Catastrophic transfers are killing us.

[hammocity]

You should really read more and up those comprehension skills because I didn't say he was excellent I said they were excellent options to drop in and out of the side. Vastly different things.


Why not? We've recorded profits for the last 3 years. Money hasn't been a deciding factor.

I comprehended your post no problem, just Nunes and excellent should never be mentioned in the same sentence! It's a difference of opinion, nothing more, nothing less, I won't fall out with you, Happy New Year.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

I didn't think he was terrible, but I never looked at him and thought "he's going to be in the golden boot hunt"

He just didn't project as a starter to me in any position for us at that point and we were right to sell him at the time.

That being said, I'm genuinely happy for him that he bet on himself like this and became a star.

Isn’t that short term thinking though. Last season he probably wasn’t ready to start regularly, but you could see the potential. Young players aren’t ready made/ instantly ready to play every week.

For me the obvious thing was don’t buy Doku and give Palmer a chance as a winger. Doku isn’t half as good and he cost what 50m?

Pep and the club should be able to spot that talent

 

[Uncle Wally One Ball]

For so long we got nearly everything right, smart acquisitions. Well-timed and lucrative departures.

But it's been a disaster recently, the last 3 seasons are bad. Not here to bash any players, and Savinho is "first season" and young, he needs time.

But we have to accept that Savinho, Nunes and Doku are very serious downgrades in terms of output to where we once were.

Doku and Savinho, are young and might have a chance, but cost about £85 between them. Their delivery in terms of goals, assists and big chances is way off.

Nunes, looks like a disaster.
Phillips, total disaster.
Gundogen, very definitely hasn't worked.

Hindsight is easy, but those 5 are all part of a real reduction in quality.

Gvardiol is quality, but having a hard time....so is not delivering.

When it comes to departures we've made quite a few missteps in letting home grown quality leave, think Palmer, Lavia, Porro, Rogers, Delap maybe even Harwood-Bellis, or go a bit further back to Frimpong. We made good money, but we spent even more replacing them with worse.

Can't always get it right, and hindsight is easy, we cashed in on loads of lads (whole bunch to Southampton) and Doyle, Hamilton etc who have not emerged. But Palmer looks like a huge error.

As regards sales, Pep's policy of "unhappy players out", is the right one, and served him well. But Bernardo wanted out for a while apparently and we clung onto him. Mahrez's time was up, his age, got a good fee, but he often delivered in a way the new guys haven't. Sterling, Jesus, and Zinchenko haven't prospered elsewhere, but they'd be very useful to us now. Laporte as well, and Sane. Cancelo also is a huge upgrade on what we now have. I get it that players are moved on for different reasons, Sane wanted out, Cancelo was a mardarse, Julian wanted more game time, but some of them are big losses.

The old guard also looks broken, KDB is shattered and out of contract, Bernardo well off it, Walker finished, Stones, Ake, Dias, Akanji, all good but fragile or constantly out injured.

Fells like the squad is in a pretty bad place. I still think back that 6 months ago we played Madrid off the park over 2 legs and got mugged on penalties, so maybe I'm overreacting, but it feels like we've wasted huge sums on inferior quality, and failed to manage the age profile.

Big job for the new Sporting Director.

This myth about Bernardo wanting to leave still persists I see. I have never seen anything anywhere to substantiate it, yet it has seeped into the consciousness of blues as fact. Find it very strange

 

[mexico1970]

This myth about Bernardo wanting to leave still persists I see. I have never seen anything anywhere to substantiate it, yet it has seeped into the consciousness of blues as fact. Find it very strange

The media drip dripping lies have propagated gossip into full blown fact.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

I think he is saying that we should have kept Palmer as having both Palmer and Bobb in the team would have been the best option of all. Given Palmer's current form, I am sure most would agree, but he has gone.

And Palmer went because we had good reasons why we didn't want to keep him, that were nothing to do with his performance on the field.

 

[Lavinda Past]

And Palmer went because we had good reasons why we didn't want to keep him, that were nothing to do with his performance on the field.

Who's the 'we' you're talking about? As I recall, Pep was the sole decision maker who refused to allow Palmer to go out on loan, offering a 'stay or go' ultimatum.

My understanding is that the coaching staff were more than happy with Palmer, I can't see that the Board would have been particularly concerned, and the club wouldn't have given a shit what the fans thought.

If the club was worried about his 'off field' activities, I would expect players like Foden and Walker would be of greater concern.

 

[ninjamonkey]

I comprehended your post no problem, just Nunes and excellent should never be mentioned in the same sentence! It's a difference of opinion, nothing more, nothing less, I won't fall out with you, Happy New Year.

Apologies if it came across as confrontational and aggressive, was meant to be more light hearted but I can see how it reads poorly, it wasnt my intent.

I don't agree with your opinion on Nunes but I wasn't disagreeing with it, was simply trying to clarify that I wasn't calling him an excellent player, he's nowhere near that, I was merely saying the squad rotational options of Nunes along with doku and savinho are excellent, the problem is they're not the squad options they're meant to be, they're first choice.

 

[sir baconface]

Of course we are all judging with hindsight and sometimes forgetting the squad situation at the time. Re outgoing transfers, you can’t sensibly stockpile youngsters or keep everyone happy. With that in mind the one big fcuk up for me was Palmer. I think that was down to Pep’s my-way-or-highway attitude, and the rein he is given, rather than failure to spot a big talent.

Alvarez? We’re missing him but it was hard to keep him with the Viking as striker. Did we try hard enough to accommodate him? I don’t really know. And we got a good price.

Mahrez? I can see the case to keep him longer in hindsight but was fairly relaxed at the time.

Re incomings, I’m more sanguine than most about the likes of Doku, Savinho and Gvardiol. I think all have big potential, even if there are deficiencies in short term.

Phillips was clearly a dropped bollock and Nunes was highly questionable.

Other than Palmer, the standout failures for me are the lack of DM cover and poor succession planning for KdB, Gundo and Bernardo. We need one or two elite players in these slots and they will be VERY difficult to find.

 

[M23 Citizen]

I think Savinho will work out
He is low on confidence but I think once he scores he will deliver big time…he just needs to get that monkey off his back
He definitely has the skill

Savinho is going to be class. He’s got a fuck load to improve on and he needs to toughen up massively, but you can see it in him.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

We won the EDS titles in four different age brackets. Are you sure Palmer is the only one who stood out?

We've made a small but not inconsiderable fortune by developing players that worked their way through our academy and we won the titles 'cos at that age range we were the best in the land, but not everyone is gonna make it and stand out in a PL team. And if we use the word correctly I think Palmer is the standout, and even he couldn't stem the Cottagers' tsunami yesterday!