Written by DangerousDave
Disclaimer alert: my intention in posting this thread is to attempt to spark a reasoned debate, as I’m sure there will be people who fall on both sides and maybe even some who fall somewhere in between.
I left the ground with a strange feeling yesterday, normally after a defeat the tendency is to look towards the manager and point towards X and Y which in hindsight he should and could have done differently. Every manager is human and will make mistakes. Yesterday however I left the ground with the feeling that Iraola had executed the perfect game plan with the correct personnel in the correct roles, he had just been hamstrung by the lack of viable options in vital areas of the squad.
Part of me feels as though to play the way that we want to play under him, we really needed to recruit another box-to-box midfielder in the Summer to rotate with Christie. Scott has qualities for sure but I am yet to be convinced that he can fulfill that role to anywhere near the level that Ryan can, he just isn’t that profile of player. The moment he is in our midfield gaps start to appear and he appears to lack the engine to cover the ground. He seems to lack the tactical awareness at present to play this role, a couple of times yesterday he seemed really unsure about where he should be positioning himself and he left his man free with an acre of space to exploit. I feel as though trying to force him into this system is only going to continue to cost us, we signed a nimble and technical player to play in an intense physical system. We already had one of those in Traore and how did that end up?
I also feel that the centre-forward situation has let Andoni down too. We have now played four league games with essentially only one fit forward available, and we have generally suffered without a centre forward on the pitch (last week the exception.) Against both Newcastle and Chelsea that lack of a focal point has cost us, the board knew about Unal’s injury and must have known that Evanilson could not manage ninety minutes straight away, so why have we left ourselves in this situation?
Not to mention the fact that we only have one natural left back in the squad, it hasn’t cost us yet but it very easily could if a Kerkez were to get injured.
It feels a bit as though Iraola is managing with his hands tied behind his back, looking at our direct rivals. It seems that most of not all are better equipped in terms of squad depth. If we are seriously aiming to push towards Europe (Foley’s words) then how can we expect to do it with this current level of squad depth? At this level, the margins are very fine and it is difficult enough without being under-equipped.
RobTrent
You can’t base a recruitment strategy on short-term (Unal) injuries.
I think we’ve done pretty well but agree we’ve not solved the Christie conundrum.
As for Evanilson, he needs more time, and I hope he’ll find his way into form.
Signing Huijsen(/?) and Arougo(?) both look to have been an improvement to the strength of the squad.
So on balance, I’d say it’s been pretty good. Not perfect but what is?
Neil Dawson
It’s not this transfer window that was the problem. Signing Alex Scott, Tyler Adams, Hamed Traore and Romain Faivre for 90m euros was nothing short of abject recruitment. The knock-on effect was we just don’t have money to spend so have to limit who we sell like a lot of clubs. We won’t see that money back either.
Had that been spent properly or able to recoup we would not have to be in the position we are now. The players that have been signed under Simon Francis and Tiago Pinto look excellent at this stage. No expensive misfits and no injured misfits but…. They have far less cash.
SF|1899
If our ambition is to aim for Europe, then yes, our recruitment has been nowhere near good enough. If the ambition is just to stay up then I’m more than happy with the recruitment.
I think as a fanbase we are more critical of transfers probably because we can’t afford flops or having to deal with long periods of “adjustment” to the league, country, language, weather etc. The likes of Chelsea, Man City, Villa etc can easily spend £100Ms on new recruits and if it turns out they’re poor, they’ll spend even more the next window. We can’t do that.
We also probably have higher expectations for new recruits because we’re not used to these huge amounts we’re spending. £40M on Evanilson and everyone wants him to be twice as good as Solanke. The reality is they’re probably on the same level, and we only paid that much because Porto knew how desperate we were to get a new striker. – To join the conversation, click here.
