The transfer thread

[Mikey10]

Or we judge them after 5/6 or even 10 games rather than 1

I think November - May of last season can play a part in helping us to judge them.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I think November - May of last season can play a part in helping us to judge them.

So all the work done pre season counts for nothing?

 

[Mikey10]

So all the work done pre season counts for nothing?

Last night indicated little change from what we saw most of last season. It’s one game, and hopefully things will improve, but it wasn’t exactly promising.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Last night indicated little change from what we saw most of last season. It’s one game, and hopefully things will improve, but it wasn’t exactly promising.

I disagree
The control we had before they scored was much much more than we managed in most games last year
The Romero fudge up.. well that’s not new

 

[Kandi1977]

We really need some serious quality. He can change a game. Pick a pass. We will be up against a low block a lot this season. Maddison blows hot and cold.

Not sure how to feel about this window. It’s a weird one. Signed good youthful prospects. But is the starting 11 much stronger. I’m not sure about that. Bergvail will be the one to break into it in my view.

Hopefully the youngsters will have a bright future .

As I’ve said before our attacking options are mediocre. I know plenty disagree but that’s the way I see it.

We will hopefully see movement in last coming days of window.

Done a good job to clear some of the dross.

I know some will point to others not doing much but think we had a bigger gap to close.

I wouldn't say our attacking options are mediocre, but they aren't elite. We lack a really top notch forward.

 

[RunTMC]

I think when people talk about our attackers being mediocre, it’s often done through a lens of expectations.

For instance, if the expectation is to stay in Europe then our attack is more than capable of doing that, they’re good enough. If it’s to get into the Champions League, then it’s borderline. If It’s to challenge for the Premier League title then our attack isn’t good enough for that.

So this means discussions and debates aren’t always done on the same wavelength and this often leads to disagreements. For me we had a worse attack that came 5th last year. I’m judging our talent on the ability to get into the top 4. We’ll see how things develop

 

[braineclipse]

I think when people talk about our attackers being mediocre, it’s often done through a lens of expectations.

For instance, if the expectation is to stay in Europe then our attack is more than capable of doing that, they’re good enough. If it’s to get into the Champions League, then it’s borderline. If It’s to challenge for the Premier League title then our attack isn’t good enough for that.

So this means discussions and debates aren’t always done on the same wavelength and this often leads to disagreements. For me we had a worse attack that came 5th last year. I’m judging our talent on the ability to get into the top 4. We’ll see how things develop

Very good point, think that should clarify things.

We are relying/hoping for some very young players to make a real impact. Odobert, Bergvall, Moore. Gray and Spence from deeper areas probably, but still. Hopefully a couple (or more) of them will. They seem to fit the system and are replacing players that had very little impact last season in an attacking sense.

Then there's also Solanke who even if he has a somewhat disappointing season (I don't think he will) gives us another out and out striker option.

So unless none of these young players make a real impact and Solanke is poor/unlucky with injuries we're stronger than last season and with a potential huge upside now and especially for the future.

These new players seem to fit the system. That is really important too.

 

[Bishop]

I think when people talk about our attackers being mediocre, it’s often done through a lens of expectations.

For instance, if the expectation is to stay in Europe then our attack is more than capable of doing that, they’re good enough. If it’s to get into the Champions League, then it’s borderline. If It’s to challenge for the Premier League title then our attack isn’t good enough for that.

So this means discussions and debates aren’t always done on the same wavelength and this often leads to disagreements. For me we had a worse attack that came 5th last year. I’m judging our talent on the ability to get into the top 4. We’ll see how things develop

We should always be aiming for the very top, at least then if you don't quite make it you get closeish.

Too often on here I see discussions where people are so willing to settle for whatever we can get and that honestly that's never going achieve anything.

You must always aim to improve, it doesn't matter how good you think things are now, you analyse your weakest link and you improve upon that part. That is how winners stay winning and we don't even win in the first place to even consider settling for what we have at any given time.

So for me no, our forward line from last was not good enough, it was mediocre. We'll see how it does this season. I'm hopeful that the addition of Odobert and Solanke improve the efficiency but it is a concern with Son very clearly tailing off and the right hand side being a mess (Johnson and Kulu just don't cut it I'm sorry).

 

[glasgowspur]

We should always be aiming for the very top, at least then if you don't quite make it you get closeish.

Too often on here I see discussions where people are so willing to settle for whatever we can get and that honestly that's never going achieve anything.

You must always aim to improve, it doesn't matter how good you think things are now, you analyse your weakest link and you improve upon that part. That is how winners stay winning and we don't even win in the first place to even consider settling for what we have at any given time.

So for me no, our forward line from last was not good enough, it was mediocre. We'll see how it does this season. I'm hopeful that the addition of Odobert and Solanke improve the efficiency but it is a concern with Son very clearly tailing off and the right hand side being a mess (Johnson and Kulu just don't cut it I'm sorry).

I don't agree with the mediocre bit but I agree with the rest.

 

[Jurgen the German]

I disagree
The control we had before they scored was much much more than we managed in most games last year
The Romero fudge up.. well that’s not new

Monday was almost the same as a lot of games last season; Villa at home, West Ham at home, Chelsea at home.

 

[braineclipse]

We should always be aiming for the very top, at least then if you don't quite make it you get closeish.

Too often on here I see discussions where people are so willing to settle for whatever we can get and that honestly that's never going achieve anything.

You must always aim to improve, it doesn't matter how good you think things are now, you analyse your weakest link and you improve upon that part. That is how winners stay winning and we don't even win in the first place to even consider settling for what we have at any given time.

So for me no, our forward line from last was not good enough, it was mediocre. We'll see how it does this season. I'm hopeful that the addition of Odobert and Solanke improve the efficiency but it is a concern with Son very clearly tailing off and the right hand side being a mess (Johnson and Kulu just don't cut it I'm sorry).

I don't think where we as fans aim, or how express opinions about that on a message board has any impact at all on how the team does.

It's fine to call the front line mediocre in the context of the aim being one of the best teams in the world and that being the basis for comparison. But it's perhaps worth being aware that if that context isn't given how people will read/understand you describing our front line as mediocre will perhaps be different to what you're trying to say.

 

[Daisuk]

We should always be aiming for the very top, at least then if you don't quite make it you get closeish.

Too often on here I see discussions where people are so willing to settle for whatever we can get and that honestly that's never going achieve anything.

You must always aim to improve, it doesn't matter how good you think things are now, you analyse your weakest link and you improve upon that part. That is how winners stay winning and we don't even win in the first place to even consider settling for what we have at any given time.

So for me no, our forward line from last was not good enough, it was mediocre. We'll see how it does this season. I'm hopeful that the addition of Odobert and Solanke improve the efficiency but it is a concern with Son very clearly tailing off and the right hand side being a mess (Johnson and Kulu just don't cut it I'm sorry).

Of course you always aim for the top, but you can't just cherry pick whatever player you want for your weaker positions to upgrade. I think our new strategy of signing young players with huge potential makes a lot of sense. You get them cheaper, there's less expectations, but their ceiling is who knows? If we only spent money on established players, we would get less players in (we don't have unlimited money obviously) and we all know how often the more established players tend to flop.

Ange himself says it, what's the point of not aiming for the top? Of course we are. But we cant get there through splashing huge cash on established players, and perhaps we should be realistic about having to build over some time - you can't just buy success for a season.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Monday was almost the same as a lot of games last season; Villa at home, West Ham at home, Chelsea at home.

Except…
Villa scored from a quick counter and a set piece (a brilliant one)
Chelsea was our own downfall with dumb sending off but we had nowhere near the control we had can Lestah ..
West Ham, yeah I’d agree, but again super quick counter and of course we set up their winner

 

[Jurgen the German]

Except…
Villa scored from a quick counter and a set piece (a brilliant one)
Chelsea was our own downfall with dumb sending off but we had nowhere near the control we had can Lestah ..
West Ham, yeah I’d agree, but again super quick counter and of course we set up their winner

We absolutely battered Villa, even with a depleted side. As myself and others have said, we have to blow teams away because we’re clearly not adept at seeing the game out when it’s tight. Remains to be seen if we can tighten up the defence and if the forwards can improve because there’s other teams who are better going forward than us, not just top 4 rivals either, Saudi Sportswashing Machine have better forwards than us but some don’t want to see it.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

We absolutely battered Villa, even with a depleted side. As myself and others have said, we have to blow teams away because we’re clearly not adept at seeing the game out when it’s tight. Remains to be seen if we can tighten up the defence and if the forwards can improve because there’s other teams who are better going forward than us, not just top 4 rivals either, Saudi Sportswashing Machine have better forwards than us but some don’t want to see it.

They have Isak who is class
They have Gordon who is very good and still seems to be underrated
The rest? I don’t think they any depth in attack but that’s a different convo

I agree Villa we battered them but concede a very good set piece and a counter. That can happen to any side. They did that to Arsenal. But it’s how we deal with it

I’m not gonna overreact to us conceding the goal we did be Lestah unless it’s a recurring theme again like it was last year. I can handle conceding good goals but that wasn’t a good goal. It was woeful from one player not doing the most basic of things

 

[Bishop]

Of course you always aim for the top, but you can't just cherry pick whatever player you want for your weaker positions to upgrade. I think our new strategy of signing young players with huge potential makes a lot of sense. You get them cheaper, there's less expectations, but their ceiling is who knows? If we only spent money on established players, we would get less players in (we don't have unlimited money obviously) and we all know how often the more established players tend to flop.

Ange himself says it, what's the point of not aiming for the top? Of course we are. But we cant get there through splashing huge cash on established players, and perhaps we should be realistic about having to build over some time - you can't just buy success for a season.

You've probably not really seen my postings on these matters before so I can understand your misunderstanding of my position. I do not and never have advocated for the purchase of established superstars. That honestly couldn't be further from the truth. That is not the ENIC.

I have instead for many years on this board been a prime advocate for speculative early buys model so our current model is one I'm very happy to endorse ie. he signing of a Gray, Bergvall etc. Because like you say where their ceiling lands is open for debate so again very happy to buy those kind of players.

That however does not mean you then settle on the players you have brought in. You analyse them, you work out their weaknesses and if they can be improved upon, you move them on and bring in the next potential option. That's what I mean by not settling and aiming for the top. You have constantly try to innovate your playing squad I til you get to the point it is winning and as I'm painted to keep pointing out we aren't winning yet so we need to keep trying to improve. That's how you aim for the top.

I complain about settling because many on this board seem to be of the opinion that a forward line of Son, Richy and Johnson was good enough and my question to that would be good enough for what? A top 4 challenge? Just about. Challenging for the league? Hell no and we want to be getting to the point whereby that is the quality we have. Whether that is via self made youth prospects like Moore or bought in ones like Bergvall or even decent aged players like Bentancur I am not fussed. I just know the forwards line we had last season needed to be improved upon and to be fair we have attempted to, but it felt like so many this summer were happy just to stick with what we already had as if that's ever going to achieve anything.

 

[Jurgen the German]

They have Isak who is class
They have Gordon who is very good and still seems to be underrated
The rest? I don’t think they any depth in attack but that’s a different convo

I agree Villa we battered them but concede a very good set piece and a counter. That can happen to any side. They did that to Arsenal. But it’s how we deal with it

I’m not gonna overreact to us conceding the goal we did be Lestah unless it’s a recurring theme again like it was last year. I can handle conceding good goals but that wasn’t a good goal. It was woeful from one player not doing the most basic of things

Yes thats two players that would walk into our team. I don’t think there’s any debate about that.

 

[SpurMeUp]

I think when people talk about our attackers being mediocre, it’s often done through a lens of expectations.

For instance, if the expectation is to stay in Europe then our attack is more than capable of doing that, they’re good enough. If it’s to get into the Champions League, then it’s borderline. If It’s to challenge for the Premier League title then our attack isn’t good enough for that.

So this means discussions and debates aren’t always done on the same wavelength and this often leads to disagreements. For me we had a worse attack that came 5th last year. I’m judging our talent on the ability to get into the top 4. We’ll see how things develop

We've also had the best part of a decade of Harry Kane. Hard to readjust.

Prior to that Bale.

We do have high expectations.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Yes thats two players that would walk into our team. I don’t think there’s any debate about that.

Isak walks into any team other than city
But they don’t have depth up top
I’ll also wait and see him Solanke settles because he fits us so well in theory
Isak is the now the second best striker in the league and more all rounder than haaland. I’d prefer him in our team for sure

 

[RunTMC]

We absolutely battered Villa, even with a depleted side. As myself and others have said, we have to blow teams away because we’re clearly not adept at seeing the game out when it’s tight. Remains to be seen if we can tighten up the defence and if the forwards can improve because there’s other teams who are better going forward than us, not just top 4 rivals either, Saudi Sportswashing Machine have better forwards than us but some don’t want to see it.

I guess what you’re saying is if we don’t improve going forward then we’re in danger of Saudi Sportswashing Machine finishing ahead of us. Yeah that’s definitely a possibility.

But it’s worth noting that they had better forwards than us last year and finished below us. And we’ve improved ours but they haven’t. But there’s still time. They have quality in Isak and Gordon but we have more depth