2022/23 Jordan Pickford

[GoldenToffee]

Should have been all over Pope for £10m in the knowledge that Pickford, clearly first choice for England, would likely see his stock rise this world cup after which he could be sold next summer.

We could probably get £50/60m for him - Lloris and de Gea's days are numbered at their respective clubs for example.

This is what we've been forced into thinking as fans now: which of our best players could we sell for big money so that we can fill the squad with cast-offs from bigger clubs that may or may not give us a chance of staying in the division.

 

[Wizard]

Should have been all over Pope for £10m in the knowledge that Pickford, clearly first choice for England, would likely see his stock rise this world cup after which he could be sold next summer.

We could probably get £50/60m for him - Lloris and de Gea's days are numbered at their respective clubs for example.

This is what we've been forced into thinking as fans now: which of our best players could we sell for big money so that we can fill the squad with cast-offs from bigger clubs that may or may not give us a chance of staying in the division.

I’m sure Pope would have been happy sitting on the bench for a season when he had a move to a club with endless money on the table where he would be the starter.

 

[Bez2k2k]

Should have been all over Pope for £10m in the knowledge that Pickford, clearly first choice for England, would likely see his stock rise this world cup after which he could be sold next summer.

We could probably get £50/60m for him - Lloris and de Gea's days are numbered at their respective clubs for example.

This is what we've been forced into thinking as fans now: which of our best players could we sell for big money so that we can fill the squad with cast-offs from bigger clubs that may or may not give us a chance of staying in the division.

To be fair a goalie isn’t the hardest position to fill. You have to remember how many mistakes over the years Pickford has made, many of them costing us points. You could argue against United he should have covered his near post for Ronaldo’s goal. I think he’s replaceable.

 

[GoldenToffee]

I’m sure Pope would have been happy sitting on the bench for a season when he had a move to a club with endless money on the table where he would be the starter.

The key is to sign them before they join other clubs.

 

[Wizard]

The key is to sign them before they join other clubs.

But why would Pope come to us to sit on the bench? He was obviously going to get offers to be number 1 at a Premier League club. We also didn’t have £10m to spend on a back up keeper in the hope that Pickford had a great World Cup and is then worth £50m+

There is plenty to bash the club about without creating fanciful situations

 

[Littlesue]

Look what happened to Johnstone, 2nd choice England keeper last year, ended upon Crystal Palace's bench, what a waste

 

[catcherintherye]

The key is to sign them before they join other clubs.

I think the point is though, he wouldnt have joined us to be a 2nd choice when the option to be a 1st choice was available.

 

[stamullenblue]

To be fair a goalie isn’t the hardest position to fill. You have to remember how many mistakes over the years Pickford has made, many of them costing us points. You could argue against United he should have covered his near post for Ronaldo’s goal. I think he’s replaceable.

Agree mate. I’d swap him for a good striker and playmaker ..

 

[GoldenToffee]

I think the point is though, he wouldnt have joined us to be a 2nd choice when the option to be a 1st choice was available.

It's just a single example.

We're too slow at making signings.

Let's take January for example: we almost got relegated WITH Richarlison last season and were seemingly forced to sell him. The manager tried his hand at going into the season without adaquately replacing him, but, as almost everybody with a brain could have forseen, it's been painfully obvious for half a season (almost) that the experiment has badly failed, and that a further prolonged period without a new striker will severely hamper our chances of avoiding relegation.

So you'd fully expect a striker to be brought in as soon as the window opens. But will that happen? Will it heck - we'll throw away handfuls of attainable points by fannying around and failing to bring in what we need. We'll probably spend a fortnight in January trying to sign a teenage goalkeeper from Ireland before realising that Neil Maupay plays for us.

 

[catcherintherye]

It's just a single example.

We're too slow at making signings.

Let's take January for example: we almost got relegated WITH Richarlison last season and were seemingly forced to sell him. The manager tried his hand at going into the season without adaquately replacing him, but, as almost everybody with a brain could have forseen, it's been painfully obvious for half a season (almost) that the experiment has badly failed, and that a further prolonged period without a new striker will severely hamper our chances of avoiding relegation.

So you'd fully expect a striker to be brought in as soon as the window opens. But will that happen? Will it heck - we'll throw away handfuls of attainable points by fannying around and failing to bring in what we need. We'll probably spend a fortnight in January trying to sign a teenage goalkeeper from Ireland before realising that Neil Maupay plays for us.

I think everyone would agree we needed another attacking player.

I do think it's a bit of a different example to the Pope/Pickford one though mate. I'm not sure a 31 year old back up goalkeeper for 10m was a priority.

 

[GoldenToffee]

I think everyone would agree we needed another attacking player.

I do think it's a bit of a different example to the Pope/Pickford one though mate. I'm not sure a 31 year old back up goalkeeper for 10m was a priority.

Definitely wasn't a priority, but there again neither was a raw 20-year-old Belgian midfielder for £30m.

We spent the Richarlison money + £10m on Maupay, McNeil and Onana. Says it all about the ineptitude of the club. Deserve to be relegated.

 

[catcherintherye]

Definitely wasn't a priority, but there again neither was a raw 20-year-old Belgian midfielder for £30m.

We spent the Richarlison money + £10m on Maupay, McNeil and Onana. Says it all about the ineptitude of the club. Deserve to be relegated.

A box to box midfielder was a priority though.

I'm not sure those 3 cost 70m. And I'm not sure why we deserve to be relegated.

 

[GoldenToffee]

A box to box midfielder was a priority though.

I'm not sure those 3 cost 70m. And I'm not sure why we deserve to be relegated.

I'm pretty sure we got about £50m for Richarlison and paid about £60m for them, but in any case the Richarlison money was well and truly wasted and that's the point.

And you deserve to go down when you so consistently waste tens of millions of pounds only to get worse.

Action simply must be taken right away, whether it's backing Lampard in the window or bringing in a new man and backing him. If we don't do one of the above then we're 100% going down ain't no doubt about it.

 

[catcherintherye]

I'm pretty sure we got about £50m for Richarlison and paid about £60m for them, but in any case the Richarlison money was well and truly wasted and that's the point.

And you deserve to go down when you so consistently waste tens of millions of pounds only to get worse.

Action simply must be taken right away, whether it's backing Lampard in the window or bringing in a new man and backing him. If we don't do one of the above then we're 100% going down ain't no doubt about it.

I thought Richarliaon was 60-70m with those 3 at 3pm, 15 and 15. But hey ho.

Every team wastes money, so that would mean every team goes down?

As for the final, we would not definitely be down. Without DCL for most of the season, we have been outside of the bottom 3. You put him in for the rest of the season and we improve and move up the league. That's doing nothing. It's a possibility we would go down, but it's by no means a certainty (as evidence by the fact if the season stopped, we would not be relegated as things stand).

But you are right, we need to get another attacking player in to reduce that probability further.

 

[GoldenToffee]

I thought Richarliaon was 60-70m with those 3 at 3pm, 15 and 15. But hey ho.

Every team wastes money, so that would mean every team goes down?

As for the final, we would not definitely be down. Without Dominic Calvert-Lewin for most of the season, we have been outside of the bottom 3. You put him in for the rest of the season and we improve and move up the league. That's doing nothing. It's a possibility we would go down, but it's by no means a certainty (as evidence by the fact if the season stopped, we would not be relegated as things stand).

But you are right, we need to get another attacking player in to reduce that probability further.

We definitely didn't get anywhere above £60m after any add-ons for Richarlison but it's a moot point anyway.

We should consider Lewin as no longer a reliable player to count on and should build a squad as if he isn't playing for us: if, in the rare occasion, he's able to play a few games, massive bonus and we have more competition in the squad. If he's unfit and injured as usual, then we get the striker in who can score goals.

I also think you'll see us in the bottom three by the start of January and without bringing in new attacking options we probably won't climb out of the relegation zone for more than a game or two at a time, depending on whether any other teams can perform as consistently badly as we do.

But back to my original point a number of posts ago - recruitment has once again badly failed us and put us where we are.

I can quite positively say that if we'd have spent that £30m Onana money on a striker and additional attacking player, we'd easily be mid-table at worst now. And that's not even mentioning how abysmal the signings of McNeil and Maupay have proven to be - which almost everybody saw coming.

That's not a knock on Onana who I think may turn out to be a fine player, but completely the wrong time for us to spend what little money we had on him when we badly needed players elsewhere.

A simple £10m midfielder from abroad would have been ten steps up from Doucouré, Gomes or Davies and left us with enough money to strengthen up front.