Isn't Castles pretty connected with Jose?
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Bring Cambiasso out of retirement?
Stop-gap basis?More like fill the big fucking-gap in our midfield basis
It really feels like we are without a vision, a long term plan
He seems to be. He had the news about Sissoko's injury before anyone else. And at the time that we hired Mou, Castles said he is not on anywhere near £15m a year. His salary is supposedly more in line with what Poch was on.
That is fair, but I think the next few months are about saving ourselves from this crisis/snatching top 4, and we already seem to have an eye on summer targets. Badly need a DoF, but everyone here seems to agree on that anyway.
We already do go back and count the hoof balls against Norwich and SouthamptonThe dream is alive, oh to play like Burnley and Fulham.
A DM to stop the gaps!!
I also don't think that you establish a long term plan in the middle of the season.
Mourinho was obviously brought on to steady the ship so to speak in regards to this season, and a long term plan will be implemented at the end of the season.
That seems far more logical.
Wouldn't be against it to be honest. He's going to be a solid mid-table right-back, but nothing special. It opens up a space in the squad as well.
This is my opinion about it if you are interested:
Unfortunately I don't have to say this often, but: watch out it's pretty long
(These aren't facts, just my opinion. Everyone is perfectly entitled to their views)
The world of transfers
First of all, I see the scene of acquiring/selling players as a very complex and rapidly changing environment:
Valuations almost seem arbitrary, agent sometimes have a different agenda, unpredictable factors mean no new player is a guaranteed succes and factors that are taken into account for scouting might be hugely debated among staff.
Evolution versus revolution
This is the part where I fully agree with you. I also believe sometimes a squad needs a revolution instead of just an evolution, as things might turn stale and dull after a while. An evolution could be seen as rather low risk and high chance of succeeding. A revolution on the other hand, is hard to pull off, and to no surprise is damn expensive. Lots of "splash the cash" attempts haven't gone as one might've hoped (West Ham, Everton, Man United).
The bigger picture of our club
This might be an unpopular opinion, but please let me explain: we over performed under Poch and we weren't able to adapt our spending structure to it. Levy dreamt of going into the new stadium with a squad that was not silly to aim for top 4, instead we became already regular CL participants with genuine hope of winning the big trophies. I think Levy had foreseen a budget each season to accommodate the squad at remaining Europa League quality. However now 2 problems arose: the stadium costs went out of control and the squad needed more money to remain at a CL contender level. In my opinion Levy initially hoped that we would remain CL level without investment given our track record in 16/17, in which we had a young squad that ticked very well.
Last season as a warning sign
Then last season some conclusions were drawn by fans, journalists etc.: (1) The squad isn't getting any better (League form at the end was terrible, unfortunate injuries exposed our squad depth). (2) MP is a manager that can reach a CL final (which was with a bit of luck, however almost no CL finalist never had luck to get there in the first place). (3) MP can walk if he isn't backed (and openly flirted with the idea multiple times). (4) The seeds for dissatisfaction in the squad were maybe planted (Eriksen couldn't attract his dream move, Toby couldn't attract his dream move) and the CL final loss will only have worsened it.
Attempt at a revolution does happen eventually
So this summer MP was backed by Levy and some challenges occurred
1) rumors suggest Poch was pretty stubborn about the players he wanted (think of passing on Tielemans allegedly). (2) Levy drives a hard bargain, which endangers the timing and sometimes outcome of the transfer. (3) Some unforeseen factors come into play (Dybala and the image rights debacle). (4) limited squad places and HG rules. (5) perhaps often overseen, it was extremely difficult to offload our unwanted players, which is something you can't blame Levy for entirely. Even with these challenges we did do a lot of good transfers in Ndombele, Sess, GLC and Clarke.
My take on Levy's transfer style in this is the following: I fully agree with his stance on bargaining since valuations are arbitrary anyway. However I also believe that sometimes his stubbornness has cost us. In summary I do believe that his transfer negotiating approach has had a net positive impact, even though it's flawed too. In my opinion Levy works best with a manager that has 5 targets per desired position and then Levy can work his negotiating magic. If Poch was stubborn about his targets (and let's face it, his succes rate with 'his' players isn't even that great), I can understand why the window turned out to be a bit underwhelming. The two of them should've adapted more towards each other, so both were at fault.
In short, here are the reasons why we didn't have a revolution yet, according to me:
- The timing to take the final step and become a silverware winning squad came to quickly (because of stadium costs, not having the revenue yet to sustain (very different to afford!!) these heavy expenditures)
- It's not in Levy's comfort zone to splash the cash, but sorry for saying this but at that moment Poch might not be the manager to splash the cash for (Might have lost the dressing room, is flirting with RM, stubborn on targets...). You could argue that after all Poch had done for the club, he would deserve the chance to have his 'revolution within reason' (he didn't deserve a blank cheque book and full control, because that would've been irresponsible and bad governance). Which he did deserve, and also to the best attempt of Levy got. Of course Levy could've done better within the reasonable range, I'll admit that.
- Obviously we will need someone to take over those responsibilities from Levy, ideally Campos. Levy is a great Chairman and CEO, but we need a strong connaisseur of football philosophy that transcends incoming and outgoing coaches like Poch, Mourinho.
TL;DR Levy's at fault, Poch's at fault, the timing is at fault, but I don't hate anyone for it. Nobody is perfect, and since a full revolution could have a huge impact on the sustainability of the club, I prefer no revolution over a failed revolution and wait until we have better staff to do it.
The world of transfers
First of all, I see the scene of acquiring/selling players as a very complex and rapidly changing environment:
Valuations almost seem arbitrary, agent sometimes have a different agenda, unpredictable factors mean no new player is a guaranteed succes and factors that are taken into account for scouting might be hugely debated among staff.
Evolution versus revolution
This is the part where I fully agree with you. I also believe sometimes a squad needs a revolution instead of just an evolution, as things might turn stale and dull after a while. An evolution could be seen as rather low risk and high chance of succeeding. A revolution on the other hand, is hard to pull off, and to no surprise is damn expensive. Lots of "splash the cash" attempts haven't gone as one might've hoped (West Ham, Everton, Man United).
The bigger picture of our club
This might be an unpopular opinion, but please let me explain: we over performed under Poch and we weren't able to adapt our spending structure to it. Levy dreamt of going into the new stadium with a squad that was not silly to aim for top 4, instead we became already regular CL participants with genuine hope of winning the big trophies. I think Levy had foreseen a budget each season to accommodate the squad at remaining Europa League quality. However now 2 problems arose: the stadium costs went out of control and the squad needed more money to remain at a CL contender level. In my opinion Levy initially hoped that we would remain CL level without investment given our track record in 16/17, in which we had a young squad that ticked very well.
Last season as a warning sign
Then last season some conclusions were drawn by fans, journalists etc.: (1) The squad isn't getting any better (League form at the end was terrible, unfortunate injuries exposed our squad depth). (2) MP is a manager that can reach a CL final (which was with a bit of luck, however almost no CL finalist never had luck to get there in the first place). (3) MP can walk if he isn't backed (and openly flirted with the idea multiple times). (4) The seeds for dissatisfaction in the squad were maybe planted (Eriksen couldn't attract his dream move, Toby couldn't attract his dream move) and the CL final loss will only have worsened it.
Attempt at a revolution does happen eventually
So this summer MP was backed by Levy and some challenges occurred
1) rumors suggest Poch was pretty stubborn about the players he wanted (think of passing on Tielemans allegedly). (2) Levy drives a hard bargain, which endangers the timing and sometimes outcome of the transfer. (3) Some unforeseen factors come into play (Dybala and the image rights debacle). (4) limited squad places and HG rules. (5) perhaps often overseen, it was extremely difficult to offload our unwanted players, which is something you can't blame Levy for entirely. Even with these challenges we did do a lot of good transfers in Ndombele, Sess, GLC and Clarke.My take on Levy's transfer style in this is the following: I fully agree with his stance on bargaining since valuations are arbitrary anyway. However I also believe that sometimes his stubbornness has cost us. In summary I do believe that his transfer negotiating approach has had a net positive impact, even though it's flawed too. In my opinion Levy works best with a manager that has 5 targets per desired position and then Levy can work his negotiating magic. If Poch was stubborn about his targets (and let's face it, his succes rate with 'his' players isn't even that great), I can understand why the window turned out to be a bit underwhelming. The two of them should've adapted more towards each other, so both were at fault.
In short, here are the reasons why we didn't have a revolution yet, according to me:
- The timing to take the final step and become a silverware winning squad came to quickly (because of stadium costs, not having the revenue yet to sustain (very different to afford!!) these heavy expenditures)
- It's not in Levy's comfort zone to splash the cash, but sorry for saying this but at that moment Poch might not be the manager to splash the cash for (Might have lost the dressing room, is flirting with RM, stubborn on targets...). You could argue that after all Poch had done for the club, he would deserve the chance to have his 'revolution within reason' (he didn't deserve a blank cheque book and full control, because that would've been irresponsible and bad governance). Which he did deserve, and also to the best attempt of Levy got. Of course Levy could've done better within the reasonable range, I'll admit that.
- Obviously we will need someone to take over those responsibilities from Levy, ideally Campos. Levy is a great Chairman and CEO, but we need a strong connaisseur of football philosophy that transcends incoming and outgoing coaches like Poch, Mourinho.
TL;DR Levy's at fault, Poch's at fault, the timing is at fault, but I don't hate anyone for it. Nobody is perfect, and since a full revolution could have a huge impact on the sustainability of the club, I prefer no revolution over a failed revolution and wait until we have better staff to do it.
Just put one of those "Return on the cheap if they turn out to be good" clauses like Barca always do just to be sure
Apart from Morata, I can't think of another case when that clause was activated.Just put one of those "Return on the cheap if they turn out to be good" clauses like Barca always do just to be sure
Not an attack on llorente, I was calling for him to play two years ago mate.
Indeed, when I look up when it actually happened: Deulofeu, Dennis Suarez, Luis Garcia, Angelino at Manchester City are about the only ones I could find, so not happening frequently
This is my opinion about it if you are interested:
Unfortunately I don't have to say this often, but: watch out it's pretty long
(These aren't facts, just my opinion. Everyone is perfectly entitled to their views)
The world of transfers
First of all, I see the scene of acquiring/selling players as a very complex and rapidly changing environment:
Valuations almost seem arbitrary, agent sometimes have a different agenda, unpredictable factors mean no new player is a guaranteed succes and factors that are taken into account for scouting might be hugely debated among staff.
Evolution versus revolution
This is the part where I fully agree with you. I also believe sometimes a squad needs a revolution instead of just an evolution, as things might turn stale and dull after a while. An evolution could be seen as rather low risk and high chance of succeeding. A revolution on the other hand, is hard to pull off, and to no surprise is damn expensive. Lots of "splash the cash" attempts haven't gone as one might've hoped (West Ham, Everton, Man United).
The bigger picture of our club
This might be an unpopular opinion, but please let me explain: we over performed under Poch and we weren't able to adapt our spending structure to it. Levy dreamt of going into the new stadium with a squad that was not silly to aim for top 4, instead we became already regular CL participants with genuine hope of winning the big trophies. I think Levy had foreseen a budget each season to accommodate the squad at remaining Europa League quality. However now 2 problems arose: the stadium costs went out of control and the squad needed more money to remain at a CL contender level. In my opinion Levy initially hoped that we would remain CL level without investment given our track record in 16/17, in which we had a young squad that ticked very well.
Last season as a warning sign
Then last season some conclusions were drawn by fans, journalists etc.: (1) The squad isn't getting any better (League form at the end was terrible, unfortunate injuries exposed our squad depth). (2) MP is a manager that can reach a CL final (which was with a bit of luck, however almost no CL finalist never had luck to get there in the first place). (3) MP can walk if he isn't backed (and openly flirted with the idea multiple times). (4) The seeds for dissatisfaction in the squad were maybe planted (Eriksen couldn't attract his dream move, Toby couldn't attract his dream move) and the CL final loss will only have worsened it.
Attempt at a revolution does happen eventually
So this summer MP was backed by Levy and some challenges occurred
My take on Levy's transfer style in this is the following: I fully agree with his stance on bargaining since valuations are arbitrary anyway. However I also believe that sometimes his stubbornness has cost us. In summary I do believe that his transfer negotiating approach has had a net positive impact, even though it's flawed too. In my opinion Levy works best with a manager that has 5 targets per desired position and then Levy can work his negotiating magic. If Poch was stubborn about his targets (and let's face it, his succes rate with 'his' players isn't even that great), I can understand why the window turned out to be a bit underwhelming. The two of them should've adapted more towards each other, so both were at fault.
In short, here are the reasons why we didn't have a revolution yet, according to me:
- The timing to take the final step and become a silverware winning squad came to quickly (because of stadium costs, not having the revenue yet to sustain (very different to afford!!) these heavy expenditures)
- It's not in Levy's comfort zone to splash the cash, but sorry for saying this but at that moment Poch might not be the manager to splash the cash for (Might have lost the dressing room, is flirting with RM, stubborn on targets...). You could argue that after all Poch had done for the club, he would deserve the chance to have his 'revolution within reason' (he didn't deserve a blank cheque book and full control, because that would've been irresponsible and bad governance). Which he did deserve, and also to the best attempt of Levy got. Of course Levy could've done better within the reasonable range, I'll admit that.
- Obviously we will need someone to take over those responsibilities from Levy, ideally Campos. Levy is a great Chairman and CEO, but we need a strong connaisseur of football philosophy that transcends incoming and outgoing coaches like Poch, Mourinho.
TL;DR Levy's at fault, Poch's at fault, the timing is at fault, but I don't hate anyone for it. Nobody is perfect, and since a full revolution could have a huge impact on the sustainability of the club, I prefer no revolution over a failed revolution and wait until we have better staff to do it.
Players that can actually move pull CB’s out of position much more than Llorente does. Firminho pulls CB out of position much more and he’shalf the size of Llorente.
We don’t need to buy a tall guy to play Hail Mary football, we can just chuck a CB up there.
Liverpool and City aren’t dominating the PL and Europe by having shit football as a plan B.
Stinks of Matic on a 2 year deal.
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