January Transfer Thread 2017

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

how many teams have world class cover for their world class players? Chelsea may have spent 30m on Batshuayi but they haven't used him as cover for Costa preferring to use Hazard up front. They can't rate him that highly as they wanted Dembele. The RS are overloaded in midfield but lacking in defence and have 2 keepers i'd rather swap for wheelybins. Spurs don't really have a CF to step in should Kane get injured... City's defence, whilst expensive isn' t great they don't have any options in the wingback/fullback roles.

@ the highlighted bit

You're bang on btw

 

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

Exactly but people are trying to argue with him simply for making those salient points.

Hence i stated that im fine to wait for the summer myself BUT i can see where hes coming from in that he wants those players asap.

But they're not salient points that's the point mate.

They're unrealistic expectations for a January window, and we both know he's merely looking for ammunition

 

[Bluewolf]

I keep seeing this, and it really is a fair question of course.

But what if he doesn't get injured? He's certainly not getting dropped. So we could have spent god knows how much on someone who isn't even playing.

Thats a fair point but we need to buy 2 more striker anyway so why take that chance when we are going to have to buy in the future.

 

[Zatara]

He never has a point, unless it is wrong. That's why he is so bitter about life.

At the end of the day there are enough games left and we have enough quality to get a euro spot which was the aim for the season.

We have a few players who can play in a few positions, as well as the like of Kenny to step up if needed from the U23's, I really don't see the problem.

Don't be sucked into peoples irrelevant points which are just another thinly disguised attack on the manager.

I still hate koeman.

Walsh is doing well though with all the transfers.

 

[ijjysmith]

Thats a fair point but we need to buy 2 more striker anyway so why take that chance when we are going to have to buy in the future.

I agree we need some more strikers. But no good ones worth a dot would be interested in Jan. I'd rather we didn't just get any old crap in, when there may be much much better options in the summer who can actually add something other than being just a back up body.

That's just my opinion, not factual of course.

 

[Efcjake]

Not having this whole strawman argument of "Well who should we have gone out and signed then?" where the other person then goes on to come up with a million reasons why we couldn't sign that player so don't start.

Also not having "Well look at what everyone else signed".


We pay a lot of money for a scouting department that is supposed to identify targets we could sign for the team. They couldn't find anyone to bring in to improve the team besides Schneiderlin? They deserve to shoulder some responsibility for the window.

Got no problems with getting rid of the dead wood. I do have an issue with accepting the lack of signings to compete for first team positions.

We made a massive profit on Stones this summer which should have been used to grow the wage bill. It hasn't.

I'm not saying it was a terrible window, but it is another missed opportunity to improve ahead of our competition. We should be signing players to improve the team and our place in the table NOW, not waiting until the summer. Players get injured and go out of form and we're going to be placing a lot of hope in the U23s to paper over the cracks of this squad. I think we could have and should have done better at bringing players into the club this window.

 

[Zatara]

It depends on who stays healthy really, he's probably first in line if any midfielders get injured

Id say second....behind davies schneiderlin barkley and gueye

 

[Efcjake]

Well swerved my friend haha

Its a crap argument.

 

[Zatara]

But they're not salient points that's the point mate.

They're unrealistic expectations for a January window, and we both know he's merely looking for ammunition

I like to give people the benefit of the doubt

 

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

I like to give people the benefit of the doubt

Apart from Koeman obviously

 

[Zatara]

Apart from Koeman obviously

Oh not at all...i'll begin to like the horrible creature if he can do well for us.

 

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

Oh not at all...i'll begin to like the horrible creature if he can do well for us.

Wouldn't giving him the benefit of the doubt be the other way around though mate?

Just sayin'

 

[Barnfred 55]

My take on the January window FWIW.

I'm happy with the quality of the 2 incoming players. MS improves the starting XI and Lookman looks to be a great prospect. The fact that he's straight into the squad and prompting such positive comments from the usually dour RK, indicates we may have a talent on our hands there.

Probably the most telling feature of the window was our ruthlessness in offloading players who, either weren't good enough, or didn't buy into RKs plans. In not directly replacing them, he's also shown a most unexpected and, for me, welcome faith in our youth set up, which backs up a recent article in the Dutch press. I believe the majority of fans on here wanted us to get rid of the deadwood, and also give youth more of an opportunity in the first team squads. Well RK has definitely done that.

On the negative side, I believed that we had an outside chance of breaking into the group above us in the league, and possibly even a UCL place as, barring Chelsea, it's all very compact up there. However for this to happen, I think we needed a true playmaker who could help us break down teams who park the bus. We don't have anybody of that ilk in our squad or, indeed, in our youth set up as I don't think Dowell is ready to step up yet. We didn't get one, and it may well be that there wasn't anybody our there available, but I still consider it a missed opportunity as finishing 4/5th would make it easier to attract the better players in the summer.

Overall though, I think most people on here are relatively happy with the window, as am I, and that was evidenced by the virtually complete lack of heads falling off on this transfer thread last night. We were even able to laugh off the unexpected failure of Kone's transfer. Imagine that 6 months ago.

We have ended up with a bit of a threadbare squad, but this gives an opportunity for some of the youth players to step up and take their chance. If so, we should learn a bit more about their capabilities so we go into the summer transfer window knowing exactly what we need to bring the squad upto the required level to compete for top 4.

 

[Efcjake]

Dave's dropped more dung than a herd of wildebeests today mate.

Saying we're lacking top notch cover at wing back, a worldie keeper and a star striker to cover for our star striker is merely stating the bleeding obvious.

Right, and we've failed to address it 2 windows in a row which is dave's point.

 

[Number_25]

GK (2):
Joel Robles
Maarten Stekelenburg
Russell Griffiths

DL (1):
Leighton Baines
Bryan Oviedo

DR (1):
Seamus Coleman

DC (5):
Phil Jagielka
Ramiro Funes Mori
Ashley Williams
Matthew Pennington
Mason Holgate
Tyias Browning

ML (2/1 excl lt injuries):
Kevin Mirallas
Yannick Bolasie (+)

MC (7):
Idrissa Gueye
Morgan Schneiderlin
Darron Gibson
Muhamed Besic
Tom Davies
Kieran Dowell
James McCarthy
Ross Barkley
Tom Cleverley

MR (1):
Aaron Lennon
Gerard Deloufeu


FC (5):
Enner Valencia
Romelu Lukaku
Arouna Kone
Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Ademola Lookman
Leandro Rodriguez
Oumar Niasse

Dare I suggest we're looking a bit lightweight, especially on the wings and fullbacks.