Rich Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Am I safe in assuming that most people are currently only happy with our options at centre-back and for the right flank? I'm on the borderline with the goalkeeper situation personally, could live with Krul, Elliot, Darlow and Woodman as the options there but of course an improvement would be welcome and seems to be being sought by Rafa. Most concerned about attacking midfield and the left flank, with striker not far behind. Glad to see you back Rich. Clearly he has had injury problems, but is Krul really THAT bad? Same injury as Elliott after all and I don't understand how Elliott seems to be preferred on the basis of what happened before. So I'm on the fence with goalkeepers too and wouldn't want to spend money that could go on other areas. Yedlin and Gamez at RB is a risk, but I think it's a position we need to ignore to focus on other priorities. Centre back, I think we have six players there, we will probably try to ship one or two, but the second would leave Findlay as 4th choice, and without knowing much about Lejeune the opportunity to sign an excellent centre half should not be ignored if it comes up. Left back, Dummett I feel will become more acceptable if he has a better player in front of him. Jury is out on Lazaar for me but it's telling he never really played. Would like a new left back but again not a priority right now, but we should take the opportunity to improve if it comes up. The only central midfielder I am completely happy with is Hayden. Shelvey can still earn my trust but if he still isn't up to scratch in the PL, or one of the central midfielders gets injured then what's behind them is terrifying. I don't think Rafa is too fixed when it comes to wingers he likes them to have capability on both feet and both sides. Ritchie is great and Atsu is good cover. I think we need a quality winger though to take the creativity pressure away from Ritchie and Shelvey. This makes this position priority number 2, we need a starter and possibly a back up. Attacking midfield and up front, I think Perez and Gayle will have their best ever seasons next season. This makes these positions a little less important, but we still need players of at least equal quality to rotate. Think this is all pretty good, but hugely skeptical about Perez and not that convinced on Gayle (not least because he started to show some signs of wear and tear after the minutes he put in last season). He's never been particularly robust. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 If the transfer market is fucked and we only have £100m available. I would just spunk our remaining £86m on two central midfielders and a winger. Keep going back and forth on this sort of thinking myself - make a few significant purchases to significantly improve the first team and compromise by allowing some of the chaff to stay on as backup. Inevitably we'll end up using them, but adding just a couple of real high quality players to the mix could be the difference between a relegation struggle becoming more serious and a top-ten finish dropping to comfortable mid-table in that scenario. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanji Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Good to have you back Rich, man. Excellent post - won't quote as it's long as fuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sempuki Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Not sure if this is an update: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/newcastle-middlesbrough-liverpool-sheyi-ojo-10789736 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
geordiedean Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 I really don't like the standard of players we are bringing in or being linked with we are in my eyes are still a championship squad who has just lost 10 out of 46 games in that league. Atsu got less game time than Gouffran, Lejeune is just meh and Murphy is untested. I can easily see us losing 15 to 20 games next season which puts us straight back where we came from potentially We are desperate for proven quality Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papavasiliou Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 The only central midfielder I am completely happy with is Hayden. Shelvey can still earn my trust but if he still isn't up to scratch in the PL, or one of the central midfielders gets injured then what's behind them is terrifying. I think a Plan B is definitely required if Shelvey can't cope with the less time on the ball or his passes can't beat decent defenders. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 I really don't like the standard of players we are bringing in or being linked with we are in my eyes are still a championship squad who has just lost 10 out of 46 games in that league. Atsu got less game time than Gouffran, Lejeune is just meh and Murphy is untested. I can easily see us losing 15 to 20 games next season which puts us straight back where we came from potentially We are desperate for proven quality If we're going to spend £10-15m on a player I would rather it was on promising young players like Murphy tbh. Especially if they are being recommended by Rafa. It's pretty obvious we won't releasee the funds to pay for proven quality. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Geordie Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Chronicle are saying that we have opened new talks with Norwich, about Jacob Murphy. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeletor Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Chronicle are saying that we have opened new talks with Norwich, about Jacob Murphy. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk £8.1m Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Pinkman Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Moving Mbemba to CDM would solve a quite a few of our issues. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Moving Mbemba to CDM would solve a quite a few of our issues. I think if we spend big on one player it might be McCarthy in the CDM role. I hope so anyway, I think that's one position we are desperately short of quality. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 The only central midfielder I am completely happy with is Hayden. Shelvey can still earn my trust but if he still isn't up to scratch in the PL, or one of the central midfielders gets injured then what's behind them is terrifying. I think a Plan B is definitely required if Shelvey can't cope with the less time on the ball or his passes can't beat decent defenders. Has Gabriel Pires joined anyone? That just went dead. Nothing to say we've had bids rejected, or that the club had ended their interest, it's just went from a near certainty to nil. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole_Toonfan Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Moving Mbemba to CDM would solve a quite a few of our issues. It really we wouldn't, in any case CM is a bigger issue than DM considering Shelvey aside we literally have nobody who can play a pass from that position. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 CM is a really trick one, we rate Shelvey and Hayden but I can't believe they are an acceptable PL partnership right now. Not unless we change to three in midfield and add someone else. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanshithispantz Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Being back Coloccini for the role. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Pinkman Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Moving Mbemba to CDM would solve a quite a few of our issues. It really we wouldn't, in any case CM is a bigger issue than DM considering Shelvey aside we literally have nobody who can play a pass from that position. Well that's exactly my point. Moving Mbemba there frees up the 15m spend on a DM for other positions. People keep going on about having a "destroyer" next to Shelvey. Well we already have one in our squad who got into the AFCON team of the tournament in that position and played there for Anderlecht on quite a few occasions. I see someone's made a Colo joke. But anyone who knows anything about Mbemba knows he can play CDM. Whereas I can't remember Colo playing there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Moving Mbemba to CDM would solve a quite a few of our issues. It really we wouldn't, in any case CM is a bigger issue than DM considering Shelvey aside we literally have nobody who can play a pass from that position. Well that's exactly my point. Moving Mbemba there frees up the 15m spend on a DM for other positions. People keep going on about having a "destroyer" next to Shelvey. Well we already have one in our squad who got into the AFCON team of the tournament in that position and played there for Anderlecht on quite a few occasions. I see someone's made a Colo joke. But anyone who knows anything about Mbemba knows he can play CDM. Whereas I can't remember Colo playing there. I think there is something in this, but I don't expect it to ever happen. Mbemba on the bench is a massive waste of talent. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole_Toonfan Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Because he has some of the skills doesn't mean he can play there, he can't. Also the fact he's played there for his country is meaningless, plenty of players play out of position for their country doesn't mean they should do it for their club. He's not a PL standard DM and nobody with sense will actually put him there. Honestly people wanting players being played out of position because they have some requisite skills to do it annoy me more than most, fullbacks should be wingers because they can attack, CBs who can pass should be DMs etc etc. It's all bollocks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nemtizz Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Bakambu renews with Villarreal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 I think Benitez has already said he'd not consider him as a DM despite seeing him there during the ACoN so it's a moot point. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Duper Branko Strupar Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 It's tricky. Krul seems finished but Darlow and Elliot seems deserve a chance to start. The best option is to sign a veteran and sent this two out, make ways for Woodman one year later...but seems the chance has gone. Same for our CB. Florian has to start, no question. Then we got Clark and Lacelles. Mbemba as 4th choice. Is this lineup reliable? No. Are we able to make significant improvement now? No too. We need to sort out our left back, left wing and striker problem which is much more important then our CB now. These two positions are far from dependable but we have priorities. We are going to relegate if no striker signed before Sep. Wot? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 The fact that people are even considering Elliot as deserving a chance shows that Darlow's failed like. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Pinkman Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 How is it bollocks if he's already played in that position to a high standard? I like how you just cast aside the international recognition he got for playing in that position. I'm sure you would have said the same for Eric Dier. It's not even out of position for him. He can play CB or CDM. Playing Mbemba out of position is starting him up front. He'd certainly be better than Colback. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sho Time Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 If we don't sign a new keeper, Elliott is probably our best option (although admittedly I haven't seen anything of Krul - but reports suggest he's shit now). Darlow is a good shot stopper but he was dropping clangers way too frequently in a league with way less pressure than the Premier League. There's no way we can rely on him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 The fact that people are even considering Elliot as deserving a chance shows that Darlow's failed like. Yep. In truth nobody with any sense wants either of them in the starting Xl. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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