They have to invest, not recklessly, but we do have to invest. I’m playing Devil’s Advocate a little, but maybe they want to sacrifice the first 5 matches in order to truly analyse the weaknesses in the squad. I could have told them before we even played Boreham Wood, but I guess they wanted to see for themselves. They may have wanted to see how potent Ismael’s pixie dust was in turning pigs ears into silk purses. No investment will mean a potential relegation. I’m hoping there is a budget and money will be spent. But now they have a clear idea on what they need and which positions need attention. For me, nothing has changed. Keeper, CB, DMF, 2x strikers and a RW, now that Kalu is not part of it. We need 6 new players and 12 days to get them. We only have 23 players, that’s far too light.
Interesting that Porteous immediately draws comparisons with last season in his summary of today's game. Echos the comments of quite a few people on Shoutbox earlier.
Far, far more likely is that it takes time to get deals over the line. I don't think we need a winger, that's our area of strength at the moment considering we have Asprilla, Martins, Chakvetadze, Sema and Ince fighting for 2 spots, more likely we try to get a CB and/or a DM, and a striker
Back to the Watford we know. Clearly the manager has made not a jot of difference despite all his boasting after the qpr game We're deep in the sh itter, make no mistake about it.
Sema doesn't look a goal threat at all from the RW. He's good at sneaking in at the back post from the LW sometimes. Ince has done in the past, but he looked way off the pace when he came on today.
Martins, Chakvetadze and Sema all play on the left. Asprilla can do it, but his best position is in the middle. We’ve only got Ince, and he looked well off the pace today.
Yes, I hope this Sema on the right experiment will come to an end soon, but I don't see why the other 4 can't play on either side
It was Ince's first game of the season today, it shouldn't be too surprising that he didn't look his best, hopefully there is more to come from him. Asprilla can play centrally, but I think we'll see far more of him out wider (yes, Louza was poor today, but he's probably still first name on the teamsheet). Martins we've seen on both sides already, I think he's probably better on the left, but whatever quibbles we might have with our wide players so far, really, it's the last area we need to strengthen right now
Wealdstone v Fylde was a classic. A Sarr-esque goal from the half way line, a red card and a last minute winner (overhead kick) for the mighty Stones. #properfootball. How was the M6?
Last week Ismael was hoping to get our first choice striker target, this week he's just hoping to get someone in. He's losing hope and it's clear we've missed out on the players we wanted. I imagine we're now at the stage where Pozzo is getting daily suggestions from Mr Bayat and it won't be long until one of his players turn up here.
Yes - except an off field team sucking millions from our club. Duxbury is absolutely incompetent. Yet he is on a premier league salary. Disgraceful.
Mid-table Premier League salary at that. We’ve had a revenue income of over £1billion during his time, yet this genius has turned it into a £150m debt.
It’s blindingly obvious we need some pace and/or some physicality up front. Bayo was so easy to defend against. 2nd half we had plenty of ball around the box , crossing options as well but zero movement from Bayo. Hopeless.
I went today. Pretty crap all in all. Asprilla is twice the player Martins is, TDB is very lightweight, we'd have lost by more without Hoedt, Bayo offered nothing, Andrews had his worst game, Ince was cack... Bachmann got away with it again but it's coming. The atmosphere was pretty poor and it seems that the team malaise has infected the fans too. Two years of drivel has killed a large part of the passion. Going to take a string of good performances to stir the crowd again. I'm amazed kids agreed to go. My son has done 8 away games and the only one we got a result in was a 0-0.
So was I... Parked with a quick exit to the A50 and traffic was fine. Much prefer the train, but had to go via Derby to see my terminally ill father in law, which was probably more fun than the game.
Train is good, bit of a hike to/from the station. Sorry to hear about your father in law…hope he’s as comfortable as he can be.
We need a few signings to really excite the fans again. Reading the forums and the like, those who are positive I believe are only playing lip service. I think very few actually believe this is truly a new dawn. Deep down people think it’s just Gino trying to save money. What’s exciting about that? So, it’s no surprise supporters gave lost faith. The club is dying and whether we want to believe it or not, it’s the harsh reality.
Can't see there being m/any players we could sign in our price bracket or even a little beyond it who would be genuinely exciting. Those days are gone. Can only speak for me but at this point I feel like I've seen every type of signing come through the doors over the past decade - young, old, famous name, massive fee, no fee, English, Brazilian wonderkid, bargain touted in the lower leagues, gurning YouTuber, rando feted by the stats nerds, Bayat rubbish heap reject, obvious trading model dud, European progidy with skyhigh release clause... and so the list goes on. All have come and gone and most have flopped because of the rancid culture at the club. I struggle to more than shrug when they announce signings these days. Or I would, if we actually signed anyone.
Yep, that’s pretty much it. Gino has had his time. It was good while it lasted but he’s just floundering now and taking the club down with him. The club is done while he’s around. Has no money and has run out of ideas. The next owner maybe a lot worse, but he might not. He might be a decent guy who is actually really emotionally invested with the club and will connect with the fans. Whichever way it goes, I’m just tired of the way we do things, and I feel so is the majority of the fanbase. Just tired of being angry and disappointed all the time. He needs to go, before things get even worse.
Completely agree. Everything feels flat and joyless. The manager circus, the stream of poor quality or indifferent players and the general lack of entertainment has beaten the fun out most fans. We've had a spin fuelled "reset" every summer for years, so I doubt many believe it actually means anything.
Was Stoke the dump you expected? I lived there for a year and whilst it's not beautiful, I quite liked it.
