Is spending a fortune really the answer?

Father Paul said:
How can anybody suggest that the spending last summer at least was a disaster?

Stones was expensive but has shown enough to suggest he will be a central feature of our defence moving forward. Jesus looks like he might be one of the best young talents on the planet. Sane has shown some sparkling form and seems to have a great future ahead of him.
So all three big money signings have been a success.

Ok Bravo and Nolito have been a disaster but only add up a bit over 20 million and Gundogen showed enough when fit to suggest he was worth the modest outlay. The relative failure this season apart from Bravo cannot be put down to a bad window last summer.

Now I fully agree a whole heap of shite was purchased in previous windows
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I agree with the exception of the tit in net and (to a lesser degree) Nolito (who I do t think had a fair chance. I guess the question is though, was John Stones, for example the right choice last summer? Or two fast full backs given the way Pep wanted to play? jS could have been for this summer - he wasn't going anywhere else
 
edinburgh123 said:
I agree with the exception of the tit in net and (to a lesser degree) Nolito (who I do t think had a fair chance. I guess the question is though, was John Stones, for example the right choice last summer? Or two fast full backs given the way Pep wanted to play? jS could have been for this summer - he wasn't going anywhere else
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We had to bring in one centre back otherwise we would have had Otamendi, Kompany , Kolarov for the season. Fullbacks were difficult because we had 4 we couldn't move out and were taking up 3 of our 17 non homegrown spots.
 
We could have still got a couple. Homegrown is irrelevant - you don't need a 25 man squad that all play. You and i could be in the squad as homegrown in effect - just don't pick us (although i fancy my chances competing against Bravo...:-)
 
edinburgh123 said:
We could have still got a couple. Homegrown is irrelevant - you don't need a 25 man squad that all play. You and i could be in the squad as homegrown in effect - just don't pick us (although i fancy my chances competing against Bravo...:-)
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Not homegrown I'm talking about, to bring in a couple of full backs would have taken us over our 17 NON homegrown limit so it would have left at least 2 senior players players not in our squads as we couldn't move them out.
 
blueparrot said:
Not homegrown I'm talking about, to bring in a couple of full backs would have taken us over our 17 NON homegrown limit so it would have left at least 2 senior players players not in our squads as we couldn't move them out.
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Fair point (although that's back to the bravo issue which is done to death)
 
flb said:
We pulled it off in the first three years of spending and won our two titles - when other clubs started spending again and played catch up we haven't won the league since-or even come close for that matter.
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I'd argue that we thought the squad from those 3 years would see us through another couple, together with spending stupidly on players who

a) weren't good enough
or
b) weren't what we really needed at the time

hence we find ourselves back having to spend more than we should be

(We also haven't YET had the return on investment from the Academy - which will come)
 
Father Paul said:
Missed chances dodgy refs and BAD defending in big games. 6 in two against Monaco, 5 in two against Chelsea, 4 in two against Spurs, 5 in 3 against arsenal, 5 in two against Everton and we were unable to keep a clean sheet against the Rags or dippers either.

Tm night we will most likely concede at least 1 possibly 2 which will make it very hard to win
when you factor in the likely influence of the ref.

So while missed chances have cost us the evidence is there for all to see unless we improve drastically at the back we will win fuck all again next year. Priority must be to spend heavily on defence and Defensive Midfield imo.
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The way we play suggests that no matter what happens it is pretty irrelevant what our defence is next year. Pep buys players to play his game not to defend. He bought Stones and Bravo purely because they fit into the style he wants us to play, they were definitely not the best central defender and goalkeeper available at the time.

This summer he will do the same, he won't buy Deli Alli or any of these big name players unless they fit into his way of playing. He won't buy the best full backs in the world currently either he will just buy whatever best fits into his style.

His argument will always be that defending has not cost us anything this season, not scoring enough goals is his reason and on the balance of games I'd agree with him. Indeed there were a hatful of occasions where we have been well beaten but still there are probably 10 points out there that we should of got which would still see us win the league.

Really we should be right up there with Chelsea if we had scored more, the only exception is the Champions League but still I really do believe Monaco can go on and win it this year and we weren't exactly easily beaten by them at all. It will probably be the 5th season in a row we have played at least the winner or a semi-finalist in Europe. Next year we will be stronger and I think although we are on course to win nothing the margins are so small now, taking those chances will make the difference next time.
 
I still think with a Pep season behind me Clichy and co have a few more seasons in them
 
we can only judge pep on next season with the squad we have got or what he had left with after pellegrini and mancini spending a fortune is now the norm in football and even if we had another manager he would still need money. the team is ageing fast and cracks are so wide in the defence you could score at will at times. the youth is not ready and even if we did have somebody your asking to much at this level to make the step up

the money is daft in football and even just getting a good english player your talking £40million plus so you have to gamble on age and hope to turn him into a world class players like stones sterling sane and jesus so paying top dollar for somebody else at a young age is key. we are not a selling club so know need to look at value or getting a good price for them in the future so if you land lucky and get 10 years out of them then is money well spent
 
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