For me, Coleman needs genuine competition and to work hard for his place. This guy doesn't quite fit the bill for that.
Janmaat - in talks with Watford - would be a better option (albeit more expensive)
He should still get a decent amount of time at CB because I agree we'll probably play three at the back quite often but I wanted to see him be fifth choice CB and second choice RB would've easily racked up 10 games in both position.Unless Holgate is now seen as our back up CB considering we only have 3 snr CB's at this time and it looks as if we are going to play 3 at the back a lot this year....
WOOL.I really do enjoy when supporters of other teams visit here and gives us their views on players, managers, etc. It makes me sad when they are met with 'sodd off back to little Soton'-comments. I appologize for some of the bad behaviour, we're a proud bunch, Evertonians, and sometimes that pride comes out in shait ways. I like Soton, and wish you guys a great season ahead.
Janmaat will be a starter at Watford.
Martina will be adequate back up. Coleman is another who gets a lot of stick but it's purely down to the standards his displays normally set.
We don't need to be paying 50-60k p/week and an inflated fee on a back up.
Depends how good you want your squad. This guy could play 30 games this season, injuries are very easy to come by.
Well we've had 5 youngsters cover RB from the end of last season to now and all did reasonably well. - Connolly, Pennington, Kenny, Davies and Holgate. Pennington injured, Davies not really a RB but Kenny certainly is. A waste of time and money for me , it'll be another Gibson/McGeady type signing , done as a cheap option but not adding to the quality of the squad and eventually just blocking the way of a youngster when he's given a run out in a low key game. We should concentrate money and resources on buying quality players in key positions .Well we've also got Holgate as well which means competition between the back-ups will be very good...
WOOL.
hes a journeyman back up, we shouldnt be giving game time to players like this ahead of holgate or kenny.
Think it was clear from the outset that we wouldn't end up signing your top players. At least not this year. Won't be so sure about that come next season. As for your two worst players, probably right and that's exactly will be the reason why they'll be back ups. Surprised by the form of Stekelenburg though.There was a lot of talk that it's Erwin Koeman that likes Martina and is the reason we signed him. A lot of fans questioned the validity of the deal because he's so far from Premier League standard it's slightly worrying. He blocked the path to the first team of one of our younger RBs (just like yours) and was largely frustrating to see in the squad.
Do find it brilliant how you lot were taking your pick out of van Dijk, Forster and Bertrand earlier in the Summer and you've ended up with arguably our two worst players last season.
That's not completely true imo. He has a history of developing youngsters. Maybe your lot overrate your academy players. Something that will happen easily, as every fan loves to see players from their academy break through and have a great career. Only a very small percentage ever makes it though.I've gone through it before but we've always been a club that prides ourselves on our academy and the development of young players. Koeman cut that off, albeit with a benefit of our highest league finish but our fans/board were never truly in love with Koeman due to it.
Sure you'll see the same thing with the likes of Holgate and Davies.