The January 2024 "Will we actually sign a striker or just Che Adams/Kieffer Moore" Transfer Thread

[Alan]

Isn't that how we ended up with Doc back?

Well that's what our "outstanding" scouting network is for isn't it?

Instead, it's identifying Ings, Adams and Broja (if media are to be believed) and then shrugging when none of those are financially feasible.

It's a bit shit.

I think that's inferring a lot about what our scouting department is and isn't doing tbh.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Isn't that how we ended up with Doc back?

And for all the hilarious moaning about him, he has filled in a gap when we've needed him to.

Quite why we gave him a 3 year deal though I have no idea.

 

[Lycan]

Isn't that how we ended up with Doc back?

Hobbs ran into him on the golf course. Genuinely.

 

[The Dude]

The problem is that most seasons the gap between 10/11th and the bottom 3 is quite small for the majority, sometimes all of the season so it doesn't take much to go wrong to find yourself in big trouble. I agree with your last sentence that spending wisely with a clear strategy is the way forward but they wont be able to keep selling our best players and getting players in on the cheap indefinitely, and that's the worry at the moment whether they are able to get the balance right.

You still need to invest a lot of money on players at this level, there are teams that buck that trend that and have good spells but it tends not to last over the long term and it's no coincidence that as a general rule teams that spend more, spend more time in the Premier League. Outside the big 6, the teams that have spent the most time and longest periods in the Premier League are the likes of Everton, Villa, West Ham and Newcastle and I've not checked but I bet if there was an all time transfer spend table those 4 would be the next 4 teams behind those 6 in that list. Being self sustainable is a nice idea but it's not really practical if you want to do anything with the way the league is set up.

All those teams have been relegated from the PL except Everton, whom if the points deduction had happened last season would have been.

West Ham and Newcastle have been relegated more than once, their PL records are only marginally better than Southampton.

The likes of Brighton, Brentford and Crystal Palace are a couple of (wrong) sales/purchases or a managerial appointment from being relegated and of course Wolves are in that group.

In fact Aston Villa if Emery is lured away could easily find themselves back in that group too. Unfortunately not being self sustaining is not feasible in the long term for most clubs.

 

[Alan]

Hobbs ran into him on the golf course. Genuinely.

And he thought, "well, it's better than no one".

I just fundamentally disagree with that, I suppose. I understand your point about managing player fitness but I don't want to chuck a meatbag onto the pitch just for that reason.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Isn't that how we ended up with Doc back?


I think that's inferring a lot about what our scouting department is and isn't doing tbh.

Proof is in the pudding though isn't it.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

I understand your point about managing player fitness but I don't want to chuck a meatbag onto the pitch just for that reason.

But our scouting department should be getting us better than a "meatbag"!

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

he has filled in a gap when we've needed him to.

I wouldn't say he has. If you employed Lee Naylor in 2024 he could stand at left wing back, he wouldn't be any good though and nor is Doherty, he hasn't had any even vaguely good games bar against a half-strength League One team five months ago or randomly popping up for a goal against Chelsea as sub, he's awful.

 

[Alan]

But our scouting department should be getting us better than a "meatbag"!

Well they ought to just hop to the PL Player Store, where PL Quality Players are practically falling off the shelves!

Look, the long and short of it is that I'm comfortable, maybe even happy, with the squad as it stands for the rest of the season. Simple as that, at the end of things.

 

[Lycan]

Meatbag is how I will be referring to Matt Doherty from now on.

 

[The Dude]

We'll spend around £80m in the Summer, it'll be spun as we told you to trust us and our internet superfans will lap it up. It'll be funded in the main by the sale of Neto which will be conveniently ignored.

You're one of the fans who think Fosun should run at a loss of £35m a year and be happy to do so aren't you?

 

[Alan]

Meatbag is how I will be referring to Matt Doherty from now on.

Glad to be of service. o7

 

[The Dude]

Yep, the decision to ship out Sasa seems all the more daft now, adapting our tactics to suit him better as a plan B or him to our plan A would surely have been the better solution.

However, GON thought we'd be getting someone in, so I understand it in a way too.

He was never gonna suit our plan A was he. Plan A requires pace, he has next to no pace.

It seems like most managers, GON's plan B is just Plan A with different personnel.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

I wouldn't say he has. If you employed Lee Naylor in 2024 he could stand at left wing back, he wouldn't be any good though and nor is Doherty, he hasn't had any even vaguely good games bar against a half-strength League One team five months ago or randomly popping up for a goal against Chelsea as sub, he's awful.

I knew you wouldn't be able to help yourself

He was fine v Brentford away in the cup by all accounts (even TWF wasn't over the top critical of him for once) and whilst doing nothing outstanding against Brighton he did nothing wrong either.

He was dreadful v Fulham - for sure.

GON clearly rates him above Bueno too, which i can understand at the moment sadly.

"Randomly popping up" makes it sound shitter than it was too, it turned out to be a important, and well taken goal.

So all that in mind he's turned out to be a useful signing, he's played in 15 league games, the 3 year thing not withstanding.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Well they ought to just hop to the PL Player Store, where PL Quality Players are practically falling off the shelves!

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

By my account of watching us at Brentford away in the cup, he was not fine.

He did plenty wrong on Monday.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

He was never gonna suit our plan A was he. Plan A requires pace, he has next to no pace.

It seems like most managers, GON's plan B is just Plan A with different personnel.

That used to be Nuno's philosophy too, and it made sense.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

By my account of watching us at Brentford away in the cup, he was not fine.

He did plenty wrong on Monday.

But as we've discussed in the past you genuinely hate him, so you're not really in a position to give a balanced review.

 

[AndyWolves]

Meatbag is how I will be referring to Matt Doherty from now on.

Didn't he go vegan? Cabbagebag?

 

[Alan]

Well that's the rub, isn't it? Just expecting that players who are actually good enough for this level will meet all the requirements on the business side, too... It's not as simple as just whanging on the door of a club until they agree.

I just get the sense that we tend to reduce transfer dealings to much simpler terms than is the reality.