- Jan 2, 2020
- 2,198
- 10,484
I’d feel better about our window if Conte had shown some indication that Spence was going to get a proper chance. But he’s evidently barely gonna get any minutes before the World Cup. So even though we’ve signed a RWB it doesn’t really feel like it in reality. I can’t stress enough how problematic it is that Emerson is our first choice RWB. Lenglet is nice depth at LCB but he’s not a great pure defender and likely won’t usurp Davies as Conte’s preference. Failure to bring in a top LCB has to be considered when evaluating the window, no matter how hard the task was. Bissouma is great but as a few others have mentioned doesn’t really offer attributes we previously lacked bar outstanding press resistance. I really feel we could have done with a Tielemans type, someone who could have facilitated a system change and generally offers a much higher technical level than any of our other midfielders. It is painfully obvious some games that we lack a passer in the middle. Richarlison I’m really happy with, slight overpay but otherwise a massively positive signing. Similarly, Perisic is a clear upgrade at LWB and was a great capture on a free. Udogie looks exciting and Paratici deserves credit for trying to build for the future but I do fear for him next season as we have seen similar age profiles in Spence, Gil and Sarr struggle hugely for minutes under Conte. We also lack quality depth at CB and upfront considering who Conte is likely to rely upon (Lucas, Tanganga etc) if we get unlucky with injuries (which are inevitable with our unforgiving schedule). The last two windows have generally been positive and we are trending in the right direction but for me the window doesn’t get more than a 6.5/10.