Christmas Wish List

[Pirate55]

A "brick! We need a striker" strategy hasn't always been a roaring success either.

We've got a nicely balanced and competitive squad right now. I would rather we continued to concentrate on signing the right players.

That strategy surely precludes signing anyone!! Who is to say that signing the right striker is not rhe "right player"?

Besides,with Pochs last day window pursuit of Berahinho, he clearly feels our squad is lacking another striker.

 

[milo]

That strategy surely precludes signing anyone!! Who is to say that signing the right striker is not rhe "right player"?

Besides,with Pochs last day window pursuit of Berahinho, he clearly feels our squad is lacking another striker.

What I am saying is that if we end the window without signing a striker it is not a disaster.

I would rather we sign some who features in our manager's plans, than panic and sign anyone to fill a space.

I have no worries here though because I know that we are not going to panic buy a striker. I am sure that given the choice between "spacefiller a" and the rest of the season with Kane, Lamela, Son, N'Jie and Chadli, Poch we pick the second option.

But hopefully, we have identified a viable option up front who can also get game time elsewhere.

 

[Danishfurniturelover]

anyone know how rody at southampton is getting on? we used to always be linked with him. Maybe we dodged a bullet there and he never got over his injury problems.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

anyone know how rody at southampton is getting on? we used to always be linked with him. Maybe we dodged a bullet there and he never got over his injury problems.

Injured again

 

[parklane1]

anyone know how rody at southampton is getting on? we used to always be linked with him. Maybe we dodged a bullet there and he never got over his injury problems.

He has played this season but not many games.

 

[Pirate55]

mWhat I am saying is that if we end the window without signing a striker it is not a disaster.

I would rather we sign some who features in our manager's plans, than panic and sign anyone to fill a space.

I have no worries here though because I know that we are not going to panic buy a striker. I am sure that given the choice between "spacefiller a" and the rest of the season with Kane, Lamela, Son, N'Jie and Chadli, Poch we pick the second option.

But hopefully, we have identified a viable option up front who can also get game time elsewhere.

Re your first sentence - time will tell. It would be foolhardy in my opinion.

 

[DubaiSpur]

What I am saying is that if we end the window without signing a striker it is not a disaster.

I would rather we sign some who features in our manager's plans, than panic and sign anyone to fill a space.

I have no worries here though because I know that we are not going to panic buy a striker. I am sure that given the choice between "spacefiller a" and the rest of the season with Kane, Lamela, Son, N'Jie and Chadli, Poch we pick the second option.

But hopefully, we have identified a viable option up front who can also get game time elsewhere.

The worst case possibility if we don't sign a striker is grim indeed: namely, that Kane gets injured, we struggle to replace him, and fall away, amidst what is the most open and chaotic Premier League season in living memory.

Arsenal win the league, Leicester finish in the top four and we languish in 5th/6th place in this most opportune of seasons because of a self-inflicted horror. That's the worst case possibility. But it's also looking like enough of a possibility to (hopefully) give us pause when considering whether to just go it along with only Kane for the rest of the season.

 

[milo]

The worst case possibility if we don't sign a striker is grim indeed: namely, that Kane gets injured, we struggle to replace him, and fall away, amidst what is the most open and chaotic Premier League season in living memory.

Arsenal win the league, Leicester finish in the top four and we languish in 5th/6th place in this most opportune of seasons because of a self-inflicted horror. That's the worst case possibility. But it's also looking like enough of a possibility to (hopefully) give us pause when considering whether to just go it along with only Kane for the rest of the season.

I agree that you paint a grim scenario. It is also possible that we could be a fluid attacking threat without a number 9 and continue to score goals. I'd be wary of using the Monaco game as a benchmark but we looked good going forward without one then.

It seems like we are all in agreement that signing the right player is important. I am sure that we will try to sign a forward in January. The question is how many of the right kind of players will be available in this window?

 

[DubaiSpur]

I agree that you paint a grim scenario. It is also possible that we could be a fluid attacking threat without a number 9 and continue to score goals. I'd be wary of using the Monaco game as a benchmark but we looked good going forward without one then.

It seems like we are all in agreement that signing the right player is important. I am sure that we will try to sign a forward in January. The question is how many of the right kind of players will be available in this window?

Not many, for sure. But if there are any about, we need to try again, like we commendably did for Berahino this summer: fast, hard and relentless. Anything less, and we're only shooting ourselves in the foot amidst this plethora of opportunities staring us in the face.

I don't know if Levy does self-reflection to any great extent, but if he does...he needs to look at our Icarus-like freefall from the heights into utter horror in after the conclusion of the window in January 2012, and resolve to never let us fall so low from such heights again.

 

[milo]

Not many, for sure. But if there are any about, we need to try again, like we commendably did for Jeffers this summer: fast, hard and relentless. Anything less, and we're only shooting ourselves in the foot amidst this plethora of opportunities staring us in the face.

I don't know if Levy does self-reflection to any great extent, but if he does...he needs to look at our Icarus-like freefall from the heights into utter horror in after the conclusion of the window in January 2012, and resolve to never let us fall so low from such heights again.

I agree that we need to strengthen there and think that we will try to sign some cover but I can see it being difficult to secure the right player.

 

[DubaiSpur]

I agree that we need to strengthen there and think that we will try to sign some cover but I can see it being difficult to secure the right player.

It might be difficult, I agree. But pushing it over the line is what we need to give our season the very best chance of succeeding. Fall short, and although we *might* get by with just Son and Chadli as cover, the threat of an injury to Kane leaving us spiralling away or simply struggling as teams more ready to make that push overtake us is one that cannot be mitigated....and one that, if it comes to fruition, will be seen as one of the biggest missed opportunities we've had in the Premier League era.

We did this once. I hope to whatever gods there may be that we don't do it again.

 

[milo]

It might be difficult, I agree. But pushing it over the line is what we need to give our season the very best chance of succeeding. Fall short, and although we *might* get by with just Son and Chadli as cover, the threat of an injury to Kane leaving us spiralling away or simply struggling as teams more ready to make that push overtake us is one that cannot be mitigated....and one that, if it comes to fruition, will be seen as one of the biggest missed opportunities we've had in the Premier League era.

We did this once. I hope to whatever gods there may be that we don't do it again.

That is one possible eventuality, the other is that Lamela, Son, N'Jie and Chadli perform admirably and teams find us harder to contain without a focal point. Signing a forward in January is not a guaranteed mitigation either.

I think that we need to be very careful about defining the success or failure of this window down to filling one position.

 

[parklane1]

I agree that you paint a grim scenario. It is also possible that we could be a fluid attacking threat without a number 9 and continue to score goals. I'd be wary of using the Monaco game as a benchmark but we looked good going forward without one then.

It seems like we are all in agreement that signing the right player is important. I am sure that we will try to sign a forward in January. The question is how many of the right kind of players will be available in this window?

Agree with this, I would rather sign no one then buy a stop gap that would stop the possible development of Son/Clinton/Chadli who are the future going forward.

Of all the names mentioned so far I would rather us go for some one like Dembele ( Fulham) rather then a more established player who may "rock the boat " if he spends more time on the bench.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Agree with this, I would rather sign no one then buy a stop gap that would stop the possible development of Son/Clinton/Chadli who are the future going forward.

Of all the names mentioned so far I would rather us go for some one like Dembele ( Fulham) rather then a more established player who may "rock the boat " if he spends more time on the bench.

Negredo.... on loan... Job done!

He would get more playing time than he is currently and the opportunity to be back in the shop window. We would get a player who has the attributes to allow us to rest Kane without changing our whole style of play and a player who has already proven that he is suited to PL football. We also purchase Dembele at Fulham and leave him there on loan to get more valuable playing experience for the remainder of the Championship season. Everyone's a winner (baby!)

 

[Gazzasrightboot]

That is one possible eventuality, the other is that Lamela, Son, N'Jie and Chadli perform admirably and teams find us harder to contain without a focal point. Signing a forward in January is not a guaranteed mitigation either.

I think that we need to be very careful about defining the success or failure of this window down to filling one position.

You're absolutely right Milo. We could buy a dud striker who is brick and we'd be no better off. The chances of that are heightened if we panic and just buy anyone. From what has been said before, Poch was offered Austin and he refused.

@Finney Is Back - I think Negredo would be awesome. I also think that we won't be the only club interested in him, but I think this will be a window full of rumour and bs!!

 

[Finney Is Back]

Negredo.... on loan... Job done!

He would get more playing time than he is currently and the opportunity to be back in the shop window. We would get a player who has the attributes to allow us to rest Kane without changing our whole style of play and a player who has already proven that he is suited to PL football. We also purchase Dembele at Fulham and leave him there on loan to get more valuable playing experience for the remainder of the Championship season. Everyone's a winner (baby!)

Although having just done some research it seems he is now back in favour at Valencia having started every game since Neville took over as manager. Probably puts an end to that one.

 

[parklane1]

Negredo.... on loan... Job done!

He would get more playing time than he is currently and the opportunity to be back in the shop window. We would get a player who has the attributes to allow us to rest Kane without changing our whole style of play and a player who has already proven that he is suited to PL football. We also purchase Dembele at Fulham and leave him there on loan to get more valuable playing experience for the remainder of the Championship season. Everyone's a winner (baby!)

As I have said before I do not think that will happen, and to be honest I think he would/could rock the boat if he does not get regular games.

 

[Pirate55]

It might be difficult, I agree. But pushing it over the line is what we need to give our season the very best chance of succeeding. Fall short, and although we *might* get by with just Son and Chadli as cover, the threat of an injury to Kane leaving us spiralling away or simply struggling as teams more ready to make that push overtake us is one that cannot be mitigated....and one that, if it comes to fruition, will be seen as one of the biggest missed opportunities we've had in the Premier League era.

We did this once. I hope to whatever gods there may be that we don't do it again.

Spot on Dubai. Let's hope history doesn't repeat itself!

 

[milo]

Re your first sentence - time will tell. It would be foolhardy in my opinion.

More foolhardy than singing a striker who does not feature in our long term plans and Poch may be reluctant to use in the second half of the season?

I recognise that these aren't the only two possible outcomes but I do think that it is foolish to judge the success of a window on filling one (difficult to fill) position.

 

[DubaiSpur]

More foolhardy than singing a striker who does not feature in our long term plans and Poch may be reluctant to use in the second half of the season?

I recognise that these aren't the only two possible outcomes but I do think that it is foolish to judge the success of a window on filling one (difficult to fill) position.

Right, but that's probably the position we need the most back-up in - even the backup DM isn't as much of a priority as getting another striker in. If we got another DM but missed out on a striker, it wouldn't be a catastrophe (like January 2012, perhaps), but it would leave us open to all kinds of fateful circumstances, with the only plus being that at least we wouldn't be as exposed should Dier fall prey to injury. And even then...Dier could be replaced by Dembele, who's roughly the same size and about as physical as Dier is, having played as a DM before (for us). We simply can't replace Kane with a like-for-like replacement, or even with a vaguely similar player - it would have to be with an inside forward, and that means a sea change in the way we play.