Winter Transfer Missed Opportunities and Regrets

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Originally Posted by Mac76

@ibk

:good: a really good post with which I almost entirely agree...



... apart from this bit here where, IMO, you let yourself down, especially for someone who normally appears so reaasonable and eloquent (unlike me :lol:) - is that abusive misogynistic stereotyping really necessary? does it really help you make your point? not for me :police: :)

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Trump's going to kick your arse dude.

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Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

Trump's going to kick your arse dude.

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I think he's kicking everyone's arses tbh, and now so is Starmer - what a tosser, can't even be an arsehole in an original way

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...-nuclear-plans

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Originally Posted by IBK

You know what? I'm done today putting the other side of the argument. Here's the case for the prosecution.

Arteta and the club have done a good job up to this season re-establishing us as potential title contenders. Anyone who thinks otherwise is IMO being unfair. But we supposedly had a 5 stage plan for success. I'm all for being sensible and trying to ensure long term foundations and a base for sustained prosperity, but there comes a tipping point where ambition needs to be questioned. We are at this place.

The sad truth is that we have never, in the past 20 years, been in as good a position to push on and win the league as we were coming into this season. We were like an athlete in second place at the end of a long distance final on the shoulder of the front runner - ready to push for a win off the back of the last bend. Almost everyone had us as champions elect. We had narrowed the gap on Citeh, had seasoned players and arguably the best defence in the league and players ready to come into their prime.

But we had also lived a charmed season in terms of injuries, and generally been surprised with the form of the likes of Havertz (an unconventional front man) and Trossard's eye for a goal. It was hubris to expect these conditions to continue uninterrupted. With the huge demands on players over a number of cometitions injuries are to be expected, and the simple fact is that the club failed to hedge against this risk.

It's madness for a team with aspirations in the league and the CL to have gone into the season with such a small and limited squad in the forward department. We were already short of title-winning quality in this department, but instead of bringing in a single player to elevate our level, we cleared out 4 forwards in the Summer and guaranteed that we would have to rely all season, over 4 comps, on Saka; Odegard; and Havertz. Even if you argue that there was Jesus and Sterling - there is no way you can maintain that these 2 players came anywhere close to raising our level. Jesus wouldn't have done so even if he had replicated his most effective season for us, and was a clear risk. Sterling was a panic last minute punt at best. We have to remember that back up players are not just injury replacements, they are there to enable a manager to rest players and step in when they inevitably lose form.

As pleased as we are with the progress of MLS and Nwaneri, there is no way this was really planned, and no way that a serious title contending team would place their fortunes on 17 and 18 year old rookies.

And the inevitable chickens have come home to roost. To use my althetics analogy we have hit the wall. It has become obvious that this team is vulnerable to loss of form, injuries and the inevitable process whereby other teams work us out. In the absence of a reliable goal scorer we resorted to set pieces that suddenly seem quite easy to score against. Teams like Newcastle (and even Brighton; Bournemouth; Fulham) have worked out how to nullify our attacking threat. It's almost embarrassing looking at how all the teams in the top half of the league have striking options that humble ours (we have only 2 players in the top 40 goal scorers - Havertz 12= on 9, and Martinelli 28= on 6.

Don't get me wrong, I am not pearl clutching like a little brat - I know we are second in the league - but we need to judge our team's performance by the standards of potential title winners, not also rans. Forget Liverpool (whom I suppose could be regarded as a surprise run away league leader), there is no way on earth that we could have expected Citeh to drop off the way they have, and our squad was not strong enough for us to be confident of overhauling them.

So spare me the tears about January, Arteta. You were as complicit as the club hierarchy in sending us into this season undercooked - and champions elect do not take the risks that we have done in trusting that good form and lack of injuries will continue unabated. We will finish top 4. But this will be a season when we threw away the chance for your project to reach fruition. Maybe Edu knew something after all.

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F1 analogy is better. Everyone turns up with 5 sets of soft tyres and 3 sets of hard. We turn up with 5 sets (maybe even 6 sets) of softs and one set of monsoon tyres. Race goes okay as we burn through the softs, apart from the odd puncture caused by Oliver throwing nails on the track, we come in for the final pit stop and - oh fuck!

It's worse because the FIA come along in the middle of the race and say we can change our tyre choices. Nah, we're good thanks!

True about Arteta, he might be pissed now but why did he come out and endorse these owners after that horrific summer window? He's lying in the bed he helped them make. And now he's getting fucked.

LIKE A BITCH!

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Originally Posted by Mac76

I think he's kicking everyone's arses tbh, and now so is Starmer - what a tosser, can't even be an arsehole in an original way

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...-nuclear-plans

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Thanks fuck, finally! Way, way too late though. It's like us buying a striker in 2028 to see if we can win the title this year.

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Originally Posted by Mac76

and again your post really does nail it, while I do think we need to bear in mind the ludicrous anti-Arsenal nature of the refereeing, which without question has at a conservative estimate cost us anything from four points upwards, none of that excuses our consistent failure to strengthen the attack

The fact that we were interested in Isak 2-3 years ago but failed to go for it just sums it up - we were too busy buying trash like Zinchenko

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The thing is, Isak’s record in La Liga was average and I’m pretty sure we all would have questioned why we’ve spent 60m on a player who only scored something like 10 goals the season before Newcastle bought him. He was never an obvious signing like he is today.

I’m hoping we sign Sesko in the summer because on closer inspection he seems to have many strengths that would ensure he’s a success over here.

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Originally Posted by Niall_Quinn

This is why everyone saying the Costco cup, or whatever it's called, is of no significance have it perfectly wrong. It's of great significance, at least it is for this season. We just saw it with our own eyes. We go to an off form Newcastle needing two goals and we drag along our luggage for the beach trip. Newcastle cruise in second gear to the 2 goals we needed. Liverpool face the spuds needing two goals and they camp in their box for 90 minutes and smash them, without getting out of second gear.

Title run-in have twists and turns. The strongest, most committed and determined prevail and come out winners in the end.

Now, I ask you...

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As HCZ pointed out, we lost both semi-finals in 2003/4.
And we had that bloody disastrous week where we crashed out of both big cups.
Was that team not strong, committed and determined?

I don't think we're winning the league this year - although I refuse to give up just yet. But if we fail it won't be because we lost the league cup semi-final. It will be because of injuries, lack of squad depth and, the big one, lack of a clinical striker. Odegaard hits the post which would have made it 2-1, game on. Not long later Newcastle go 1-0 up and it's game over.

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Originally Posted by Letters

As HCZ pointed out, we lost both semi-finals in 2003/4.
And we had that bloody disastrous week where we crashed out of both big cups.
Was that team not strong, committed and determined?

I don't think we're winning the league this year - although I refuse to give up just yet. But if we fail it won't be because we lost the league cup semi-final. It will be because of injuries, lack of squad depth and, the big one, lack of a clinical striker. Odegaard hits the post which would have made it 2-1, game on. Not long later Newcastle go 1-0 up and it's game over.

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How is that relevant? Half the team were reserves, Bentley was playing instead of Henry, Ryan Smith instead of Pires, and that was the Juninho era at Middlesboro. We had Reyes, Bergkamp, Wiltord we could have brought in. Are you trying to compare that to our first team this season?

If anything, trying to use that season to compare with this has to be a joke, right? I think he was joking, not serious.

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Originally Posted by Mac76

I think he's kicking everyone's arses tbh, and now so is Starmer - what a tosser, can't even be an arsehole in an original way

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...-nuclear-plans

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Except there’s absolutely no connection between the two things apart from in the minds of Guardian journalists and readers. Relying on burning hydrocarbons and actually finally stop being recalcitrant about using Nuclear power are two different things. The people who pin their flag to the mast of alternative only are either ignorant of the fact that it’s only remotely feasible about if we massively decrease our energy demands or they actually want that to be the case and think that because they are already affluent, the hardship will be borne by others. Same as the very privileged kids who demand we immediately cease with imports of new oil and gas….never mind how that would fuck the economy and by far have the most devastating impact on the worse off.
I’m not even against alternative energy, wind, solar, tidal….but anyone who has any grounding in energy/electricity industry can tell you that these are great auxiliary energy but shouldn’t be putting all our eggs in one basket.

Nuclear the main problem is (from a rational stand point and not the scaremongering) is you still have the same energy efficiency issues that you do with fossil fuels, that and we should have been investing in new power plants as well as putting more money into the fusion project long ago before now

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Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn

Except there’s absolutely no connection between the two things apart from in the minds of Guardian journalists and readers. Relying on burning hydrocarbons and actually finally stop being recalcitrant about using Nuclear power are two different things. The people who pin their flag to the mast of alternative only are either ignorant of the fact that it’s only remotely feasible about if we massively decrease our energy demands or they actually want that to be the case and think that because they are already affluent, the hardship will be borne by others. Same as the very privileged kids who demand we immediately cease with imports of new oil and gas….never mind how that would fuck the economy and by far have the most devastating impact on the worse off.
I’m not even against alternative energy, wind, solar, tidal….but anyone who has any grounding in energy/electricity industry can tell you that these are great auxiliary energy but shouldn’t be putting all our eggs in one basket.

Nuclear the main problem is (from a rational stand point and not the scaremongering) is you still have the same energy efficiency issues that you do with fossil fuels, that and we should have been investing in new power plants as well as putting more money into the fusion project long ago before now

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There are incredible nuclear technologies that have been battling through development under furious fire from those who think we're busy rebuilding Chernobyl. If we'd invested in these 30 years ago all the oil and gas and alternative industries would be... oh shit. NUCLEAR SUCKS!

It’s easy to be wise with hindsight. But ultimately I’d argue even more than not signing a striker was selling off players to make our squad as thin as it was. Smith Rowe, Vieira, Nelson and dare I say it even Nketiah would have been some considerable use to us.

It feels like the only justification for selling them (I assumed that it was more about FSR compliance) was to create space in the squad for the likes of Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly. Well frankly with the injuries we’ve had, actually likely those two would have come through anyway.

Nketiah I was as keen as anyone to get rid of him, but what can’t be denied is that he has an excellent cup record with goals and it would have avoided playing Havertz into the ground.