Not strengthening the team in January

[fuchsntf]

18 hours ago, funkyrobot said:

I would’ve liked an alternative LW option to Mavididi above anything else. We’ve got alternatives on the right but no one really to rotate with him. When things aren’t going his way there’s only compromise options (e.g. Cannon yesterday) and we aren’t able to use him as the occasional impact sub. 

Albrighton can and has played both sides, historically his best crosses came from that side.. and didn't he score oor first European goal from that side.. ( NOT sure) plus Akgun has played that side.. 

Mavididi subs so far has been either injury or tactical.. 

[sylofox]

12 hours ago, RyCleary said:

Like the one we paid for Casadei and given he was recalled, had available? 

And you know what that deal was and what was being paid. 

 

Then the available amount was enough for us to land our new target.

[kingcarr21]

Maybe instead of bringing in another loan player we as a club decided that we are well ahead of the opposition and looking very likely to get promoted this season. Lets look to bringing in youth to replace Casadei? 

 

Which personally i think would have been a very sensible thing to do. I think we can afford as a club to take the risk of not bringing anyone in with how we have performed this season.

 

Just because we havent necessarily seen a young CM on the bench doesnt mean we havent been working in the background with the CM in the youth team  

[RyCleary]

2 hours ago, sylofox said:

And you know what that deal was and what was being paid. 

 

Then the available amount was enough for us to land our new target.

I know that either we paid a loan fee and hence had that available.

 

Or we didn’t and could have explored a free loan like Casadei.

 

Either way, we should have done something. 

[RyCleary]

13 hours ago, volpeazzurro said:

The loanee has to be as good or better than we have for a particular position we really need one for. Just because Southampton loaned players doesn't mean that they'd be suitable for us, it's irrelevant. There's no point in loaning for loaning's sake just to collect shiny things and keep a few supporters happy. We've already got too many earners at the club doing very little, that's part of the problem.

 

Paying out even more wages for little in return is not an option. The time period of a month in a January market that is renowned for little value is also irrelevant. It could be 6 months and if they've looked and can't find a suitable candidate then it's best to keep your hands in your pockets. 

Either of Southampton's loan signings would have improved our squad though…

[volpeazzurro]

12 minutes ago, RyCleary said:

Either of Southampton's loan signings would have improved our squad though…

Really? Brooks? Another right winger when we have Fatawu, Akgun, Mcateer and Albrighton? See comment about merely collecting shiny things for collecting sake. Is he really better 🤔, either way more wages for people to sit on the bench. We don't need cover either in that position. 

 

As for Rothwell, whilst admittedly we could have done with cover in midfield, I hardly think he's a stunning signing. I think the sadly failed pursuit of Sensai was a bit more ambitious and suitable prospect because he's better and was not just for now but also the future. Need to do better than that I think. It's all money at the end of the day and not a football manager game.

Edited 19 February 2024 by volpeazzurro

[RyCleary]

2 hours ago, volpeazzurro said:

Really? Brooks? Another right winger when we have Fatawu, Akgun, Mcateer and Albrighton? See comment about merely collecting shiny things for collecting sake. Is he really better 🤔, either way more wages for people to sit on the bench. We don't need cover either in that position. 

 

As for Rothwell, whilst admittedly we could have done with cover in midfield, I hardly think he's a stunning signing. I think the sadly failed pursuit of Sensai was a bit more ambitious and suitable prospect because he's better and was not just for now but also the future. Need to do better than that I think. It's all money at the end of the day and not a football manager game.

Brooks who can give us winger depth which the weekend showed we need (who is better than those options you mentioned in those positions) as well as another option at 8.

 

Sensi is irrelevant because we didn’t sign him. Like you said Rothwell would have provided depth we don’t have and could have been a contingency plan. 
 

On the money point, either we had our loan fee back from Casadei or it was a free loan and could have got another one so again irrelevant

[hackneyfox]

23 hours ago, Chrysalis said:

Didnt see any mistakes in defense by players.  (high line under instruction of Enzo).

Some chances were missed but is normal in the game.

 

Game was lost on tactical naivety, Basically Carrick beat Enzo.

 

All these FT posts blaming players for tactical issues.   It happened under Rodgers as well, week after week people worshipping the guy kept blaming players.

 

Thread is a knee jerk post though.

You didn't see the lack of decent passes from Faes, Vestergard or Justin?

Didn't see Faes being caught for the first or the cluster **** between Mavididi and Justin for the second?

[volpeazzurro]

5 hours ago, RyCleary said:

Brooks who can give us winger depth which the weekend showed we need (who is better than those options you mentioned in those positions) as well as another option at 8.

 

Sensi is irrelevant because we didn’t sign him. Like you said Rothwell would have provided depth we don’t have and could have been a contingency plan. 
 

On the money point, either we had our loan fee back from Casadei or it was a free loan and could have got another one so again irrelevant

Saturday was a blip and we were always going to lose matches. Our opposition would give their teeth to be in our position. Neither of those players are significantly better than what we've got. If Sensai is irrelevant because we didn't sign him so are your choices because we didn't sign them either! The point is that albeit like any deal, they can fail right at the end, the clubs energy was put into a player not only for the last half a season but hopefully the Premiership beyond that. He was a far better target than Rothwell who is limited. As for Brooks, yes, he's a decent player when not injured but weren't there some personality issues with him in the past. My point is that we've got enough cover for that position without wasting money. We're the highest scorers, best defence and still 9 points clear of our nearest rivals. That tends to suggest that Enzo and his team are getting it right. Panic buying or loaning in a poor January window when most clubs didn't do a lot is wise judgement. Yes, if the right player and the right deal could have been done I agree that it would have been nice. But ... you and I are not aware of the finances and certainly not aware of who, if anyone, they were looking at. Just because you don't see a new name doesn't mean they didn't try. Personally, if they couldn't get better than Brooks or Rothwell then perhaps that's a wise decision. It isn't play money it's big business with future financial implications. 

[sylofox]

10 hours ago, RyCleary said:

I know that either we paid a loan fee and hence had that available.

 

Or we didn’t and could have explored a free loan like Casadei.

 

Either way, we should have done something. 

Just seen something I can't re post.

 

If correct.

Our weekly wage bill £1.1m

Southampton £800k

Leeds £700k

 

So just short of £60m a year. I would say that's why we could not sign anyone.

 

Our wage to turnover % must be very close to the limit.

 

 

[RyCleary]

1 hour ago, sylofox said:

Just seen something I can't re post.

 

If correct.

Our weekly wage bill £1.1m

Southampton £800k

Leeds £700k

 

So just short of £60m a year. I would say that's why we could not sign anyone.

 

Our wage to turnover % must be very close to the limit.

 

 

How could we loan Casadei then?

[fox_up_north]

Evidence shows January purchases, unless they're part of a long term strategy, often don't work out.

 

Athletic did a youtube short on it and I was shocked to see 40% of strikers bought in Jan don't actually score for the rest of the season (top flight).

[funkyrobot]

17 hours ago, fuchsntf said:

Albrighton can and has played both sides, historically his best crosses came from that side.. and didn't he score oor first European goal from that side.. ( NOT sure) plus Akgun has played that side.. 

Mavididi subs so far has been either injury or tactical.. 

Not sure about your historical information but for the majority of his career Albrighton has been a right winger. Akgun was signed as a right winger. Both are compromises playing on the left which was my point. We have no specialised LW other than Mavididi. We have lots of right wingers though! 

[mod hero]

2 minutes ago, funkyrobot said:

Not sure about your historical information but for the majority of his career Albrighton has been a right winger. Akgun was signed as a right winger. Both are compromises playing on the left which was my point. We have no specialised LW other than Mavididi. We have lots of right wingers though! 

Albrighton was immense on the left the year we won the prem to be fair. Only Ranieri played him there. No manager since.

[sylofox]

8 hours ago, RyCleary said:

How could we loan Casadei then?

Perhaps his wage was very low. But we could not get anyone else that cheap.

 

January is not a cheap month plus clubs would not want to loan the quality of play we wanted on the cheap.

[moore_94]

11 hours ago, sylofox said:

Just seen something I can't re post.

 

If correct.

Our weekly wage bill £1.1m

Southampton £800k

Leeds £700k

 

So just short of £60m a year. I would say that's why we could not sign anyone.

 

Our wage to turnover % must be very close to the limit.

 

 

I think these are the figures that have been taken from Capology which are wrong as it hasn’t applied any wage reductions from relegation

[sylofox]

6 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

I think these are the figures that have been taken from Capology which are wrong as it hasn’t applied any wage reductions from relegation

I would of thought it about right. Wasn't we about £90m before.

[filbertway]

We really did not need to sign anyone in January. Wilf came out but Praet came in. Casadei went out...Akgun started getting more game time.

 

The talent at our disposal is insane and people keep telling me that we play boring slow football to help prevent players getting tired, so the tiredness angle is really a no go.

[fuchsntf]

On 19/02/2024 at 09:46, RyCleary said:

I know that either we paid a loan fee and hence had that available.

 

Or we didn’t and could have explored a free loan like Casadei.

 

Either way, we should have done something. 

We did something..we decided for youth & rescources in squad.

and that we didn’t need to invest in a questionable transfer or loan.

That is a big descision,not a point of doing nothing.!

 

[Chrysalis]

On 18/02/2024 at 13:09, coolhandfox said:

Biggest load of bollock I've read.

 

 

We had the same issues under Rodgers, foxes talkers who refused to believe when the manager got it wrong would be blaming things on players.

I have never called an opposing opinion bollocks though.

[Chrysalis]

On 18/02/2024 at 13:30, Paninistickers said:

Interesting. I too thought Carrick won the tactical battle and it was evident from very early on.

 

Be interesting to see @StriderHiryu analysis 

 

I saw Praet debating with the other midfielders after two mins who he needed to press. Whatever boro had done, it was unexpected and our press triggers were thrown. For the next five winks, KDH and praet were all pointing to each other who and when to press until they got the hang. 

 

Boro took every free kick and throw in super quick for those fist 30 mins

 

They played long balls into channels to turn our high line repeatedly

 

They load in a couple of heavy tackles early to unsettle us

 

They bunched up on Mavididi, sometimes triple marked, not just double. I was mystified by his hook. Was hardly his fault 

 

 

Strider wasnt in the post match stream, seen he has made a post now which is good, as I want to see his point of view after defeats as well not just a pat on the back when we win games.

Your observations are interesting and do indeed suggest they didnt play as we predicted.

Edited 20 February 2024 by Chrysalis

[Chrysalis]

On 19/02/2024 at 12:15, hackneyfox said:

You didn't see the lack of decent passes from Faes, Vestergard or Justin?

Didn't see Faes being caught for the first or the cluster **** between Mavididi and Justin for the second?

We make good and bad passes every game, when we win fans overlook the bad, when we lose they focus on them.

 

For the first goal we was playing a high line under instruction from the manager.  Only way Faes is in the right position is if he breaks those instructions.

I really hope the players are not been shouted at every time they make a bad pass in a game or something.

Edited 20 February 2024 by Chrysalis

[Sly]

So the UEFA finance report had us paying out €215 in 21/22. That would have make is have 16th highest wage bill in Europe in 22/23 ……

 

Context! 

[Chrysalis]

Just now, Sly said:

So the UEFA finance report had us paying out €215 in 21/22. That would have make is have 16th highest wage bill in Europe in 22/23 ……

 

Context! 

Yep our wage bill was obscene.  How it got to that point without a massive increase in non TV income to justify it is down to those who run the club.  They basically took a gamble on us progressing with regular CL.

We won the league, FA cup, 2 seasons where we were rooted in top 4 for entire season, massive increase in international following, but not the sponsorship gains and sales expected from that.

[funkyrobot]

21 hours ago, mod hero said:

Albrighton was immense on the left the year we won the prem to be fair. Only Ranieri played him there. No manager since.

Yeh I agree but before and after he’s been used virtually always as a RW.