Jump to content

Transfer Speculation (Winter 2014)


Richard

Recommended Posts

Haha lowered expectations and signing shit to average players is the best we can expect now. Silly me for thinking we might be able to sign a quality player who the manager had identified.

I don't think I'd call Bertrand shit, or average..

Bertrand is decent, yeah shouldn't include him in the list of crap we've signed over the last few years.

The manager has identified players and so far not been backed to bring them to the club. Just what we want.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Keane did a job, Holt and Bertrand could do a job and Sylla was decent back end of last season.  Whilst there's nothing there to inspire, that's probably because January is a crap month for transfers on the whole.  See; Darren Bent.

 

Who single handedly kept us up, Ashley Young, John Carew ... all completely crap January acquisitions

 

Ashley Young and John Carew were basically the exception to the rule as Lerner only took over the club in September (I think?) 2006 meaning we didn't have a proper transfer window to splash that initial cash (Carew was a swap deal for Baros anyway, wasn't he?).

 

Darren Bent was instrumental in both keeping us up and dumping us in the financial pile of doo doo that have since transpired to be in.  Are you honestly saying £18m and rising for Darren Bent is a good January acquisition and something to base future signings on?

We also signed Bent having spent no money the previous summer.

The serial moaners do seem to be those with the most warped expectations. January is famously difficult. Anyway, there's still a week to go. And Lambert, who is always coy about these things, has said he's still looking. Or is it the 30th already? In which case I should do my tax return :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The serial moaners do seem to be those with the most warped expectations.

Wow. Some have lowered their expectations so much that to not be happy with fighting relegation for consecutive years and signing average players is now considered to be warped expectations.

Lerner must be pleased.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last January we barely did any business and our form actually improved greatly in the second half of the season. I think our squad has improved already and if Hoolahan comes in, even better. Last summer Lambert was given the backing to bring in half a dozen or so players right at the start of the window, I think they feel it's the wisest way of doing business. You could say they gambled in January and could have tried going for short-term signings to keep us up but they wouldn't have guaranteed it and we might have ended up with more wages we can't shift. I think they've struck the right kind of balance, of course I hope we can get a great number 10 but who is going to let a decent one go halfway through a season unless its for ridiculous money?

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The way I see it you have to be careful to make the right deals in the January window. It can very easily become all about the short term. Although I recognise our dire need for a playmaker I'd rather we wait until the summer and do it properly if for whatever reason that isn't possibly this window.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Summer or January every transfer window is an opportunity to improve in areas you need to. Is it easy? No but I don't see why its just accepted that you can't do anything. Lambert has admitted he'd identified 'number 10' type players. Maybe if he'd been backed with some money we wouldn't be waiting to try and get hoolahan on deadline day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We paid 18M for Darren Bent, and Sunderland covered in some clauses should he be very successful. 18M at the time for a player that just scored 24 goals in one PL season with Sunderland was a fair market price if you ask me. Signings are always gambles, even with Mata, Torres, Van Persie, Özil and the lot, so it's pretty lame to attack the signing now when virtually everyone went ballistic when it happened back in 2010/11. The curious case of Darren Bent probably has many explanations, one of them being Paul Lambert and total ignorance for the talents he had on the bench. We have been through this discussion numerous times, so let's not get into it again, but my opinion is that Bent wrecked his career not only by accepting his situation and just sitting there, but also because Lambert decided never to play him again. It's not like we have scored tons of goals since Bent was left out of the team, and we lack a finisher in front of goal. We don't know if Benteke and Bent could have given us a new dimension up front, they never got the right amount of games to prove it. 

 

Ryan Bertrand is a very good player for us and a very good loan signing by Paul Lambert. The difference from this signing and everyone else he got in is that this player is someone everyone knows about, a player most teams beneath the European places would love to have in their squad. The most important difference is of course that we don't own the player and he doesn't come from months of scouting the world, so it's still zero points for Lambert's regular transfer/scouting strategy and one point for getting in "proven" Premier League quality. We have scored 69 goals since Lambert took over this club, 69 goals in 60 games. In 2007/2008 we scored 71 goals in 38 games, whilst letting in 51. Last year we let in 69 goals and when Lambert managed Norwich in 11/12 they let in 66. That's 135 goals in two seasons with two similar teams. This year we are on course for 50 blank, which isn't bad, but at the obvious cost of not scoring at all. We have a measly 22 goals in 22 games, don't have to find the calculator to find the average. I dream of the days when we can actually manage to score 15-20 or so goals more than we let in... Perhaps playing Darren Bent from the get-go and consolidating the midfield would have been a better idea than signing a lot of unworthy semi-professionals. If you get rid of player at 50k and bring in five players at 10k, as well as sign-on and transfer fees, it doesn't do us much good when none of those players are actually contributing on the pitch...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Keane did a job, Holt and Bertrand could do a job and Sylla was decent back end of last season.  Whilst there's nothing there to inspire, that's probably because January is a crap month for transfers on the whole.  See; Darren Bent.

 

Who single handedly kept us up, Ashley Young, John Carew ... all completely crap January acquisitions

 

Ashley Young and John Carew were basically the exception to the rule as Lerner only took over the club in September (I think?) 2006 meaning we didn't have a proper transfer window to splash that initial cash (Carew was a swap deal for Baros anyway, wasn't he?).

 

Darren Bent was instrumental in both keeping us up and dumping us in the financial pile of doo doo that have since transpired to be in.  Are you honestly saying £18m and rising for Darren Bent is a good January acquisition and something to base future signings on?

We also signed Bent having spent no money the previous summer.

The serial moaners do seem to be those with the most warped expectations. January is famously difficult. Anyway, there's still a week to go. And Lambert, who is always coy about these things, has said he's still looking. Or is it the 30th already? In which case I should do my tax return :P

'Serial moaners' or just putting forward their opinion like you.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Keane did a job, Holt and Bertrand could do a job and Sylla was decent back end of last season.  Whilst there's nothing there to inspire, that's probably because January is a crap month for transfers on the whole.  See; Darren Bent.

 

Who single handedly kept us up, Ashley Young, John Carew ... all completely crap January acquisitions

 

Ashley Young and John Carew were basically the exception to the rule as Lerner only took over the club in September (I think?) 2006 meaning we didn't have a proper transfer window to splash that initial cash (Carew was a swap deal for Baros anyway, wasn't he?).

 

Darren Bent was instrumental in both keeping us up and dumping us in the financial pile of doo doo that have since transpired to be in.  Are you honestly saying £18m and rising for Darren Bent is a good January acquisition and something to base future signings on?

We also signed Bent having spent no money the previous summer.

The serial moaners do seem to be those with the most warped expectations. January is famously difficult. Anyway, there's still a week to go. And Lambert, who is always coy about these things, has said he's still looking. Or is it the 30th already? In which case I should do my tax return :P

'Serial moaners' or just putting forward their opinion like you.

I'd go with serial moaners.

Fair enough putting forward an opinion, constantly reiterating it for no gain equals whingeing in my book

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Summer or January every transfer window is an opportunity to improve in areas you need to. Is it easy? No but I don't see why its just accepted that you can't do anything. Lambert has admitted he'd identified 'number 10' type players. Maybe if he'd been backed with some money we wouldn't be waiting to try and get hoolahan on deadline day.

 

We have no idea what goes on behind the scenes. For all we know Lambert and the board could've identified certain players but have concluded that we'd be better off going in for them again in the summer rather than paying over the odds for them now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

 

 

 

Keane did a job, Holt and Bertrand could do a job and Sylla was decent back end of last season.  Whilst there's nothing there to inspire, that's probably because January is a crap month for transfers on the whole.  See; Darren Bent.

 

Who single handedly kept us up, Ashley Young, John Carew ... all completely crap January acquisitions

 

Ashley Young and John Carew were basically the exception to the rule as Lerner only took over the club in September (I think?) 2006 meaning we didn't have a proper transfer window to splash that initial cash (Carew was a swap deal for Baros anyway, wasn't he?).

 

Darren Bent was instrumental in both keeping us up and dumping us in the financial pile of doo doo that have since transpired to be in.  Are you honestly saying £18m and rising for Darren Bent is a good January acquisition and something to base future signings on?

We also signed Bent having spent no money the previous summer.

The serial moaners do seem to be those with the most warped expectations. January is famously difficult. Anyway, there's still a week to go. And Lambert, who is always coy about these things, has said he's still looking. Or is it the 30th already? In which case I should do my tax return :P

'Serial moaners' or just putting forward their opinion like you.

I'd go with serial moaners.

Fair enough putting forward an opinion, constantly reiterating it for no gain equals whingeing in my book

And of course you have continually put forward an opinion which is deemed an opinion while those who consistently put forward their opinion which differs from yours is referred to as moaning even though backed with stats and performance level.

 

right-o.gif

Edited by Morpheus
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did anyone just catch SSN transfer centre bulletin. Think he said we were linked with a move for a Ukrainian who scored v England at wembley. Did i hear right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...
Â