- Jul 10, 2008
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They are getting linked with some quality players. Werner, Sancho etc
Not in January they’re not.
They are getting linked with some quality players. Werner, Sancho etc
Probably not unless they are experienced players. Van Dijk made an immediate impact at Liverpool and there have been many others. Although I don't expect this club to go out and buy this kind of player.Signing players that more than likely need time to adapt and settle isn’t going to solve any problems we have this season.
Reckon we will finish 2nd
Probably not unless they are experienced players. Van Dijk made an immediate impact at Liverpool and there have been many others. Although I don't expect this club to go out and buy this kind of player.
At the very least we should be bringing in 2 who can hit the ground running for next season and I think we should be raiding the Championship for a few (Bogle, Eze,
Godfrey - when Norwich go down, etc).
A Soumare type signing would likely not get up to speed quickly if signed in January so I agree with that respect. We're not going to change our operative ways and spend 60m on, for example, Ndidi midseason, as we don't do those signings like Liverpool did. But we can certainly do other things to make pre season a little more smoother.
They got to the CL final. They did lose some games but they looked better defensivelyMy memory is a little fuzzy, but I certainly don't remember VVD having an immediate impact, didn't they lose a lot of the games he started at the beginning of his Pool career? I don't think he really made an impact until the next season
Agreed it's wide open for 4th place and that includes Arsenal but we look the least cohesive team at the moment ,with major issues in midfield and defence, whilst others seem to be on the upUs, Wolves and United have picked up significantly over the last four or five weeks but still regularly dropping points. Whose to say any of us will suddenly click and start winning week in week out? Maybe none of the three do and all end up on something like 65 points.
Chelsea's situation is a bit disguised because they've stayed fourth but if they don't start winning games soon they'll be caught and overtaken. How does their February look btw?
Leicester (A)
ManU (H)
Tottenham (H)
Bayern Munich (A)
Conclusion: We've as good a chance as anyone.
We don't have the luxury of dropping out for a season. The quality of the improvements we all want to see will depend directly on the £100m we made from last year's CL run and the £60m we've already earned this season. Being in the CL is what will attract the kind of replacements we need. And the money that comes from it funds their transfers fees and pays them what they're worth.
The CL will always tend towards a closed shop, shovelling ever more cash to the biggest clubs from biggest leagues under the threat of those clubs setting up their own competition and becoming a genuine closed shop. At the moment, as far as the world is concerned, we're the imposters who had an unbelievable run to the final and didn't show up, we're Harry Kane and we're Heung min-Son. That's about it. We don't have the status that Chelsea and Arsenal have by being regulars over the last 15-20 years.
To change that perception I'd say we need to be qualifying and doing well every season for the next five years. Clubs like Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, Napoli, Inter can afford to drop out for a season or two because they can count on finishing 2nd, 3rd, 4th in their domestic leagues pretty quickly. And if there ever is a breakaway competition those clubs would be part of it because of their domestic status and support. Neither is automatically true for us.
We have our foot in the door but we're not in the room yet. If we become regulars and spend the money generated wisely it becomes a virtuous circle. If we miss out, 2016-19 could very easily become just a blip when the stars aligned and a great manager and team overperformed like Valencia or Leverkusen or Porto in the early-2000s.
andddd back to reality.A season out of the champions league might do us good in respect of Levy realising this squad is done and a rebuild is necessary, especially defensive areas, time to get the cheque book out Danny.
A season out of the champions league might do us good in respect of Levy realising this squad is done and a rebuild is necessary, especially defensive areas, time to get the cheque book out Danny.
Bums on seats isn't where the real big money is so I disagree, it's champions league money and World exposure, so bums on seats isn't enoughAs long as there’s bums on seats in the stadium I’m not sure it will resonate that much with ENIC.
The worst part about not getting top 4 will be the transfer excuses in the Summer. I genuinely think not getting top 4 would be a really bad thing for the club. It also just goes to show the deterioration of this team. Two title challenges with little to no significant investment, poor recruiting and falling out of the top 4. We're fucking Arsenal all over again but we have nothing to show for it.