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
I have no problem with there being a plan - in fact, it's clearly what we need.
My issue is that sometimes, you have to be more flexible. They showed this with Godfrey, to an extent, though as I mentioned earlier, while I am happy with that signing, it didn't really fit anything like the profile of the previous CB we were after (Gabriel, a left-footed ball player with good aerial dominance). Godfrey is alright on the ball but his aerial play was signalled out as a weak link, and he's right footed. His main attributes are his strength and power and pace, and obviously he's developing well. But, that example kind of confuses me - do you see my point?
Back to having a plan. I just feel that this season immediately shaped out to clearly be something like we haven't seen in a long, long while - if ever in the PL (even the 15-16 season wasn't as open as this, Leicester had it all but wrapped up by Feb).
That last game before the first international break, we won our fourth straight league match to go to the top of the table and the champions got thrashed 7-2 by Villa, with two of their best players out through COVID. It kind of sums it up. So much opportunity but a lot of risk.
We didn't mitigate that risk. Didn't seem to realise - or if they did, they didn't act on it - just quite what the opportunity was here. Fine if there's a plan of say, 3 seasons to qualify for CL, but you know what makes achieving that plan easier? Making the most of a massive opportunity which presents itself and turing that 3 year plan into a 2 year one, or a 2 year one into a one-year plan. Trust me, I understand the caveats and our previous crap spending hindering us at just the wrong time. I really do. But there are other ways around it, there are other ways to strike deals.
Use the loan market from abroad, tap into Ligue 1 which is struggling badly financially right now. That league, for all the 'farmers league' shouts, is the closest in terms of physicality to the Premier League, and it's why attacking players from that league generally do okay here.
I just find it so frustrating and to me it's all encapsulated in that game and by that bench today.
And the issue with a 2 or 3 year plan is that you are always at risk of it all falling apart if, say, Man City reckon that goal poacher DCL would probably bag 30 goals for them next season, or Richarlison - even if he's been in bad form - draws the eye of a PSG. And while that could work in terms of rebuilding, you're also risking taking a step back.
Apologies for the long post at this time of night, understandably you're probably best to leave it until morning!
