Thoughts on this summer's transfer window

[Slugsy]

I think we are being more sensible and it's good but I worry about the defence primarily.  I think another striking option would be good and I actually think we are still short I'm midfield of real pace; and outside of Ben Arfa are lacking on that front.

 

Still time to go but I'm dissapointed so far.  While we don't have crazy money, we should have some to spend and last season, while awesome, will be tricky to repeat again without improving both the first team and the squad.

[Guest Phil K]

My view is as long as no-one goes out, I'm happy without even anyone else coming in.

However, I have a bad feeling we WILL see two of our top names leave.

[Kanji]

I'd have liked Debuchy in by now and have no problems with who has left.  I think its impossible to give a real opinion on the summer's window until the window itself shuts and we see if anyone has come in and hopefuly (please lord) nobody departs.

[ohmelads]

If we do no more deals in or out, I wouldn't say it is a bad window because it could have been a lot worse. But I wouldn't say it's a good one either because we are now dealing with added fixtures and we haven't increased the squad. Time will tell if we're a stronger squad. We've replaced mediocre squad players with untried promising youngsters, and effectively replaced Guthrie with Anita. We have more depth in midfield but we're shorter on numbers up front. I would say we look a bit stronger because the players have been together for another year, and the younger backup players are a year older.

 

But I think our squad as it is will get found out over the season due to the Europa games. The fact we had no choice but to field Cisse last night, one week into the season speaks for itself. If Senegal make it to the ACN we're in big trouble.

 

I still think we will get a right back. It would be unlike Ashley to let Simpson run his contract down and leave on a bosman. I also think it'd be unlike Ashley to cave in to Simpson's contract demands and give him the new deal he wants. If we don't sign a right back, we'll have to sign one in a year anyway, and lose the millions we could have got by selling him. Economically, we are better off selling and replacing him now, hopefully with a better player while we're at it.

 

It all depends what faith you have in Ashley to increase his spending this year in accordance with the demands that Europa League football will put on our squad. There's a week left. I agree with what Memphis has said above, Ashley will just not see it as worth his while because to climb any higher than we did involves ever greater spending and the chances of success get ever smaller. I think we'll get a right back in because that will not be seen as a concession but a necessity.

 

As fans the best we can hope for under this policy is that the squad punches above its weight and with some luck can grab 4th place. This would bring in a 1 year injection of extra cash which might loosen the purse strings enough to build on that success. Europa league football and a 5th place finish won't do that, but it may have been enough to help us keep our stars. I would say there are 3 teams that are out of reach and there are a small group of clubs who can realistically aim for 4th, but unless we add a striker we will struggle with all these fixtures IMO.

[Guest reefatoon]

I think my only worry is, like the summer we only brought Bowyer in. It was a year we could have really pushed on with a couple of decent signings.  We decided to go with what we had and it all fizzled out a little.

 

I had the same expectations this summer of, bring a couple of really decent players in to bolster up the team/squad and give everyone a lift.  Hopefully we still have some time to do that, though everything has went so so quiet.

 

It could really give us an extra lift and boost to bring someone in.

[henke]

Hasn't even got going yet. Two big names coming in the next few days!

[Guest ThievingMagpie]

Off the back of a season in which none of us expected a few of you seem to be falling into the old trap of thinking we should be now challenging for the CL and therefore should be stumping up cash for players. It's almost borderline parody now how many of you are playing the caricature of the Geordie with unrealistic expectations for the club. We will not challenge for CL places this year, full stop. We probably will be challenging for the EL though, and there is nothing wrong with that. the club constantly trying to "push on" and overspend on one or two players because we were all convinced that's what would bring us back to the heady days of bloodying the noses of Europe's elite, while admirable, is in fact what caused us to be in such a precarious position before our recent revival.

 

And now some of you want us to overspend. Again. 15-16m for De Jong, 7-8m for Debuchy and 5m for Douglas (whom all my dutch mates say isn't that good) reeks not of a club trying to be ambitious, but of classic Freddy Shepherd overspending in the short term for a hopeful but small chance we will make the CL. (we won't, at least not for another year or two realistically)

 

Keep what we got, build sensibly with cheap buys and punts on players, who cares if we don't make the CL every year we dont have billions at our disposal let's just get it to a level where we are consistently top 8 and we challenge for Europe every few seasons and I think most people would be happy...for a while, this is the north east after all.

[Unbelievable]

Off the back of a season in which none of us expected a few of you seem to be falling into the old trap of thinking we should be now challenging for the CL and therefore should be stumping up cash for players. It's almost borderline parody now how many of you are playing the caricature of the Geordie with unrealistic expectations for the club. We will not challenge for CL places this year, full stop. We probably will be challenging for the EL though, and there is nothing wrong with that. the club constantly trying to "push on" and overspend on one or two players because we were all convinced that's what would bring us back to the heady days of bloodying the noses of Europe's elite, while admirable, is in fact what caused us to be in such a precarious position before our recent revival.

 

And now some of you want us to overspend. Again. 15-16m for De Jong, 7-8m for Debuchy and 5m for Douglas (whom all my dutch mates say isn't that good) reeks not of a club trying to be ambitious, but of classic Freddy Shepherd overspending in the short term for a hopeful but small chance we will make the CL. (we won't, at least not for another year or two realistically)

 

Keep what we got, build sensibly with cheap buys and punts on players, who cares if we don't make the CL every year we dont have billions at our disposal let's just get it to a level where we are consistently top 8 and we challenge for Europe every few seasons and I think most people would be happy...for a while, this is the north east after all.

 

Disagree with your Dutch mates about Douglas but the rest is pretty much spot on. Ideally I would want an owner (be it Ashley or somebody else) who is willing to invest in us to challenge for that next step (and I think it wouldn't take hundreds of millions either with the correct setup, which we seem to have), but at the same time I'm perfectly happy at this point in time to even be challenging for Europe again, let alone be in it. If you'd told me this 3 years ago I would probably have had you institutionalised.

[Wullie]

Off the back of a season in which none of us expected a few of you seem to be falling into the old trap of thinking we should be now challenging for the CL and therefore should be stumping up cash for players. It's almost borderline parody now how many of you are playing the caricature of the Geordie with unrealistic expectations for the club. We will not challenge for CL places this year, full stop. We probably will be challenging for the EL though, and there is nothing wrong with that. the club constantly trying to "push on" and overspend on one or two players because we were all convinced that's what would bring us back to the heady days of bloodying the noses of Europe's elite, while admirable, is in fact what caused us to be in such a precarious position before our recent revival.

 

And now some of you want us to overspend. Again. 15-16m for De Jong, 7-8m for Debuchy and 5m for Douglas (whom all my dutch mates say isn't that good) reeks not of a club trying to be ambitious, but of classic Freddy Shepherd overspending in the short term for a hopeful but small chance we will make the CL. (we won't, at least not for another year or two realistically)

 

Keep what we got, build sensibly with cheap buys and punts on players, who cares if we don't make the CL every year we dont have billions at our disposal let's just get it to a level where we are consistently top 8 and we challenge for Europe every few seasons and I think most people would be happy...for a while, this is the north east after all.

 

Of course we should be challenging for the Champions League... please enlighten me as to why we shouldn't?

[Jack Flash]

Regardless of who they're buying, it's frustrating to see clubs much lower than us spending far more than we have. 2 or 3 strong acquisitions this summer would have given us the best chance at Champions league football in a decade. Falling behind because we're being "careful" is a very real prospect as it stands.

[Yorkie]

2 or 3 strong acquisitions this summer would have given us the best chance at Champions league football in a decade. Falling behind because we're being "careful" is a very real prospect as it stands.

 

[Guest BooBoo]

A week to go and there's been nothing new for a while now. I just can't believe we're expecting Liverpool and/or Lille to cave in and just hand their players over.

 

It's been a disappointing window so far and I'm concerned having seen this all before in 2003. You must strengthen when on the front front and strengthen well. It's optimistic to expect some of our players (certainly the back up) to hit the heights of last season. It will be little short of heartbreaking to be on such an up turn and then find ourselves in a position where we have to play Shola or Williamson  in the Premier League and expect them to deliver. We're basically an injury away from that situation and forgive me for being unhappy that we've not done more about it.

[Guest BooBoo]

Regardless of who they're buying, it's frustrating to see clubs much lower than us spending far more than we have. 2 or 3 strong acquisitions this summer would have given us the best chance at Champions league football in a decade. Falling behind because we're being "careful" is a very real prospect as it stands.

 

Exactly.

[Unbelievable]

What does "falling behind" entail might I ask? Would you qualify this new season as a failure if we "only" managed to finish, say, in seventh? I know I wouldn't, especially considering the top teams don't think twice about spending over 100 million in one transfer window these days. We've made huge steps forward in the last 3 years or so, but we shouldn't feel a sense of entitlement when it comes to qualifying for Europe. It will be very hard work if we want to achieve it again this year, just like it was last year.

[Guest BooBoo]

The issue for me is that the leagues three strongest teams- Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea will almost certainly finish in the top three. After that, 4th is really up for grabs. Some ambition and it could be a very realistic goal. We'll not get there though if we have to dip into our squad players because they're decent but not good enough to be heavily relied upon.

[Wullie]

What does "falling behind" entail might I ask? Would you qualify this new season as a failure if we "only" managed to finish, say, in seventh? I know I wouldn't, especially considering the top teams don't think twice about spending over 100 million in one transfer window these days. We've made huge steps forward in the last 3 years or so, but we shouldn't feel a sense of entitlement when it comes to qualifying for Europe. It will be very hard work if we want to achieve it again this year, just like it was last year.

 

Having finished fifth and then seen the teams in third and fourth lose several of their best players (although Chelsea should improve), seventh would be considered a disappointment imo.

[Guest BooBoo]

For me, a seventh place finish would be okay as long as we did something in Europe or one of the domestic cups. Frankly our cup form for years has been awful, even a decent run this year would be nice.

[Jack Flash]

What does "falling behind" entail might I ask? Would you qualify this new season as a failure if we "only" managed to finish, say, in seventh? I know I wouldn't. We've made huge steps forward in the last 3 years or so, but we shouldn't feel a sense of entitlement when it comes to qualifying for Europe. It will be very hard work if we want to achieve it again this year, just like it was last year.

 

Only a small handful of teams have had a genuine chance to break into "the top 4" in recent memory and we're currently one of them. Another top 6 finish would obviously be fantastic but why can't we try and do what we almost did last year? I really believe we could stay in the top 4-6 zone for many years if we were to push on in this and the next window.

[Unbelievable]

What does "falling behind" entail might I ask? Would you qualify this new season as a failure if we "only" managed to finish, say, in seventh? I know I wouldn't, especially considering the top teams don't think twice about spending over 100 million in one transfer window these days. We've made huge steps forward in the last 3 years or so, but we shouldn't feel a sense of entitlement when it comes to qualifying for Europe. It will be very hard work if we want to achieve it again this year, just like it was last year.

 

Having finished fifth and then seen the teams in third and fourth lose several of their best players (although Chelsea should improve), seventh would be considered a disappointment imo.

 

You are right, fourth may not be completely unrealistic, but that is the case for quite a few clubs at the moment: Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool and Everton. We're in that bracket of clubs now, and last season we were ahead of some of them (and Chelsea) because they had a disappointing season and we had a terrific one. I am not about to take it as a given that we will be above at least two of that list again, which is what you need to be to better seventh, and even that is disregarding the possibility of a surprise package like us last season to enter the fray. The aim should be fourth, because you need to aim high, but it certainly shouldn't be the expectation if you will, which is what it seems to be for some of you.

[Mole_Toonfan]

The minimum i expect is 7th but i think we are capable of more and i also think if we buy no one else then it's definitely an opportunity missed.

 

It would be Bowyer all over again, only this time the club as a whole is better run to deal with it.

[Guest ThievingMagpie]

It's really down to if your a pessimist or optimist wullie, obviously I'm the former.

 

But seriously Arsenal have sold and replaced RVP with 3 absolutely top drawer players (for about the same amount we would have to spend to even have a better than so-so chance of breaking into the top four) and while the weakest looking of the current top four still have more depth than us. If they get Sahin on loan or a proper DM they could potentially challengerl for the title, the signings they've made have improved the team that much.

 

Chelsea have ignored trying to balance the books for FFP and have bought not one, but two great young potentially world class attackers in Hazard and in particular, Oscar, who looks pretty damn good for someone so young. They've still got an amazing defence, and while Fernando Torres doesnt look like the same player, looks like he is a footballer again. And even if they sack Di Matteo we all know its really John Terry managing the team.

 

Manchester City, unlike Chelsea, actually do kinda care about FFP and haven't really bought anyone but instead everyone has had an extra pre season together trying to gel and consolidate as a team, which makes them even more dangerous because they are all starting to know where everyone wants to play and run, if Balotelli, Tevez and Nasri can start really gelling with that core of Toure, Silva and Aguero the team will be even better and they didn't have to sign anyone.

 

Manchester United hasn't bought a CM, yet again, but what they have bought is my choice for signing of the summer, Shinji Kagawa who already looks really composed and is not phased by the pace of the English game. RvP probably won't score 30 goals but atleast Wayne Rooney has a strike partner he can fully trust, something he hasn't had since Ruud. And remember people have been writing off Manchester United for over year because of various things over the year but that red nosed bastard has consistently over the years have made up for any squad weakness with his amazing management skills.

 

Tottenham, us and Liverpool are the chasing pack this year (and uh, of every year the past few years) and none of them have made any real significant improvements over their squads. Buying Joe Allen for 15m and selling Modric...the chasing pack doesn't seem to have improved that much if I'm honest.

 

 

[Guest BooBoo]

Stopped reading at the bit about Chelsea's amazing defence.

[ChrisMcQuillan]

Regardless of who they're buying, it's frustrating to see clubs much lower than us spending far more than we have. 2 or 3 strong acquisitions this summer would have given us the best chance at Champions league football in a decade. Falling behind because we're being "careful" is a very real prospect as it stands.

 

This.

 

We can look at other clubs around is not making much progress, for instance the Modric and Allen examples cited, but this should not be an excuse for making a lack of progress.  We need to be opportunistic, and if this is the time we can capitalise and build on an advantage over other teams, we should be using it.

 

If the transfer window closes, and we have not replaced Simpson, Lovenkrands and Best, then it will cost us points.  Replace these players - that's just two signings, one RB and one ST - and it'll have been a very successful window.

 

Fail to do so will be an opportunity missed, in my opinion, and with the case of Debuchy, where it seems to be all for the sake of £1m, I'll find that difficult to stomach.

 

Disclaimer: I don't think the club have done badly in this window, but we have an opportunity to make it a great one.

[Guest ThievingMagpie]

Hmm yes, closing out Barcelona with only 10 men in a champions league semi final means their defence must be really shit.

 

You really don't watch football at all do you Other?

[Wullie]

Stopped reading at the bit about Chelsea's amazing defence.

 

Jury's still very much out on Arsenal's new lads as well, especially in terms of replacing arguably the two most important players in their team last year.