02 Sep 2022 07:09:06
So,the transfer window has closed and it's been pretty underwhelming!
At the end of last season we all said our team was short of what we need.
Gk needed competition
Defence needed competition and upgrading.
At least one DM needed to allow Dougie and Mcginn to play in their flavoured position.
More attacking options and prolific goalscorer needed.

The signings we've made apart from Coutinho have not been marquee and probably aren't the ones we would have bought on Football Manager.
Our new CB has now been injured which has caused us to have to find an emergency replacement at short notice ( which we've done). This may or may not have impacted on us getting a striker.

Don't get me wrong, I think our recruitment team needs sorting because they are not as good as they should be because other teams seem to find gems and we haven't for quite a while.

But overall our squad shortages have mainly been addressed ( again, not with the players we as fans might have wanted,but addressed all the same).

If this is the stepping stone to strengthening towards improvement then ok.I know he said quality over quantity ( the jury is out on this) but I don't think it's as bad as it could have been ( Leicester) or as good as it could have been (Man City, I know!).

This maybe the transition season in our "project" and as such I think SG will now have no excuses as he's had the money, bought the players, looked at the loanees/youngsters, made the changes and addressed the shortfalls in the squad.

1.) 02 Sep 2022
02 Sep 2022 07:20:46
Why do people keep talking about Luiz's preferred position?
Whether or not you think he is suited to that position he has played as a 6 his entire professional career and has never once referred to himself as anything but a DM/DLP.

2.) 02 Sep 2022
02 Sep 2022 07:55:49
Rk, I guess that you agree with the rest of the post then!

3.) 02 Sep 2022
02 Sep 2022 09:51:04
In parts.
This window was always going to be about improving the depth of the squad more than the first team. Carlos and Kamara were what we needed most and got. Bednarek will be a decent enough option until Carlos is back in my opinion.
We don't need a striker. We have 2 proven goal scorers but we need the manager to play the right way to get the most out of them.
We have the players to be at least 4-5 places higher than last season as long as we have a plan that plays to their strengths. Unless the man that matters bucks up his ideas it doesn't really matter what we did or didn't do in the market.
No European football means we were never likely to get the cream of the crop.

4.) 02 Sep 2022
02 Sep 2022 11:32:24
We will see at the end of the season whether or not we needed a striker or not. At the moment with the system the manager wants to play I don’t think Watkins and Ings will get 20 goals between them, and quite frankly that isn’t good enough for us to progress

5.) 02 Sep 2022
02 Sep 2022 13:28:05
No striker would Ings. We could have tried getting a big target man like Mitrovic to attack crosses but Cash is worse than Shaun Wright Phillips was and the rest of the team make it too easy for defences to crowd the strikers out.
The players have proven before that they are good enough and it should be obvious to any manager worth his salt that if they can't do it in the system then it's the system that is wrong.

6.) 02 Sep 2022
02 Sep 2022 18:30:04
Or you buy the players to suit the system you want to play

7.) 02 Sep 2022
02 Sep 2022 19:40:18
Except you can't buy enough of the players with those qualities until you're in Europe and you can't do it all at once due to finances.
Man City didn't jump straight into the team they are now. They started with a more direct approach while gradually adding players that could eventually make them a team that could dominate the ball.
Pellegrini and Mancini are both managers who prefer the patient build up but they worked with what they had. Mancini eventually got the final pieces of the puzzle in his second season which is when the switch was turned.
A good manager doesn't add 2 or 3 players and expect the rest to be able to change their whole skillset.

8.) 02 Sep 2022
02 Sep 2022 21:30:26
The geordies just spent £60 million on Isak and the last time I looked they weren’t in Europe but I do agree you can’t do it all at once which is why I think Gerrard needs time and a more than a couple of windows to get the players he needs to play the system he wants.

9.) 02 Sep 2022
02 Sep 2022 22:21:42
If he doesn't change until he has those players then he won't be earning that time and it's blind faith that something falls into place.
Newcastle had to spend £60m on a player from a mid-level team who previously failed to convince at Dortmund. It's a huge amount for a relatively unproven risk who could quite easily be the next Haller or Pepe.
The one advantage he has is that he's going to a team with a manager who has set a plan around the limitations of his team rather than trying to make them something they are not.
I've never rated Howe as a top manager and I guarantee he gets replaced when they start pushing up the table regularly but it's things like the Joelinton move to midfield that show he's got the intelligence to work around what he has at his disposal.