mrmojorisin75 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 For me the balance would be spending the money on positions we need and no more, which by no means is too much to ask. well, this is the crux isn't it, the real bone of contention? Which positions would you say we desperately need to fill in the squad? I'm sure most of us on here would come up with the same two first. it depends what our objectives are, that's the point i'm making..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John P Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 For me the balance would be spending the money on positions we need and no more, which by no means is too much to ask. well, this is the crux isn't it, the real bone of contention? Which positions would you say we desperately need to fill in the squad? I'm sure most of us on here would come up with the same two first. it depends what our objectives are, that's the point i'm making..... Ah, I see. The point I was sort of making though was that surely every team looks to progress to the next level, whatever that is for each club. For us, I would say we are a comfortable mid-table / upper mid-table team, with the next step being top 6. Unfortunately progress usually means some sort of investment, which I don't think we will be getting. If we aren't looking to progress, what's the point in turning up? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 For me the balance would be spending the money on positions we need and no more, which by no means is too much to ask. well, this is the crux isn't it, the real bone of contention? Which positions would you say we desperately need to fill in the squad? I'm sure most of us on here would come up with the same two first. it depends what our objectives are, that's the point i'm making..... Ah, I see. The point I was sort of making though was that surely every team looks to progress to the next level, whatever that is for each club. For us, I would say we are a comfortable mid-table / upper mid-table team, with the next step being top 6. Unfortunately progress usually means some sort of investment, which I don't think we will be getting. If we aren't looking to progress, what's the point in turning up? we've made progress with negative investment in the last year what can i say? yeah i'd like a better RB than simpson (5m?), a better RW than obertan (7m?), a better backup striker than best (10m?), a CB to cover taylor's absence (8m?) there's 30m right off the bat and we'd not be guaranteed to finished in europe by any means with that imo, never mind CL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Frankly I think it is a thoroughly sensible approach being taken by the club. We're not in any danger of relegation and we have Ba, Ben Arfa, Best, Amoebi, Lovenkrands who can all play upfront. Better to save our money and get someone who we really want in the summer than panic buy in January. If the club can get 50,000 people sharing your view, Ashley has got himself a nifty business model. Staying up is enough, and a professional footballer is a professional footballer, no matter what their actual level of quality may be. What is there to gain by buying now? We look on course to finish higher than last season, even if things don't go as well in the second half of the season we will be OK. If our plan is Europe in the next three years then it is better to make steady progress in developing the squad than betting the house on a player to get us there in 6 months. Because it's quite possible that the 7th position we currently find ourselves in could make this our most attractive period in terms of appealing to players for some time if we now slide down the league? Let's be honest unless we have European football to offer there isn't much difference between finishing 8th and 14th. Also the point I'm trying to make is that whoever the new 'panic buy' striker in January was they would have been a massive gamble. High transfer fee, high wages, long contract and not enough reearch done to ensure they are right for the team. For a club that currently has Alan Smith and Xisco on its books and had Albert Luque on its books for many years surely we should have learnt the problem with this strategy. There is about £4.5m difference in prize money which surely would be of concern to the board. £4.5m wouldn't pay for the wages over the term of the contract, never mind the fee. It does look as if the money we'd earmarked for a striker has been diverted to buying a defender instead. It will be interesting to see where the goals come from once Ba leaves for the ANC. Best will need to start hitting the net because we won't get more than the odd goal from Shola. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wil Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 The thing sticking with me is the Maiga deal never made any footballing sense. To lose what would presumably have been our two best strikers every time the African Nations comes around is ridiclulous - if you are really intent on pushing on. Always suspected it was a "cheapest on the shortlist" deal, and think it's likely to be the same for the centre half, unfortunately. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallace Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Our striker situation is really poor. We have got lucky with Ba so far but then you have Lovenkrands a willing trier who will surely be gone in the Summer, Shola who has the occasional good game but won't stay fit for more than a couple of games and Best who is woefully out of form but who the club have seemingly wanted to get rid of since he signed. There also seems to be a lack of young strikers coming through - Simpson is a prospect but he is only 16 and a few years away yet but other than him, there seems to be very little and Airey seems to be injured a lot. Vuckic can probably play as a supporting striker if needed. There is a lot of work to be done in the next few months to improve the striking options if they are not going to do anything this January. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGuv Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 The thing sticking with me is the Maiga deal never made any footballing sense. To lose what would presumably have been our two best strikers every time the African Nations comes around is ridiclulous - if you are really intent on pushing on. Always suspected it was a "cheapest on the shortlist" deal, and think it's likely to be the same for the centre half, unfortunately. Next ACoN is in the summer from now on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MW Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 do they not fucking realise how reliant on Ba we are Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 The thing sticking with me is the Maiga deal never made any footballing sense. To lose what would presumably have been our two best strikers every time the African Nations comes around is ridiclulous - if you are really intent on pushing on. Always suspected it was a "cheapest on the shortlist" deal, and think it's likely to be the same for the centre half, unfortunately. Next ACoN is in the summer from now on. Nah, next years is in January again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David28 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 The thing sticking with me is the Maiga deal never made any footballing sense. To lose what would presumably have been our two best strikers every time the African Nations comes around is ridiclulous - if you are really intent on pushing on. Always suspected it was a "cheapest on the shortlist" deal, and think it's likely to be the same for the centre half, unfortunately. Next ACoN is in the summer from now on. Nah, next years is in January again. Next year? I thought it was every 2 years? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 and Best who is woefully out of form but who the club have seemingly wanted to get rid of since he signed. I've actually no idea where you've dreamt that up from. Needless negativity. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
54 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 The thing sticking with me is the Maiga deal never made any footballing sense. To lose what would presumably have been our two best strikers every time the African Nations comes around is ridiclulous - if you are really intent on pushing on. Always suspected it was a "cheapest on the shortlist" deal, and think it's likely to be the same for the centre half, unfortunately. Next ACoN is in the summer from now on. Nah, next years is in January again. Next year? I thought it was every 2 years? It goes two years two years one year and repeat, for some odd reason. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bimpy474 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 and Best who is woefully out of form but who the club have seemingly wanted to get rid of since he signed. I've actually no idea where you've dreamt that up from. Needless negativity. WTF from Ronaldo.........pot....ket.............. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David28 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 The thing sticking with me is the Maiga deal never made any footballing sense. To lose what would presumably have been our two best strikers every time the African Nations comes around is ridiclulous - if you are really intent on pushing on. Always suspected it was a "cheapest on the shortlist" deal, and think it's likely to be the same for the centre half, unfortunately. Next ACoN is in the summer from now on. Nah, next years is in January again. Next year? I thought it was every 2 years? It goes two years two years one year and repeat, for some odd reason. Cheers Didn't know that. Makes that cup even stranger than I thought it was. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magpie Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Why the hell is it 2012, 2013 and then 2015? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cajun Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 It's a non issue really anyway, if Maiga was quality missing him for a month shouldn't be a big issue. Would you swap Tiote for Reo-Coker because Nigel isn't African? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noisewater Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Why the hell is it 2012, 2013 and then 2015? It's part of the transition from January to summertime. It will then remain every 2 years (IIRC). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Why the hell is it 2012, 2013 and then 2015? It's part of the transition from January to summertime. It will then remain every 2 years (IIRC). Aye, they're switching it to summertime and as such are also switching to odd years - as to not clash with Euros and World Cup. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karjala Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 So, basically we are safe, we arent spending fuck all. If we get a bid we cant refuse, we wont replace them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Shaun Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 What the fucks going on in here? Suicide must be rife up North. Always so negative. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wisdom Body Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Why the hell is it 2012, 2013 and then 2015? It's part of the transition from January to summertime. It will then remain every 2 years (IIRC). As far as I know there are no plans to move the AFCON to (European) summertime. They're moving it to odd years so that during World Cup years African players don't have to play 2 major international competitions within 6 months, together with all the club commitments in between. However instead of doing the sensible thing and having a three year interval between this competition and the next, they are holding the competition two years in a row, 2012 & 2013... In addition to switching to odd years they should also switch it to every four years, the current two-year system devalues the competition. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Our striker situation is really poor. We have got lucky with Ba so far but then you have Lovenkrands a willing trier who will surely be gone in the Summer, Shola who has the occasional good game but won't stay fit for more than a couple of games and Best who is woefully out of form but who the club have seemingly wanted to get rid of since he signed. There also seems to be a lack of young strikers coming through - Simpson is a prospect but he is only 16 and a few years away yet but other than him, there seems to be very little and Airey seems to be injured a lot. Vuckic can probably play as a supporting striker if needed. There is a lot of work to be done in the next few months to improve the striking options if they are not going to do anything this January. We have a good young striker prospect called Simpson? Really dunno that, mind to introduce a bit? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMc Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 He obviously means Campbell. I used to like this.thread Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnypd Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Why the hell is it 2012, 2013 and then 2015? It's part of the transition from January to summertime. It will then remain every 2 years (IIRC). As far as I know there are no plans to move the AFCON to (European) summertime. They're moving it to odd years so that during World Cup years African players don't have to play 2 major international competitions within 6 months, together with all the club commitments in between. However instead of doing the sensible thing and having a three year interval between this competition and the next, they are holding the competition two years in a row, 2012 & 2013... In addition to switching to odd years they should also switch it to every four years, the current two-year system devalues the competition. is there a particular reason they don't they do it every four years? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I bet we'll miss out on 7th if we don't sign a striker in january. What's 7th worth though An extra couple of mill in prize money? A fixture list in Europe that will see our prem league position plummet I would rather us have a good crack at the domestic cups It also makes the club more capable of convincing potential signings to come, and existing good players to stay (though that's far from a priority it seems). You can show them the league table and say 'look at us, we're in a good position to push on and we think you'll help us do that'. Do you think we got Cabaye here by telling him that the target was to avoid relegation, or that finishing 14th would be acceptable? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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