I’m talking transfers and team strength here. We’re very much still a work in progress here, but the work done so far has been startling and has to be given credit where it’s due.
It’s rather topical at the moment, given the game today, but could anyone see this when Andy Carroll was sold 13 months ago? Jose Enrique couldn’t, and I’d guess that not many others could at that time. Hindsight is, of course, a wonderful thing.
We’ve struck gold in the transfer market time and time again, to a point where you have to say that it’s gone beyond being lucky. What we’re seeing is the result of hundreds of hours of work that we don’t even see going on in the background, ensuring that any player we buy is scouted carefully and matched with the club, not just in terms of ability, but also in terms of personality.
I know the subject of selling players will come up, but if we do sell a player for silly money, and it would have to be silly money for us to sell, then we find ourselves in the same position that we found ourselves in after Andy Carroll, with a boatload of cash to spend which, using hindsight, we know will be spent on bringing players into the club.
I understand the reasoning or keeping hold of your best players, but sometimes it’s just not possible. People will say that we should look at Luka Modric and Tottenham as an example of how it’s done, but it’s much easier to tell a player he is staying when you have Champions League qualification to offer and lets not forget that Tottenham only got into the position to say no through selling their crown jewels of the time for big money.
We still have a lot of work that needs doing in the transfer market to make this squad as strong as it can be. I’m reasonably happy with how it’s going so far and another summer of doing what we did last time out (ie being careful with our recruitment and ensuring we put the hours into identifying our targets) would give us a better squad to kick on with next season, whether we lose a big name or not.
For all the talk of history and form books under this regime, the fact that they now have a history of reinvesting cash seems to be the glaring entry in that book which gets overlooked by some fans. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: It’s not the selling players which is an issue, it’s a failure to replace them which hurts in the long run.
And at the moment we’ve done just that, albeit better late than never.
Nice read Toonsy, what’s the question ? We are losing half a dozen squad players this year, which hopefully will be replaced, and we do have some young’ans coming through, so in terms of starting 11 and bench we are only a few away. Replacing starting 11 who are sold for silly money? At the moment we don’t need the transfer fees. We don’t need to sell, So if a big offer comes in AND the player want’s to leave, then as you say nobody is irreplaceable. Sure hope we keep everybody for next season though.
Premandup(Quote)
Too soon to even be thinking of transfers 👿
Need to see how and where we finish this season as it will have a bearing on who wants to stay and who wants to leave.
If we get a euro spot or better, I cant see anyone leaving can yous ???
Not even for stoopid money.
Anyhoo we have got 7 cup finals to get thru before we can start thinking along these lines.
Its good that our destiny is in our own hands still.
Howay the Lads.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
At this moment in time I would say the only investment needed would be in the CB and FB positions. Of course that all changes depending on if/who we sell.
I’d never try to second guess MA/DL as they’d only prove me wrong, but my impression is that they will definately reinvest any income, but only the right price at the right time. If that means waiting another season or so, then so be it. While that doesn’t nescessarily sit well with us fans who want everything now, it’s clearly a strategy that works.
MrT76(Quote)
Good read Toonsy.
BB….not quite in our own hands, Europa qualification is going to rely on either Everton getting knocked out the FA cup or overtaking Chelsea in the league 😕
richietoon(Quote)
ben arfa , cisse , ba , tiote and cabaye = 22 million!! take a bow mr carr!! then you look at liverpool !! downing , carroll and henderson = 75 million!! embarrasing for liverpool # mugs
Army69(Quote)
nice read mate not alot in my opinion its just replacing the old dead wood and getting some defensive cover
Sell forster and simpson, release smith, lover and guthrie if he wont sign,
Bring in Erik pieters, Virgil van dijk, amalfitano, corgnet and a young striker like rhodes.
then if we sell tiote for 20 mil that would be a massive chance to bring in 2 or 3 players.
Marvin Martin 😀
Alex(Quote)
Army@5 Exactly ,says it all , they got well and truly mugged 😆
Whatever happens regarding transfer it would be sheer neglect if we fail to land some decent defenders in the summer.I would quite like to see decent cover for Cisse and Ba too as we will lose them for Acon and in case of injury to either of them. It need only be one striker but a good winger would be a bonus ,must be a good crosser though so we can change formation when needed and still be effective. In truth I reckon we will get one maybe 2 defenders and that will be it unless a freebee pops up which is worth a punt like Ba.
Toonsy ,I was hopeing for news of your new addition to the family to day, those false alarms are a ****** .
kimtoon(Quote)
“Europa qualification is going to rely on either Everton getting knocked out the FA cup or overtaking Chelsea in the league”
It might also rely on Chelsea not winning the Champions League final (if they get that far). Let’s assume that the league table at the end of the season is as follows:
1. Man U
2. Man C
3. Arsenal
4. Spurs
5. Newcastle
6 Chelsea
If Chelsea win the Champions League trophy this year, I understand that it’s been agreed that they would be allocated the fourth CL qualifying place at the expense of the team sitting 4th in the table who would have to settle for a place in the Europa League instead. So the teams to play in Europe would be:
Champions League: Man U, Man C, Arsenal, Chelsea
Europa League: Spurs, Liverpool (League Cup winners) and one other team, which would normally be the FA Cup winners (or runners-up, if the winners have already qualified for the Champions League). So I reckon if it’s a Chelsea v Everton FA Cup final and Chelsea win, and Chelsea also win the Champions League, then Everton would take the remaining Europa League place, and not us. In that scenario, the only way we could guarantee a place in Europe next season would be to finish fourth.
Recommended reading:
http://www.leazesterrace.com/the-complicated-road-to-europe/
Chris G(Quote)
Thanks for that Chris G.
I didn’t realise that the winners of the CL were guaranteed a place the following year too. I thought it was a fresh compo every season. 😕
.
So if Chelsea won the CL but got relegated ( 😕 ) they would still get a CL spot the following season. ❓
.
Looks like the planets might be aligning against us then. ffs.
Would be just typical of our luck to finish 4th (ha ha ) but not to make the lucrative CL by default 😈
Ah well along way to go still, gotta send these bin dippers packing first.
HTL
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
BB – no, I didn’t realise that either – I just got it from the Leazes Terrace article, which said that the FA had confirmed it.
Chris G(Quote)
Kimtoon – dont you think the board have already been grossly negligent by failing to bring in a decent CB in january, even tho they knew STaylor was out for the season (again!). And we had already been humped by Norwich with makeshift CB’s ?
Because I do.
Nothing surprises me anymore, what the board does. And you certainly cant predict it. 👿
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
We need two first team players in the right back and centre back positions for sure.
Toby le Rhone(Quote)
Thats a good read that leazesterrace article.
Just goes to show how important it can be to win one of the cups.
We could be kicking ourselves that we dropped out so easily, yet again at an early stage.
I hope we do better next year.
Beardsleys Boots(Quote)
BB@11Yes i said on many previous blogs that Iwasn’t happy about not getting a cb in jan and hoped it wouldn’t come back to haunt us . It does seem odd that they failed to land one ,I wonder if the Cisse deal was a now or never opo and they grabbed him befor it was too late and took a chance that we’d cope without a CB untill summer. Not sure if it was a calculated gamble or a plain act of folly .One things for sure Cisse will always give us a chance of winning games and we gotta hope that’s gonna be enough until the summer.
kimtoon(Quote)
ChrisG…yeah I knew Chelsea would go into the CL if they won it and 4th place would go into the Europa, though I don’t think Chelsea have a cat in hells chance of winning it our best chance is Everton getting knocked out the FA cup, which is a shame as they’d have been the team I’d have rooted for if circumstances had been different 😕
richietoon(Quote)
Good read toonsy.
Think I’m just not going to pay attention to the transfer window this season. If there’s one thing i’ve learned over the past year and a half, is that the majority of us as fans know diddly squat about players and whether they would suit the team.
When we got promoted a few people questioned Tiote’s signing as central midfield was one of our strongest points in the Champ. Wrong.
Criticising the signing of Best. Wrong.
Criticising the sales (forced or otherwise) of Barton/Carroll/Nolan. Wrong.
(though I wish we had more confidence in our signings and let Enrique see out his last year in the hope the new players convinced him).
SO many fans angered in the summer, why hadn’t we signed Long or Doyle!?!?! So so wrong.
Unenthused by the signing of Ba, despite his decent record for West Ham. Wrong.
Utterly confused (even without Chris H’s sacking) at Pardew’s appointment. Wrong.
Basically, we clearly have a pretty poor track record atm, whereas the board/Pardew/Carr, seem on fire. I’m just going to let them get on with it.
@MRT76
Agree, think first team is set after those positions are filled, just need a few more squad players with potential. Also agree on their strategy, I back Cisse to get more goals than Ruiz and Long put together by the end of the season, really mocking our questioning of the board in the summer.
SolanosTrumpet(Quote)
ot.just heard,more money has been placed on a liverpool win than any other game this weekend ❓
toonitis(Quote)
BEARDSLEYS BOOTS@11..
I don’t think the board have been grossly negligent at all.
Remember one thing, it was a January transfer market and that brings it’s own over inflated transfer hikes by many clubs hoping to make a swift profit.
We sat back on signing Cisse and got him for 6 million less than we would have by waiting and being patient.
We had a few targets for CB but they were all wanting double the price we were prepared to pay, so we went for a cover option in Mariappa, which in all fairness wasn’t ideal but it would have been cover, unfortunately we missed out, or fortunately, whichever way you want to look at it.
We are sat in 6th so whatever deals we decided not to pursue in January, has hardly affected us when you consider that very few people in the country would have had us 6th at this stage.
Call it a gamble, call it negligence if you want but one thing you can call it, is “under achieving”, so something is working right.
In the summer, we have the opportunity to fine tune certain areas, and the obvious 2 are CB and LB and whoever else comes in for any departures.
wolfie(Quote)
Krul is out with a stomach bug, Elliott deputises…
That’s all we frigging need. 😥
wolfie(Quote)
Wolfie@19 re Krul, is that an April fools joke by you?
kimtoon(Quote)
I don’t want anyone to leave but I am comfortable in the knowledge we will get good money for anyone who does go, so it isn’t a major worry – except – Demba Ba.
PSG are sniffing about him now and while I wouldn’t mind him going there since he is a lifelong fan, it’s the fact they are super rich and will only need to spend £7m to get him.
That’s why big worry.
funkyjesus(Quote)
KIM, yes it is. 😆
wolfie(Quote)
Good read Toonsy 😉 I think if we keep our better players we will only need a couple of 1st teamers.
But I do think when need to strengthen our bench in certain areas.
Big Dave(Quote)
Richie – yeah, I agree. Had the circumstances been different, Everton would have been the side that I would have rooted for as well (but not in the Australian meaning of the word, I hasten to add 😳 )
Chris G(Quote)
Chris G…I don’t think I want to know the Aussie meaning 😯 😆
richietoon(Quote)
going to put a bet on before the game! do u think there will be many goals? i keep thinking 3-2 to us 😀
Army69(Quote)
ARMY69 , put 2 quid on Newcastle 6 Liverpool 1… 😀
Also, put 2 quid on Cisse and Ba getting 2 goals apiece.
Put 2 quid on Gerrard getting sent off.
😀
wolfie(Quote)
Wolfie @22 Fecking hell man you nearly gave me a heart attack! 😯 Me nerves are bad enough as it is 😆
3.1 to us today and Suarez off for diving
kimtoon(Quote)
KIM, I couldn’t resist a little April fools. 😆
wolfie(Quote)
Disappointing to read in the sun that pards won’t be going after any free agents. Would love hoilett. Could all be bollox mind 😉
Dubtoon(Quote)
Chelsea aint beating Barca
M(Quote)
Haha dalglish calling Enrique ‘hosey’
Dubtoon(Quote)
I understand the reasoning or keeping hold of your best players, but sometimes it’s just not possible. People will say that we should look at Luka Modric and Tottenham as an example of how it’s done, but it’s much easier to tell a player he is staying when you have Champions League qualification to offer and lets not forget that Tottenham only got into the position to say no through selling their crown jewels of the time for big money.
————————————-
Well said there. as Tottenham have proved, and we did last summer, keeping all of your best players isn’t necessarily the only way forward
MDS(Quote)
Benfica will knock Chelsea out.
wolfie(Quote)
Love the boos greeting Dogleash as he arrived in toon today 😆
Yup, nobody is irreplacable, but as others have said-hopefully those players out of contract will pay for some more squaddies, possibly some first team defenders. Other than that it depends, if Guthrie is off and Simpson goes then we definitely need a first team full back and preferably another creative winger/central midfielder. Then again, it would be interesting to see if Vuckic makes some appearances in our new formation-where would he go I wonder? Out on the attack right/left perhaps, might be a good formation for him.
Newkie(Quote)
News coming out at the ground,
————-Krul
Simpson–Williamson—Perch—Raylor
—————–Tiote
Ben Arfa—–Cabaye——Jonas
———-Demba
——————–Cisse
Carrol plays but slight doubt against Gerrard, Bellamy on standby.
CT(Quote)
wolfie
read that on eds blog almost had a heart attack and I’m 16 ❗ 😆
in response to the article I reckon its just the defence and some promising young players that can be brought forward as back-up, like pieters, rhodes, clyne and van dijk, also amalfitano.
Andymag(Quote)
Ct. Ryder saying Guthrie for raylor. Guti left back I guess
Dubtoon(Quote)
Jonas was fantastic last week in midfield, so what’s the logical thing to do? Play him at left back?
Santon must feel a million dollars at the minute.
Stuart79(Quote)
And he was MotM the previous week at left back. Santons already low on confidence so why not built him up a bit in training instead of throwing him to te wolves?
Dubtoon(Quote)
Jonas as full back, Guthrie keeps his place. Ambitious alan, I like it 😀
Newkie(Quote)
Bellamy starts, **** 😕
Newkie(Quote)
Just what i didn’t want to hear ,gobshite Bellers starts 👿 ,you just know he’ll score against us he effin loves it the gobby get.
kimtoon(Quote)
If Bellamy was such a worry , he would start every game. He will have a stinker today and get wound up and get himself sent off, I guarantee it.
wolfie(Quote)
does anyone know any good streams?
nick99(Quote)