January Transfer Thread 2017

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It may be worth noting, That for all those who took to the vaults last night, all those who cried themselves to sleep last night, that one of, if not our player of the season so far this season can't make the bench tonight, despite having 24 more hours to recover than Mane did last night for Liverpool (who was rushed back, injured in warm up and played 30 minutes)
 
jinkyali said:
He's very good at not responding when the facts laid out disprove his analysis.
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To try to bring it back on topic and to be fair to dave, it's perfectly acceptable to feel as though the quality of players we have in the back four has not been markedly improved, and I can even find some agreement with him on that point.

But what cannot be denied is the quality of the results, and that is where he gets caught out- because the results HAVE improved, but according to him the back four has not, so surely that improvement must come from somewhere- perhaps the manager? But surely he wouldn't admit to that... and alas I'm back off topic.

Morgs is ace tho.
 
Famous_Seamus said:
To try to bring it back on topic and to be fair to dave, it's perfectly acceptable to feel as though the quality of players we have in the back four has not been markedly improved, and I can even find some agreement with him on that point.

But what cannot be denied is the quality of the results, and that is where he gets caught out- because the results HAVE improved, but according to him the back four has not, so surely that improvement must come from somewhere- perhaps the manager? But surely he wouldn't admit to that... and alas I'm back off topic.

Morgs is ace tho.
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Is right lad. I don't agree with everything @davek says, but I don't have to. I've been agreeing with most of his points about this window but I do disagree with what he has to say about the defence and you did a great job of explaining why I disagree. If you don't agree with him then that's fine but people need to realize there is no need to constantly have a go at him for sharing his views, that is what this place is for whether you agree with what he says or you don't.
 

Dave is right in that the general quality of the defence hasn't improved. However in replacing Stones with Williams we have a more inherently defensive centre back.
Jagielka has been a great servant to our club, but he has lost a half yard of pace and is more likely to be beaten or to mis-time a challenge now, so more use of Funes Mori may solidify things.
They might also be benefiting from better defensive coaching now and are clearly benefiting from playing a run of games together. You can take the four best defenders in the world and put them on the pitch, but if they aren't used to playing with each other or with the keeper then they will ship goals.
Baines and Coleman were the best two full backs in the PL three years ago probably and are still class. Two solid centre backs between them and a keeper (Robles) who is now coming into his own and inspiring some confidence is going to improve solidity.
Therefore...not a real improvement in the quality of the defence as they were decent players in the first place, but a big improvement in how they are playing as a unit and committing themselves.
 
As stated before the game, top four was not on, top six was extremely unlikely, so what we had was 16 friendly games to give players a run out and gel before next season. There's no point moaning about that window - yes, the squad is nowhere near good enough for where we allegedly want to be, but it's the summer window which is the make or break one, and that has been the case since late last year when we threw away any chance of achieving anything whatsoever this season.
 
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A slightly underwhelming window again for me.
I'm probably not alone here but am slightly concerned that we seem to be linked with every player under the sun and end up signing only one or two despite our manager wanting four or five new faces. Just like the old days.
Maybe I'm being overly cynical but in the summer we sold Stones and ended up with a negative net spend. This window we have parted company with £7 or £8 million worth of players, plus saved maybe £10 million in wages over the next year. This already goes a long way to recouping the Schneiderlin transfer fee, especially if Niasse and/or Deulofeu are eventually sold on permanent deals.
For a club that supposedly should have had a transfer kitty of £100 to £150 million, we aren't really spending big when the balance sheet is looked at. Moshiri may have lent the club £80 million to clear other debts, but that isn't an investment necessarily as it will have to be paid back one day.
Not for the first time in the last few years I find myself asking "where's the money?".
 

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