Rate our January transfer window

[Varadi]

Sorting the CM was an unexpected bonus and Townsend adds a decent wide option.

 

The biggest issue was getting a goalscorer so everything hinges on Doumbia, I've seen very little of the lad so no idea how likely he is to hit the ground running - if he comes in like early Cisse we'll be absolutely fine, if he's more of a Shola then we're royally fucked.

[James]

I'm pretty happy, January should be about subtle changes and improvements and addressing any injury issues.

 

In previous January Windows we have not done this, but this time we have shown a bit of pragmatism that you would not have seen previously including signing two England internationals and a player on loan. We also attempted a short term loan deal for a left back once the injury issues became apparent.

 

We did not get all our targets but that is football.

 

Fingers crossed that the players we have brought in will help to keep us up and we can build in this for next year.

[Guest Roger Kint]

I don't think that would've worked. Going into February with 4-5 players making their debuts or with a handful of starts? Tactically, team understanding etc. we would've been in August.

 

For us to stay up comfortably, something else beyond the playing staff has to change / evolve.

 

Far better to persevere with a defence we know doesnt stop goals than risk bringing in someone else who might upset that well oiled machine

 

What if I told you - teams could get better, without making new signings for every issue? Crazy concept I know. You're not going to solve 3 or 4 issues in January through signing that many players.

 

 

I think i've made my point now. Cheers.

 

Your point that going into February with 4 new players wont work. Good job we didnt sign four then isnt it?

[mrmojorisin75]

I don't think that would've worked. Going into February with 4-5 players making their debuts or with a handful of starts? Tactically, team understanding etc. we would've been in August.

 

For us to stay up comfortably, something else beyond the playing staff has to change / evolve.

 

Far better to persevere with a defence we know doesnt stop goals than risk bringing in someone else who might upset that well oiled machine

 

What if I told you - teams could get better, without making new signings for every issue? Crazy concept I know. You're not going to solve 3 or 4 issues in January through signing that many players.

 

 

I think i've made my point now. Cheers.

I think this is a point a lot of us were arguing in the dark days of Pardew and it's certainly a gripe of mine under McClaren. He didn't get the most out of what he was given from August to the end of January and I really don't see him doing it now either.

[Lush Vlad]

TCD's made his point.  Just nobody is quite sure what his point is?  Or in fact, what is the point in TCD

[xLiaaamx]

Delighted with Shelvey. As long as we don't castrate him like we did last weekend he'll make a huge difference. Really looking forward to seeing Doumbia and Townsend. Not sure about Saivet yet.

 

Wish we had just offered Siqueira the first choice slot

[The College Dropout]

 

I don't think that would've worked. Going into February with 4-5 players making their debuts or with a handful of starts? Tactically, team understanding etc. we would've been in August.

 

For us to stay up comfortably, something else beyond the playing staff has to change / evolve.

 

Far better to persevere with a defence we know doesnt stop goals than risk bringing in someone else who might upset that well oiled machine

 

What if I told you - teams could get better, without making new signings for every issue? Crazy concept I know. You're not going to solve 3 or 4 issues in January through signing that many players.

 

 

I think i've made my point now. Cheers.

 

Your point that going into February with 4 new players wont work. Good job we didnt sign four then isnt it?

 

I'm pretty happy with our transfers.  I don't see Saivet holding down a first team slot.  Doumbia will have to fight it out too.  Think the other 2 moonwalk into the team.

[Guest Roger Kint]

I don't think that would've worked. Going into February with 4-5 players making their debuts or with a handful of starts? Tactically, team understanding etc. we would've been in August.

 

For us to stay up comfortably, something else beyond the playing staff has to change / evolve.

 

Far better to persevere with a defence we know doesnt stop goals than risk bringing in someone else who might upset that well oiled machine

 

What if I told you - teams could get better, without making new signings for every issue? Crazy concept I know. You're not going to solve 3 or 4 issues in January through signing that many players.

 

 

I think i've made my point now. Cheers.

I think this is a point a lot of us were arguing in the dark days of Pardew and it's certainly a gripe of mine under McClaren. He didn't get the most out of what he was given from August to the end of January and I really don't see him doing it now either.

 

Exactly. Seems his entire point is blind faith in someone who has spent an entire year with abysmal results spanning two teams miraculously improving them in the next two months or so. Which is understandably far more sensible than suggesting we brought in a decent LB

[mozy]

A decent LB means nothing if the rest of the defence is rubbish, see Amavi for Villa. We needed LB cover, the real need for the defence is a replacement for Colo and has been for years. A slight upgrade on Dummett would make fuck all difference.

[The College Dropout]

I don't think that would've worked. Going into February with 4-5 players making their debuts or with a handful of starts? Tactically, team understanding etc. we would've been in August.

 

For us to stay up comfortably, something else beyond the playing staff has to change / evolve.

 

Far better to persevere with a defence we know doesnt stop goals than risk bringing in someone else who might upset that well oiled machine

 

What if I told you - teams could get better, without making new signings for every issue? Crazy concept I know. You're not going to solve 3 or 4 issues in January through signing that many players.

 

 

I think i've made my point now. Cheers.

I think this is a point a lot of us were arguing in the dark days of Pardew and it's certainly a gripe of mine under McClaren. He didn't get the most out of what he was given from August to the end of January and I really don't see him doing it now either.

 

Exactly. Seems his entire point is blind faith in someone who has spent an entire year with abysmal results spanning two teams miraculously improving them in the next two months or so. Which is understandably far more sensible than suggesting we brought in a decent LB

It's not blind faith. I think sacking him (now) and replacing him with someone fit for the job would make us a better outfit that should stay up with breathing space. As we won't sack him - him improving (or not)will play a bigger factor in us staying up than if we signed Davide fucking Santon on loan.

[TRon]

Man would have loved to pick up Giannelli Imbula that stoke got.

 

Would have made the midfield way more "complete".

 

That was a bit of an eye opener. Someone from the Stoke camp was describing him as the next Vieira, and that puts our signing of Saivet in perspective. I quite like the look of Saivet, but you have to admire Stoke's pursuit of really top notch signings rather than taking a punt for £6m.

[Jesse Pinkman]

In terms of a January window it was about as good as it gets. So I'll give it a great 8/10. No chance we are pretty much building a new team in January. If we go down its because of poor investment in previous windows and certainly not this one.

 

Shelvey brings some much needed creativity into midfield and perfectly replaces Cabaye. Townsend on the left will do well. We need someone who can stretch teams on that side, whilst Wij and Perez are clearly better players they are just not left wingers. Saivet is abit of an unknown and I feel he may take a while to adjust to the league, hopefully Tiote sticks around and we have a Shelvey- Tiote midfield with Colback and Saviet as back up.

 

Doumbia is a great buy for me. A lot of people saying he is a poor player obviously haven't seen much of him. He was unreal at CSKA Moscow and I think he has the the 4th best goals per minute ratio in the Champions League. I seem to remember him destroying Man City within the last 2 years, so he's definitely capable of doing well in the PL. As for his time at Roma that is obviously slightly worrying but talking to a few Roma fans apparently he came in got injuried then went to the AFCON so never really settled. Players like Ighalo struggle in Spain and Italy but excel in the Premier league, I think Doumbia is of a similar ilk.

 

Obviously we missed out on a LB and striker but as I said how many teams are buying 5-6 top quality players in January? I think we will survive without a LB. As for the striker position, with Shelvey and Townsend coming in, I think we will have enough goals from Mitro, Perez and Doumbia to just about keep us up. Especially with Wij, Townsend, Shelvey and hopefully Sissoko chipping in with a few.

 

[loki679]

I don't think that would've worked. Going into February with 4-5 players making their debuts or with a handful of starts? Tactically, team understanding etc. we would've been in August.

 

For us to stay up comfortably, something else beyond the playing staff has to change / evolve.

 

Right, you've nailed your colours to the mast.  If we stay up comfortably this season then you need to publically admit you're a know nothing, pretentious blowhard.

[Kaizero]

2/7 tbh

 

FYP

[The College Dropout]

 

I don't think that would've worked. Going into February with 4-5 players making their debuts or with a handful of starts? Tactically, team understanding etc. we would've been in August.

 

For us to stay up comfortably, something else beyond the playing staff has to change / evolve.

 

Right, you've nailed your colours to the mast.  If we stay up comfortably this season then you need to publically admit you're a know nothing, pretentious blowhard.

 

What? I'm happy with the window. Gives the team a chance to improve with a few signings in key places and more competition.  Had we gone added 3 more I would be pessimistic.

[The College Dropout]

 

In terms of a January window it was about as good as it gets. So I'll give it a great 8/10. No chance we are pretty much building a new team in January. If we go down its because of poor investment in previous windows and certainly not this one.

 

Shelvey brings some much needed creativity into midfield and perfectly replaces Cabaye. Townsend on the left will do well. We need someone who can stretch teams on that side, whilst Wij and Perez are clearly better players they are just not left wingers. Saivet is abit of an unknown and I feel he may take a while to adjust to the league, hopefully Tiote sticks around and we have a Shelvey- Tiote midfield with Colback and Saviet as back up.

 

Doumbia is a great buy for me. A lot of people saying he is a poor player obviously haven't seen much of him. He was unreal at CSKA Moscow and I think he has the the 4th best goals per minute ratio in the Champions League. I seem to remember him destroying Man City within the last 2 years, so he's definitely capable of doing well in the PL. As for his time at Roma that is obviously slightly worrying but talking to a few Roma fans apparently he came in got injuried then went to the AFCON so never really settled. Players like Ighalo struggle in Spain and Italy but excel in the Premier league, I think Doumbia is of a similar ilk.

 

Obviously we missed out on a LB and striker but as I said how many teams are buying 5-6 top quality players in January? I think we will survive without a LB. As for the striker position, with Shelvey and Townsend coming in, I think we will have enough goals from Mitro, Perez and Doumbia to just about keep us up. Especially with Wij, Townsend, Shelvey and hopefully Sissoko chipping in with a few.

 

Agree with this fully.  You're not going to sign and integrate 5-6 good players in January for an immediate boost.  Ours is almost as good as it gets. Say Remy/Berahino ahead of Doumbia and it would've been a solid step in the right direction. Not sure about Saivet but if Tiote stays he can integrate slowly.

[Collage]

5/10

 

Shelvey is a good signing, we really need someone who can/wants to pass the ball FORWARD. Pleased that we signed another CM as well.

 

But not a single defender? No left back? Really?

 

 

[George Bailey]

I went with 'okay' with a leaning towards 'fairly shit'

 

Positives and negatives balancing each other out to some extent imo.

 

Worried about our ability to score goals. New lad has got to hit the ground running, adjust damn quick and hope that Wijnaldum, Perez, Sissoko etc start seriosuly chipping in.

We seemed fixated with Berahino to a large extent and that blinkered approach may well screw us. The whole saga at West brom smells very fishy and we should have realised he wasn't going anywhere

 

Defensive capabilities are still massivley worrying too, they must have faith in the left backs being fit sooner rather than later?

 

I still fancy we are for the drop.

[hakka]

For this to be an ok window we had to get in a quality centre back, central midfielder and a proven goal scorer. We only managed one of these, so it's an epic fail of a window. Cant understand how it could be seen otherwise.

 

Of course we did well to get two other midfielders in and the striker gamble may pay off, but it shouldn't excuse the fact we didn't solve our most important issues first and foremost. We've only increased our survival chances slightly instead of significantly.

[leffe186]

Here's a view from the outside.

 

Honestly, I think if somebody told you you'd be spending 30M in January you'd have been well chuffed. With the benefit of hindsight, there could have been better ways to spend it, but I think you're quite obviously a stronger squad now.

 

Look, I get the argument that "it's not our money", that the risk is that you'll lose more by going down etc etc, but from a fan's perspective there was a genuine possibility of you not spending anything at all. The fact that you did is clearly a good thing. I also get the argument that despite fixing one glaring flaw you've failed to fix a couple of others, but underlying everything is that fact that your administration is quite clearly incompetent to a large degree . They just left too many problems to fix in one window with the amount of money available. It was always going to be difficult to attract players to Newcastle this Jan without throwing money at them, and I'm guessing that your wage bill has taken a pretty sizable jump up.

 

The greatest danger now is that you've fallen between two stools. You could have gone completely batshit mental and spent over 50M, or you could have battened down the hatches. It's ended up somewhere in the middle, and arguably more towards the mental side. You've spent a shit-ton this season, and so if you do go down it will be that much more of a disaster. The flip-side of that is that I suspect it would increase the odds of Ashley jumping ship.

 

In truth, I genuinely feel that despite the shortcomings in both manager and squad, you'll now be safe. Doumbia isn't the best forward in the world, but I reckon he'll score more than Mitro. Townsend isn't the best winger in the world, but he's a useful weapon. Saivet and Shelvey aren't the best CMs in the world, but I they're better than Colback and Anita. If you go down now, the blame lies squarely at the feet of McLaren. He has no excuse to fail to make a decent XI out of that team, with no Cups to distract/tire/injure players. Your squad is bloated, but most of that bloat is mediocre players who you can live without for the rest of the season.

 

My wife's a Villa fan. She's thinking of taking a football sabbatical for the rest of the season.

[leffe186]

For this to be an ok window we had to get in a quality centre back, central midfielder and a proven goal scorer. We only managed one of these, so it's an epic fail of a window. Cant understand how it could be seen otherwise.

 

Of course we did well to get two other midfielders in and the striker gamble may pay off, but it shouldn't excuse the fact we didn't solve our most important issues first and foremost. We've only increased our survival chances slightly instead of significantly.

 

A quality centre-back, centre-midfielder and proven goal scorer would have been an terrific window, surely? If that's just OK, then Christ knows what you were expecting.

 

Edit: Expecting is probably the wrong word. Let's say "hoping for".

[Figures 1-0 Football]

6/10

 

Shelvey - A good signing, someone who will knock the ball forward and create chances.

Saivet - Absolutely no idea what to expect from him as I had never seen or heard about him before we signed him, give him some consecutive starts and see what he can offer.

Townsend - 50/50 on this one as he looked good at Spurs when he had a run in the team a year or so ago but then seemingly ignored by them ever since. 

Doumbia - Something different to our options up front already, concerned that he has had a bad injury history but he's already proven in Champions League games that he can score against top opposition.

 

No idea how we are going to fit all these attacking players in the team, but who cares? We finally have decent options who can come on and change games.

 

Would have been a 7 or an 8 if we had got a decent LB in.

Our squad is significantly stronger than any of the other 'relegation candidates' around us, we'll start to pull away from the relegation zone imo.

 

Confidence is key in football, string a few wins together and the whole place looks entirely different. Leicester are top of the league fgs, their squad is miles behind us in terms of quality and have very average players playing well beyond their remit (similar to us in the 5th season) - just goes to show the 'confidence' aspect in football.

[Unbelievable]

Leffe

[timeEd32]

Here's a view from the outside.

 

Honestly, I think if somebody told you you'd be spending 30M in January you'd have been well chuffed. With the benefit of hindsight, there could have been better ways to spend it, but I think you're quite obviously a stronger squad now.

 

Look, I get the argument that "it's not our money", that the risk is that you'll lose more by going down etc etc, but from a fan's perspective there was a genuine possibility of you not spending anything at all. The fact that you did is clearly a good thing. I also get the argument that despite fixing one glaring flaw you've failed to fix a couple of others, but underlying everything is that fact that your administration is quite clearly incompetent to a large degree . They just left too many problems to fix in one window with the amount of money available. It was always going to be difficult to attract players to Newcastle this Jan without throwing money at them, and I'm guessing that your wage bill has taken a pretty sizable jump up.

 

The greatest danger now is that you've fallen between two stools. You could have gone completely batshit mental and spent over 50M, or you could have battened down the hatches. It's ended up somewhere in the middle, and arguably more towards the mental side. You've spent a s***-ton this season, and so if you do go down it will be that much more of a disaster. The flip-side of that is that I suspect it would increase the odds of Ashley jumping ship.

 

In truth, I genuinely feel that despite the shortcomings in both manager and squad, you'll now be safe. Doumbia isn't the best forward in the world, but I reckon he'll score more than Mitro. Townsend isn't the best winger in the world, but he's a useful weapon. Saivet and Shelvey aren't the best CMs in the world, but I they're better than Colback and Anita. If you go down now, the blame lies squarely at the feet of McLaren. He has no excuse to fail to make a decent XI out of that team, with no Cups to distract/tire/injure players. Your squad is bloated, but most of that bloat is mediocre players who you can live without for the rest of the season.

 

My wife's a Villa fan. She's thinking of taking a football sabbatical for the rest of the season.

 

Well said, except if we go down the blame lies at the feet of McClaren, Charnley, Carr, and, first and foremost, Ashley. He's responsible for creating a negative culture around the club, he's responsible for neglecting the squad for years, and he's responsible for appointing cheap, 'yes' men in the most important positions.

[triggs]

For this to be an ok window we had to get in a quality centre back, central midfielder and a proven goal scorer. We only managed one of these, so it's an epic fail of a window. Cant understand how it could be seen otherwise.

 

Of course we did well to get two other midfielders in and the striker gamble may pay off, but it shouldn't excuse the fact we didn't solve our most important issues first and foremost. We've only increased our survival chances slightly instead of significantly.

Love to know what a good window is if what you described there is an ok window