Lets be Honest

In all honesty, I think the squad looked stronger this time last year. 

I dont really understand what we have been trying to achieve in this window. 

Replacing Lukaku with Aubameyang if it happens, is a step sideways at best. 

Swapping Werner, Ziyech, and CHO for Sterling and Gordon, arguably makes us worse. 

Cucurella looks like a quality player, and was probably needed after Chilwells injury, but theres not much between Cururella and pre injury Chilwell. 

Koulibaly for Rudiger, is probably the best we couldve done. 

Fofana for Christiensen, again it's a sideways move currently, although with Christiensen's mental problems, and Fofana's potential, that will hopefully be a positive in the long run. 

But in terms of addressing the main issues, which to me was getting the best out of the front players, adding some quality in midfield, cover for wing backs. We have barely tackled any of these issues, and that's assuming we end up with Fofana, Aubameyang, and Gordon. 

£300m+ spent, and still look weaker. 

Really suprised we have spent nearly £40m on Chulwuemeka, and Casadei, both play best as 8's in a 3 man midfield, we bring back Gallagher, also best as an 8 in midfield 3, but then we seem dead set on keeping 343. 

Bizarre recruitment. 

Hoping for some shocks in the last week, hijacking Paqueta for £35m would been nice. This squad really lacks flair and vision. 
Pretty much this. I'm actually concerned with where we are going on and off the pitch.

On the pitch, we look awful. Our attack is unbelievably bad, none of the front 3 look comfortable, it's not helping that none of them are playing in their favoured position. Sterling is a winger and Mount and Havertz are attacking midfielders. This is Mount's 4th season with us now and he is still expected to play that left forward role. The defence looks weaker and the midfield is pathetic without Kante and Kovacic. Injuries destroyed us last season and the same thing is already happening again this season. Losing Rudiger and Christensen is a huge blow and the fact that they both haven't been replaced yet is a big problem. We simply cannot expect to compete with 3 CB's at the age of 38, 33 and 32. It's already well known that Azpilicueta's legs aren't what they used to be and early signs are very concerning when it comes to Koulibaly. I have already said a few times that Koulibaly feels like a signing 5 years too late.

Off the pitch, I think we are handling ourselves terribly in the transfer market. It just feels like we are throwing around money without actually thinking. Signing Chukwuemeka for £20m is very odd. The moves for both Fofana and Aubameyang are becoming desperate. Like Koulibaly, Aubameyang would feel like a signing 5 years too late and if things go wrong, they will both need replacing again next season. Why are we so unable to find a good young forward when the rest of Europe manages it so much better than us? and if we wanted Fofana so badly, we should have moved much quicker instead of f**king about trying to sign De Ligt and flip flopping on Kounde. As for Gordon......I don't have words to describe it. 

Cucurella was a good signing, but he cost way more than we should be paying for him. It's now left us open to being taken advantage of by other clubs. Clubs will ask for another 10-20m more because of this, just like how United have been overspending for the dross they have been signing in recent years. City must be kicking themselves, they could easily have gotten another 20m out of us for Sterling.

There are other issues too, like Jorginho and Kante being in the last year of their contracts, which means we will be desperately looking for midfielders just like we are desperately looking for CB's this season. The squad is also still full of players that need to be moved on. We have been slowly doing it in recent weeks with Sarr going out on loan and getting 15m for Emerson, but there is still so much that needs clearing out. Alonso, Rahman, Ampadu, Barkley, Gilmour, Kenedy, Batshuayi, these all need to be moved on, with Gilmour preferably going out on another loan. The talk of Ziyech and Pulisic leaving should be off the cards, there is no time to replace them and Hudson-Odoi is expected to go out on loan too. We have a week left of this transfer window, what squad are we going to be left with if things carry on like this?

 
You've listed a player each from Barcelona and Leicester. No idea how they improve us. Haaland and KDB improve us massively, but they don't play for us either.

And I don't see how Cucurella improves us much. We already had two good fullbacks when fit, so he is either cover (which admittedly is good) or at best a slight improvement (but that remains to be seen).

Not convinced Koulibaly is a step up from Rudiger. He'll have to go some to be a big improvement on Rudi.

And Sterling so far has looked no better than Pulisic or CHO or Werner etc on their good days.

And we still look completely devoid of any on field leader(s). Rudiger was the nearest we had to a Cech/Terry/Ballack/Drogba etc presence on the park.

So all in all, to date it looks roughly like 150 million pounds of sideways.
Cucurella is a starter and Brighton's player of the season - whether that's at LCB or LB. Even if you think Fofana and K2 are equal replacements for Rudiger and Christensen, the defense sees an overall improvement. Rudiger had a good two seasons and was a cult figure. K2 is one of the best defenders in the modern era and is a class above. 

What Sterling has looked like in a short space of time is irrelevant. The only other left winger that has matched his ability and performance levels is Son. 

For onfield leadership we have Silva, Jorginho, and Azpi. K2 is also great in this area but he needs time to settle. And then we have a team filled with model professionals like Mount, Kante, Sterling, Kova etc so we're fine in this area. We don't have a ton of players who would just roll over like the Man Utd bunch. 

We've spent 150m on a team that was top of the league last December and had their season derailed by injuries and ownership issues. Not having proper backup for James and Chilwell was a huge, huge issue - which has now mostly been addressed. 

 
"Let's be honest" , @Valerie and @Munkworth are...

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What Sterling has looked like in a short space of time is irrelevant.
No it’s not.

K2 is one of the best defenders in the modern era and is a class above.
That’s why he’s reached his mid thirties without being signed by Barca, Real, Bayern, City, Liverpool, PSG or us (until now)

r onfield leadership we have Silva, Jorginho, and Azpi. K2 is also great in this area but he needs time to settle. And then we have a team filled with model professionals like Mount, Kante, Sterling, Kova etc so we're fine in this area. We don't have a ton of players who would just roll over like the Man Utd bunch.
I take it you’re too young to have seen Czech, Terry, Ballack and Drofba amongst others. But yeah, we’d never roll over and get beaten 3-0 at Leeds.

Are you either Tomas Tuchel or Todd Boehly?

 
La Cucaracha is a mid-table PL'er at best, so his agent and former club are howling all the way to la banca... 

Li'l tommy can't handle utilizing a proper striker, but hey... who needs goals anyway?!?

We'z gonna struggle for top four, and probably bounced from UCL group stage in an unceremonious fashion... 

🤬🤬🤬

 
No it’s not.

That’s why he’s reached his mid thirties without being signed by Barca, Real, Bayern, City, Liverpool, PSG or us (until now)

I take it you’re too young to have seen Czech, Terry, Ballack and Drofba amongst others. But yeah, we’d never roll over and get beaten 3-0 at Leeds.

Are you either Tomas Tuchel or Todd Boehly?
no just beaten 3-0 by Middlesbrough when we were truly in our pomp (Mourinho's second season) I also remember getting beaten 3-0 at home to Sunderland and everyones favourite (well nearly everyone) Ashley Cole having a nightmare. We clearly are a long way off from those halcyon days granted, but theres not much we can do about it is there? except have a whinge and live in hope.

 
Impossible to say whether any of our summer signings make us stronger and weaker until we've had enough evidence on the pitch either way.

Look how the 2020/21 window turned out. Most fans were purring when we brought in Werner, Havertz, Ziyech, Chilwell and Mendy ... it all looked great on paper, but fast forward 2 years and we've already sold Werner, are trying to sell Ziyech, Mendy is becoming error prone, Havertz flatters to deceive and Chilwell after a bad injury does not have his starting position locked down either. £222 million we spent on those five ... 

 
No it’s not.

That’s why he’s reached his mid thirties without being signed by Barca, Real, Bayern, City, Liverpool, PSG or us (until now)

I take it you’re too young to have seen Czech, Terry, Ballack and Drofba amongst others. But yeah, we’d never roll over and get beaten 3-0 at Leeds.

Are you either Tomas Tuchel or Todd Boehly?
So true  we have a team of whimps  one tackle and out for three weeks haveritz  ziyeck pullisic odi  all out injured to many times 

 
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