Transfer Rumours Summer 2020 Transfer Rumours

Gabbiadini

just saying

 

Yeah he should have been a great player.

 

We had Tadic in the team while Gabbi was here though, so can’t really blame his form on a lack of creative players in support.

Though to be fair it was after Tadic started sulking.

 

I don’t think Tadic ever sulked. Though he must have found it profoundly frustrating to be surrounded by trees disguised as footballers, I don’t think he ever stopped trying.

 

Was quite clear to see that his heart wasn't in it after the exodus/Fonte debacle. Think he even admitted as much after he left for Ajax.

If you're getting paid top dollar and not putting in your full effort; that to me constitutes 'sulking', in the professional-footballer context anyway.

Also, he had the likes of Redmond and Steven Davis around him, who are not 'trees'. There was a lot of talent in the squad back then, it was just badly managed.

 

Badly managed squad sums it up. Pellegrini the gamble that didn’t work. Hughes the dinosaur who should never have been given that contract.

 

Yeah, didn’t see any evidence of that on the pitch from Tadic, personally.

He’s the sort of player who excels in the right system, but not really up to carrying a team on his own. Always easily the best technical player on the pitch for us; with the possible exception of Ryan Bertrand, who imo did let his head drop at times.

 

For sure. We saw one coach come in who played a grinding, defensive style when we didn’t have the players for it and then another who was just a body. Hughes didn’t really do anything with training and tactics. It’s been a succession of disjointed thinking and poor planning. From transfers to coaches to tactics.

That’s again why I’m excited for next year. Things are making sense again. We need a RB and CB? Let’s get them. These players are key to what we do? New contracts. We have a clear tactical game plan? Let’s get the younger players used to it early.

I’m not asking for us to spend big and get into Europe. Just be effective and well managed and punch up.

 

Tadic's lack of effort was plain to see week-in week-out post-Koeman. The image of him sprinting back and putting in a last-ditch tackle to help out his full-back, is strangely lacking from my memory. Mostly I'm left with the image of him flopping over onto the floor whenever someone brushed past him, and laying there for ten seconds protesting to the ref, while everyone grafts around him.

Sure, some will say he wasn't that type of player. He was a luxury and so on. But you have to earn that luxury status imo. If you're not gonna work for the team, then you better create some bloody goals. But this part of his game dried up. No point being a fantastic 'head-up' type of player, if you're not willing to put your head-down sometimes. Especially in a struggling team. And no one expected him to 'carry' us. Because he just wasn't that good.

Ironically, the clearest evidence for all this, would be on those rare occasions when he did actually decide to try, like B'mouth home in the season Hughes kept us up. His Ajax form was foreshadowed that day, and yet he did f*ck all the rest of the season for us.

 

Tadic stepping up when it mattered is the only reason we ended up staying up in 2018 imo. An example of giving up was Shaqiri at Stoke in the same season.

 

If Tadic had put in that level of performance more often that season, we wouldn't have been in a relegation battle.

 

I dunno we were still pretty ****ing terrible tbf even with him playing well, and part of me forgives the lot of them under Pellegrino.

 

Haha yeah true (sadly).

 

Absolutely, square pegs in square holes, but also some real talent and flair. There is also a healthy transparency from the board for the most part too. I'm looking forward to see what we can do.

 

Bournemouth really should have taken their chance to relegate us that year. That was the difference really.

Oh well.

 

Had exactly that convo with my neighbour yesterday afternoon. I pointed out that all they needed was a point from our game this year to stay up

 

Yes please!

 

Would love to transfers for us right now of this quality.

 

That was a good day’s business, bloody hell

 

Couldnt agree more. The same players that have been great under Ralph, were great under Koeman.

Look at someone like Bertrand. A player of his talent was clearly pissed off at how **** pellegrino and Hughes were. I don't blame him in the slightest really. As soon as a decent manager has come in, he's like a different player again. It must be so hard for someone that has champions league experience to have to listen to Pellegrino pretending to know how to manage. Guy was completely clueless