I think most people are just disappointed that an £18m signing is not very good at controlling a football.
I'm just disappointed that he's not very fast, at all. I really had visions of him rapidly going past his defender to get on the end of a Deeney knockdown, ala Vydra against Brighton in Zola's season. Yet, he runs really weirdly, looks laboured whilst doing it and doesn't seem to outpace anyone? Very, very strange, he looked quick in all the highlights I watched of him. I thought that WAS his one and only trick.
Hes the slowest 'fast' striker i've ever seen We'll have done well if we manage to trick a promotion chasing champ side into signing him in Jan
I think we should go all out for a loan deal for Giroud. He’s been told he can leave on loan in Jan and a few french clubs are after him. The money shouldn’t be an issue, in our position their isn’t any point splashing cash on actually signing proven players, we'll pay over the odds in fees and wages to get them here because of our league position. Then if we go down they’ll be a milestone round our neck as well. Sure, carry on with the usual pozzo stuff trying to pick up players like quina that don’t cost much and are for the future, but don’t bother spending relatively big money on actual signings, just spend the money on Griouds wages. What if we spent £5m on Girouds wages for 6 months? It’s nothing in PL terms and if it kept us up it would be the best £5m we ever spent. We can more than afford it if we don’t actually waste money on signing players that may put us in jeopardy if we go down and lose value anyway. To me it’s a no brainier, but the frustrating thing is I don’t think the Pozzos will see it that way.
It's going to be an interesting transfer window. Usually you'd say a team at the bottom of the table would need reinforcements all over the shop, but what do we actually need? A goalscorer, for sure, and like others have said perhaps a loan deal is the way to go. We'll struggle to buy outright a player with the quality we need, considering the risk of us going down. We might just be able to loan someone who can make a difference, and then we reassess in the summer dependent on if we stay up or go down. Defensive reinforcements wouldn't go amiss, but again I feel we need one or two quality players, and not just another few middling squad players - we have enough of those in defence as it is. I do think we need some more leadership on the pitch, whoever we sign. Honestly I'd say otherwise we look ok. The next few games will have a big impact on the quality of player that will be prepared to join - if we don't follow up yesterday's win with some more points we may struggle to attract the standard of player we need.
That’s why I said go all out and splash the cash, for a lot of footballers money talks, if it didn’t the Chinese league wouldn’t attract the players it does. At 33 he’s stock is on the way down so a large pay day at the end of his career is going to be hard to turn down. His deal can be structured with goal bonuses and a bonus for us staying up so he can remain motivated as well.
I would try to get a loan deal for a quality striker next month who is not playing regularly. Who we get will probably be the difference between relegation or staying up this season. There are few options in the Premier League for us to get in a loan. Brewster at Liverpool is a suggestion but he is unproven at first team level so it would be a risk and we might as well stick with Pedro if we go for the promising but unproven option. We are not able to rely on Welbeck either as it usually takes him a couple of months after an injury before he gets back to form and by then the season will almost be over. There is a good chance that with his record he picks up another injury so a new striker , probably on loan, is a must. I would suggest a loan move for Kevin Gameiro from Valencia who is 32 but has only started 6 league games this season and is slightly past his best but could easily provide up to 10 goals if we secure a loan deal early next month. Technically he is miles ahead of any of our other strikers and he has played for PSG, Sevilla and Athletico Madrid in the past.
The only two of those that are remotely possible for us in our current situation are Watkins and McKenna. I don't know too much about Watkins, but from what I've seen I wonder if his style, age and relative lack of experience would render him pointless given we have Joao Pedro already. No idea how good McKenna is. Bowen will go to a bigger club than us. Barbosa appears to be staying with Flamengo. Arsenal and Leicester appear to want Demiral. I kept saying that we should have gone for Morelos in the summer, but I doubt he'd join us now while we're bottom of the league.
Depending on the extent of Cleverley's injury, if we were to add a player other than a striker in January I'd actually go for another battling central midfielder - Chalobah just isn't up to it any more, I'm not sure he even touched the ball after coming on vs Man Utd, so we don't really have anyone suitable right now to replace/rotate Capoue, Doucoure and Hughes with.
I think Bowen would be a possible although not seen him play. Hull don't like they are going to do much this season so he might fancy a chance with us. Watkins is unlikely as I don't think Brentford would sell in January as they are going for promotion. Rangers are challenging in Scotland for the first time in a decade so only a monumental bid would give us a chance of Morelos. I think we need somebody proven which is why Giroud gets mentioned a lot. We have promising players like Pedro so we don't need any ones for the future right now. Having said that, I'm really not sure Giroud would come here
Half the clubs in the league will be in for Bowen (the bottom half types, but still), we wouldn't get him. As I said regarding Morelos, we should have gone for him in the summer. Giroud makes sense as a loan, though at his age would he be any good at pressing opposition defenders?
Not sure how good he actually is, and CB has dropped in the order of current priorities, but Leicester seem to want Filip Benkovic to go on loan in January. He was rated quite highly when they signed him, and is still only 22.
Our position makes any signing problematic. Loans with a view to signing possibly. Bowen i mentioned during the summer. He's kicked on nicely from last season. We should be looking at clubs that have to sell during the window. AC Milan for one. Rodriguez can't get a game at left back. Kessie in midfield. Although he's a bit problematic by all accounts. But I've seen him put in some real classy displays. I'd throw in Borini too. Not the greatest goal scoring record but he always puts a shift in and can play any position up top. Contract should be coming to an end in the Summer. Much better option than Gray or Success. Let's be honest who isn't. Musacchio we've looked at before but he's cemented a first team position and can't see him going anywhere. I have no doubt that there will be movement in this club especially with a new coach in.
If Bowen was available, he will go to the likes of Spurs/Leicester etc. Rangers Chairman on record saying they won’t sell Morelos for any price in January. Challenging for the SPL title so the fallout from fans would be huge. Non-starter and certainly not at an affordable price. As mentioned, Demirel at Juve has started some of their last games and is also courted by bigger sides than us. McKenna and Watkins are viable options. I do find it somewhat funny that the individual who mentioned some of the above players shot me down when mentioning Kalvin Phillips from Leeds but then chucks in names like Demiral and Barbosa!
Even though it's not going to happen, and I'm not suggesting it, I actually like to entertain the thought of signing Demiral if only so that we could have a chant to the tune of this:
Morelos makes the Mad Greek look like Mother Teresa.He appears to get sent off in the pre game warm up!
Is mityui badtababshabil or whatever his name is getting a game for Chelsea? He was prepared to go to palace for a bit last year
He's appeared in 12 of their 18 PL games so far this year, albeit for a total of only 120 minutes. I doubt he'd be especially happy with that, but I don't see Chelsea selling him while he's their 2nd choice striker. Also, were he to be sold he'd join someone a bit better placed in the league than the bottom club, for sure.
Reading the article posted by Leventhal on The Athletic, a few things stand out. First, he mentions that Dahlberg or Bachmann should have gone on loan in the summer, but negotiations for Sarr and Welbeck got in the way. Major incompetence on behalf of whoever takes the lead in transfer negotiations. We’re comfortable with the options at center back, unless a major upgrade becomes available. Sure, Cathcart and Kabasele have performed well since Pearson came in, but if there’s not an acceptance that improvements are needed there, I’m concerned. Left-back is a priority over right-back, which I suppose makes sense, given Holebas is just about finished and has broken ribs. Folqiuer is expected to be put out of his misery and finally leave the club. I hope Masina is given a chance to further stake his claim to make that spot his own, but competition is needed to push performances. Doucoure might be allowed to leave, depending on how Pearson views Quina or Pereyra as the option ahead of Capoue/Hughes. Either Gray or Success might leave on loan. Absolutely fine with this. Neither are good enough to provide what we need in forward areas, while he mentions that Suarez and Cucho may also be in consideration for the first team. He ends by mentioning that Pearson prefers a tight knit squad, which I’m fine with, but that squad needs to have some added quality. We have to be making improvements at the back, and the same goes for our attacking options too. I’m quite concerned that again, we’re getting the message that the club feel our defensive options are adequate.
Absolutely incredible get the club are happy with the centre back options. One decline in form or injury from Kaba or Cathcart And we are forced to play 5 at back to make up for Dawson shortcomings which will compromise Pearson’s options. The utter incompetence that got us into this situation continues. And how can we be unable to organise development loans for the keepers? We only bought 3 players all summer. It’s not like we were masterminding a squad overhaul. When it comes to our recruitment strategy there is zero accountability.
Absolutely not surprised if this latest Leventhal article holds any weight of truth to it. Yes I want quality defenders brought in and I still think we should do that in January. But I feel we missed our chance to get proper quality in the summer. If the article stated ‘funds are quite tight and won’t stretch to the required amount of quality given the league position we are in’ - I’d criticise the lack of foresight from the summer but not necessarily the January ‘transfer plan’. But if the line is that the club are happy with the quality at the back, then it’s indefensible. I also think selling Doucoure would be a mistake now and would heavily point to the club believing we are going down. Pearson strikes me as a manager who can get the best from him again and we need all the quality we can get. Of course if selling him means we can guarantee funds to get guaranteed quality in defence - then that changes things. But in the whole, not surprised one bit by the article. I expected the club to believe as much. Successive windows with such arrogance about our defenders didn’t lead me to believe that suddenly this one would be different. Technical Director? What a complete and utter redundant position Giraldi holds.
It is odd. You would think that with £100m or whatever it is riding on Premier League survival you would at least throw top dollar at a six month loan of a commanding and fit centre back.
I wouldn’t mind if they said “additions to defence would be of course welcome but we are skint”. It’s the arrogance of pretending that the defensive squad management has been bang on plan that infuriates (or shows that they are simply clueless).