though Poch had made it crystal clear that Janssen has no future at this club. We could have sold him and got some funds in but Levy asked for too much money and could not get a deal done. So we have been playing his wages for the past year when we could have sold him

Genuine question : which clubs were trying to buy Janssen? I recall a few loan enquiries but I honestly can't recall definitive reports (to the extent any media report is definitive) about permanent moves? It may just be my shocking memory though, so happy to be corrected.
 
If Janssen wasn’t injured for the first few months of the season he would have at a minimum been loaned somewhere and we wouldn’t have been paying his wages. He would have also then been maintaining some of his value for an eventual sale.

Another example of a serious injury screwing us, in a bit of a minor way in this case.
 
Genuine question : which clubs were trying to buy Janssen? I recall a few loan enquiries but I honestly can't recall definitive reports (to the extent any media report is definitive) about permanent moves? It may just be my shocking memory though, so happy to be corrected.

Fenerbahce, where he went on loan the previous season.
 
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