Cajun Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 As long as Cisse stays fit or Gouffran can step in we should be fine tbh. We have Cabaye, Sissoko, Marveaux and HBA that can play as a number 10 imo. We have a tonne of CM's, wingers will be a stretch at times, CB should be fine and we have plenty of full backs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I'd say an 8. We're still very light in the forward areas - we only have two proven capable players to fit into three positions up front, which is a big concern especially since one of them is still injured and cover is non existent. Done very well apart from that though. Really wish we'd sacked the manager too this month because he won't get the best from such players but I don't think he'll last a lot longer. He won't change his ways and Ashley won't put up with such a scant return on investment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 As long as Cisse stays fit or Gouffran can step in we should be fine tbh. We have Cabaye, Sissoko, Marveaux and HBA that can play as a number 10 imo. We have a tonne of CM's, wingers will be a stretch at times, CB should be fine and we have plenty of full backs. Gouffran isn't going to get the goals that Ba did and it would be unfair to even expect him to. I think he'll graft his nuts off and has enough skill to bring something to the team. I wouldn't go as far as offering to drinking any bodily fluids if he matches Ba, I just don't expect him to unless he massively improves on what he's done in the past. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole_Toonfan Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 As long as Cisse stays fit or Gouffran can step in we should be fine tbh. We have Cabaye, Sissoko, Marveaux and HBA that can play as a number 10 imo. We have a tonne of CM's, wingers will be a stretch at times, CB should be fine and we have plenty of full backs. Yeah i think we will be fine till the summer, the front line has to be a major priority though at that point. Ben Arfa is great, Cisse is great and if Gouffran if he can show the touch, movement and work rate he showed against Villa consistently can be great also but the depth is very shallow and while enough to get through till the end of the season isn't enough long term. More than happy enough for now though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cajun Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 As long as Cisse stays fit or Gouffran can step in we should be fine tbh. We have Cabaye, Sissoko, Marveaux and HBA that can play as a number 10 imo. We have a tonne of CM's, wingers will be a stretch at times, CB should be fine and we have plenty of full backs. Gouffran isn't going to get the goals that Ba did and it would be unfair to even expect him to. I think he'll graft his nuts off and has enough skill to bring something to the team. I wouldn't go as far as offering to drinking any bodily fluids if he matches Ba, I just don't expect him to unless he massively improves on what he's done in the past. Yeah it would be insane to expect him offering the same goal return as Ba but I am hopeful he can step in, get a few goals and create chances. Was impressed with a lot of what he showed against Villa. Nothing exceptional but little things like using both feet, pace, work rate and movement really eased some initial concerns and with some of the talent we have in this squad we SHOULD be creating enough with a few able to grab enough goals. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Yeah it would be insane to expect him offering the same goal return as Ba but I am hopeful he can step in, get a few goals and create chances. Was impressed with a lot of what he showed against Villa. Nothing exceptional but little things like using both feet, pace, work rate and movement really eased some initial concerns and with some of the talent we have in this squad we SHOULD be creating enough with a few able to grab enough goals. I thought that he was excellent against Villa, losing Ba doesn't really mean we've lost everything that his goals brought us because of the others we've brought in. Sissoko and Yanga-Mbiwa can do as much as anybody to ensure that the loss of the goals from Ba isn't the negative that it could have been. Strengthening the defence has got to be worth a few of the goals that we've lost and Sissoko has already shown what he could do for us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 It would have been mad to expect any more business than this on one transfer window. We're still a bit light in attacking areas, I would have loved a striker in the mould of Long or Bellamy to play wide, but everything else was exactly what we needed IMO. Still actually can't believe it happened. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 It would have been mad to expect any more business than this on one transfer window. We're still a bit light in attacking areas, I would have loved a striker in the mould of Long or Bellamy to play wide, but everything else was exactly what we needed IMO. Still actually can't believe it happened. Agreed, our weak link now isn't on the pitch although not far from it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ketsbaia Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 9/10. Debuchy, MYM and Sissoko are phenomenal signings and I think the other two might be good as well. Not replacing Ba keeps this away from a 10. This was the window we've been dreaming of for ages and it came when we didn't expect it. I hope lessons have been learnt and we stop trying to be clever in the summer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Honestly can't believe we've got MYM and Sissoko, we will be basking in their glory for years. Provided we scrape through this season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 9/10. Debuchy, MYM and Sissoko are phenomenal signings and I think the other two might be good as well. Not replacing Ba keeps this away from a 10. This was the window we've been dreaming of for ages and it came when we didn't expect it. I hope lessons have been learnt and we stop trying to be clever in the summer. Any sort of decent striker would have made it a "10" for me as Shola is still far too close to the starting XI, but it's massively outstripped my expectations overall. Sissoko and Yanga-Mbiwa are up there with Cabaye and Ben Arfa as two players we had no right to be getting for the money we did. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben-nufc Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Delighted, 9/10. Not for one second did i think we would sign a centre back with the quality of Mbiwa. Really pleased with the signings of Sissoko and Debuchy and happy we got Gouffran. Only thing that could have made it better would have been a striker, but i can forgive us for not signing one considering the other deals. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 9/10. Debuchy, MYM and Sissoko are phenomenal signings and I think the other two might be good as well. Not replacing Ba keeps this away from a 10. This was the window we've been dreaming of for ages and it came when we didn't expect it. I hope lessons have been learnt and we stop trying to be clever in the summer. We need to see Debuchy getting forward more to get the best out of him because that's his strength and that's where we'll see that he's an upgrade on Simpson. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belfast Mags Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Delighted, 9/10. Not for one second did i think we would sign a centre back with the quality of Mbiwa. Really pleased with the signings of Sissoko and Debuchy and happy we got Gouffran. Only thing that could have made it better would have been a striker, but i can forgive us for not signing one considering the other deals. Well, we had agreed a fee with OM for Remy don't forget, he just decided to go elsewhere for the money so it wasn't for the lack of planning on our part. Not sure how this window would have panned out if we HAD of signed Remy though. Still a terrific month (providing we kick on) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben-nufc Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Well, we had agreed a fee with OM for Remy don't forget, he just decided to go elsewhere for the money so it wasn't for the lack of planning on our part. Not sure how this window would have panned out if we HAD of signed Remy though. Still a terrific month (providing we kick on) Of course, but surely we hadn't pinned all our hopes on one striker, there must have been a few we looked at. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole_Toonfan Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Considering the offer for Aubameyang after we signed all those players i think they would have happened anyway. Well we might have waited to the summer and got them on frees ( in regards to Sissoko and Gouffran) but i don't think the Remy effected them long term. About Ba going, the one main positive about that is that Cisse actually seems effective now while most of the season he's been awful which hasn't all been his fault tbf but at least our 10m striker actually looks like that now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belfast Mags Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Seems to be our MO though, a lot of spade work, over time on the right guys, the days of snap decisions are past. Didn't we have a confirmed bid knocked back on PEA though? Think he was the number two on the list after LR. After that, we settled I think. hopefully we'll have something further down the line in the summer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 10, in the sense that, Williamson is now 4th choice. Nah seriously we really deserve a 10 because we must be the most successful club in Europe in this window. Even Wenger is fuming for that lol Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole_Toonfan Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Seems to be our MO though, a lot of spade work, over time on the right guys, the days of snap decisions are past. Didn't we have a confirmed bid knocked back on PEA though? Think he was the number two on the list after LR. After that, we settled I think. hopefully we'll have something further down the line in the summer. We will there's been far too many links to strikers since we signed Sissoko to not suggest we still want one, past that i'm not sure but i'm pretty confident we will be after a striker come the summer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belfast Mags Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Must say I had a chuckle to myself when there was a bit of whinging about "no value in the market" from certain quarters Yip, definitely no value out there to be had Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belfast Mags Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Seems to be our MO though, a lot of spade work, over time on the right guys, the days of snap decisions are past. Didn't we have a confirmed bid knocked back on PEA though? Think he was the number two on the list after LR. After that, we settled I think. hopefully we'll have something further down the line in the summer. We will there's been far too many links to strikers since we signed Sissoko to not suggest we still want one, past that i'm not sure but i'm pretty confident we will be after a striker come the summer. I'm hoping (expecting) that we'll work on our targets between now and then and get it done early in the summer. You're right though, there was some good links (if you read between the lines) being mentioned so it looks like we recognise the need and will act accordingly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
merlin Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 I'd say an 8. We're still very light in the forward areas - we only have two proven capable players to fit into three positions up front, which is a big concern especially since one of them is still injured and cover is non existent. Done very well apart from that though. Really wish we'd sacked the manager too this month because he won't get the best from such players but I don't think he'll last a lot longer. He won't change his ways and Ashley won't put up with such a scant return on investment. Pretty much this - we spent more than they probably wanted to, but it was do or die...sitting on the money until summer was not an option if they wanted to stay in the PL. Still light up front and badly need pace there, but we should have enough to stay up. If we only just manage it, I reckon Pardew is toast in the summer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toon Hoser Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Everyone lived. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JS Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 As far as this window goes it's been a good 7/10 for me. I worry what a severe injury to Cisse would do for our front line, but all things considered it's been canny. If we managed to get another CF, proper winger and a really promising young goalkeeper I would have given it a 10. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillClinton Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Considering this month we sold our top goal scorer, had our Captain try to leave, and lost most of our games.. it just shows how well we've done business that most people now consider this window a success. Normally those three negatives would spell total disaster. It's pretty crazy how things turned out, credit to Ashley for learning from his mistakes. Now if our "Manager of the Year" can figure everything out we should be allright. 8/10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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