£126m Spent

[egg]

4 minutes ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

How often have we pissed money away, £10m here, £15m there? Way too often.

Sums it up really.

 

That's the issue, we've signed too many players in that sort of price range. We've gone for quantity and perceived promise ahead of proven ready to go quality.

We'd have been better off keeping Forster, and signing 5 decent £25m ish players than this lot. The one that really irks me is Larios. We were nickel and diming over strikers in the summer, and then threw £6m on a kid that we didn't need. Had we just paid that bit more to get a proper striker in over the summer, we may not be in the mess that we are. Absolute shit show. 

 

[Roo1976]

wow for 26 m less we could have theoretically put in a bid for Grealish...........what a great partnership him and Moi would have made.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

16 minutes ago, Roo1976 said:

wow for 26 m less we could have theoretically put in a bid for Grealish...........what a great partnership him and Moi would have made.

The perfect player to fall over and win free kicks for JWP to put in. 🙂

[FarehamSaintJames]

£12m for Mara? £12m for a player not ready and deemed for the future?

Not just singling him out, there’s so many we’ve done this for.

The odd one is fine, but you can’t build a squad on it long term, as we’ve now proven.

[Chez]

2 hours ago, egg said:

The one that really irks me is Larios. We were nickel and diming over strikers in the summer, and then threw £6m on a kid that we didn't need. 

We did need a left back. 

[egg]

7 minutes ago, Chez said:

We did need a left back. 

But not an 18 year old who'd never played mens football. 

[Chez]

2 minutes ago, egg said:

But not an 18 year old who'd never played mens football. 

If he was as good as Lavia I wouldn't have cared. He ain't. 

[Osvaldorama]

The club is run by utter morons. 
 

Even the ones that have looked good have been played out of position, or dropped. 
 

What’s the fucking point?

[OldNick]

11 hours ago, FarehamSaintJames said:

£12m for Mara? £12m for a player not ready and deemed for the future?

Not just singling him out, there’s so many we’ve done this for.

The odd one is fine, but you can’t build a squad on it long term, as we’ve now proven.

We are SR's chemistry set to play with, sadly they had trouble opening the box let alone actually playing with it

[Alanh]

13 hours ago, egg said:

The one that really irks me is Larios. We were nickel and diming over strikers in the summer, and then threw £6m on a kid that we didn't need. 

 

We paid £5M for Tino so not really much different.  It hasn't worked out for Larios yet, but he's young and was really bought for the future rather than as a starter so it might work out OK in the long run. 

[egg]

53 minutes ago, Alanh said:

We paid £5M for Tino so not really much different.  It hasn't worked out for Larios yet, but he's young and was really bought for the future rather than as a starter so it might work out OK in the long run. 

You miss the point. We used cash that could have been added to our striker budget to instead but an 18 year old youth team left back. It doesn't matter how good a left back Larios may be one day. Youth team left backs don't score the goals to win games. Strikers do. Look at it another way - what would have been a better use of cash -£6m for Larios and £12m for Mara, or £18m for a ready to go goalscorer? 

[AlexLaw76]

1 hour ago, Alanh said:

We paid £5M for Tino so not really much different.  It hasn't worked out for Larios yet, but he's young and was really bought for the future rather than as a starter so it might work out OK in the long run. 

How's that working out for us?

[Saint Fan CaM]

8 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

How's that working out for us?

Exactly…not so well. Tino was played to the point of exhaustion though by Ralph when we had KWP getting splinters and that eventually nobbled him as his body was clearly not ready. Thing is, I’m not sure it’s just about cost of players…there are some excellent players in ‘lesser’ Prem teams that cost less than £10m…even less than £5m. We’re looking in the wrong places?

I get the impression that Saints recruitment strategy insists going for future value in youth and relying on good coaching, rather than ensuring the pre-requisite level of quality is ever present in the 1st team. Lowe tried this strategy but failed because the funds were not there and eventually the collective quality of the team reduced until it broke. Guess what - Semmens and his Board have allowed the same to happen, albeit with better funding. You could argue therefore that they’ve fucked up even more royally than Rupes!

[Saint Garrett]

30 minutes ago, egg said:

You miss the point. We used cash that could have been added to our striker budget to instead but an 18 year old youth team left back. It doesn't matter how good a left back Larios may be one day. Youth team left backs don't score the goals to win games. Strikers do. Look at it another way - what would have been a better use of cash -£6m for Larios and £12m for Mara, or £18m for a ready to go goalscorer? 

I dont think money was the issue though tbf, the money was there to buy a striker, it just didn't happen because we couldn't get it over the line (Ramos / Gakpo). Larios transfer was irrelevent

[woodsaint1]

Said for quite a while that we badly need a reset and relegation will give us that. Yes theres a big risk we could do a WBA and remain stranded in the lower half of the Championship for seasons, but we've also a great chance of a fresh start - creating a new identity, building that winning mentality and developing some of the younger players.

Good article by the Athletic

https://theathletic.com/4247850/2023/02/28/southampton-relegation-premier-league-burnley?source=user-shared-article

8th longest serving club in the PL

[Tamesaint]

8 minutes ago, woodsaint1 said:

Said for quite a while that we badly need a reset and relegation will give us that. Yes theres a big risk we could do a WBA and remain stranded in the lower half of the Championship for seasons, but we've also a great chance of a fresh start - creating a new identity, building that winning mentality and developing some of the younger players.

Good article by the Athletic

https://theathletic.com/4247850/2023/02/28/southampton-relegation-premier-league-burnley?source=user-shared-article

8th longest serving club in the PL

I thought it was a poor article - too complacent and  clearly written by someone who doesn't know much about the team. The idea that the likes of Lavia, ABK  KWP and maybe even Tino are going to stay to be moulded into a new, refreshed team is a bit of a joke. 

[Saint Garrett]

6 minutes ago, Tamesaint said:

I thought it was a poor article - too complacent and  clearly written by someone who doesn't know much about the team. The idea that the likes of Lavia, ABK  KWP and maybe even Tino are going to stay to be moulded into a new, refreshed team is a bit of a joke. 

Cant see Tino going anywhere, might not even be fit for the start of the season. ABK, Salisu, Lavia and Adams will probably leave. JWP maybe. 

[CB Fry]

15 minutes ago, Tamesaint said:

I thought it was a poor article - too complacent and  clearly written by someone who doesn't know much about the team. The idea that the likes of Lavia, ABK  KWP and maybe even Tino are going to stay to be moulded into a new, refreshed team is a bit of a joke. 

Except that article doesn't say those players are all going to stay so why are you pretending that it does?

He'll know as we all do that at least some will be off.

For someone moaning about "poor articles" you didn't read it very well.

Edited 28 February, 2023 by CB Fry

[Saint Fan CaM]

1 minute ago, Saint Garrett said:

Cant see Tino going anywhere, might not even be fit for the start of the season. ABK, Salisu, Lavia and Adams will probably leave. JWP maybe. 

Would the club attempt to hold them to their contracts, assuming the contract allows the club to hold them? This in the expectation that we can return quickly as part of a ‘master plan’ project and building for the future? To be honest, outside of Lavia, I’m not sure we’d have Prem teams beating our door down for many of our players when they’ve been part of a very poor relegated team.

[once_bitterne]

16 hours ago, whelk said:

I just said it to the missus referencing little evidence of her doing any housework today. Went down great!

And so she should.

[hackedoff]

It's going to be a busy summer for someone at the club,trying to rehome the latest batch of deadwood.

[Tamesaint]

33 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Except that article doesn't say those players are all going to stay so why are you pretending that it does?

He'll know as we all do that at least some will be off.

For someone moaning about "poor articles" you didn't read it very well.

Are you having a bad day ? Calm down, dear. Calm down. 

Clearly you missed the paragraph about JWP being the only player who could attract interest from other clubs and even then he might stay. He may well not move on  but you need to wake up and smell the coffee  if you think that the likes of Lavia, ABK, KWP and Salisu will be playing for us in the Championship next season. 

 

[egg]

7 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

I dont think money was the issue though tbf, the money was there to buy a striker, it just didn't happen because we couldn't get it over the line (Ramos / Gakpo). Larios transfer was irrelevent

Perhaps a  lack of money is why we didn't get it over the line...

[aintforever]

1 hour ago, Tamesaint said:

I thought it was a poor article - too complacent and  clearly written by someone who doesn't know much about the team. The idea that the likes of Lavia, ABK  KWP and maybe even Tino are going to stay to be moulded into a new, refreshed team is a bit of a joke. 

Not sure why. In theory we are well placed for promotion next year. A lot of young players with potential under contract who will either stay or fetch a decent fee, plus proven Championship players like Adams and Armstrong who will not exactly be sought after by Premier League clubs.

I agree with what Michael Dawson said on Soccer Saturday, no one wants the Southampton managers job now but the will be the best job in the Championship next year.

[CB Fry]

47 minutes ago, Tamesaint said:

Are you having a bad day ? Calm down, dear. Calm down. 

Clearly you missed the paragraph about JWP being the only player who could attract interest from other clubs and even then he might stay. He may well not move on  but you need to wake up and smell the coffee  if you think that the likes of Lavia, ABK, KWP and Salisu will be playing for us in the Championship next season. 

 

The article doesn't say that either. 

It says JWP is our only outstanding player, which is true, and at 28 he might stick around, also true.

Maybe you need to calm down because you're getting jolly upset about things you are imagining is in an Athletic article but aren't there.

Wake up and smell the coffee, and read what was written.

Edited 28 February, 2023 by CB Fry

[Tamesaint]

9 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

The article doesn't say that either. 

It says JWP is our only outstanding player, which is true, and at 28 he might stick around, also true.

Maybe you need to calm down because you're getting jolly upset about things you are imagining is in an Athletic article but aren't there.

Wake up and smell the coffee, and read what was written.

We will just have to agree to differ.

You clearly think this is a good article. I don't. 😁

 

Edited 28 February, 2023 by Tamesaint

[Chez]

3 hours ago, egg said:

You miss the point. We used cash that could have been added to our striker budget to instead but an 18 year old youth team left back. It doesn't matter how good a left back Larios may be one day. Youth team left backs don't score the goals to win games. Strikers do. Look at it another way - what would have been a better use of cash -£6m for Larios and £12m for Mara, or £18m for a ready to go goalscorer? 

Sure, but we only had one left back at the club. We needed another, be it an 18 year old understudy or a 30 year old journeyman. If we had brought the right guy in, who had a similar impact as Livramento, you wouldn't be saying "why the fuck did we spent £6m on a left back? We needed that money to get a striker." 

Besides, buying a left back didn't actually prevent us from spending £18m on a striker. We could have used the DCC, Aribo or Edozie money or the money we just spent on Onuachu, Orisic, Alcaraz and Salemana.

[Chez]

1 hour ago, egg said:

Perhaps a  lack of money is why we didn't get it over the line...

I don't believe it was. Gakpo thought he was going to United. He was linked to them all summer. When little old Saints came in and met PSV's demands and his pay requirements, he mulled it over, but he never said yes. It wasn't down to money, or wanting to stay at PSV, it was simply down to our lack of prestige - hence he joined LFC without thinking just a few months later.

 

Edited 28 February, 2023 by Chez

[disconnect]

Thought I'd share my opinions on the new players too, just for fun. It is a forum after all...

Good Signings

Lavia - £11m - Class act
ABK - £10m - Very good at the start of the season, been unlucky with a few injuries
Edozie - £7m - Very technically gifted, little end product presently. Think this season will toughen him up and over next few years will be a star (hopefully for us)

Bad Signings

Aribo - £6m - Early promise rapidly disappeared, seems well down the pecking order now. Probably score a hattrick vs Grimsby and not play again this season.
Larios - £6m - Has some obvious talent, but very small and been injured more than fit. Hopefully move to a good signing next season?!

Orsic - £5m - Was quite excited when we signed him, but was on a different wavelength vs Blackpool and not seen since(?)

Too Early To Tell / Unsure

Bazunu - £12.3m - Has made some great saves, and let in some soft goals. Looks at least a season too early for him to be a prem number 1
DCC - £7m - Looked decent a few times, has pretty good pedigree. Would've gone down as a good signing if simply having him meant getting rid of Bedders, but somehow the accident waiting to happen got recalled!!
Alcaraz - £12m - Not sure why he isn't playing. A little bit raw, but looks like he can make a difference.
Mara - £13.5m - Fee seems high for a player who obviously needs a bit more time to progress. However, I am a bit of a fan and think he's much more naturally gifted and has a much higher ceiling than players like Adams and Long (who I guess he was brought in to replace)?
Bree - £750k - Too early to tell, but obviously a good championship option...!
Onuachu - £16m - Keeping my fingers crossed he starts banging them in. Not really playing to his strengths currently...
Sulemana - £22m - Too early to tell - needs to be played in his proper position. Has massive potential though.

 

So overall, signing 13 players permanently, and only 3 of them are currently classed as good signings, ain't great. Of the others, there's 6 or 7 who could be really good players for us, but havent come in and started every match and shined (see Lavia) which we probably needed at least 2 more of them to do.

 

 

[egg]

10 minutes ago, disconnect said:

Thought I'd share my opinions on the new players too, just for fun. It is a forum after all...

Good Signings

Lavia - £11m - Class act
ABK - £10m - Very good at the start of the season, been unlucky with a few injuries
Edozie - £7m - Very technically gifted, little end product presently. Think this season will toughen him up and over next few years will be a star (hopefully for us)

Bad Signings

Aribo - £6m - Early promise rapidly disappeared, seems well down the pecking order now. Probably score a hattrick vs Grimsby and not play again this season.
Larios - £6m - Has some obvious talent, but very small and been injured more than fit. Hopefully move to a good signing next season?!

Orsic - £5m - Was quite excited when we signed him, but was on a different wavelength vs Blackpool and not seen since(?)

Too Early To Tell / Unsure

Bazunu - £12.3m - Has made some great saves, and let in some soft goals. Looks at least a season too early for him to be a prem number 1
DCC - £7m - Looked decent a few times, has pretty good pedigree. Would've gone down as a good signing if simply having him meant getting rid of Bedders, but somehow the accident waiting to happen got recalled!!
Alcaraz - £12m - Not sure why he isn't playing. A little bit raw, but looks like he can make a difference.
Mara - £13.5m - Fee seems high for a player who obviously needs a bit more time to progress. However, I am a bit of a fan and think he's much more naturally gifted and has a much higher ceiling than players like Adams and Long (who I guess he was brought in to replace)?
Bree - £750k - Too early to tell, but obviously a good championship option...!
Onuachu - £16m - Keeping my fingers crossed he starts banging them in. Not really playing to his strengths currently...
Sulemana - £22m - Too early to tell - needs to be played in his proper position. Has massive potential though.

 

So overall, signing 13 players permanently, and only 3 of them are currently classed as good signings, ain't great. Of the others, there's 6 or 7 who could be really good players for us, but havent come in and started every match and shined (see Lavia) which we probably needed at least 2 more of them to do.

 

 

Pretty much as I see it, although you're softer on Baz and harder on Orsic than I am. Personally I think Baz pushes Aribo as the worst signing of the lot, and that Orsic hasn't been given a proper chance yet. 

[egg]

32 minutes ago, Chez said:

I don't believe it was. Gakpo thought he was going to United. He was linked to them all summer. When little old Saints came in and met PSV's demands and his pay requirements, he mulled it over, but he never said yes. It wasn't down to money, or wanting to stay at PSV, it was simply down to our lack of prestige - hence he joined LFC without thinking just a few months later.

 

Not sure that's accurate re Gakpo...he joined Liverpool "without thinking" after a blinding world cup when he was well sought after. There's differing views of why he didn't join us in the summer. 

[Turkish]

7 minutes ago, egg said:

Pretty much as I see it, although you're softer on Baz and harder on Orsic than I am. Personally I think Baz pushes Aribo as the worst signing of the lot, and that Orsic hasn't been given a proper chance yet. 

Aribo is actually our 4th highest scorer, which just shows how shite we are but also since he's barely played since Christmas shows he's not actually been as bad as some people think. I think there is a player in there if used properly. Bazunu for me has worked out exactly as i thought, just not ready and been a shocking signing in such a crucial position. A good keeper and two good centre halves should be the rock the team is built on, instead of that we've got a foundation even softer than sand.

[Whitey Grandad]

28 minutes ago, disconnect said:

Thought I'd share my opinions on the new players too, just for fun. It is a forum after all...

Good Signings

Lavia - £11m - Class act
ABK - £10m - Very good at the start of the season, been unlucky with a few injuries
Edozie - £7m - Very technically gifted, little end product presently. Think this season will toughen him up and over next few years will be a star (hopefully for us)

Bad Signings

Aribo - £6m - Early promise rapidly disappeared, seems well down the pecking order now. Probably score a hattrick vs Grimsby and not play again this season.
Larios - £6m - Has some obvious talent, but very small and been injured more than fit. Hopefully move to a good signing next season?!

Orsic - £5m - Was quite excited when we signed him, but was on a different wavelength vs Blackpool and not seen since(?)

Too Early To Tell / Unsure

Bazunu - £12.3m - Has made some great saves, and let in some soft goals. Looks at least a season too early for him to be a prem number 1
DCC - £7m - Looked decent a few times, has pretty good pedigree. Would've gone down as a good signing if simply having him meant getting rid of Bedders, but somehow the accident waiting to happen got recalled!!
Alcaraz - £12m - Not sure why he isn't playing. A little bit raw, but looks like he can make a difference.
Mara - £13.5m - Fee seems high for a player who obviously needs a bit more time to progress. However, I am a bit of a fan and think he's much more naturally gifted and has a much higher ceiling than players like Adams and Long (who I guess he was brought in to replace)?
Bree - £750k - Too early to tell, but obviously a good championship option...!
Onuachu - £16m - Keeping my fingers crossed he starts banging them in. Not really playing to his strengths currently...
Sulemana - £22m - Too early to tell - needs to be played in his proper position. Has massive potential though.

 

So overall, signing 13 players permanently, and only 3 of them are currently classed as good signings, ain't great. Of the others, there's 6 or 7 who could be really good players for us, but havent come in and started every match and shined (see Lavia) which we probably needed at least 2 more of them to do.

 

 

Concussion, wannit?

[Alanh]

4 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

I dont think money was the issue though tbf, the money was there to buy a striker, it just didn't happen because we couldn't get it over the line (Ramos / Gakpo). Larios transfer was irrelevent

@eggExactly this.  Money wasn't the issue.  Getting the right deal for a striker over the line in August was the problem and I'm not convinced an extra £6M would have made any difference.

[disconnect]

43 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Concussion, wannit?

I thought that was Orsic? 

[Chez]

50 minutes ago, egg said:

Not sure that's accurate re Gakpo...he joined Liverpool "without thinking" after a blinding world cup when he was well sought after. There's differing views of why he didn't join us in the summer. 

Not sure the point you are making. Mine is that we had the money, we met both the transfer and wage demands, but he didn't want to come. You keep saying if we had £xm more, we could have got him, but that's not true. He wanted to join a bigger club (bigger than us and bigger than Leeds) and when a bigger club came knocking a few months later he joined them. 

The long and short of it is that the Larios signing (and the £6m spent) didn't stop us signing Gakpo or another striker in the summer. The problem seemed to be more that we just aimed too high and then failed to get any of the deals over the line. 

[once_bitterne]

19 hours ago, egg said:

That's the issue, we've signed too many players in that sort of price range. We've gone for quantity and perceived promise ahead of proven ready to go quality.

We'd have been better off keeping Forster, and signing 5 decent £25m ish players than this lot. The one that really irks me is Larios. We were nickel and diming over strikers in the summer, and then threw £6m on a kid that we didn't need. Had we just paid that bit more to get a proper striker in over the summer, we may not be in the mess that we are. Absolute shit show. 

 

If we've never replaced Ings, the biggest mistake we've made other than that was letting him go in the first place.  He left as we wouldn't match JWP's 125k per week and were 'only' offering 100k.  Well that 25k proved to be false economy.  I would assume the wages of such legends as Small and Simeu would have covered that...

The money we got from Villa for Ings has been utterly wasted on the useless Armstrong and Mara so we didn't get any benefit from that either...

[Doctoroncall]

Playing catch up from four seasons of under investment was never easy and to then focus on young up and coming players is always high risk strategy as we are finding out.
 

It seems SR are not worried about relegation and the recruitment strategy will remain the focus. 
 

But I would have thought it would have been a better learning environment to have a Leno, Mee and a Romeu (or replacement) to help integrate the younger players to the harsh reality of the PL. 

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

Aribo is actually our 4th highest scorer, which just shows how shite we are but also since he's barely played since Christmas shows he's not actually been as bad as some people think. I think there is a player in there if used properly. 

How would you use him?

The way I see it is that he's a ball player (the kids would call him a baller...or maybe they would a few years ago), and the kind of guy you want in the opponent's box, with nice twinkle toes and ability to do something. But getting the ball to him in the box relies on us dominating a game and being able to get th eball up the pitch and into the box...something we struggle to do. I guess what he does give you is control of the football. Maybe he comes on when we are chasing a game. If that happens he needs to play in the hole, not out wide.

I have to say though that I went to the Bournemouth away game and it shocked me just how little effort he put in. We were under the cosh and he just strolled about. OK, perhaps he is one of those players that just does not and will not do the hard dirty work, but he didn't make any effort when we have the ball either. Honestly, I have seen him sprint once since he got here.

[egg]

50 minutes ago, Chez said:

Not sure the point you are making. Mine is that we had the money, we met both the transfer and wage demands, but he didn't want to come. You keep saying if we had £xm more, we could have got him, but that's not true. He wanted to join a bigger club (bigger than us and bigger than Leeds) and when a bigger club came knocking a few months later he joined them. 

The long and short of it is that the Larios signing (and the £6m spent) didn't stop us signing Gakpo or another striker in the summer. The problem seemed to be more that we just aimed too high and then failed to get any of the deals over the line. 

Where's it said that we met wage and transfer demands? I think that's become a popular belief rather than fact. If I'm wrong I stand corrected. 

[Turkish]

30 minutes ago, Chez said:

How would you use him?

The way I see it is that he's a ball player (the kids would call him a baller...or maybe they would a few years ago), and the kind of guy you want in the opponent's box, with nice twinkle toes and ability to do something. But getting the ball to him in the box relies on us dominating a game and being able to get th eball up the pitch and into the box...something we struggle to do. I guess what he does give you is control of the football. Maybe he comes on when we are chasing a game. If that happens he needs to play in the hole, not out wide.

I have to say though that I went to the Bournemouth away game and it shocked me just how little effort he put in. We were under the cosh and he just strolled about. OK, perhaps he is one of those players that just does not and will not do the hard dirty work, but he didn't make any effort when we have the ball either. Honestly, I have seen him sprint once since he got here.

Pretty much as you say, in the hole or as an advanced midfielder. He's only going to be good in a side that dominates the ball though, not going to be one to press and hassle and he doesnt suit any system we play and doesn't seem like a player Hassenhuttl or Jones would use, so im not really sure why we signed him. in the right set up i think he'd be decent. 

[Saint Garrett]

4 hours ago, egg said:

Perhaps a  lack of money is why we didn't get it over the line...

Possibly, but we spent another £50m in January, and now have a bloated squad which = higher wage bill...

[egg]

2 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Pretty much as you say, in the hole or as an advanced midfielder. He's only going to be good in a side that dominates the ball though, not going to be one to press and hassle and he doesnt suit any system we play and doesn't seem like a player Hassenhuttl or Jones would use, so im not really sure why we signed him. in the right set up i think he'd be decent. 

Don't you think that his lack of work rate will hamper us whatever system we play? For me that's the issue with the lad rather than ability. 

 

[Saint Garrett]

56 minutes ago, once_bitterne said:

If we've never replaced Ings, the biggest mistake we've made other than that was letting him go in the first place.  He left as we wouldn't match JWP's 125k per week and were 'only' offering 100k.  Well that 25k proved to be false economy.  I would assume the wages of such legends as Small and Simeu would have covered that...

The money we got from Villa for Ings has been utterly wasted on the useless Armstrong and Mara so we didn't get any benefit from that either...

He didnt want to sign a new contract, not sure it was about money tbh.

[once_bitterne]

10 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

He didnt want to sign a new contract, not sure it was about money tbh.

Of course it was.  They offered him the higher contract which he accepted.  It's not as if he was going to a CL club.

I very much doubt it was his life's ambition to play for Villa...

[Saint Garrett]

40 minutes ago, once_bitterne said:

Of course it was.  They offered him the higher contract which he accepted.  It's not as if he was going to a CL club.

I very much doubt it was his life's ambition to play for Villa...

I think he'd burnt his bridges, but club also wanted the money, it was a big fee for someone who refused to sign a new contract.

[SNSUN]

3 hours ago, disconnect said:

 

Too Early To Tell / Unsure

Bazunu - £12.3m - Has made some great saves, and let in some soft goals. Looks at least a season too early for him to be a prem number 1

 

 

I wish someone would put a video of these, besides his decent enough game against Chelsea a fortnight ago I really don’t remember any.

[sydney_saint]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

Pretty much as you say, in the hole or as an advanced midfielder. He's only going to be good in a side that dominates the ball though, not going to be one to press and hassle and he doesnt suit any system we play and doesn't seem like a player Hassenhuttl or Jones would use, so im not really sure why we signed him. in the right set up i think he'd be decent. 

Yeah, I can't really see it working out for him in the prem. He's got a decent amount of talent, but not an exceptional amount to make up for the lack of effort. If he's gonna put in that lack of effort in his first in this league, I can't see that ever changing. You need to be an exceptional talent to justify building a system around him, and he's not at that level. I don't even know if he's got any pace, cos I don't I have ever seen him run! 

He could be very good in the Championship though, if we hit the ground running and properly dominate teams. He would be an exceptional talent by Championship standards.

Edited 28 February, 2023 by sydney_saint

[AlexLaw76]

The last 2 windows demonstrates what a total charlatan Ankerson is

[Whitey Grandad]

3 hours ago, disconnect said:

I thought that was Orsic? 

Was it? I lose track sometimes.