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The Daily ITK Discussion Thread - The Pinball Wizard on DEADLINE DAY!

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Good Doctor M

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Aug 31, 2010
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Jose has been vocal about plenty of absolute bollocks. His word is not gospel. It was obviously an attempt to put pressure on signing another striker. We didn't.

Do you honestly think the likes of Giroud would really make that huge of a difference?

Yes! Because a recognised striker, regardless of who they are as long as they're relatively competent as a target man, at least means we're not playing some of our best players out of position.
 

JohanTheYid

Well-Known Member
Sep 21, 2004
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SNIPPET TO THE TWO DEALS WE DONE

1. This remarkable GF 18 month deal, all down to JM and his relationship with Benfica. JM, and I agree believes he will be a massive success. He has known him since a kid. What age I don’t know
2. SB, was his contacts and agent’s homework. Given to DL to dot the ‘i’s’ and cross the ‘t’s’
3. WJ was his suggestion

Thanks Herc, shocking we didnt get WJ over the line then given it looks like JM wanted him. Frustrating for all concerned no doubt.
 

wiggo24

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Jan 5, 2013
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If there is no one available that Mourinho thinks is good enough what the fuck is Levy supposed to do?

It’s ridiculous everyone constantly blaming Levy. January is a difficult month for quality signings. Chelsea, Man U and Barce are all desperate for strikers and have deeper pockets than us. And guess what? They haven’t managed to sign anyone either. It’s irrational to just blame the club when it’s common fact quality signings are hard to come by in Jan.

Ah, the "what were we supposed to do, we tried" mentality comes back even before the window shuts.

I'm by no means #LevyOut or anything, but anyone who claims that this isn't absolutely appalling squad management is deluded.

The fact is, we let Llorente (who'd proven incredibly useful when Kane was out) leave last summer, leaving us with one striker. A striker should arguably have been signed then to allow us to rest Kane - it wasn't. So we played half a season with one recognised striker and, shock horror, that striker gets injured. We then spent a month trying (and failing) to sign a replacement, losing points in the process, and leaving ourselves with no suitable Jose-esque striker for the rest of the season - a season in which we still have an outside chance of top 4.

You can say whatever you want about January being a difficult month but we should have started scouting strikers on 1st September, ready to sign this month. At best it's poor squad management. At worst it's gross negligence.

Anyway, that's getting off track for this thread - hoping to hear some more ITK about how it went wrong/maybe a late swoop for someone (anyone). Thanks to the ITKs for their updates this month regardless, been an interesting one!
 

Yiddo1982

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Jul 4, 2006
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I thought we were told we had four strikers lined up so we wouldn’t leave ourselves short. I might have got that wrong though.
 

WiganSpur

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Aug 31, 2012
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Jose has been vocal about plenty of absolute bollocks. His word is not gospel. It was obviously an attempt to put pressure on signing another striker. We didn't.

Do you honestly think the likes of Giroud would really make that huge of a difference? I don't. We have a tough uphill battle ahead of us either way.
He's past it sure but yeah I think he would. Still miles better than Llorente but Jose is a very strategic manager and I think a squad with a lot of variety is one that suits him best. He will want a good option for us to cross to in particular.
 

Jaddas

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Aug 15, 2008
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Kane got injured on 1st Jan 2020. I don't know why we're scrambling around, and failing, to get a cut price deal for Piatek, Jose, Balotelli etc in the last couple of days of the window.

I find it hard to believe that there isn't a striker out there in the world who would be available at a reasonable price. What are our scouts doing? Surely, it's common sense to scout for a position where we have no back up? Kane has missed a couple of months of each of the past few seasons, so to enter this season without a back up is amateur.

It's shambolic and hopefully Jose can sort out the scouting dept. Getting in a DoF would be a step in the right direction.
 

Strikeb4ck

Well-Known Member
Aug 8, 2010
4,483
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Having 31 days to sign some kind of striking option, even if it's just as a stopgap, and failing to do so, for a club of our stature...is pathetic. Nothing more needs to be said.
 

Archibald&Crooks

Aegina Expat
Admin
Feb 1, 2005
55,533
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If there is no one available that Mourinho thinks is good enough what the fuck is Levy supposed to do?

It’s ridiculous everyone constantly blaming Levy. January is a difficult month for quality signings. Chelsea, Man U and Barce are all desperate for strikers and have deeper pockets than us. And guess what? They haven’t managed to sign anyone either. It’s irrational to just blame the club when it’s common fact quality signings are hard to come by in Jan.
I'm sorry but there are obviously players out there who are available and who Mourinho does think are good enough. He thought Piatek was good enough, Giroud was good enough, that Jose chap was good enough and for all we know one or two others. All were deemed good enough, they must have been because according to the ITK we received, we were in negotiations with them, their clubs and their agents. So, good enough and available.

Its time people stopped making this shithouse excuse for Levy. When they are available he won't pony up so not only Is it 'difficult' to begin with, it's double difficult. That's not to say he should overpay left right and centre but you'd think now and again won't have us being careful what we wish for or doing a Leeds, we're not talking tens of millions here.

EDIT: But there's still a few hours to go so you never know
 

YiddoTom90

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Feb 9, 2015
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I would rather no one then a benteke for example. Hopefully there is someone out there we are keeping tabs on for the summer
 

King of Otters

Well-Known Member
Jun 11, 2012
10,751
36,093
SNIPPET TO THE TWO DEALS WE DONE

1. This remarkable GF 18 month deal, all down to JM and his relationship with Benfica. JM, and I agree believes he will be a massive success. He has known him since a kid. What age I don’t know
2. SB, was his contacts and agent’s homework. Given to DL to dot the ‘i’s’ and cross the ‘t’s’
3. WJ was his suggestion

Real shame we couldn't get WJ in that case. Looks like he would have been a good fit, and clearly wanted to come.
 

dixiespurs

The futures white, The futures Lily White!
Sep 15, 2006
772
396
Apart from Haaland and Werner the reality is there is no one good enough out there. Surprised the noise around Osimhen died down, but I'd rather we stick than get someone for the sake of it.
You could make Osimhen from yesterdays anagram but you were also left with letters laputo. Having googled that and finding out Laputa was a flying island in the sky in Gullivers travels, I took that to mean there was literally more chance of a flying island in the sky than us signing him.
 

stormfly

Well-Known Member
Dec 6, 2006
4,584
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We are so lucky Kane came through the Academy and became a worldie. We seem to have no idea about buying strikers anymore.
 

Good Doctor M

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2010
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I would rather no one then a benteke for example. Hopefully there is someone out there we are keeping tabs on for the summer
But even a Benteke allows us to set up in such a way where we're playing a system that doesn't have square pegs in round holes. We've got a hell of a front 4 when everyones fit - but take Kane out and then everyone has to shuffle around and play out of position. Without a striker, we can't even begin to play the system Jose wants us too - we're going to spend the rest of the season with a patchwork forward line.

And it could have all been avoided.
 

YiddoTom90

Well-Known Member
Feb 9, 2015
1,456
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But even a Benteke allows us to set up in such a way where we're playing a system that doesn't have square pegs in round holes. We've got a hell of a front 4 when everyones fit - but take Kane out and then everyone has to shuffle around and play out of position. Without a striker, we can't even begin to play the system Jose wants us too - we're going to spend the rest of the season with a patchwork forward line.

And it could have all been avoided.
Benteke is past it. You may as well stick a pole up front it will move more.
 

wiggo24

Well-Known Member
Jan 5, 2013
5,091
36,808
I'm sorry but there are obviously players out there who are available and who Mourinho does think are good enough. He thought Piatek was good enough, Giroud was good enough, that Jose chap was good enough and for all we know one or two others. All were deemed good enough, they must have been because according to the ITK we received, we were in negotiations with them, their clubs and their agents. So, good enough and available.

Its time people stopped making this shithouse excuse for Levy. When they are available he won't pony up so not only Is it 'difficult' to begin with, it's double difficult. That's not to say he should overpay left right and centre but you'd think now and again won't have us being careful what we wish for or doing a Leeds, we're not talking tens of millions here.

EDIT: But there's still a few hours to go so you never know

Bang on. If we'd managed the squad correctly we wouldn't be in this position. But we didn't, so if we have to pay a slight premium to get a striker Jose rates in then so be it.
 
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