Silly Season January 2014

[Baines' left foot]

No mate.

He was stealing a £65k a week living off us. Farewell Johnny boy.

I'd usually agree. I was pleased at first that he'd gone, maybe I'm just disappointed about no ins.

 

[bluemangroup]

What about the Everton side that finished fourth?

It was an anomaly in a different era of the league.

 

[chicoazul]

It was an anomaly in a different era of the league.

You just said we spawned it. You monster.

 

[Sideliner]

I can understand the disappointment by some with lack of signings -
but 1 or 2 players as stop gaps will end up as exactly that -
crisis management is required for those facing relegation - not for those who want to break into the top 4 on a sustainable basis -
the summer transfer window will show us where we stand compared to our rivals and compared to this season -
we have some major squad construction to do to be really competitive in Europe instead of ending up as cannon fodder -
for that we simply do not have the cash in our back pocket to do it in 1 season -
we have certainly improved this season - we need the trend to continue for the next 2 /3 seasons -
I am prepared to be patient as long as we are moving along in the right direction - be it slowly

 

[Azza]

Shame about the CL at least the summer will be exciting, at least 4 new signings and more!

 

[Yeldah]

Again, not saying we needed to spend £20m - another loan would have done and/or a £6m ish decent player perhaps, which the scouting network should have access to in abundance.

We didn't need a world beating first teamer, we needed depth. We can't afford even one game where Osman plays as a holding midfielder, or run the risk of a Mirallas injury next time out leaving us utterly goosed all February.

We have four games in the next 16 days - to stay in contention we need seven points from nine and the FA Cup game is a must win. We're one injury away in midfield and attack from being utterly, utterly screwed for those games.

This...just cannot understand how people on here try to spin a justification for a rubbish window...Top 4 gone...fa cup gone as well if we just get one key injury. ..we are one away from disaster. ..our season could be over by March and if any of you come on here to complain be prepared to branded hypocrite s...

 

[Christiffa25]

Howard, Robles.
Hibbert, Coleman (back next week)
Jagielka, Distin (back next week), Stones, Alcaraz (yeah fair point there like).
Baines, Garbutt
Barry, McCarthy, Osman, Barkley
Mirallas, Pienaar, McGeady,
Lukaku (back after a few games), Naismith, Traore (back next week), McAleny (trying to make things look better here).

????????????????????

You've forgot Delefuoe mate. I think CB could be a real worry now johnny has gone. Alcaraz is rarely fit, so that leaves us with 3 CB's that can be relied upon. Then as we all new CM is weak too. I mean Barkley is a valid option there tho so will prob be ok.

If injured players get back pretty quickly and injuries are kind on us for the rest of the season we should still be able to challange for our goals.

It's still a better squad than we'v had for many of years.

 

[cjohno]

no point in signing a few more naismiths or mcgeadys for the sake of it this window and thats all we would of signed average squad players, would sooner see garbutt or macaleny/vellios given a go rather than waste money on crap, were still in transition and anything this season is a bonus (who expected to be in this position) lets get some of the youngsters ready for next year, my only worry is the injuries , whenever we get an injury thats only minor and the player expected to be out for a week they end up being missing for 3/4 weeks which will be bad, get duelofeu coleman distin lukaku back and traore up and running and things will look much better, we just need to hang in there for the next few weeks, shame we threw so many points away with draws versus average teams we would of had a bit of breathing space now instead we could be in danger of dropping away from top 5/6 if we dont cope with our injuries

 

[lmurkder]

So have we crashed yet????

 

[lmurkder]

As confirmed by those who are in the know - Kevin Reeves has been busy at work. The club have also confirmed they were hard looking.

So if you believe they're proficient at their job then it would seem the right person wasn't there.

But everyone gets themselves into a tiz over Sky sponsored deadline day and it leads to a veritable sugar crash when a player we've seldom heard before doesn't hold up our shirt.

Were better than this. Leave it to the bells in the small towns.

The lack of money for transfers is a wider issue. Martinez knows how much he's got as confirmed by Alan Myers and has chose not to spend it this window. We need a degree of prudence in our spending so its no bad thing.

Baines is tied down and its probable that a fit McGeady and Traore will make an improvement on our team than Jelavic and Heitinga did.

We will see.

Finally. AZUL is speaking some sense.

Rather than ITK jarg

 

[Stutheblue]

Went out last night as I knew we wouldn't do any significant business. So I'm not surprised we haven't. My only beef is that RM said he would bring in two to cover for the 'loss'of Gibson and Kone, but if anyone else left they'd be replaced. Its ended up as two out and two in so a bit disappointing for me. We seem to be relying on muddling through for a couple of weeks till everyone is back but we might be off the pace by then. A bit of a gamble really and lack of defensive cover is worrying right now.

 

[lmurkder]

We looked at the medium/long term under Moyes and won zero trophies in ten years.

Lets look at the short term for once. Who knows, we might actually get in the Champions League or win a cup.

Then end up in a Walter Smith era again?

No thanks

 

[formerly manx toffee]

Moneyball.

 

[Toffeelover]

My apologies to all, so Heitnga will not be here on the 1st February thank goodness. He went on a free after all that, he played us that is my take on what has happened.

Okay, no new faces lets move on and get behind the club, the team, the manger but I am blowed if I will get behind Kenwright and those other tossers on the board who have no interest in the club other than a free seat, food and drinks after a game.

 

[Azza]

Howard, Robles

Stones, Coleman, Hibbo(?) : Jags, Distin, Alcaraz : Baines, Oviedo

Gibson, Osman, McCarthy

Mirallas, Pienaar, Barkley, McGeady, Naismith

Kone


Need at least 2 strikers, a cm and another winger in the summer to replace the loanees if Barry doesn't sign.

Then we have Duffy, Browning, Garbutt and Lundstrum who could break into first team. I'm not counting Gueye cos he's awful and Vellios isn't going to be here any longer if he keeps his nonsense up.

All our loanees are basically starters so we need them and also another 2-3 quality players to come off the bench, in particular a defensive mid.