This by far the worst squad we’ve ever had under the Pozzo’s. I don’t think there’s much debate about that. Yet, Ismaël is still going to be judged on getting a team capable of a playoff place. Yes, he certainly has my sympathy too.
I dont mind too much Sierralta playing that cdm role, in the short term until a suitable starter is found, he did well there against arsenal and a strong palace side. As for the right back spot, we seem to be hedging all our bets on Andrews a. continuing to develop and step up like he did last season and b. staying clear of injury, which isnt a given with our conditioning/medical team.
While most of us wanted a summer clear out, I think it’s become a much more brutal asset stripping exercise than we could have expected. It’s been made worse by a lack of many players coming the other way, despite us often being told we are on the verge of clinching a signing. None of the signings we have made have actually started a warm-up match for us. Our top scorer pre-season was apparently set to leave us last month and may still do. So all told it adds up to a chaotic lead in to the start of the new season. I’m sure hard work is being done behind the scenes and it takes time to find the right players, and better to get the right ones slowly than hastily signed crap, but still…. It’s hardly an ideal situation we find ourselves in. I don’t like the factionalism that exists among some of our support, that feeling that you have to either like everything or hate everything. I sit in the middle, liking some of our summer work but equally now starting to get worried too. The window can really only by judged in a month’s time and the season once it’s well underway, but it does seem as if every day lately brings more bad news or suspected iffy decisions. We have been so badly run these past years and we are now all paying the price for this with our summer transfer window and decisions. This isn’t meant as a snide remark as I’m now fully behind him but I really hope VI is as good a manager as many people seem to think he is because we are going to need every inch of his nous to keep us even vaguely competitive this season unless things change drastically.
So now we have a kid and a **** injury prone backup, what happens if neither are available? Sierralta? Moeen Ali?
He's on loan though. Surely asset stripping would if he had been sold. We have 3 right backs including him. I would suggest we don't need 3
I see this more as a move to make space in the squad for another incoming. We clearly can’t shift ngakia and we don’t need three right backs. I’m a little bemused by some of the comments. Whenever I saw him play I thought he looked far too lightweight for the championship. I don’t really think it’s asset stripping if it’s a loan either? Surely that’s asset sharing if anything?
Why do we need space? Andrews is U21 and Ngakia is hopeless and injury prone. Moving Ferreira makes zero sense? We are going to be so short at RB after this.
I'll remind you of the interview Manga gave to Sport1 in Germany in May. You even replied to this quoted section when it was posted at the time - yet you seem now to have forgotten it. It seems Manga himself does not even now endorse the signings he made in January and is aware of that. Maybe French simply did not see the interview and acknowledgements which Manga had made himself about them? Manga already admitted to his mistake: "Interview with Ben Manga (via Sport1 in Germany) Manga: I may have underestimated the league a bit when I started my tenure. Every country plays a different football. I thought that the new signings in winter could help us right away. But the leap into the championship is very big. When I was still under contract with Eintracht Frankfurt, I hardly followed the league. So this was new territory. Now I've got to know the league and I know what types of players are in demand. My team and I want to do better in the future." https://wfcforums.com/index.php?thr...-sporting-director.59808/page-14#post-3241633 https://www.sport1.de/news/transfermarkt/2023/05/kolo-muani-zum-fc-bayern-das-rat-sein-entdecker
Someone has said over on his Team Bus thread that converting the loan is a very easy thing to do, and as far as we know may as well effectively have already been done (not saying it actually has, just that moves between the clubs are opaque and info given usually fairly meaningless).
The biggest issue is that one right back has 7 appearances ever, and the other can barely manage that in a season. Andrews is young and form will fluctuate and Ngakia cannot be relied upon to be fit, or play well. We're stupidly light here and will clearly end up with someone playing out of position there for multiple games. It's pretty conceivable with fixture pile up and injuries we could go into a a fair few games with Morris/Ngakia as full back options which is probably the worst pairing in the league.
I think it adds to the feeling of constant chaos at the club. He becomes the second player who joined us in January to be on his way, although admittedly for now only as a loan. Two of last summer’s signings have gone, with every chance another will leave soon too on loan. We all want a bit more long-term planning but aren’t getting it this time by signing Livermore for a year, or getting Martins only on loan either. Constant short-termism, wasting windows, spending each one clearing out the mistakes from the previous one or making illogical decisions such as today’s. The Bayo situation seems to sum it all up. Leaving us for Italy one minute but then kept on until we find a replacement, most likely starting the season up top but then probably saying goodbye. If most of us ran our business or our daily lives like this, we’d be in big trouble.
I'm a little confused by the reaction to this. Ferreira looked ok on his few appearances and did get a good goal. He also is not strong in the tackle, never wanted to head the ball, even ducking out of the way on more than one occasion and seemed to suffer with injuries. Including him we have three right backs which we don't need. Ngakia, Andrews and him. My opinion only but I would play Andrews as first choice but that's not really the debate. If VI doesn't think Ferreira is first choice and Ferreira isn't happy with that then loaning him out or selling him makes sense. What you think of that decision is a different matter but this being completely blown out of proportion.
Leventhal is saying that Ismael wants 2 players in every position, which seems a bit risky for someone who plays high-energy football. I'd have been fine with the 3 RBs we have at the moment and the 2 LBs, with Ferreira filling in on the other side when necessary
Isn't that just the way of social media? I'm sure the reality is that most people are ambivalent about the toing and froing at the club this summer
Why is that? We're not light, we have two right backs, one of which looked very decent last year. More than two players for one particular position does not make sense. We have two left backs, should we have another one? One hasn't played for two years and the other is similar to Andrews in the fact he's only played a handful of times
I'm curious: why do you assume I have forgotten it? It was clearly referenced in your post, the one that I replied to, for a start. Is there ever a scenario where you don't immediately reply as ludicrously pompously, and clearly assuming in the strongest terms possible that every other person alive is a pure idiot other than you, as possible? If not, would you ever consider there being grounds for refraining from doing so? You're even doing it of French, just to desperately twist an interpretation that the only way he could have a different opinion to you is if he was somehow mistaken, and not in possession of the full facts. It may not be that conspiratorially deep. He may just not agree with you, as stated.
I’m fairly sure that once again this autumn, November time, we will be back in the free agent market to cover up our summer shortcomings. Bacuna, Nkoulou, Lazaar and Sanchez are all testimony to our poor windows of recent years.
I would rather play and develop Andrews and Ngakia is sufficient as a back up, makes sense for Ferreira to be loaned out if he wasnt first choice, cant develop two players in the same position really.
I think we have got used to having a bloated squad. 2 players in every position would have been plenty for a championship team in years gone by. I haven’t got a clue but how big a squad are we allowed in the championship? What are the rules?
What's the point of a 25 man squad (which when you take into account U21s could be something like a 30 man squad) then?
If you or French either hadn't forgotten it, or weren't aware of it - then you surely wouldn't speak as if the decision that his Jan signings were flops was one made above his head and which had nothing to do with his own subsequent evaluations of the signings.
25 non-U21 players, for all the talk of a bloated squad, we didn't fill all the places last season, and have since lost plenty of stars and deadwood, we're now running the risk of the exact opposite problem
Well I'm annoyed if the plan is to start Ngakia ahead of Andrews or anyone else, and I'll adjust my expectations for the season downwards accordingly. But even given that potentially disappointing news, I don't see any need to make up additional dramatic non-existent points on top of that.
Listen Mr Town - I didn't say anything about my own thoughts whatsoever, nor about 'Manga's evaluations of his own signings', but regardless, it's very simple. You said you don't think this move undermines Manga's position at all. I furnished you with direct evidence of most-connected-club-journalist Andrew French presently expressing the opposite opinion to you. That's it. That's everything. Your grasping fugayzi-fugazi-wazy-wahzy obfuscation attempts subsequently are mere window-dressing.
This is why I liked Ferreira, he'd cover RB and LB to a good standard before we have to go to Morris/Ngakia. The reason we're light is Ngakia literally cannot stay fit, he's constantly injured as well as awful. But yes I do fear Lewis has also had his issues with injuries and we may end up having to play Morris a lot who is nowhere near good enough for the level despite the fact our fans want him to be.
I’m not sure if im one of the usual suspects given I have stated multiple times that I don’t like what the pozzos are doing, but im just giving an alternate viewpoint.
