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MrRobbo Chaldon 07 Dec 23 10.18am | |
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Last night really was the pits. The game was terrible, the worst I can remember, but our problems are much bigger than just one performance. In reality, I think it’s a mixture of a lot of things, and a lot intertwine. Roy is catching the flack this morning, but IMO most to be fair land at the feet of SP and DF: Squad We play with 2 DCMs, we now only have 1, we also now don’t have a LB. Is there any team in the league so short? Transfer market To top it off there were some excellent free transfers (we got one), but look at Ross Barkley’s performances against us and Arsenal. He’s better than all of our CM’s. We also didn’t utilise the loan market, which with a small squad seams criminal. Wilf Plan for youth Game plan We in comparison, looked slow and lost for most of the game. Most spells of possession ended without an ‘attack’. We don’t really have a style, we find it impossible to be direct. And most odd, we don’t seam to have a plan B.
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palace99 New Mills 07 Dec 23 10.59am | |
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can't disagree with anything you have said. Other than flashes from Olise and Ayew we looked toothless and so one paced. With our fall backs not overly attacking it allows teams to double up on Olise whereas when they attack it is often a 1 on 1 against Ward. As for the squad - players like Hughes and Schlupp are paid over £50k a week and have years of prem experience. They are on paper at their peak, aged 28 and 30 years respectively. Yet both have shown this season how off the pace they are and yesterday Hughes was dropped in place of a defender with limited passing. Jairo has been with us for years and is also paid £50k a week. He can play as a CM or a LB. Yesterday we needed both and yet Roy didn't risk him . As for transfers the 2 wingers for Bournemouth last night, both of whom looked good could easily have been purchased by us. One was bought in Jan for £10m (the same as we spent on Ahamada) and the lad from Leeds is on loan.
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Nicholas91 The Democratic Republic of Kent 07 Dec 23 11.41am | |
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Originally posted by palace99
can't disagree with anything you have said. Other than flashes from Olise and Ayew we looked toothless and so one paced. With our fall backs not overly attacking it allows teams to double up on Olise whereas when they attack it is often a 1 on 1 against Ward. As for the squad - players like Hughes and Schlupp are paid over £50k a week and have years of prem experience. They are on paper at their peak, aged 28 and 30 years respectively. Yet both have shown this season how off the pace they are and yesterday Hughes was dropped in place of a defender with limited passing. Jairo has been with us for years and is also paid £50k a week. He can play as a CM or a LB. Yesterday we needed both and yet Roy didn't risk him . As for transfers the 2 wingers for Bournemouth last night, both of whom looked good could easily have been purchased by us. One was bought in Jan for £10m (the same as we spent on Ahamada) and the lad from Leeds is on loan. They started with Sinisterra, Solanke, Kluivert and Semenyo last night. Any one of them would do. If B'mouth can get those 4 why have we not got a single player in up top, especially with Zaha leaving? None of it makes sense. Three transfer fees paid with not one of those players even remotely close to being in the first XI. At what point do you stop saying to yourself 'well, what do I know' and start firmly believing that nobody knows anything at the club. I didn't expect us to have Guehi, Andersen, Olise, Eze etc. transfer windows every time they roll around but I certainly expected some continuation of that, even in drips and drabs. Doucoure and Johnstone have been the only additions to it since and we had a whole squad that needed replacing, least of all the mitigating for the loss of a player who may have claim to singlehandedly keeping us in the top flight for a decade. Didn't happen.
Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!! |
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southnorwoodhill 07 Dec 23 11.55am | |
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Let's have a look at the first 11 - how many are PL capable, and if and when Hodgson departs how many would like to take up the challenge, stick around for the new manager, and make a good go of it? Edited by southnorwoodhill (07 Dec 2023 1.06pm)
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Dangermouse Hastings 07 Dec 23 12.51pm | |
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We paid £26m for França to play, it really is that simple. If you spend £2-8m on young South Americans then you send them on loan into Europe like Brighton do to acclimatise and be ready. Roy's refusal to play young players is limiting him and damaging those who play every minute of every game. The 5 sub rule actually makes it less of a risk for Roy, cos he can always make changes if he really feels he needs to. Why we didn't use the loan market in the Summer to bring in a couple of players he would use totally baffles me. I've never enjoyed Royball but I appreciate all he's done for the club and really wanted him to leave as a hero last season. Sadly he looks like he will leave as a villain. Edited by Dangermouse (07 Dec 2023 12.54pm)
That's Life |
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palace99 New Mills 07 Dec 23 6.00pm | |
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supposedly the young LW at Burnley who has looked really good this season, but just got injured, cost £2.7m this summer and already plays for Italy u21. For any decent scout he should have at least been on someone's radar. We don't have a LW, want young, up and coming players yet don't seem to have a scouting network. Franca might be a great player but when Chelsea showed an interest and pushed the price up we should have walked away. Surely £5m upfront is the tops we should be gambling on a guy who was never going to make an impact this season. Of the youth players surely David Ozoh should at least be on the bench. After all he is a defensive CM, so the only natural replacement we have for Doucoure.
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