I really need to start drinking again.
I really need to start drinking again.
It's better to burn out, than to fade away.
Originally Posted by Heisenberg
Best post on here tbh. Let's just buy a proven PL player and get on with business for this season. Use the time from now till May to find which players we are going to be serious about... when I say serious, I mean, pay their actual worth and not fuck around with stupid derogatory bids!
Arsene Wenger, the only football manager that got paid 8 million quid to do nothing but sit on his arse..
Berbatov would be OK if he was aware that he was a squad player. At Fulham he has a contract that states he MUST play in every game if he is fit. Yes, he's lazy but his decision making & finishing is not in question. If we were to also sign Drexler, it may make a Berbatov signing even more of an advantage. His ability to play in attacking midfielders in & around the box is far better than Girouds.
Anelka > Berbatov IMO.
somebody put something in my milk
Berbatov would be a disaster - a lazy, negative, underachiever is the last thing we need in a squad that has seen improvement in application and attitude across the board. Fergie couldn't get this guy to play so what's to say we can? I think Gnabry is an option and already better than a lot of the lesser names that are being thrown about, like Berbatov. I believe Wenger will think the same way and won't sign anyone this window and I'm not 100% against that. If Draxler comes in it won't be to fire this title challenge anyway, that's a buy for next season. Doubt we'll even get him now, what with all the fuss that already surrounds him. If we're buying him we need to do it right now. I'm happy with Giroud up top and our current options in reserve, not ideal but who else is realistically out there that wouldn't be a short term option? Nobody (not even us) expected us to be competing this year. I'm not saying we should throw it, but let's see what happens with the team that has already brought us success over 21 games. Just because the media says we'll collapse doesn't make it so. The lads have done enough already to warrant a bit of faith.
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Berbatov is a proven prem player. In that respect he is a sure thing, except for the part that he hasn't actually been proving much of anything this season. Whilst class is permanent, that is a worry and all players get to a stage where they start to lose it. I would still prefer him to nobody (which isn't saying a lot) but I don't really think we will come out on top by aiming to sneak or marginally stay ahead of our opponents.
Don't merely beat your opponent, crush him.....some wise goat once said. Kick him to the ground and push his face into the dirt. That is the mentality that will see us best a few teams who will probably improve on their first half to the season.
If we are simply happy with the improvement we have made and didn't totally expect and it's fine to finish top 4 and win nothing then we can just do nothing in this window.
Despite the dud Reyes turned out to be, nobody laments signing him in January for what was a considerable fee and potential record for the club on the basis that we probably would have won the league without him anyway. Reyes was a talented but young, lightweight Spanish player with still a lot to prove in a new league in an era when Spaniards weren't in vogue, who actually helped our title push. It is not beyond the realms of critical thought that a timely foreign signing or even a prem player (though less so) would have a similar effect. Who knows....he may even be of use beyond half a season.
In my humble opinion, realistic title ambitions or not, we needed to sign a forward last summer (and clearly it was a notion shared by the club who went after Suarez, Higuain and Ba in one window which in itself is unusual) and we didn't. Regardless of how we now feel about the team, we still need a top class forward. I'd have to go back a long while to name a time when we had worse centre forward options than now and it would not be easy to name a current top team in world football with worse options, yet the league in which we are trying to win has arguably never been more competitive.
If we don't win the league and when we are getting taunted for how many years it's been since we won a trophy by Neanderthals from oil rich clubs, I don't want the idea that making a decent signing in January with an amount of money we've never had more than, knocking around in my mind.
Yep, this season I want the club to do what's needed to win the league. The players have that mentality and are giving it their all. I don't want to look back on this window as a missed opportunity. If we sign a really good player it's a psychological boost to the rest of the squad.
We shouldn't go out and buy for the sake of it but I can't accept simply not doing anything, given we're in our strongest position for years. As mentioned above we chased after a few strikers in the summer so it's obviously an area Wenger thinks we can improve on.
I would have Berbatov here no problem, on the assumption he'd accept a squad role. Get him in on an 18 month deal and we at least have a viable alternative to Giroud going forward. Will it take us to the title? No idea but it will be fun finding out.
Assuming we're after Draxler for some £40mill and wages then I suppose it's safe to assume we won't be spending another £30mill this window. The outlay, if any, will be considerably lower. In light of that, and making a further assumption we don't want a temporary passenger like Berbatov but rather somebody who can serve for a few seasons, who would that be? Nobody is coming up with any realistic options. Costa for £30mill then Drexler in the summer, that's not happening. Who's out there in the £5-10mill range that is any better than Giroud or Podolski or Ox or Gnabry?
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Would you have guessed Ozil was available for sale in the summer? It's going to be a stretch for anyone on here to name realistic targets that haven't already been linked with a move. I'm just hoping our scouts are doing their homework and we make a real effort to sign a good player.
When we want to make things happen in the window, we make it happen.
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