OK, so I'm getting worried...

[KeiranShikari]

They didn't have a large amount of cash to burn and this guy has only had his position here for a couple of weeks. The players we are after are almost certainly not players he has identified. 

 

[Dubai Mark]

Cant compare the Burnley situation last season with us this season, likewise Watford this season with us this either. I too am getting a tadge frustrated that we havnt at least one or two more in, but have to say I am comfortable in the believe that all is being done to sign the target players for a fee and total package of what the club can afford.

Trying to put something positive forward on this.....Our squad is, aside of the new signings Dorrans (newish) and Mulumbu, actually stronger than how it ended last season, when considering we now have a fit Vadis who does look like he will make an impact now fit rather than just sit on the bench, plus Louis Thompson who seems to be in the squad mix and has not disappointed, and not forgetting a couple of youngters at least who we should be expecting to step up in the Murphy's and Toffolo.

Still also plenty of time for us to add the right players that will fit in......that is providing our Manager doesnt send them home before they have a chance of signing.

 

[SussexYellow]

It seems our squad may be in the wrong division again this season! Last year apparently we were a squad of premiership players in the championship. This year we are moving towards becoming championship players in the premiership. Both of these statements can not be right, and we need to remember that after promotion we were described as being "premiership ready".

The squad has improved with the addition of Dorrans and Mulumbu, plus we have given Alex Neil a better contract. So actually pretty good business so far.

The problem is that fees have rocketed this window and £10m does not buy you much. Middlesbrough are rumoured to be looking at a £14m bid for Jordan Rhodes today which sort of exemplifies the situation. Despite the additional sky money we are not going to be able to afford any game changers. So unless we can identify affordable targets who are a step up on what we already have, we may need to be satisfied with buying players who are competition for where we do not have depth.

There have also been no significant outs. So the wage bill could be an issue and a barrier in attracting targets. We may need to move one or two on first.

I hope we can bring a couple in yet, but I am now starting from a mindset of going with what we have with anything else being a bonus.

OTBC

 

[Beauseant]

We had a Trust board meeting at Carrow Road last night and ran into David McNally on the way in. He was just back from Austria and looking very relaxed and says that "there's a lot going on". I think we'll see some action soon; the club are hardly twiddling their thumbs and its worth bearing in mind that last summer's key signing, Jerome, only arrived after the season started.

 

[Canaryboy]

It seems our squad may be in the wrong division again this season! Last year apparently we were a squad of premiership players in the championship. This year we are moving towards becoming championship players in the premiership. Both of these statements can not be right, and we need to remember that after promotion we were described as being "premiership ready".

We got relegated from this division with a better squad.

We also finished 12th in this division with a weaker squad. 

But either way, I think squads always need to freshen up in the summer, whatever the size or objectives. Those who don't invest go backwards. 

Snodgrass, Fer, Pilkington are all players that we haven't adequately replaced. Turner has, arguably, declined. Russell Martin doesn't consider himself a right back anymore.

We're short of bodies out wide, particular down the left side. 

In fact, could easily flip your post 180 and say "last time in this league our defence wasn't considered good enough, now it is?".

At the very least I think we need a good left sided player (Brady?) and a quality centre back (Van Dijk?). 

 

[ZLF]

all the messaging is we have identified players and that we are simply pending some domino moves.     There are only 4 games, 10% of the season, played before the transfer window closes,  I doubt that will make or break our challenge.

Plenty of time for it all to come together and I remain relatively relaxed - especially as the limited rumours do fill the key areas to strengthen,  ie full back,  centre back,  left midfield and striker - and I am confident that we will strengthen

 

[Wiz]

Call me potty here but I still trust our club to get this transfer window right in the end.  

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

all the messaging is we have identified players and that we are simply pending some domino moves.    

Perhaps we're waiting to see what happens with Ramos 

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Call me potty here but I still trust our club to get this transfer window right in the end.  

Alright Potty  

The club totally ballsed up the last Premier League window we were involved in, so there is hardly form.

(January - either we needed to sack Hughton before it and let a new man invest during, or we needed to back Hughton to rectify the situation. What we did was keep Hughton in his job, but not have the faith to back him properly - so we ended up with Gutierrez and Yobo on loan, and nothing more - when it was obvious to everyone there were major problems)

Hopefully this means those mistakes will not be repeated, and I do have faith, but we've done it before, so we can mess it up again sadly.

 

[ZLF]

Yobo was one I thought we got right;  we did tighten up a little when he joined (but all things were relative,  he was poor at Soton I seem to recall) and its a fact that we 1. conceded fewer goals per game with him starting than Martin, Turner or Bassong,  2. lost fewer games per start with him than any other CB and 3. picked up more points per game with him than without.    

Everyone remembers the Seb incident with Adams,   no one recalls that Yobo was also dropped;  probably because he was a loanee - dismantling the defence at that stage was not needed.     

Yes the strike force was a problem,   but the defence did fundamental problems too;  what worries me is that we are currently planning to start this season with the same players who were outperformed by a 33 yo journeyman - although the noises of some strengthening is encouraging.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Yobo was one I thought we got right;  we did tighten up a little when he joined (but all things were relative,  he was poor at Soton I seem to recall) and its a fact that we 1. conceded fewer goals per game with him starting than Martin, Turner or Bassong,  2. lost fewer games per start with him than any other CB and 3. picked up more points per game with him than without.    

Everyone remembers the Seb incident with Adams,   no one recalls that Yobo was also dropped;  probably because he was a loanee - dismantling the defence at that stage was not needed.     

Yes the strike force was a problem,   but the defence did fundamental problems too;  what worries me is that we are currently planning to start this season with the same players who were outperformed by a 33 yo journeyman - although the noises of some strengthening is encouraging.

Yobo himself might not have been too bad an acquisition. But my point was that ultimately our activity in that window was inadequate because we got relegated. We brought in two unwanted aged players on loan. Doesnt exactly scream 'back me' or indeed make it obvious that the problems staring us in the face had even been acknowledged, certainly not dealt with.

Truth remains that had we beaten West Brom in Hughtons final game we would have stayed up. Despite all the problems it was not something that a few decent signings in January might not have been able to address.

Im pretty sure the bank wasnt broken in January. It just looked like the board didnt want to sign anyone permanently because they didnt have faith in Hughton. That shouldnt happen. Back him or sack him. Neither happened and we paid the price for it

 

[KeiranShikari]

Confidence throughout the entire team was shot at that moment, no surprise that Yobo looked good when he came in. Would also say he was hardly a journeyman, I think he had 4 clubs in his entire career before us and made well over 200 appearances for one of them.

As I said earlier, even if personnel are similar our entire team is different now.

 

[ZLF]

Dont disagree with your view on the window TGMD,   just reflecting that the Yobo signing was relatively successful as he made us stronger in that area.   

I agree that Yobo was only one of two signings when the issue was a dire lack of creative structure & ability as a striking force exacerbated by a porous defence. 

 

[Canaryboy]

Everyone remembers the Seb incident with Adams,   no one recalls that Yobo was also dropped;  probably because he was a loanee - dismantling the defence at that stage was not needed.     

Wasn't there a suggestion from somebody at the club that Yobo had effectively downed tools after he'd done enough to get in the World Cup squad? 

Played a few games, shown that he was fit, then decided that all he cared about was not getting injured? 

Or did I completely imagine that? 

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Not something I heard, but Adams was pretty ruthless when he stepped in. Noticeable was his decision to rely purely on our own players - which saw Yobo (who I agree had performed well) and Gutierrez (who'd done very little and was openly critical of Adams and the decision to sack Hughton and like Seb clearly had loyalty to Hughton) out in the cold as loanees

 

[KeiranShikari]

I can't remember that but it could be a case of my subconscious trying to forget those months. 

 

[Scott]

I have complete faith in the management team to bring in some new fresh faces, if anyone knows best it's sir Alex!

 

[Brian Fantana]

I actually think we are in good shape and I wouldn't be disappointed if we didn't add anyone in the Summer, with the right management I don't think this squad would have gone down and I hav faith in AN tutilising what he has far better than Hoots did. Having said that I would like to see a quality centre back come in and a left midfielder but the important word is quality, we have good players in all positions and I would only want to see us unsettle the current first team if it was really going to be worth it.

I look at watford as an example and would not want to swap with them for anything, I cannot remeber the last time I saw a team come up, sign half a team or more of untested players and it work out well for them. Bournmouth the same, they may have signed experience but they are looking at significant changes to the team that got them promoted and are risking the team spirit they seemed to have. Both routes always look risky to me.

I would expect to see one or two but I don't expect any significant changes ahead of the season and I think that is a good thing.

 

[Brian Fantana]

Also, and sorry to go on, but our most recent years in the Prem have been most successful when we have had a tight knit group of players with little expectation on them. When we went big on the chages front we struggled and ultimately went down. If we didn't know about him and signed Fer today we would all be really excited, but having seen how that went who would swap him for Howson or Bradders or Hoolahan at the moment? What we have is good and we now have a good manager to try something more expansive than before.

 

[Beauseant]

We will strengthen the squad but we won't pay silly money and won't bring in players for the sake of it. The Larrivey incident should make that clear. If we have to wait, we'll wait, but don't confuse not making signings with inactivity, there's a lot going on.