I don't think there was much in it a bit like the Boro game. We beat Boro when they were probably slightly the better side. Reading beat us when were probably slightly the better side. They had a few more counter attacks which came as the game opened up as we needed an equaliser, which they totally wasted and so never really threatened us. We struggled to create anything in more structured possession and resorted to whipping in aimless crosses. The larger point is that they, along with Luton and Wednesday, are likely to end up in the bottom half of the table and yet we struggled to create anything. We will have an awful lot of games like this unless we sort out the attacking side of our play.
To be fair, the Lusitania was torpedoed (by the kindly Germans). What could the torpedoes be a metaphor for in our case? (Discuss?) .
Ok completely ignore my follow on posts, but don’t let that stop you from having a dig at people as per.
sorry didn’t read your follow up posts at the time. Just fell of my chair at the notion we dominated at Reading given the turgid second half.
I said I would only draw conclusions when the window is shut and now it is it's worth reviewing: Following a relegation from the Premier League during one of the worst economic crises in modern times, incredibly we needed to cut costs. So some players left. Doucoure: high earner who was never going to play in the Championship. Under-performed last year so this was a certainty. May have got a better price in a different climate, but he had to go. Pereyra: with Doucoure another inevitable leaver. High earner, wasn't a first choice pick and was never going to play in the Champo. Estupinan & Suarez: had never played for us, never were going to. I'd barely heard of them and never seen either play. Welbeck: wages. Dawson: lol Deulofeu: only out on loan, not impossible he could play for Watford again Holebas: age and probably wages. Gomes: retired. Mariappa: sadly considered surplus to requirements. So costs were cut, the players that left were largely inevitable or not considered good enough. A lot of players stayed that might have left. Sarr: ludicrous that we kept him. Capoue: another of our best players Hughes: very lucky to have him Deeney: I think it's clear he will be massively useful when fit And we made a few acquistions. Troost-Ekong: already looks like an upgrade on Dawson Ngakia: young and extremely promising player Perica & Sierralta: too early to say Our squad is then capped off with young players we already had stepping up to first team duty: Wilmot, Joao Pedro, Quina, Dele-Bashiru. I think it has to be regarded as a hugely successful and encouraging window. In short: FIRE SALE! POZZOS ARE GUNNA SELL DUH CLUB!
But we've also left a very imbalanced squad and have the millstone of highly paid underperformers such as Deeney round our neck. Ivic has said that we can't currently change to a flat back four as we don't have the players to do so, despite that being something he would want us to be able to do. We've got people off the books by any means necessary - free transfers, loans and selling on the low side. All of this is ok as it's necessary with our financial situation being compounded by a depressed market. But we've ended up in a place with a good squad that might be enough to achieve its objective but a couple of extra players would've made that so much more likely and not tied the hands of the coach somewhat. Which is pretty much exactly what happened last season and we lost that gamble. So it's a qualified success rather than a huge one. And it was a bit of a fire sale, albeit out of necessity, and even then we couldn't shift some people.
As delighted as I am that we've kept Sarr and Capoue, I'm not going to anoint anyone as a genius or anything, that global pandemic didn't just affect us you know!
Got rid? Or never had a hope in hell of keeping? People need to get over these Pozzo dealings. You do realise we had to raise money following the small matter of relegation from the wealthiest league on Earth? Do people seriously wish we'd kept Estupinan and sold someone like Hughes? Clearly the finances are close to the knife edge, this deal was surely a no brainer?
Then use the financial aspect as your reasoning in your post? We can only reply based on the things you say. And the vast majority of your reasoning for Estupinan and Suarez was that you’d never seen them play and hadn’t heard of them. And yes people do need to get over these Pozzo dealings - almost as much as some fans need to remove their tongues from Gino’s anus. The squad is unbalanced. Ivic has been clear about that and the fact we haven’t recruited the positions needed (not for the first time) means we cannot play the formation he has heavily suggested he prefers. Thankfully he knows Femenia is not a LB though. I don’t see how a window that leaves the manager in such a position can be seen as ‘hugely successful’.
I was surprised we got as far as seeing him in a pre-season game to be quite honest, one of the best left backs in Spain playing in the Championship would have been absurd (probably even more absurd than Sarr staying given the circumstances). I get finances are tight, but was there really not enough in the tank to get a left-back? We could have not signed Sierralta (I'm sure he's a fine player, but he's a definite 5th choice), maybe kept Mapps for emergencies as 5th choice (maybe needed in a back 3, almost certainly not in a back 4) and brought in someone half decent on a free
