02 Oct 2016 16:48:38
Cowpat Sid in response to your post on the 30th Sept. Which 3-5 players would I move to make places for new signings.
I'll list the players I think are the weak link or look like not getting much of a chance at this stage. Imho they are Kone, Niasse, Robles, Cleverly, Lennon and Gibson.
Definitely Kone and Niasse have to go. Robles looks like he is not rated. No point him staying so. Prob better letting him go and signing a top keeper in his place. Lennon I also feel won't get any chance. That's 4 I would definitely move on.
Cleverly and Gibson would be the least out of the six i named above I would like to see moved on. Cleverly is not a bad player to have. He is versatile and can do a decent job. I've never slagged him off and think he is an average / decent player. I just think its best for all for him to move on. Provided we would get an improvement of a replacement. Barry won't be around for much longer and will be missed. So we need a similar player in.
Gibson I would prefer to stay but what is the freakin point. He's always injured. I stood up for him right up until the beginning of this season saying we should keep him and that I was happy he got a new contract.
What happens less than a month into the new season? He's out injured. No point having him take up a place in the squad when he is always unavailable for selection.
Them 6 I would move out. Obviously provided we get other players in. Don't want to be left too thin. The 3 loanees of McGeady, Garbutt and Galloway will return. For me Galloway is the only one worth holding onto. Garbutt doesn't seem to be doing well on his loan. If he's not playing out of his skin in the championship he won't make it in the premiership. McGeady for obvious reasons.
Galloway takes up one of the six places. The other five I would like to see a keeper, RB, CM and striker took in. For the final spot either another striker or attacking midfielder would help things imo.
That would only be a start. I would expect a minimum of 2 transfer windows to get that much players in or out. Whether there is changes needed in Jan or not I can't see many being made. Jan is always a quite transfer window and signings rarely work out when signed in Jan. Probably the worst signings in recent history Niasse and McGeady were Jan buys.
How many would you let go Sid?
03 Oct 2016 00:12:50
If - and only if - we have better replacement forwards to come in, I'd let Kone and Niasse go in January. We must have backup for Lukaku.
If we can get a 'keeper, then I'd let Robles go.
We'll need backups in January for Gueye and Bolasie because of the African Cup of Nations and I'm not sure if our current ones are really good enough, so I can see a midfielder (McCarthy or Gibson? ) and a winger (Lennon? ) being moved out to create space in the squad for replacements.
There are very few players whose squad places are secure - even Barkley and Deulofeu have to prove themselves.
Next summer's transfer window will be most telling imho.
03 Oct 2016 02:12:26
What seems a bit odd, givern his injury record, is that Gibson was givern a 2 year contract. When fit, he can play a bit, but he seems unable to remain match fit for 2 games at a time, and then seems to be unavilable for weeks, sadley this is nothing new, and why I find it hard to understand the contract when it ran out last summer!
03 Oct 2016 07:48:17
If he gets fit I can see Gibson moving in January to a Sunderland or Hull to help with there relegation battle so maybe get 1-2 million for him. It will be tough to get a decent playmaker and striker in January unless the players demand a move themselves. Think the summer will be when we see a mass clear out and Koemans incoming players that he and Walsh agree on.
03 Oct 2016 09:08:28
NBTB The first posting on this by you lists 6 players you would move on. 5 of the 6 were Martinez signings. Then you add in McGeady. Another Martinez signing. This is exactly why I was banging on about the poor quality of Martinez signings over the last 18 months. tough fixture list coming up over the next 2 months. We will see how we are progressing then.
03 Oct 2016 10:27:15
Yes Degsy 5 of them signed by Martinez. Cleverly is 50:50 whether to move on or not. That leaves 4. Lennon wasn't a failure really just can't see him getting much game time. With the squad to hopefully continually improve I suspect his chances to get even more limited. Cleverly on a free and Lennon for £4.5m. Can't really give out about them too much. Tell me how many Martinez signings has been sold up until now Degsy?
You do realise no matter how good or who the manager is they are going to sign players that turn out to be a success. No manager is exempt from that. Even the most successful manager for the last few decades Sir Alex.
Again I'll ask you how many Martinez signings have been sold so far?
You are very quick to point out the signings that are failings under Martinez. You don't bother to mention the good signings he done.
For anyone that is not used to my posts or reading it for the first time I'm very far from a fan of Martinez. Never wanted him here in the first place. But I'm not ignorant enough to think every little thing he done was bad. His signings were not bad imho.
03 Oct 2016 23:17:49
Not trying towind you up mate NBTB. but I will answer your question about how many Martinez signings have been sold. not many. Because that is our current squad minus a few new ones in. But you even say we need to get ridof 5 or 6 so we are in agreement. I will also now mention the good signings that he has made. ie ones that improved on players he was replacing: list = Lukaku. Ok maybe I am being a bit harsh. I think Mori has potential but of all the others he signed I can list a bigger list of poor signings and a small list of either players with potential or simply not good enough.
04 Oct 2016 13:53:35
Barry as good as Lukaku imo. Only differ is Barry is old and doesn't score many goals. My point Degsy is no matter who the manager is your going to have bad signings or ones that don't work out. Even happened to Alex Ferguson plenty of times.
That's why there is a constant flow of players in and out. We are upgrading in a way. It seems the day of looking for free players or low cost players are gone. Martinez was restricted to that. Love him or loathe him that's what he had to do.
Seems we can afford a more expensive type player now. Not making excuses for Martinez by the way. I'd be in the loathing category there.
04 Oct 2016 20:32:40
Agreed. I suppose we got used to the Seamus and Stones signing type. ie bought on the very cheap. Even Jags when you think 4 million and 9 years service. I hope we get the mixture of youth, cheap signings and expensive signings right and go on to better things. that's what will bring success. not just expensive signings. Leicester City have given me hope that things can change and we are in the right position to have a go. It will be an interesting season.
04 Oct 2016 22:58:42
I agree with that post Degsy! Also agree with you on Spurs. Can't believe people were writing them off from winning the premiership. Won't be one bit surprised if they do.
I always said scoring goals wins you games, not letting goals in wins you trophy's. Spurs surely do know how to defend.
05 Oct 2016 21:25:31
They are in the fortunate position that I am hoping we will have unearthing a young center forward. As well as many good signings . But I think City will take things forwards too. Two very good squads with depth. Ours is better too now so I am hoping for top half. I think we will have to over perform to get near top 6 though. With some luck.
05 Oct 2016 22:14:49
Early days Degsy. Too early to make an informed judgement. At the end of the year we should have a better idea where we stand and where we will be at the end of the season.
It will go up and down like a yo-yo until then. A couple of weeks ago most were predicting top 4 or top 6. Now after dropping a good few points most are predicting top 8 at best. Peoples prediction goes with how we are doing at the time.
Personally I think 7th at worst is where we will finish. Not many will agree with that at the moment. If we go on a winning streak most will be back saying it or better. That's the way it goes I suppose.
06 Oct 2016 13:15:56
Like I said, I will be happy with top half after last season's debacle. As you of all people know. I had us predicted to go down. and I still stood by that until the signings by Koeman. that's when things started to improve.