- Aug 25, 2011
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Didn't really know which thread to put this in as it could go in several and I'm interested to see what others think.
Which moment was our sliding doors moment from looking like a serious team to becoming one lacking in direction?
I think many would say the 2018 window when we didn't;t make a signing and that does hold weight. Maybe when we went for Jose instead of some continuation?
I personally think it all started before this. The summer transfer window of 2017.
We'd just finished 2nd to Chelsea and there was a massive wave of optimism throughout the entire club that we could get even better.
Before then, we had been on a gradual rise from 5th to two consecutive title challenges, the second one being even stronger. This was the stage where we needed to level up.
Were players like Rose, Dier, Lamela, Winks and Davies going to get better? Was Dembele going to get over his niggly injuries? Was Eriksen going to sign that contract? Was Sissoko the best we could do? Was Toby's falling out with Poch going to cause too much disruption?
This point felt like the first sign of some cracks appearing with Poch. Then Walker left. Then we got the Rose interview.
At this stage, the team needed to know the boss was Poch and that if you weren't all in, you were out. Therefore, this window presented a mini shuffle.
We could have sold some of those who were never gonna be better than what they were showing (Dier, Lamela) and those who were rumbling/not signing contracts (Toby/Eriksen).
Of course this is a risk because the latter 2 were very important and perhaps Erisken needed to be sold the window later. But I do feel we could have sold some on and give Poch a refresh that served as a booster.
This was the business we did do;
Sanchez - 42m
Gazzaniga - ??
Foyth - 10m
Aurier - 23m
Llorente - 12m
Can we say that any of these players have been an improvement on what we had before them?
Sanchez - Supposed to replace either Toby or Jan in time but hasn't.
Gazzaniga - Not sure if he was brought in as a potential Hugo replacement but he was not up to it.
Foyth - I liked Foyth but he only had something like 700 minutes of professional football at this point so he was never gonna replace Jan or Toby quickly.
Aurier - This was a bit of an odd option as he wasn't really similar to Walker. Robust but rash and not someone capable of pinning teams back.
Llorente - Ok, this was back up gap filler. But when you want to kick on, you bring in something better.
Because these 5 players haven't replaced their predecessors, we've ended up falling back on sub par options - Dier and Davies have ended up becoming Toby and Jan's replacements.
I believe we should have been better doubling down, rather than thinking years ahead.
- Signed an established CB only a few years behind Jan/Toby rather than go for a 21 year-old and inexperienced 19 year-old.
- We could have sold Toby and brought in 2 more established CBs.
- I wouldn't have replaced Walker. Instead, I'd have promoted KWP and told Trippier that was his spot. If it failed, find the solution later.
- That money could then have gone on Rose's replacement or a CM to replace Dembele.
- Looked at how we could have funded a move for someone like Zaha - whether that is to sell one of the aforementioned players.
I realise that a lot of this is hindsight but I believe we got so much wrong this window and address somethings, so much so that by the 2018 window a lot of issues had developed (Eriksen's contract, Toby's contract, injury-prone players taking up wage bill and because we brought in totters we couldn't add to the squad in some areas.)
What was your 'sliding doors' moment?
Which moment was our sliding doors moment from looking like a serious team to becoming one lacking in direction?
I think many would say the 2018 window when we didn't;t make a signing and that does hold weight. Maybe when we went for Jose instead of some continuation?
I personally think it all started before this. The summer transfer window of 2017.
We'd just finished 2nd to Chelsea and there was a massive wave of optimism throughout the entire club that we could get even better.
Before then, we had been on a gradual rise from 5th to two consecutive title challenges, the second one being even stronger. This was the stage where we needed to level up.
Were players like Rose, Dier, Lamela, Winks and Davies going to get better? Was Dembele going to get over his niggly injuries? Was Eriksen going to sign that contract? Was Sissoko the best we could do? Was Toby's falling out with Poch going to cause too much disruption?
This point felt like the first sign of some cracks appearing with Poch. Then Walker left. Then we got the Rose interview.
At this stage, the team needed to know the boss was Poch and that if you weren't all in, you were out. Therefore, this window presented a mini shuffle.
We could have sold some of those who were never gonna be better than what they were showing (Dier, Lamela) and those who were rumbling/not signing contracts (Toby/Eriksen).
Of course this is a risk because the latter 2 were very important and perhaps Erisken needed to be sold the window later. But I do feel we could have sold some on and give Poch a refresh that served as a booster.
This was the business we did do;
Sanchez - 42m
Gazzaniga - ??
Foyth - 10m
Aurier - 23m
Llorente - 12m
Can we say that any of these players have been an improvement on what we had before them?
Sanchez - Supposed to replace either Toby or Jan in time but hasn't.
Gazzaniga - Not sure if he was brought in as a potential Hugo replacement but he was not up to it.
Foyth - I liked Foyth but he only had something like 700 minutes of professional football at this point so he was never gonna replace Jan or Toby quickly.
Aurier - This was a bit of an odd option as he wasn't really similar to Walker. Robust but rash and not someone capable of pinning teams back.
Llorente - Ok, this was back up gap filler. But when you want to kick on, you bring in something better.
Because these 5 players haven't replaced their predecessors, we've ended up falling back on sub par options - Dier and Davies have ended up becoming Toby and Jan's replacements.
I believe we should have been better doubling down, rather than thinking years ahead.
- Signed an established CB only a few years behind Jan/Toby rather than go for a 21 year-old and inexperienced 19 year-old.
- We could have sold Toby and brought in 2 more established CBs.
- I wouldn't have replaced Walker. Instead, I'd have promoted KWP and told Trippier that was his spot. If it failed, find the solution later.
- That money could then have gone on Rose's replacement or a CM to replace Dembele.
- Looked at how we could have funded a move for someone like Zaha - whether that is to sell one of the aforementioned players.
I realise that a lot of this is hindsight but I believe we got so much wrong this window and address somethings, so much so that by the 2018 window a lot of issues had developed (Eriksen's contract, Toby's contract, injury-prone players taking up wage bill and because we brought in totters we couldn't add to the squad in some areas.)
What was your 'sliding doors' moment?