Zatara
Player Valuation: £100m
Too much chaff isn't the same as too many players, we're quite threadbare actually.
Not at all, were overstocked...
Too much chaff isn't the same as too many players, we're quite threadbare actually.
Not at all, were overstocked...
Not at all, were overstocked...
I disagree. If 4 stalwart squad members, with over a thousand games between them, are at the end, we would expect for us to have established replacements lined up if we had ambitions to at least remain best-of-the-rest.
By replacing them with players who may bomb after an initial honeymoon period (seeing as the replacements haven't yet proved anything at a regular top 6 level) we risk taking two steps backward in order to make merely one step forward.
It's a risk, but the early signs are that our new players have bedded in well. Let's hope it continues, but I'm not one for saying we're deffo stronger after the evidence of two mere games.
If they had played a million games for the world 11 it wouldn't matter. The comparison was whether we got stronger than last year, therefore you compare what has come in this year against what has left from last year.
I'm not saying your opinion is wrong I'm just saying that is how you compare improvement from the previous year.
replace chaff with wheat, add European competition and ambitions to have domestic cup runs, and we're not overstocked.
That's what I mean about us not having convincingly replaced mainstays like Hibbert, Osman, Pienaar and Howard. They were good enough all those years to get us semi-regular top 6 and now it doesn't look like we have such players (at the moment). We're left with a bunch of chaff, 3 or 4 proven quality players, some youth lads coming up and signed newcomers who have a lot to prove this season.
If we'd have signed players with proven top 6 experience in one of the major leagues I would go with the idea we're stronger now.
A transition season then.
Still, just wanna say again i like the early signs...we've played well. Just not counting all me chickens and all that.
If they had played a million games for the world 11 it wouldn't matter. The comparison was whether we got stronger than last year, therefore you compare what has come in this year against what has left from last year.
I'm not saying your opinion is wrong I'm just saying that is how you compare improvement from the previous year.
we can't say without any doubt that we're deffo stronger just because our first two games have gone well...if lord forbid Bolasie and Gana bomb and Stek has a row of stinkers so Joel comes back in would we say after a few torrid months that we're still stronger than last season?
We can't say we're stronger because we don't yet know the quality of the new players, as we've only played two games. The lads that have gone were proven, but over the hill...so needed replacing. It remains to be seen if their replacements are actually at least as good.
Time will tell is all. Better yet, we sign one or two players of proven consistent quality before the window closes, then I'll be right onboard with the "stronger than last season" shouts.
Only Gana has improved the eleven. SO FAR.
I honestly believe our first XI is difficult to improve considering we can't attract very many players of the level above what we have. The midfield and GK were so bad that it didn't take much to make better but elsewhere it's tough. So improving the depth of the team which was almost non existent last season isn't a horrible strategyOnly Gana has improved the eleven. SO FAR.
Also the Stek is miles better than the goalkeeping monstrosity of last seasonWilliams is a superior defender to Stones. Bolasie is going to pipe you down.
Also the Stek is miles better than the goalkeeping monstrosity of last season
I would think not young enough howeverIt appears to be that way, doesn't it? At the very least we've gotten younger at the position which should please old Zatman.
I honestly believe our first XI is difficult to improve considering we can't attract very many players of the level above what we have. The midfield and GK were so bad that it didn't take much to make better but elsewhere it's tough. So improving the depth of the team which was almost non existent last season isn't a horrible strategy
It's not really mysterious. We targeted those players because we thought we could get them and it didn't happen so we changed strategies. The new plan was to target proven premier League players that could challenge for a spot in the first 11. So we haven't taken the team up a level so much as we made it easier to maintain the top level we're currently at. It's still a positive windowWell, if you take our best players then yes uts hard to improve on them...but thats half a team.
The mysterious thing for me is going from the big names we apparently bid for to the level were seeing now.
As @bluestevon has said a few times, if we truly wanted players then we could get them if we paid enough.