I believe the Alvarez offer came from left field.January is is big chance to redeem his legacy. two first eleven players + hopefully Echeverri being ready on top of that two for first squad and he is more of a Alvarez-Jesus impact rather than Kayky.
after the treble we really did us no favours in the market. way too comfortable, happy with plan D when plan A wasnt happening, or not even having much of a plan (Gundogan resigning completely out of the blue due to Barca decision to bin him, or lack of Alvarez replacements lined up)
whatever we fail to correct in January it will be left for Viana to rectify. he is in for hell of a job now. from a great position after the treble we will likely be in a bit of a must rebuild and must get it right mode.
Not spending 100s of millions on new players with the inquiry about to start, it's my theory but something does not make sense the way we have dealt in the transfer market the last few windows.Can you elaborate or put some context on "the fear of offending the PL" bit?
I'd disagree slightly. Gvardiol & Haaland aside - In my opinion I'm not sure we have recruited well hence we have the problems we have now. They may have just tried to get as much as possible from the group.Our recruitment has been excellent , everyone signs the odd dud but we get rid of them quickly . The new batch are still settling so too soon to say about them , he has on the whole been fantastic and he brought pep here
Alvarez wanted out, rumours his family were not going to get their visa renewed by UKG, who knows, 80m was great but not to replace him was foolish.I believe the Alvarez offer came from left field.
He wanted to start games,Alteti agreed and the offer of £81m was remarkable.
Pep says if a player wishes to leave bring an acceptable deal and the club will try and accommodate it.
Gondog was a no fee no brainier.
It doesn't make sense but I'm not sure offending the PL is it, although the inquiry may be a reason in itself. Something has clearly gone wrong with all sorts of reasons being floated about. The Rodri situation is a real bummer and on its own could maybe have been absorbed by the squad. I can't recall the situation regarding squad size in the summer, so maybe we didn't have room. Players were on existing contracts and were staying. The mental and physical fatigue situation is possibly an issue but not sure if that's to blame for the slump in form we witnessed through Nov. As people have stated it's likely a combination of things and this is where we're at.Not spending 100s of millions on new players with the inquiry about to start, it's my theory but something does not make sense the way we have dealt in the transfer market the last few windows.
We had players running on empty last season, players constantly injured and our best player Rodri pleading for help.
Selling a 19 goal player who played the second largest number of minutes (Alvarez) at the start of the season and not replacing him was unbelievably stupid.
January is is big chance to redeem his legacy. two first eleven players + hopefully Echeverri being ready on top of that two for first squad and he is more of a Alvarez-Jesus impact rather than Kayky.
after the treble we really did us no favours in the market. way too comfortable, happy with plan D when plan A wasnt happening, or not even having much of a plan (Gundogan resigning completely out of the blue due to Barca decision to bin him, or lack of Alvarez replacements lined up)
whatever we fail to correct in January it will be left for Viana to rectify. he is in for hell of a job now. from a great position after the treble we will likely be in a bit of a must rebuild and must get it right mode.
A huge refresh is needed maybe upwards of 8 top players in the next 2-3 windows.It doesn't make sense but I'm not sure offending the PL is it, although the inquiry may be a reason in itself. Something has clearly gone wrong with all sorts of reasons being floated about. The Rodri situation is a real bummer and on its own could maybe have been absorbed by the squad. I can't recall the situation regarding squad size in the summer, so maybe we didn't have room. Players were on existing contracts and were staying. The mental and physical fatigue situation is possibly an issue but not sure if that's to blame for the slump in form we witnessed through Nov. As people have stated it's likely a combination of things and this is where we're at.
It's become clear though, we need reinforcing in several areas. I think even the most conservative amongst us (not me) now realise there's a big overhaul looming.
Losing the goals of Alvarez with no replacement was a huge mistake no matter how much cash we received. Simply not enough goals in the squad to challenge for trophies.Alvarez wanted out, rumours his family were not going to get their visa renewed by UKG, who knows, 80m was great but not to replace him was foolish.
54 games and 19 goals, not replaced.
A post showing how little you know of the background to last summer and how our club came to their transfer decisions ,of which Txiki was only one part. To be fair I don't full understand it either, but I know Txiki wasn't just left to his own devices, and then at the end of the summer the rest of the club were asking Txiki what happened.Losing the goals of Alvarez with no replacement was a huge mistake no matter how much cash we received. Simply not enough goals in the squad to challenge for trophies.
Worse is that Haaland is playing every minute - which is going to end in tears. When he pulls up injured cause of being overplayed we will be really in the shit.
Txiki’s been asleep at the wheel whilst on his 12 month lap of honour.
Lots of mitigating factors but there has been chronic mis-management which won’t be sorted in January.
On the Haaland bit, yes I agree it's crazy not having any cover for him, but players like Messi and Ronaldo scored so many goals and broke so many records because they were always playing in games.Losing the goals of Alvarez with no replacement was a huge mistake no matter how much cash we received. Simply not enough goals in the squad to challenge for trophies.
Worse is that Haaland is playing every minute - which is going to end in tears. When he pulls up injured cause of being overplayed we will be really in the shit.
Txiki’s been asleep at the wheel whilst on his 12 month lap of honour.
Lots of mitigating factors but there has been chronic mis-management which won’t be sorted in January.