Who still thinks we have had a good transfer window?

I don't and I get the impression Dick doesn't either.

I wrote on here a couple of weeks ago stating that Mathews, Kaboul, Coates and Lens had not moved us on at all as a club from the near disastrous last 3 seasons. After today my opinion is even more certain. We were dreadful.

Barring two glorious missed chances in the opening 5 minutes, we capitulated yet again and were it not for Pantilimons acrobatics, we could have shipped 5 or 6 in that first half. Marginally better in the second half (we couldn't have been any worse) at least we did score twice but we're scant consolation from what preceded it.

I was lambasted by some for daring to suggest our transfers of a Celtic reserve, a Spurs reject who hadn't played for 10 months and a warm and cold Liverpool reject all for less than a crate of milk from Tescos would be good enough. Lens is a good buy but we need another 3 or 4 £7/8m plus quality players if we are to start and compete.

I get the sense Advocaat is equally frustrated by his interviews on Friday and the very unhappy one tonight. Short needs to deliver before August is out or else I really think Advocaat will just walk away. After all, at 67 he doesn't need a season of struggle with second rate squad to bugger his illustrious cv up does he. He asked for quality. What he has got is bargain basement yet again.

No doubt I will have the same posters telling me I'm a doom and gloom merchant but the simple fact is we got well and truly humped off a team that isn't that good and will be struggling come May as well. It's ridiculous to think but next weekends game is already s massive 6 pointer considering we are likely to be relegation battlers all season yet again without quality signings.

Over to you Ellis.

 

Very poor upto now marra? Still think we will get adnan januzal on loan.

 

We need more than that though matey. We need a finisher, a proper game changing creative midfielder and a central defender. Coates and Kaboul are just rubbish. JOS got slaughtered by some for one or two bad games but he was light years better than either of those two hapless fools. Van Aanholt was missing in action all day today too and his defensive qualities need much work.

Why we don't just offer the money for Van Dijk and Sow (if they are targets) or just recruit those on Dicks shortlist is pissing me off. If Short won't cough up the money then he should have said so instead of conning the fans to buy tickets for another rudderless bus journey.

 

We will get the players Dick wants otherwise we are relegated, Dick will walk and Ellis won't be as lucky again.

 

every player we have brought in is better then what we had, so in that respect its not all bad.
Trouble is we have been diligently building a hugely overpaid, old , useless squad now since Brucie lost the plot, and then subsidizing with some really great players we have had no hope of signing (Rose, Welbeck), or for some reason didn't (Alonso). Whilst all the time letting our best players leave (Henderson, gyan, bent, cana etc etc etc) .

Johnson - EPIC fail
Rodders - fail ( still has time)
Grham - Fail
Fletcher - fail
plus others we have managed to ship out somehow

Until someone (dick?) can scrape a solid top half finish (not like bruce with a last minute every result going to plan) , we have no chance of attracting many decent players.

 

Time is running out. These players should have been brought in weeks ago. What are the likes of Congleton and co doing? Sitting around offering peanuts for monkeys which is what we've got so far this window. Coates and Kaboul were ****e today and Rodwell and AJ anonymous. They needed better replacements. Is M'Vila fit to play.

I feel a couple of second or third rate panic buys in the offing in the next two weeks or so.

 

Not being totally picky but the window is still open.
However I don't think we have had s good window up to now.
Fingers crossed by the close of play I'm hopeful that I will be able to say, yep we got some good players in and improved the team, fingers crossed!

 

Had? We're still having it. Unbelievable

Post when we lose, he only posts when we lose,

 

Only Lens this window has improved us at all but individually, he won't scratch the surface of the team here.

We need a minimum of £25m investing in 2 or 3 top class players or else it's bottom 4 all season.

 

You only post blinkered replies? Have you actually got anything to offer this message board other than banal ****e week in week out?

You may well be happy with things but on today's evidence your alone in that belief and hugely misguided.

 

The window is not yet closed though and there is stilll sufficient time for more signings the quality of which will depend on what is available or willing to come here. What we lacked in spades today though was someone to marshal the defence better especially for those two dreadful set piece goals and for me that would have been JOS. We could not have played worse today and maybe it will be a catalyst for different thinking backed by funds but we have had that for year on year.

 

Just watched it all over again on MotD. It looked even worse than first time around.

We were dreadful. Anyone who thinks we have improved on last season is living in denial. Serious problems at safc and Dicks face told the story in his interview.

 

Tell me all about my happiness, tell me what my beliefs are. Explain how blinkered I am, you can't because you haven't even read my views How grossly misinformed you are, but then, you're not informed at all are you, you've just made up my sentiments in your head, you address the masses then decide peoples sentiments for them without an ounce of prior information.Try reading what I've been saying, hardly blinkered, maybe double check before deciding narrow minded folk are, there's been plenty of discussion already. I don't want to repeat myself, but I will and sum it up briefly and leave it at that. We've clearly have more to do in the transfer market, i'm not happy with today, but I'll give our club the basic respect to finish the window first, if it hasn't addressed the problem, I'll be more than vocal and damning, in the meantime a shocking team with two new faces in the line up remains shocking. Hardly a revelation, it only highlights what we already know. But the board is littered with my views on certain players, tactics desire and hunger after today performance.

My gripe is 'fans' who declare failure prematurely. It's my only gripe with you fella, the rest is just venting which I understand, it's the lack of respect to safc to allow them to finish their business before shoving the knife in which saddens my. On September 1st I may be side by side with you with a justified shared gripe. But my shoulders will be back and my head held high because I give my club a reasonable chance first.

I'm still happy with the transfer window, but like I've said a thousand times, it means nowt until it's complete. There's still over three weeks to do that. They'll get that time before I judge as I know the machine worn't work until all the parts are installed.

 

Cest - I've been a long time reader and less than a year poster. You, on the other hand, were once a great poster who went missing for far too long. So I hope we can finally greet each other like gentlemen.

I personally feel that we are in a different sort of transfer window now than for many years. Until recently, we were much more active in wasting money on relegation experienced dross who would save us from relegation every year and consider that sufficient of a triumph. Today, I feel that we're signing players of quality or else we're not buying them at all. And that's the way forward. Asking Short - like some do - to spend a sum that will very soon send the club into administration is bullsh*t to me. We have to build in the way that Pulis envisaged at Stoke. Sign quality, then when another t.v. payment comes in, sign a bit more quality, and another. And, in the end, you'll be friggin' miles ahead of idiots like Sunderland. I just get the idea that Congerton and Advocaat are thinking that way. It may take several seasons, as it has with Stoke, but we'll get there.

I just like what I see, and feel that common sense has finally invaded our club.

 

I'm not putting the knife at all. That performance and result today did that all on its own. My gripe with you is that because I don't paint flowery pictures you want to see, or try to put s brave face on in the face of obvious issues at the club you continually have a pop at me (you're not alone) and yet never tackle the problems. Your happy to wait and see. I'm not. Our massive problems were know. To everyone for two years and more so by Acvocaat who wrote his game plan for us in May. That plan was not even considered until the club badgered DA to come back. It's now mid August and that plan is STILL not in place. That's piss poor planning on the clubs part and I'm entitled to comment.

I'm more than happy to comment further if we make better acquisitions but I'm not convinced we will. This lad Januzaj will be a start but by no means an end. I am not convinced we will recruit the top striker or the playmaking midfielder we desperately need and I've heard all the promises many times over. I've also seen them unfulfilled many times over too.

Our recruitment has been from Poundland so far with one visit to M&S. My fear is more bargain basement recruits to fill huge gaps in our squad and the same ****ty performances and results as today. Results I could see coming weeks ago but was slaughtered God suggesting it.

I'll not put my happy glasses on just to stop rocking the boat at all.

 

Your posts are always considered and intelligent mate and I enjoy your points. You also don't make it a personal thing which I admire.

I don't agree though we are buying better over quantity. Kaboul, Coates and Mathews do not improve us and are cheap options. Lens though is good. M'Vila a huge gamble.

I really hoped for far better but I am not surprised at the reality. One good signing, 3 cheapies and s huge gamble bring about performances and results like today. I'd hoped these 4 goal (could have been another Southampton mate) thrashings were behind us but our defense will ship boatloads IMO going forward.

I'll be happy to discuss the merits of our transfer policy on September 1st but I'm not confident it will be a positive one.

 

Mate, the post when we lose line was tongue in cheek, the title of you thread refers to the window in past tense when it's not even close to closing. It's a bit of ribbing that's all.

I don't tackle the problems? Again, you've not been reading my posts, get informed instead of repeatedly making wrong assumptions. Unfortunately the window doesn't close at the start of the season(it should), it closes on September the 1st. Doom 'merchiants' keep telling everyone they're 'realists'. expecting us to have all our business done before the season starts. that is not realism, it's delusion, 95%of teams a still looking to strengthen. They all have targets and landing those targets entertain numerous issues beyond the control of the buying clubs. If every team could have all their targets in before today don't you think they would have us included? Of course, but that's not the reality. I want the right players not the wrong players, if that means we have to wait a bit so be it as panic buying rarely works.

Are you happy with M'Vila? You haven't mentioned him. A player who can receive, retain and distribute the ball with great composure as well as being defensively sound? Valued close to 20 million two seasons ago? It's a two levels up acquisition provided Dick can manage him. Add another midfielder with Attacking prowess and a good forward and we should be right for early safety(my expectations this season), otherwise it's a relegation battle down to the wire. I've been saying all this for months you know? Still blinkered? I'll piss and whine if it hasn't happened when the closes but not until as I realise recruitment is intricate with lots of it out of our hands and signings will almost ever never fall neatly into place before the season starts. That's reality.

 

Have we had a good transfer window...so far?

Well the season has already started. On the evidence so far...no.

Lens seems the only one that may make a difference.

 

Kaboul needs to get thinner, fitter and more interested! Can't see him being match fit and sharp for several months. I still think we need a young (ish) centre half with plenty of pace, an idea of defending and positioning, which usually leave a lot to be desired from our defenders.

Matthews - Seems he is back up to Billy Jones. A squad signing that was needed but doesn't look to have improved the quality of the team.

Coates - He was here last season, so for me this signing hasn't improved the team from last season either. I also think he's not as good as some make out.

M'Vila - Should and needs to go straight in the midfield, a big question mark over his fitness and sharpness being similar to Kaboul. Will he need several months to get up to speed?

Lens - Wahey!! A genuine next level signing, better then what we had and I'm excited to see what he can produce on hopefully a regular basis.

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We are still short of a centre half, competition for Van Aanholt, 1 midfielder who's up to speed and a forward. Without those I think our luck will finally run out. I'm also going to put it out there that if we are going to be constantly around the bottom four all season again then it's about time we dropped down, sorted the club out and started again.

I'm in the minority but I still have big reservations about Ellis Short, it seems for years now he has penny pinched at times we really needed to go at it. IF we close this transfer window without major investment then I would back Advocaat all the way, if he decided to throw in the towel.

 

That is defo what we need, hopefully we can bring Beadling through as a quality CB, but not holding my breath.

I don't think Ellis has penny pinched though. he's sanctioned big contracts for the wrong players suggested by 'football men'. What is our recent outlay/wages/income vs Stoke, Swansea, Southampton? Didn't we operate at a loss last year?

Our problem is who we can attract, given constant change of manager, relegation scraps and incapacity to develop quality young players.

Dick is our last chance saloon to reverse this, attract the right calibre of player and get the best out of them.

3 weeks left for 3 players.......can we do it?