Summer 2021 transfer window

[Deleted Cyber]

I don't think I mentioned MGW at all other than to say some dickheads were having a go at him on Sunday when he came on after 88 minutes, which to me seems crazy.

You don't sign back up players other than keepers maybe. Why would you sign someone you don't want to play?

We have three competitions and hopefully 40 odd games. We have a small squad. It is essential that there is suitable quality cover in every position. We have suffered badly as we had no Raul back up. I want WJ to prove in the rest of this season that he is Raul competition. It would also be good to have a like for like option after an hour . So often our substitution actually weakens the team inspire of the player substituted being knackered! That’s got to be wrong. Raul needs some competition to keep him on his toes. I am less concerned about Coady back up now as it appears we may be heading to a flat four long term.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Sitting here quietly and remembering the time I wrote off Paul Gladon after 45 minutes of football.

Are you really comparing Gladon with WJ?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Again though, that isn't what I said. I didn't say "don't sign anyone, we're fine as we are".

I asked why you would sign someone who when everyone is fit, you would never ever select.

 

[Tony Towner]

So you also disagree with DW.

Why didn’t you debate that then?

I have in the last day or so said not signing another forward in the Summer would demonstrate we haven't learnt our lesson and that it's too early to form a firm view on whether that signing should be WJ. I've also said that if someone like Danny Ings was in the team on Sunday we would have won as he would have attacked the crosses which fizzed over the 6 yard line. As per the above WJ probably wouldn't be the ideal as I doubt he and Raul will be a natural fit on the pitch at the same time, but I'd take him over nobody.

 

[AndyWolves]

I must admit to being in the camp where I think we're asking for the impossible. I don't think we'll be able to sign anyone near Rauls level in the middle who can also play wide. I don't think we'll sign a Raul back-up to sit on the bench and share minutes with Fabio. We'll play Raul in every game we want to win which will be all the PL games, the early cup games will be Fabio. If Raul gets a minor injury or suspension then Fabio will come in. Raul could get a season ending injury again and be out but I just don't see the club spending 20/30m on a Raul insurance policy. I think they'll accept it as a risk.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Btw who the f@@k is pogo danderfluff?

 

[slink]

I'd say Wolves have to come first.
The answer doesn't have to necessarily be WJ, but I wouldn't be happy going into next season with just Raul and Fabio for that lone spot again.

Well obviously Wolves come first but we own those 2 players. One is our top goalscorer and one is someone we have invested in that needs minutes. I don’t think anyone would be happy with that which is why i’ve said we will need to sign a player that can play in numerous attacking positions including upfront. I just think having 3 players who can only play 1 position and only 1 of them will play is a waste.

 

[prawnking]

I must admit to being in the camp where I think we're asking for the impossible. I don't think we'll be able to sign anyone near Rauls level in the middle who can also play wide. I don't think we'll sign a Raul back-up to sit on the bench and share minutes with Fabio. We'll play Raul in every game we want to win which will be all the PL games, the early cup games will be Fabio. If Raul gets a minor injury or suspension then Fabio will come in. Raul could get a season ending injury again and be out but I just don't see the club spending 20/30m on a Raul insurance policy. I think they'll accept it as a risk.

Why take that risk with our best player (who also happens to play in the most pivotal role in the team)? We don't take that risk anywhere else on the pitch. Jonny is out for a while and we potentially have Marcal, RAN and even Saiss to do a job there.

The drop-off from Raul to Fabio is immense. It may not be so pronounced in twelve months time, but we can't just ignore the lessons of the past 14 games.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

The drop-off from Raul to Fabio is immense.

The drop off from Raul to Willian José is immense. It just costs us £22m to do it.

 

[AndyWolves]

Why take that risk with our best player (who also happens to play in the most pivotal role in the team)? We don't take that risk anywhere else on the pitch. Jonny is out for a while and we potentially have Marcal, RAN and even Saiss to do a job there.

The drop-off from Raul to Fabio is immense. It may not be so pronounced in twelve months time, but we can't just ignore the lessons of the past 14 games.

As I said, it's what I think the club will do

Edit. also, we're back to the question of who? I don't think players who are effective all across the front three are particularly cheap. I can't even think of any well known players beyond Son who could fill that role, or maybe Ronaldo, which suggests these kinds of players are rare and therefore very expensive. If we can find one great! But I'm not sure we will

 

[prawnking]

The drop off from Raul to Willian José is immense. It just costs us £22m to do it.

I think you're massively overegging your point there. I'm not advocating Jose as the answer as I haven't seen enough of him, but I'm flabbergasted that so many people would seemingly be unmoved if we went into next season with just Fabio backing RJ9 again.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Actually a better historical comparison would be Guy Whittingham in 1994. Bully was injured, we needed someone to at least have a go in our cup run and the push for the playoffs. But he was expensive (relatively), was absolutely nowhere near as good as Bully, wasn't appreciably better than David Kelly, we had other options (Lee Mills and his greasy curtains) and he had absolutely zero long term value in him. So we didn't bother. Right move.

I suppose the difference being that Guy Whittingham did actually score some goals whereas Willian so far hasn't scored any.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Again though, that isn't what I said. I didn't say "don't sign anyone, we're fine as we are".

I asked why you would sign someone who when everyone is fit, you would never ever select.

Again I disagree. The starting 11 is your best 11 but your bench should be close behind. Our bench , in certain areas is a long way behind our starting 11 and Fabio, as the replacement for Raul is a long way below the standard required atm. WJ may sort that. From what we have seen he has several Raul like qualities. He looks to me a better prospect than Cutrone or Bonatini did at this level. It is a squad game now and that whole squad needs to be of the right standard. It is in the best clubs. Look at the array of talent on a big six bench. If that is who we want to challenge that is where we need to aim. Look at Everton’s bench. Look at Villas bench. Even Southampton. Their reserves in the striking department show that we need WJ type atm and for the future not just a stop gap.
mid everyone is fit and we go 4231
Rui
Samedo Donk Boly Jonny
Neves Moutinho
Traore MGW Neto
Raul

the reserves
Ruddy
Hoever Coady Kilman RAN
Otasowie Saiss
Podence Vitinha Fabio
WJ

That looks stronger to me with him in . I would also want to see more of Otasowie this season too. I have liked his cameos. He has influenced the game when he has played and should have scored.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Which bit of Otasowie's 10 minutes since Christmas have you enjoyed, out of interest?

 

[Deleted Cyber]

You know that tonight WJ and MGW will both score now don’t you?

 

[AndyWolves]

Again I disagree. The starting 11 is your best 11 but your bench should be close behind. Our bench , in certain areas is a long way behind our starting 11 and Fabio, as the replacement for Raul is a long way below the standard required atm. WJ may sort that. From what we have seen he has several Raul like qualities. He looks to me a better prospect than Cutrone or Bonatini did at this level. It is a squad game now and that whole squad needs to be of the right standard. It is in the best clubs. Look at the array of talent on a big six bench. If that is who we want to challenge that is where we need to aim. Look at Everton’s bench. Look at Villas bench. Even Southampton. Their reserves in the striking department show that we need WJ type atm and for the future not just a stop gap.
mid everyone is fit and we go 4231
Rui
Samedo Donk Boly Jonny
Neves Moutinho
Traore MGW Neto
Raul

the reserves
Ruddy
Hoever Coady Kilman RAN
Otasowie Saiss
Podence Vitinha Fabio
WJ

That looks stronger to me with him in . I would also want to see more of Otasowie this season too. I have liked his cameos. He has influenced the game when he has played and should have scored.

WJ might be better than Cutrone and Bonatini, but it's not a particularly high bar.

 

[prawnking]

Well obviously Wolves come first but we own those 2 players. One is our top goalscorer and one is someone we have invested in that needs minutes. I don’t think anyone would be happy with that which is why i’ve said we will need to sign a player that can play in numerous attacking positions including upfront. I just think having 3 players who can only play 1 position and only 1 of them will play is a waste.

A waste of what? It's up to Nuno to manage squad minutes and contentment. Fabio can have minutes but if we need to replace Raul for anything more than 15 mins at the end of every other game then Fabio is demonstrably not ready to shoulder that. And it's not just like popping a rookie in at full back, this is a pivotal role in our team.

We shouldn't just push Fabio to the front of the queue because of his price tag. Nuno already gambled on that once and it backfired badly. I agree the best of all possible worlds would be a flexible attacker, but if we can't get that then we need something else than just Fabio, 'waste' or not

 

[Trips]

Who are the reserves in the striking department at Everton, Saints and Villa?

Everton played Gylfi against us as they didn't want to play Tosun, Saints start with Ings and Adams, not sure who the back up is. And Villa dont have any back up for Watkins do they?

 

[AndyWolves]

The best answer to the Raul debate is let enough time pass that Raul becomes our Giroud! Easy!

 

[big mean bunny]

Re: Josh DaSilva - he's 22 and this is his breakout season so it's worth remembering that when evaluating young players. Arsenal let him go for nowt I think

Mentioned this before on here but 23 is about the average age of a premiership debut age for a player, average starting squad age for last season was 26y 275d. If you look at a special player like Foden is seeming to become, he is 20 and has been carefully nurtured and brought through at a slower pace than at least a lot of pundits and press wanted, but is still massively ahead of both those figures. I think Prem clubs understand this as we are seeing more players held onto longer, and more players still seemingly in their peak at 31,32 and in great physical condition at 35-36 in some cases.

Its why I think Wolves will, and should sign Alt Nouri. I see more in him being a potentially special player than I personally have with Silva.