KaiserEFC
Player Valuation: £70m
I mean he’s not wrong. The bloke is a monster but plays with the physicality of Leon Osman.
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Dymak
Player Valuation: £40m
He's completely failed to address the right hand side, and has somehow made it even weaker than what it already was. The premature swooning over Rodriguez and the loving attachment to a crocked Coleman probably had an influence.
After a good start, his effectiveness is being well overhyped and his weaknesses are leaving us weak and unbalanced.
Blues are still kidding themselves that having Rodriguez makes us the envy of the Premier League. It's not the case. If we put him up for sale tomorrow, there'd be no takers.
Dymak
Player Valuation: £40m
To correct my statement, there'd be very few takers, and perhaps none given his wages.
He's in a similar category as Eto and Rooney, imo. A stop off at Everton before they end up in a retirement league.
I really don't think you can build a decent team around his weaknesses, that's for sure.
KaiserEFC
Player Valuation: £70m
I mean look, he’s got many things right. We don’t get ripped of for players so much anymore (Iwobi notwithstanding), I think most would accept that the prices we pay are fair or even quite good for the players we buy at the time and he obviously negotiates hard with how long some of the deals take. The good players he’s signed have all been really good as well and we’ve managed to get rid of some players who I’ve thought were unshiftable.
On the other hand we’ve been left short in key areas and forced to put players into unfamiliar systems because of this and we’re lumbered with some players who probably aren’t quite up to it (nothing like Steve Walsh levels however). Essentially the playing staff still aren’t good enough in the right areas of the pitch to get us to where we want to be.
Nobody is perfect and we know that however we also all know about Everton and the bloke in the DoF role needs to be a bit closer to perfect than what Brands has been thus far. He’s a few years in so has something built and we have a real actual football manager so I think it would be foolish to start from scratch all over again.
On the other hand we’ve been left short in key areas and forced to put players into unfamiliar systems because of this and we’re lumbered with some players who probably aren’t quite up to it (nothing like Steve Walsh levels however). Essentially the playing staff still aren’t good enough in the right areas of the pitch to get us to where we want to be.
Nobody is perfect and we know that however we also all know about Everton and the bloke in the DoF role needs to be a bit closer to perfect than what Brands has been thus far. He’s a few years in so has something built and we have a real actual football manager so I think it would be foolish to start from scratch all over again.
It's a matter of opinion I suppose, but for me I don't really see us not getting ripped off anymore. I would put Mina up there with a waste of money as big as any of Walsh's signings. I've said for a long time I don't think we'd get any more than half what we paid back. Doucoure is another one that we've paid a premium for for no obvious reason. I think Allan looks a really good player but we need to improve quickly if he's going to be seen as a good value signing. Signing a 29 year old for £25m is fine if he's the difference between finishing top 6 and not, but less so if you just stay hovering round midtable. I still think our recruitment is muddled. We sign a weird mix of players in many ways, and it's not always clear exactly what it is we're aiming for.
I criticise Brands a lot but I don't necessarily want him gone, I just want him to start doing a better job. Ideally he'd stay long term because I really don't want to start all over again, but it is concerning that 2 1/2 years down the line we still seem a bit all over the place recruitment wise, and half the signings he's made can't oust pretty average players from the starting XI. I mean in all seriousness, if you'd told me when he came in that we'd have spent £50m+ on 2 new centre halves and brought in 5 new centre mids, but Keane, Sigurdsson and Davies would still regularly be playing, I don't think i'd have believed you.
Toffe3m4n
Player Valuation: £70m
Absolutely ridiculous
KaiserEFC
Player Valuation: £70m
Yeah I put about it looking good money at the time pretty much for Mina because he was an exciting signing off the back of good international tournament, which as we and probably Brands should know isn’t the best barometer for judging players. Iwobi aside I think the rest have been alright money Doucoure might have been a tad much and £25m for Godfrey is a little steep but I don’t think we were fleeced.
Wholeheartedly agree with your last paragraph, couldn’t have put it better myself. I think the safest option is probably giving him a little more time before ripping it apart and starting from the ground up but I also wouldn’t feel any real emotion if he left now either
Dymak
Player Valuation: £40m
Absolutely ridiculous
How much do you think we would get for him? Do you think there would be a bidding war?
But you suggested no one would bid for him.
Dymak
Player Valuation: £40m
I'm not sure they would. I don't think we even bid for him, did we? Had to get him on a free?
So if we publically put him for sale tomorrow no one would ring up and he'd just rot here till contract ends.
Dymak
Player Valuation: £40m
That was how Real Madrid saw it.
But we signed him from Real Madrid before his contract ran out so that's kinda ruined your point.
Dymak
Player Valuation: £40m
Yeah, we got him on free before his contract ran out because they couldn't sell him.
Look, he's got some great technically ability, but he's not Europe's hottest property. There are weaknesses to his game these days and his market value is low.
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