2020/21 Marcel Brands

[Toff33Blues99]

Over 220m spent by this man and we have 2 gk (1 of which isn't ours), a right back we want rid of, a kid who isnt cutting it and needs needs loan, who waa our only attacking sub and still didn't come on plus 2 def and 2 def mid. How is that acceptable after 3 years. The man is a joke and continues to make the squad inbalances. Best transfer we can hope for is come Wed we announce Brands is leaving

 

[catcherintherye]

You tend to find that the best teams operate with a very smaller “reliable” 14/15, they all know there jobs and cope when 1 or 2 are drafted in from out of the group

To me this is a clear indication of our intentions for the summer

Yes for sure. And that is what Brands has said too. A core squad of say 20, with younger players making the rest up. It has taken some time, but we are getting to that point.

 

[nsno-chris]

Again, not moaning there, he's had a lot of work to do.

That shouldn't equate to leaving us with Richarlison (out of form) and DCL as our only actual attackers, mate.

We're gonna, by the looks of it, be clearing out a fair bit in wages and fingers crossed getting a fee or two for Bernard and possibly Kenny.

That has to be reinvested. It's really not a case of any ifs or buts mate, we have two attackers.

that wasn’t aimed at you by the way bud.

Anyway, we’re going to add whether in the next couple of days or the summer. Ancelotti is going to have his say, he’ll know whose available and who is interested in joining so he’ll have an input as well.

He may not fancy whose available, we could be waiting for other teams to replace first. It’s not as simple as some people believe it to be

 

[Toff33Blues99]

What if Ancelotti leaves and we’re left with a squad of players built for one manager we’re then replacing?

How on earth did any manager rebuild a squad to win a title before this arbitrary pointless job was invented?

 

[nsno-chris]

How on earth did any manager rebuild a squad to win a title before this arbitrary pointless job was invented?

probably because the money in football wasn’t absolutely ridiculous so the losses weren’t has big. The money in the game is that damaging their needs to be a long term structure in place

I mean, we’ve witnessed it literally in the last 5 years

 

[kenada_blue]

Again, not moaning there, he's had a lot of work to do.

That shouldn't equate to leaving us with Richarlison (out of form) and DCL as our only actual attackers, mate.

We're gonna, by the looks of it, be clearing out a fair bit in wages and fingers crossed getting a fee or two for Bernard and possibly Kenny.

That has to be reinvested. It's really not a case of any ifs or buts mate, we have two attackers.

All dependent on bringing in quality.

Personally think the Koeman debacle severely hindered us in spending too dollar on a replacement for the striker position and things have snowballed into other areas be it wages, players not fulfilling what we wanted them for, or squad depth.

The last time we spent big on a transfer fee was Siggurdson at £40-45mill. The rest have been the kind of standard prices of £20-30mill. When you look at the market changing when teams like United, City, Arsenal, the RS, Spurs paying £50-90million for 1 player (regardless of quality) we're unable to do it as of yet.

Now some of those players have gone for us, the wage bill is our biggest hurdle.

 

[Toff33Blues99]

probably because the money in football wasn’t absolutely ridiculous so the losses weren’t has big. The money in the game is that damaging their needs to be a long term structure in place

I mean, we’ve witnessed it literally in the last 5 years

It's all relative to the era, Trevor Francis transfer was considered outrageous as was Shearer. Managers have successfully built great sides with out the need for this outside help

 

[bitter-no-better]

I think he has done a good job in getting us out of the mess left by Walsh in having a horrendous wage bill. Some good signings but a few poor. The squad is trimmer and we do have a few more sellable asserts than when he took over. Be interesting to see if he stays or goes and maybe ancelotti will have a say in this.

 

[nsno-chris]

It's all relative to the era, Trevor Francis transfer was considered outrageous as was Shearer. Managers have successfully built great sides with out the need for this outside help

And clubs didn’t have £300m wage bills

 

[catcherintherye]

How on earth did any manager rebuild a squad to win a title before this arbitrary pointless job was invented?

Managers used to stay for longer.

 

[BlueToff]

All dependent on bringing in quality.

Personally think the Koeman debacle severely hindered us in spending too dollar on a replacement for the striker position and things have snowballed into other areas be it wages, players not fulfilling what we wanted them for, or squad depth.

The last time we spent big on a transfer fee was Siggurdson at £40-45mill. The rest have been the kind of standard prices of £20-30mill. When you look at the market changing when teams like United, City, Arsenal, the RS, Spurs paying £50-90million for 1 player (regardless of quality) we're unable to do it as of yet.

Now some of those players have gone for us, the wage bill is our biggest hurdle.

Yes, but that is quite literally their job - to find quality players and bring them in.

It's all about opportunity. Until Everton start taking opportunities, then we'll just stay stagnant. Doesn't matter who's in charge.

That was summed up at the start of October. Top of the league, seven wins from seven in all comps, into the EFL Cup quarter-finals.

What do we do? Let two attackers go - an area we needed to strengthen - and didn't bring anybody in.

Took a gamble and what happens the next game? Richarlison gets suspended and misses a month and we lose three matches on the bounce.

It doesn't have to be massive spend. Especially not in January. Villa have just bought a very decent player for £14m. There's loans to be had, from Europe especially.

The wage bill is a huge hurdle I agree, but these outgoings will help with that.

Back to taking opportunities, or not doing so, it then runs all the way through the club, and can be summed up and bottled up and sold as 'Everton that' as today's game being the perfect example.

 

[BlueToff]

that wasn’t aimed at you by the way bud.

Anyway, we’re going to add whether in the next couple of days or the summer. Ancelotti is going to have his say, he’ll know whose available and who is interested in joining so he’ll have an input as well.

He may not fancy whose available, we could be waiting for other teams to replace first. It’s not as simple as some people believe it to be

No worries, I was just making a general point. Like I said, the list is appalling - he has added to that himself but he started from a bad base, I know.

Ultimately though there's half a season left and we're honestly looking extremely flat from an attacking stand point. Carlo has to improve that, it's not good enough, but it'd help by having another option or two.

If we've let four attackers go - Walcott, Kean, Tosun and Bernard - over the course of two windows then you have to bring one in. Whatever we may think of each individual player, the four of them combined cannot leave with nobody else coming in.

Half a season - we could finish top four or finish about 14th. That's how tight it is. And frankly, I genuinely don't think this squad is good enough, as is, to get Europe. And we've been told by Carlo and Brands that the aim this year is Europe. So we need to get a player in. That one signing could allow us to play 2 or 3 different ways.

 

[BlueToff]

Yeah ideally you need at least two players for every wide position and three strikers of different types. We are at least three off that.

One player capable of playing all front positions had to be the target in October. Simply had to be.

It's still the same now, except we have to probably look at a loan deal. It shouldn't have made it impossible though and it shouldn't have had to wait so late.

Let's hope they see sense. If not, then Europe is going to rely on a lot of luck - i.e. no injuries, COVID absences, Richarlison turning his form completely around and every team around us failing to go on a run.

 

[Quadvod]

Yes, but that is quite literally their job - to find quality players and bring them in.

It's all about opportunity. Until Everton start taking opportunities, then we'll just stay stagnant. Doesn't matter who's in charge.

That was summed up at the start of October. Top of the league, seven wins from seven in all comps, into the EFL Cup quarter-finals.

What do we do? Let two attackers go - an area we needed to strengthen - and didn't bring anybody in.

Took a gamble and what happens the next game? Richarlison gets suspended and misses a month and we lose three matches on the bounce.

It doesn't have to be massive spend. Especially not in January. Villa have just bought a very decent player for £14m. There's loans to be had, from Europe especially.

The wage bill is a huge hurdle I agree, but these outgoings will help with that.

Back to taking opportunities, or not doing so, it then runs all the way through the club, and can be summed up and bottled up and sold as 'Everton that' as today's game being the perfect example.

Spot on this - the best sides build from a position of strength. As we did once - HK didn’t rest on his laurels after the great 84/85 season, he went out and bought the best striker in the league.

 

[nsno-chris]

No worries, I was just making a general point. Like I said, the list is appalling - he has added to that himself but he started from a bad base, I know.

Ultimately though there's half a season left and we're honestly looking extremely flat from an attacking stand point. Carlo has to improve that, it's not good enough, but it'd help by having another option or two.

If we've let four attackers go - Walcott, Kean, Tosun and Bernard - over the course of two windows then you have to bring one in. Whatever we may think of each individual player, the four of them combined cannot leave with nobody else coming in.

Half a season - we could finish top four or finish about 14th. That's how tight it is. And frankly, I genuinely don't think this squad is good enough, as is, to get Europe. And we've been told by Carlo and Brands that the aim this year is Europe. So we need to get a player in. That one signing could allow us to play 2 or 3 different ways.

I agree, but maybe expected more of Gordon at the start of the season or a deal fell through in the summer. There’s numerous things that we’ll never be made aware of

We both know that both Ancelotti and Brands need to sign off on players coming and going, so the exodus will have the managers approval.

The wage bill needs to be cut, quickly and drastically, we may bring one in one in the next day or this could be preplanning for the summer.

The only thing I know is that I’m confident, more than I have been in a long time. There seems to be an agreed approach to how we’re moving forward, we may not agree but that’s football I suppose