Or United have? Not sure what we have let drag on for weeks Nath? For once the club have been transparent and said they and Kiko tried to make it work but they couldn't - and he was replaced with arguably a better player within 24hrs. Sometimes things happen and not everything is perfect. I know our club it tends to be even less so when it comes to recruitment but a pile-on after every single deal, successful or not, just ignores a myriad of factors a lot of the time. Lets try and criticise when its clear its they've messed up.
Ngakia is clearly not considered good enough even to be back up. That means we have gone the last few months now knowing we only had Femenia who was no certainty to stay and has now left, without bringing in a proper right back/wing back beyond Gaspar who has only just come in and isn't even considered fit enough. The fact we're half way through August and have one, half fit, right sided wing back is just yet another damning indictment of our horrendous recruitment and forward planning.
Or Edwards wanted to take pre-season to evaluate certain players (Ngakia, TDB) and has concluded now that they aren't for the him?
That said, it's usually around this time of year that the minibus with a random selection of Udinese's third team (that no one asked for) pulls up outside London Colney, before throwing them and their bags off and driving off. Who will be this years Perica?
He's had what, 6/7 weeks now? It's all just very slow, as is the norm with our recruitment. Were rarely ever well prepared and efficient.
It's entirely down to us that we have one right full back in the squad at this point in the transfer window. Whether it's entirely down to us when it comes down to Laird specifically we don't know.
We’ve been trying to sort that though with Laird. The fact it may not happen doesn’t mean we weren’t trying to sort it and neither does it mean it’s our fault.
We're two games into the season. Whether we're "trying" or not it's incredibly slow and poorly planned. As always.
New manager & freshly relegated team in Watford plus (arguably) biggest team in England with new manager, new DOF, worlds most famous footballer wanting to leave and three not very good right backs with a combined cost of about £70m+. It was always going to be complicated. I would hazard a guess that they’re trying to shift Aaron Wan Bissaka’s wages without losing massively on the £50m outlay but they’ve realised nobody wants to pay even half for that which = a massive disastrous loss for them. That potential sale means Laird would be back up right back so there’s the delay. All guesswork joined together via rumours and what not. We do many, many things wrong but I don’t think this is one of them, I’d much rather wait for Laird than just shoehorn in a HG RB for the sake of it.
Yes because presumably across the entire summer the only full back/wing back we could have possibly looked to target in world football is Ethan Laird. Thank god we didn't get Kane Wilson in on a free transfer nice and early. That would have been stupid.
And if the window closed on the eve of the first game, we’d all agree. But it doesn’t and there’s still stacks of footballer around the world who will be moving but haven’t yet. They aren’t all poorly planned. I also don’t really understand the major clamour for a RWB as a priority - sure we need one. But we now have Gaspar, who after coming on last night, you’d have to believe is ready to start on Friday. The absolute dearth of CM quality and the unbalanced 3 at the back is of far greater concern if you ask me. We may well struggle to convince any PL side to give us a young RWB as they will want assurances over game time which I doubt we can provide. Fans should maybe be prepared for that. We can’t just force other clubs to do what we want just so we can have it all done by the time the season starts. I really don’t understand this line of criticism.
Getting Kane Wilson in under the promise of first team football only to see Kiko leave and Gaspar come in and take Wilson’s place, therefore making him feel lied to - agreed that would have been stupid! Plus it’s been pretty widely reported Wilson wanted to stay out west for his own reasons. And I’m sure if Edwards really wanted him, he’d have stated the case.
Ahh the Kane Wilson link again. Had we signed a full back from a League 2 side that wasn't Edwards old side you would have been spitting feathers. We were trying to keep Femenia up to a few weeks ago and just because you don't read it on social media doesn't mean nothing is happening
I've literally said a number of times I would MUCH rather us look to the lower leagues for young talent than follow our usual path of A. Ageing, unsuitable dross from god knows where or B. Mogi Bayat clients. So no, I wouldn't. It would have been a completely logical signing, all things considered, which is exactly why it didn't happen. It doesn't mean nothing is happening, it just means as it stands, coming into the middle of August, nothing has happened. Desperately need a centre back or two, desperately need a centre mid or two, desperately need another wing back, probably need another forward. Already two games into the season and with three weeks of the window left, we have a left back at right back, two abysmal central midfielders and a three man front three featuring two players who are almost certain to leave.
I guarantee if we signed Wilson (not a logical signing considering he's had one proper season in the bottom tier of English football) and he turned out to be rubbish you would have been all over it. I don't agree with Kamara at right back but we have signed a player who resolves that. I don't think Sarr and Dennis will both leave because why would any club leave it this late in the window to do business. I don't suppose there will be any signings made by anybody from now until the window closes.
4 games into the last promotion season we had a right back at left back, Garner/Chalobah/Cleverley in midfield, no left footed CB in a back 3, Glenn Murray making appearances, and Pussetto on the bench. As Keighley says, it's really not that dire of a situation.
We also ended up sacking that Manager, changing the system and only really clicking second half of the season because Deeney got injured and we had no choice but to actually pass the ball rather than hoof it. Not that I am advocating for the Manager to go, far from it, but things were incredibly average up until that turning point hammering of Bristol City, which I think from memory was around Feb/March time!
They were incredibly average, and despite how incredibly average it was, with players out of position, and several weak areas, when we were at our very worst and sacked Ivic we sat in...5th. And before the turning point that you rightfully point to at Bristol City we sat in...5th. Already 8 points clear of 7th, just over half way through the season. Really not so bad, at any point. Just like it's not now after 1 good performance, 1 bad performance, and 4 points on the board. Even with a player out of position, and a couple of players not playing particularly well.
Yep, as usual your constant harking on back to examples in the past is of course undeniable proof in the present. Everything is fine and will be fine because it was before. I'm just disappointed you didn't somehow work in an old, dug up post to somehow support it as well.
Would we not have a better chance of promotion if we learnt from previous mistakes rather than just repeat them and hope for miracles!
You would have hoped so, but our leaders are pretty arrogant and believe that our team of misfits are superior to other well prepared teams and will therefore be promoted this season. The West Brom result hasn’t helped them doubt their strategy as against all odds we still came away with a point, Friday evening will be interesting to see which Watford turn up as the first two performances have been so totally different another similar Sheffield United performance should be good enough to bring home three points, play like we did against WBA and things will look very different and very worrying!
No, it won't necessarily be all fine. But it's evidence that it's not necessarily the disaster you're desperate for it to be.
Well, this time round we have an actual left back, our (current) forwards are decent, and our wantaways have mostly been moved on. 2 years ago we had a decent little 6 aside team training on their own at LC! I'd say that's learning from mistakes, at least a little. I wouldn't call the strongest squad in the division and the pre season bookies favourite getting promoted a miracle, personally.
