In my opinion and i suspect many City supporters, Cook, Hughes etc have failed to deliver in this window, and i believe ultimately our owners will feel the same, and barring a (now totally unexpected) charge up the table for Eufa qualification, i believe their days are numbered.
I (genuinely) accept, that they are the experts, and we are merely fans, but to us, many of City`s shortcomings have been apparent for too long. I accept we have strengthened in some of these areas, Experienced keeper, left back, defensive midfielder etc, but despite our high goal tally from 15/16 different players, it is obvious that our midgets stand very little chance of breaking down a defence packed with giants.
Its a sweeping generalisation, (only missed Hull at home, cos of travelling distance) but when was the last time we scored with a header, or from a corner, or indeed a free-kick, (excluding a direct shot). We are so obviously lacking a strong physical presence up front.
Signing Robbie, was a "statement of intent", this window shows that we are struggling to carry out those intentions. I accept Kaka was too much, too soon, i`m quite happy that at the end of the day, we weren`t prepared to meet the extortionate demands re RSC, I accept that some clubs (prob most) dont want to sell their best players in January. I`m happy that we dont buy "just for the sake of it" and will only buy if the incoming player(s) are better than what we already have.
What i do NOT accept, is that no club was prepared to sell a £30/40 million player, who WAS prepared to come to us, and who WOULD improve us substantially in the areas we are so obviously lacking. Sure we came into money, very late on in August, but we should have been working on, and achieving our transfer targets, long before this last day rush. As was mentioned weeks ago, Real Madrid sorted most of their business before the window opened. The moment we signed Robbie, any price we were going to have to pay for future signings was going to be increased. But having blasted the opposition out of the water with our "statement signing" we should have realised that, and been prepared to pay the "City premium" that we had created, and done our business early. £100 million signings were not going to happen in this window, although i believe we were close, but a couple of £30/40 million could have worked wonders
Our signings will improve things slighly, but we dont need a slight improvement, we need a substantial improvement, dont forget we were in the bottom 3 not so long ago, and even now we are only 5 points away, and our remaining away fixtures are horrendous.
I think we are facing a long hard battle to salvage anything from this season, (only winning Eufa, or qualifying for next year will suffice) and honestly, my heart says yes, but my head says no chance, (not on current form)
I wont go on anymore, but after all the hope and optimism the takeover, SWP and Robbie, i feel so depressed at the lack of progress since then. Our consistency has been awful, and like many fans, i was pinning so much on this window providing the impetus to push on, and actually be a step nearer actually winning something, and after 2 humiliatingt cup defeats i honestly feel we are further away now, than we were in August!
If you made it to the end, thanks for reading
I (genuinely) accept, that they are the experts, and we are merely fans, but to us, many of City`s shortcomings have been apparent for too long. I accept we have strengthened in some of these areas, Experienced keeper, left back, defensive midfielder etc, but despite our high goal tally from 15/16 different players, it is obvious that our midgets stand very little chance of breaking down a defence packed with giants.
Its a sweeping generalisation, (only missed Hull at home, cos of travelling distance) but when was the last time we scored with a header, or from a corner, or indeed a free-kick, (excluding a direct shot). We are so obviously lacking a strong physical presence up front.
Signing Robbie, was a "statement of intent", this window shows that we are struggling to carry out those intentions. I accept Kaka was too much, too soon, i`m quite happy that at the end of the day, we weren`t prepared to meet the extortionate demands re RSC, I accept that some clubs (prob most) dont want to sell their best players in January. I`m happy that we dont buy "just for the sake of it" and will only buy if the incoming player(s) are better than what we already have.
What i do NOT accept, is that no club was prepared to sell a £30/40 million player, who WAS prepared to come to us, and who WOULD improve us substantially in the areas we are so obviously lacking. Sure we came into money, very late on in August, but we should have been working on, and achieving our transfer targets, long before this last day rush. As was mentioned weeks ago, Real Madrid sorted most of their business before the window opened. The moment we signed Robbie, any price we were going to have to pay for future signings was going to be increased. But having blasted the opposition out of the water with our "statement signing" we should have realised that, and been prepared to pay the "City premium" that we had created, and done our business early. £100 million signings were not going to happen in this window, although i believe we were close, but a couple of £30/40 million could have worked wonders
Our signings will improve things slighly, but we dont need a slight improvement, we need a substantial improvement, dont forget we were in the bottom 3 not so long ago, and even now we are only 5 points away, and our remaining away fixtures are horrendous.
I think we are facing a long hard battle to salvage anything from this season, (only winning Eufa, or qualifying for next year will suffice) and honestly, my heart says yes, but my head says no chance, (not on current form)
I wont go on anymore, but after all the hope and optimism the takeover, SWP and Robbie, i feel so depressed at the lack of progress since then. Our consistency has been awful, and like many fans, i was pinning so much on this window providing the impetus to push on, and actually be a step nearer actually winning something, and after 2 humiliatingt cup defeats i honestly feel we are further away now, than we were in August!
If you made it to the end, thanks for reading