Three of the 4 defeats we suffered since Boxing Day were against Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea away. The other one was as a result of being down to 10 men from about the 20th minute.
Said at the time we missed a big opportunity during the last transfer window of being in with a genuine shout for the top 4. Once again that ship has sailed, the RS are nailed on for top 4, will spend big again this summer and will consolidate their challenge next year.
United will buy big this summer cos their supporters demand it, so that leaves us with Tottenham battling it out for the 6th spot. Defeatist this may sound but also realistic. There was a small chance we could crack the top 4 this year, but our transfer window gave us no chance of achieving that goal.
BK will have to give RM plenty of cash as we may lose Barry and {Lukaku }{ him deffo} - KONE will not make the grade so move him on and get 4-5 players in blooding loan players & the youngsters too!
BK will have to give RM plenty of cash as we may lose Barry and {Lukaku }{ him deffo} - KONE will not make the grade so move him on and get 4-5 players in blooding loan players & the youngsters too!
I can see Barry staying, and potentially Traore and Deulofeu. I think Martinez will look to pad the squad out with another potential loan singing/bosman. He has indicated that's his thinking.
We also have some young players coming back from loan, and I do think some of them might be ready to step up.
Ultimately a lot will depend on the quality of striker Martinez get in.
no offence @butters but virtually all the points you make are just guessed.
you say we need 4/5 players in the summer as if it's a bad thing.
martinez has been here half a year and already bought robles, that czech kid (not sure if he counts yet tbh), Alcaraz, Barry, McCarthy, McGeady, Delafeou, Lukaku, Kone and Traore.
Three of the 4 defeats we suffered since Boxing Day were against Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea away. The other one was as a result of being down to 10 men from about the 20th minute.
no offence @butters but virtually all the points you make are just guessed.
you say we need 4/5 players in the summer as if it's a bad thing.
martinez has been here half a year and already bought robles, that czech kid (not sure if he counts yet tbh), Alcaraz, Barry, McCarthy, McGeady, Delafeou, Lukaku, Kone and Traore.
I still say the jury is out on his transfer skills, tbh.
I know you've been pro martinez for a lot longer than me and you keep being right when I write him off so maybe I should stop being skeptical but kone, alcaraz, traore, mcgeady and roebles are unproven at this point. And lukaku, barry and del are just loans.
I still say the jury is out on his transfer skills, tbh.
I know you've been pro martinez for a lot longer than me and you keep being right when I write him off so maybe I should stop being skeptical but kone, alcaraz, traore, mcgeady and roebles are unproven at this point. And lukaku, barry and del are just loans.
butters was asking how we could get 4/5 with under £10m, take out mccarthy and all of the rest cost about £5m together. i've seen potential in all tbh, all bar barry are squad players though, so i never had very high expectations.
i choose to look at the positives in that he could persuade two of the brightest young talents in the world to join us, lets hope that's the start of many positive signings.
you can understand his first few perms have been those he's worked with before - nearly every manager does that.
...when Moyes left I thought RM would do well to maintain the status quo. He's doing that and a bit more. I'm optimistic that we are at the start of a new journey and it will move us in the right direction.
- We currently have four players on loan, three of whom will not be joining us permanently, one of which may possibly join us in the summer (Barry).
- Once the season ends we have one striker (Kone), and Naismith who is arguably a striker too.
- Martinez has a little bit of money, perhaps 10m.
So that takes our squad down to paper-thin, once more.
We'll need about five or six players in the summer, but how can we improve with 10m when we desperately need a top striker as one of those players?
Osman will once again, due to a tiny squad, end up starting 25 league games next season.
I feel we've had our chance, and we blew it.
Is Barkley going to become our summer transfer budget? That seems the be the only way Martinez will generate the funds to add to his existing (lol) funds to get a number of players in.
We can't just sign players to replace those who are injured long term, like Kone ans Gibson.
We have a wage bill to think about, even though we sold Fellaini, Heitinga, Mucha (released), Jelavic and of course Moyes we have more senior players on the books this season along with Baines's improved contract.
No one knows whether the player Martinez wanted or needed was in the market in January.
We just assume as fans that it's simple, but it isn't. He has to plan long term, it's his first year.
No one decent is looking forward to moving in January unless it's for big money, all these young players who came out saying we were interested in them said they wanted to wait until the summer.
If Martinez wants to wait until the summer to do an overhaul then I'm fully with him.
And this 'season is over' nonsense is...nonsense, regardless of our poor form in the last couple of months we are still right up there with a game in hand. And still in the cup! I never expected the club to finish 4th with our finances, all the highest spenders are top of the table, that's no coincidence.
...when Moyes left I thought RM would do well to maintain the status quo. He's doing that and a bit more. I'm optimistic that we are at the start of a new journey and it will move us in the right direction.
