bizzbo
Well-Known Member
we've not had that much this season have we?
neither has MH. I can't count all the times when i've looked at a decision he's made and thought, yeah, I can see the sense in that, but it never seems to work out.
taking a hard line with the players, yep, says I, get them to shape up or ship out, they'll realise which side their bread is buttered, and respect you for it. doesn't seem to have worked out that way, if the rumours are to be believed.
he opted to be less protective of elano, and that hasn't worked out well at all.
dropping Jo in favour of benjani looked like a good decision for 45 minutes against fulham, then benjani reverts to form and either falls on his arse or forgets to take the ball with him whenever there is a chance. meanwhile Jo's confidence dissappears completely.
vassell instead of elano, well, elano wasnt working hard enough or passing consistently enough, so, yep, sweep can run around in the midfield and spot a pass, and vass will work hard, i could see that one. the outcome is that vassell, instead of growing in cofidence and regaining his pre-season form, starts to make even the most simple 5 yard pass look impossible, we lose a big chunk of width and attacking threat, and sweep's form suffers a bit.
risking robinho for the derby, he can't run properly, the team plays shit anyway and he misses a string of games afterwards.
restoring hamann to the team, he plays one good game in germany, then can't seem to be bothered or just can't cut it anymore.
and now transfers.
bridge was easy because we payed top dollar and he was a reserve. all of our other targets are key players, with the poss exception of RSC and Toure.
It must have seemed that, as, WHAM need money, and parker and bellamy would both improve the squad, £15m for both looked like a quick win for both teams. doesnt happen. wham manage to hold out till they sell some squad players instead.
bburn apparently need to sell, RSC is desparate to join, so we all expected a deal to be done in the first week. along comes fatsam and all of a sudden it's dragging on and the price isnt coming down.
diarra we all assumed was nailed on, but we left the door open and real gazumped us.
toure, what a fantastic target. great player, unhappy and not in the team regularly. again though we failed to agree a fee early on, circumstances change and now it looks like he is going nowhere.
I'm sure they all seemed like easy targets when he put them down on paper, there was clear reasoning that these deals in particular could be wrapped up quickly, however actually saying in public that you hoped to get them done in the first two weeks so they'd be available to play, seems to be a bit thick. the only thing it's achieved is to raise expectation, and when nothing happens, people get uneasy as to why, and rumours start to spread.
i know it's a bit daft complaining when we've got 21 days left, but whilst I can accept that there may be an argument that we are just pursuing a hard negotiating strategy, at the moment it is equally possible that we've been miscalculating. we've have lost two big targets, and at this moment it doesn't look like we will significantly reduce the prices of the others. in the long run, even if our reputation for seeking VFM is improved, i'm worried that we confusing the value that players have in the market place, and how valuable they would be to us. the second matters, i'm not sure the first really does. if we don't get the experience and qualities we need in the team, then that will be as big a hinderance as a reputation for occasionally paying too much in years to come.
i'm sure i can't teach MH and the board anything about deal making, and value. but i do wonder a bit about how clear our strategy is in all of this.
ok, i hate myself for writing that, it seems very negative, but, those are my concerns.
sometimes bad luck and misjudgement go hand in hand. i'll be very interested to look back on this in 3 weeks time to see how things worked out on the transfer front, and in 3 months time to make up my mind wether MH has been unlucky, or wether it starts to look like he's made errors of judgement.
neither has MH. I can't count all the times when i've looked at a decision he's made and thought, yeah, I can see the sense in that, but it never seems to work out.
taking a hard line with the players, yep, says I, get them to shape up or ship out, they'll realise which side their bread is buttered, and respect you for it. doesn't seem to have worked out that way, if the rumours are to be believed.
he opted to be less protective of elano, and that hasn't worked out well at all.
dropping Jo in favour of benjani looked like a good decision for 45 minutes against fulham, then benjani reverts to form and either falls on his arse or forgets to take the ball with him whenever there is a chance. meanwhile Jo's confidence dissappears completely.
vassell instead of elano, well, elano wasnt working hard enough or passing consistently enough, so, yep, sweep can run around in the midfield and spot a pass, and vass will work hard, i could see that one. the outcome is that vassell, instead of growing in cofidence and regaining his pre-season form, starts to make even the most simple 5 yard pass look impossible, we lose a big chunk of width and attacking threat, and sweep's form suffers a bit.
risking robinho for the derby, he can't run properly, the team plays shit anyway and he misses a string of games afterwards.
restoring hamann to the team, he plays one good game in germany, then can't seem to be bothered or just can't cut it anymore.
and now transfers.
bridge was easy because we payed top dollar and he was a reserve. all of our other targets are key players, with the poss exception of RSC and Toure.
It must have seemed that, as, WHAM need money, and parker and bellamy would both improve the squad, £15m for both looked like a quick win for both teams. doesnt happen. wham manage to hold out till they sell some squad players instead.
bburn apparently need to sell, RSC is desparate to join, so we all expected a deal to be done in the first week. along comes fatsam and all of a sudden it's dragging on and the price isnt coming down.
diarra we all assumed was nailed on, but we left the door open and real gazumped us.
toure, what a fantastic target. great player, unhappy and not in the team regularly. again though we failed to agree a fee early on, circumstances change and now it looks like he is going nowhere.
I'm sure they all seemed like easy targets when he put them down on paper, there was clear reasoning that these deals in particular could be wrapped up quickly, however actually saying in public that you hoped to get them done in the first two weeks so they'd be available to play, seems to be a bit thick. the only thing it's achieved is to raise expectation, and when nothing happens, people get uneasy as to why, and rumours start to spread.
i know it's a bit daft complaining when we've got 21 days left, but whilst I can accept that there may be an argument that we are just pursuing a hard negotiating strategy, at the moment it is equally possible that we've been miscalculating. we've have lost two big targets, and at this moment it doesn't look like we will significantly reduce the prices of the others. in the long run, even if our reputation for seeking VFM is improved, i'm worried that we confusing the value that players have in the market place, and how valuable they would be to us. the second matters, i'm not sure the first really does. if we don't get the experience and qualities we need in the team, then that will be as big a hinderance as a reputation for occasionally paying too much in years to come.
i'm sure i can't teach MH and the board anything about deal making, and value. but i do wonder a bit about how clear our strategy is in all of this.
ok, i hate myself for writing that, it seems very negative, but, those are my concerns.
sometimes bad luck and misjudgement go hand in hand. i'll be very interested to look back on this in 3 weeks time to see how things worked out on the transfer front, and in 3 months time to make up my mind wether MH has been unlucky, or wether it starts to look like he's made errors of judgement.