| I'm sure I'm reiterating the same point many have made 13:03 - Feb 2 with 1548 views | Simonds92 |
But our recruitment this season has overall been very poor. I've got Delap, Szmodics and O'Shea in the good category where they have made an improvement on what we had last year. Might be slightly harsh on Jens who looks to have ability but he struggles to stamp his authority on the game and be anything other than neat and tidy imo. Townsend also looks to have brought added depth and his signing makes sense.
Mentality is a huge part of football and we have had an incredible group for the past 2 years. We've ripped that up too much imo and the players with that mentality have been left on the sidelines.
But now we've done what we have, the fact that we're not expecting to make signings in the next 24 hours pretty much seals our fate imo. We need a striker, a RW, a CM and a keeper. Top priorities are the striker and a keeper and it looks extremely unlikely on either front. What a horrible decision we made with Hladky!
We all know what happens on Saturday when Hirst breaks down against Coventry and we're left with 1 senior striker. |  | | |  |
| I'm sure I'm reiterating the same point many have made on 13:28 - Feb 2 with 1395 views | pointofblue |
I'd put Cajuste ahead of O'Shea, as he is a clear upgrade on Luongo. The only issue is he can't do it for 90 minutes. I know O'Shea has a fanbase on here but I don't think Woolfenden did anything wrong to be dropped for the Brighton away game. Greaves, I'm not sure if he's the required upgrade on Burgess either. Johnson and Phillips have been very disappointing. I'm not sure what the point was in signing Godfrey at this moment in time.
Szmodics and Clarke are in the similar boat - we signed both whilst not playing in a way to suit their strengths. Hutch and Philogene for a total of £40m seems awful business at this stage, albeit it's early days for Philogene. It was a real shame Ogbene picked up an injury when he did. Muric - less said the better. | |
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| I'm sure I'm reiterating the same point many have made on 13:42 - Feb 2 with 1350 views | TheBoyBlue |
There are some that haven't worked out yet. Muric is the obvious one, but Jack Clarke too. Johnson has disappointed. We haven't seen as much of Phillips either, but he was worth a punt on loan and actually I don't think he's been terrible. Godfrey and Philogene we haven't seen enough of to assess yet. However, of the rest I would count as a success. Delap brilliant, Cajuste too, Szmodics, Ogbene was shaping up nicely too, whilst I've been really impressed with O'Shea and Greaves. But of course injuries really haven't helped. Ogbene has been lost for pretty this season, we've now not got Szmodics and Greaves was out for a chunk too.
I don't think the lack of a new striker is for the want of trying. Its just that what proven Premier League standard striker is going to join us or any of the promoted teams? Especially now. | |
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| I'm sure I'm reiterating the same point many have made on 13:51 - Feb 2 with 1323 views | ArnieM |
My thoughts on our recruitment is as follow.
We will have had a recruitment strategy ( i believe MA says its at least a season ahead), so we get back to back promotions. The obe to the Plastic League not expected, but wrll take it anyway. But the club font just rip up their target players gir what they presumed would he another season, maybe two in the Championship.
Our targets, are young, hungry, athletic, skilful players with the aim to continue their development. Certainly not PL ready this season. If you look at the majority of our signings in August and even in thus window, the players we have signed fit that strategy exactly. Obviously one or two have been acquired to bolster a woefully unprepared squad to the rigours of the PL. The club will continuing with this pre planned recruitment strategy. Businesses don't just alter or tear up their plans mid stream just because something unexpected has cropped.
Accepting we will probably ly lose one or two once relegated ( im resigned to this outcome after yesterday now), we will have by and large a competitive squad in the Championship for next, but we still continue to develop the squad over the summer. I'm expecting ( depending on what happens tomorrow and who we lose in the summer(, for us to be targeting a commanding midfielder to take the reigns from Morsy
(gradually), plus a playmaker MF er, a striker and a GK ( maybe two). |  |
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| I'm sure I'm reiterating the same point many have made on 15:03 - Feb 2 with 1178 views | MK1 |
Our recruitment has mainly been about trading players on. Only a few, Johnson, Muric, Townsend and Szmodics were brought in because they were free or lower end of our spending. All the £15M+ players were for trading on at a profit. Nothing wrong with that of course, as long as they perform, which in large, they haven't. Woolfy & Burgess would have been ok or better than Greaves and O'Shea. Phillips and Cajuste (no idea what we are paying) were worth a punt, but not come off. Clarke and Hutchinson haven't increased they stock value at all and to early for Philogene to be assessed. Only Delap for me has increased enough to trade up. Our gamble didn't pay off because we forgot about PL experience and PL savvy. Not enough was done to get a couple of say 28 year olds with a wealth of PL experience behind them in. Didn't have to be of the best quality, just the experience of playing at this level. We took a financial gamble and unfortunately it doesn't seem to have paid off. Would rather we tried and failed though. If we go down, we go down with a squad capable of coming back up, but only if our midfield is given a complete overhaul. I have been saying all season that our midfield isn't good enough and it will be even weaker next season unless we clear out and start again. |  |
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| I'm sure I'm reiterating the same point many have made on 15:16 - Feb 2 with 1127 views | Bobbychase |
We bought Delap for a deal that will rise to £20m. We will probably sell him for £60m+ and that profit alone is enough to pay for the sort of players who can help sustain a Championship promotion push.
Pholigene is being written off after a couple of games by people who only have to look back at the history of this club to know many of our best players didn't shine immediately.
Muric has been a poor investment, Jack Clarke has struggled and we have decisions to make in the midfield but the idea our recruitment has been poor is wide of the mark for me. It's not been perfect but then look at Man Utd and how much they have wasted on substandard players over the past three years, and they have a global scouting network. |  |
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| I'm sure I'm reiterating the same point many have made on 15:19 - Feb 2 with 1111 views | Ryorry |
Absolutely sick of reading these criticisms of our recruitment team tbh, particularly re a 9. It's hardly as if they haven't been trying. They can't just wave a magic wand to get one in.
As for the rest of your comments, hindsight is wonderful. |  |
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| I'm sure I'm reiterating the same point many have made on 15:24 - Feb 2 with 1083 views | TRUE_BLUE123 |
| I'm sure I'm reiterating the same point many have made on 15:16 - Feb 2 by Bobbychase |
We bought Delap for a deal that will rise to £20m. We will probably sell him for £60m+ and that profit alone is enough to pay for the sort of players who can help sustain a Championship promotion push.
Pholigene is being written off after a couple of games by people who only have to look back at the history of this club to know many of our best players didn't shine immediately.
Muric has been a poor investment, Jack Clarke has struggled and we have decisions to make in the midfield but the idea our recruitment has been poor is wide of the mark for me. It's not been perfect but then look at Man Utd and how much they have wasted on substandard players over the past three years, and they have a global scouting network. |
Great post.
Recruitment is always tough for teams coming up in to the premier league.
Especially as we clearly won't have the scouting networks that the other 19 premier league teams have.
Even Southampton and Leicester will be miles ahead of us given how long they spent at this level. We are Cleary operating mainly in the UK market which is what we (Mckenna) feels most comfortable with for now. Im sure eventually we will branch out but it takes time. |  |
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| I'm sure I'm reiterating the same point many have made on 18:48 - Feb 2 with 929 views | textbackup |
| I'm sure I'm reiterating the same point many have made on 15:19 - Feb 2 by Ryorry |
Absolutely sick of reading these criticisms of our recruitment team tbh, particularly re a 9. It's hardly as if they haven't been trying. They can't just wave a magic wand to get one in.
As for the rest of your comments, hindsight is wonderful. |
You know it’s someone’s actual job to look into player recruitment? That’s what they are paid to do day in day out.
So with that in mind, an entire world of footballers, with us being in the worlds best league, with a load of money to spend… and we couldn’t sign a striker. I just think the questions are rightly asked on this. |  |
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| I'm sure I'm reiterating the same point many have made on 20:52 - Feb 2 with 775 views | braveblue |
Only three good signings!! Greaves, Cajuste, Hutchison ?
The team that got promoted over the past two years would not have survived in this league.
Where on earth would we find a good striker willing to come to be third choice? | | | |
| I'm sure I'm reiterating the same point many have made on 20:54 - Feb 2 with 746 views | EddyJ |
Excellent:
Delap - has been excellent. Worries defenders. Scores goals. Without him, we would be a long way adrift.
Good:
Cajuste - upgrade on Luongo, but a similar kind of player. Clearly has a fitness issue. 6/10 every game, without ever going above that.
OK:
O'Shea - solid defender. Doesn't do much wrong.
Huchinson - has shown flashes of brilliance, but we are asking far too much of him. Has been particular poor since xmas, suggesting he needs a break.
Poor:
Szmodics - not sure why we bought him. Isn't fast, physical or tricksy enough to challenge premier league defenders. Can score goals, but offers little else. Being played out of position, but not good enough to warrant building our team around.
Greaves - has looked less effective than Burgess.
Very Poor:
Johnson - positioning is poor defensively. Offers nothing going forward. A downgrade on Harry Clarke. A significant downgrade on Tuanzebe.
Phillips - paying a fortune for him based on past glories. Wants to play as a third centre back, which invites pressure. Doesn't seem to be able to move the ball forward. Several mistakes which have cost us goals.
Muric - poor distribution. Multiple costly mistakes. Causing trouble on international duty.
Jack Clarke - lightweight. Can't beat a man. Weak shooting. Similar to Szmodics, we are playing him out of position, but he has shown no signs that he is worth changing our system to accomodate him.
Too early to say:
Godfrey, Philogene, Enciso, Ogbene, Townsend | | | |
| "The world's best league" on 20:57 - Feb 2 with 730 views | Dyland |
| I'm sure I'm reiterating the same point many have made on 18:48 - Feb 2 by textbackup |
You know it’s someone’s actual job to look into player recruitment? That’s what they are paid to do day in day out.
So with that in mind, an entire world of footballers, with us being in the worlds best league, with a load of money to spend… and we couldn’t sign a striker. I just think the questions are rightly asked on this. |
lol |  |
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| hahahahahaha on 20:58 - Feb 2 with 721 views | Dyland |
Absolute and total bollix.
Except the goalies, obviously ;) | |
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