Mohammed Diame might just be a bargain
- Thread starter rooomage
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Are they really though? We have 4 I can think of off the top of my head who are on loan, 1 is back in jan and the other 3 have recall options. We have Oscar, lamps, Ramires as well as Cahill and luiz who have both played in midfield at some point this season. We do not need to spend money to cover a months absence it's just ridiculous. Money does not solve everything hence why Utd are top of the league
Stim
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Cahill and Luiz are CB's and should never be played in midfield. We lost Romeu, so we have mikel and lamps and ramires to play the 'holding' roles of midfield. Mikel is suspended/going away, romeu is out for the season leaving TWO players for two positions. One more injury and its tickets. We need bodies. We haven't needed bodies for the past month, we've needed it for like 2 years. We've had to play OHM to death because we have no suitable backups that will do a job. We have an amazing first 11 and hardly anything to come off the bench to change up a game or provide reliable backup to rest players. We have deep defensive options and that's about it.
Your united reference doesn't hold any weight. They have a deep enough squad, they already spent the money. Just because they already spent the money and don't need to now doesn't prove that you don't need to spend money now to compete.
Your united reference doesn't hold any weight. They have a deep enough squad, they already spent the money. Just because they already spent the money and don't need to now doesn't prove that you don't need to spend money now to compete.
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My united reference is because at one point they had 3 CBs out but I didn't hear them clambering for money to be spent on a cb. A lot of fans have become very spoilt at this club and forget there was a time where if we were in this situation We could not simply go out and buy we had to make the most of it. We are fortunate we have some talented youngsters who are able to come in and do a job for us and gain some experience. Also what do we tell romeu when he comes back? 'Sorry bud but we have just give mikel a new 5 yr deal and signed a 20/30 million pound player so enjoy some time with u21s'. We need to give youth a chance at this club
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Stim
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Huh? 3 cb's out and they could still field 2 full time cb's of course they won't, didn't stop the club from still buying smalling and then jones a season later. They had a massive injury crisis and STILL could field a capable team. We have 2 midfielders and 1 striker out and our squad is almost at its limit. How is it comparable?
Then you want to replace them with kids who have no top flight experience and expect to RELY on them. Don't talk about the past, in the current reality we need squad players and you don't have to be a spoilt fan to see that. We have something stupid like 17 outfield players. We are playing 21 year olds for 90 minutes 2/3 times a week because they have no one to rotate with. Factoring in form, fatigue etc and we have laughably small options.
Then you want to replace them with kids who have no top flight experience and expect to RELY on them. Don't talk about the past, in the current reality we need squad players and you don't have to be a spoilt fan to see that. We have something stupid like 17 outfield players. We are playing 21 year olds for 90 minutes 2/3 times a week because they have no one to rotate with. Factoring in form, fatigue etc and we have laughably small options.
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I was actually referring to this season when smalling, jones and vidic were all out. Agree to disagree on this case, I think buying a player to cover a player who is missing for one month (which is give or take 6 games) is just a pointless task. We have players who are good enough to come and fill in at cm as a pose to paying ridiculous monies for a cm that will probably mean we end up selling some of the talent we have already. Also, if your talking about signing a DM within the first 2 weeks of the transfer market and clubs think that we have to buy we are looking at over inflated prices for a position that can be filled internally
Stim
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Meh, I think midfield in general not just DM needs more squad players. As I said we have something stupid like 17 outfield players. We can have like 25(?) and then still kids. Even if Romeu wasn't injured. Be it Diame be it whatever but when we bring bertrand on to play in midfield something isn't right.
We all want what is best for the club I guess, I just want us to start optimising our youth. We have one of the best academies around but that is worthless if they don't see players making it in the first team. I understand where you are coming from also, we are maybe not as lush in cm as other clubs but such things can wait until summer instead of being rushed in January
Jonty
Deal with it.
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It's not just the month Mikel is away, it's
a) The fact Mikel isn't really good enough
and
b) The fact that ramires and mikel have had to start nearly every single game in those 2 holding roles with only romeu as cover
How can you think we have good depth there that we have to start a substandard player with a 19 year old with a tiny release clause to go back to barca as back up?
a) The fact Mikel isn't really good enough
and
b) The fact that ramires and mikel have had to start nearly every single game in those 2 holding roles with only romeu as cover
How can you think we have good depth there that we have to start a substandard player with a 19 year old with a tiny release clause to go back to barca as back up?
Well a) that's an opinion not really backed up by anything and b) that has been down to injury and lack of rotation. I personally may have give Oscar more games in that role. I also look at the fact we have the likes of mceachran, chalobah and kdb on loan but hey let's just buy another player because it is a quicker fix than bringing someone through the academy. Oh and Romeus release clause ends after next season and would see us getting triple what we paid for him so wouldnt be the worst bit of business if he did go.
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TheWestwayWonder
Why dont we get together and call ourselves an ins
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Jonty
Deal with it.
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From what i've seen KDB plays in a more attacking role, the other two are unproven at the top level so relying on them without a plan b is pretty reckless.
And regardless of whether Romeu going back to Barca next season would be a good deal, if he does leave it means we once again have no centre midfielders, also consider the fact that Lampards contract expires at the end of the season.
Dunno why you're acting like the suggestion of buying a new midfielder when our best midfielder of the past decade is most likely going at the end of the season is so ridiculous.
Well there are a number of reasons:
1) some of the names being thrown around are going to cost us in the region of 20-30 mil which after the amount we spent in summer and the fact signing a striker is a priority is unfeesible
2) signing anyone cheaper than this will result in buying someone unproven in which case we might as well give chalobah or mceachran a chance
3) you are being very harsh on both youngsters, both have shown they are a level above the championship, also mceachran has top flight experience and if it wasn't for a poor change in management and a shoddy loan would have more
4) I don't want to see the club rush out and sign someone to cover a player who is absent for ONE month. Why don't we just wait until summer when we have a proper manager in charge and we have all our squad back and we can fully assess the situation from there? In the mean time we can give some youth valuable experience.
5) the signing of a consistent striker will take a lot of pressure of the rest of the team
6) what would you have had us do in pre-abramovich days when money wasn't so freely spent? We would have just had to cope with what we had and we have a lot better youth than we did then to walk in the side
1) some of the names being thrown around are going to cost us in the region of 20-30 mil which after the amount we spent in summer and the fact signing a striker is a priority is unfeesible
2) signing anyone cheaper than this will result in buying someone unproven in which case we might as well give chalobah or mceachran a chance
3) you are being very harsh on both youngsters, both have shown they are a level above the championship, also mceachran has top flight experience and if it wasn't for a poor change in management and a shoddy loan would have more
4) I don't want to see the club rush out and sign someone to cover a player who is absent for ONE month. Why don't we just wait until summer when we have a proper manager in charge and we have all our squad back and we can fully assess the situation from there? In the mean time we can give some youth valuable experience.
5) the signing of a consistent striker will take a lot of pressure of the rest of the team
6) what would you have had us do in pre-abramovich days when money wasn't so freely spent? We would have just had to cope with what we had and we have a lot better youth than we did then to walk in the side
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That Boy Brandinho
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KDB is at his best when he's playing centrally. The change really reinvigorated him in the midst of a so-so year in Belgium and it's the role he projects to play here. Not because we have the 3 amigos up front, either - it's simply his best position.
I also completely disagree with your earlier comments about Mikel not being good enough, but I do agree that we could use additional depth at the position. Whatever you think of Mikel, if he were to pick up a serious injury, we'd be in trouble. As good as I think Mikel is, he's certainly no superstar, so the fact that we'd miss him so much is troubling.
Personally, I think buying one midfielder and bringing KDB over is sufficient cover for the position. I don't think relying on KDB and McEachran without bringing in anybody else would be very intelligent, so there's definitely a need for someone from outside of the club.
1) There's nothing infeasible about spending 20-30 million on a midfielder. With that out of the way, there's no reason we need to spend that much. There's a great, wide gap between super budget options like Diame and spending 30 million on a star. There's no question that we could find a solution to our depth issue somewhere in between those two figures and there's also no question that it's economically feasible.
2) Signing anyone, for any amount, results in acquiring an unproven player. You can reduce the uncertainty to a point, but even if you buy a legitimate star from another English team, there's always a chance he won't fit in at your club because he hasn't yet played for it. I see lots of talk about proven/unproven and the notion always irks me a bit. A player is only proven once he's playing well for us.
3) KDB has, by virtue of his form in the Bundesliga. On the other hand, McEachran certainly hasn't shown that he's a level above the Championship. He was excellent against Marseille, we all know that, but a smattering of solid appearances aside from that doesn't mean he's ready. He wasn't any good when he got on the pitch for Swansea. Granted, some blame is due to the club for loaning him in January to a club that already had a very solid midfield, but when Josh did get on the pitch, he did nothing whatsoever to earn more time. As far as I'm concerned, KDB has a brighter future with us.
4) There's some merit to this argument, but I think the issue is that we're a bit short on depth even with Mikel, so it's not like we're literally buying someone for the purpose of replacing Mikel for 30 days. I'd be swayed more by the "wait until we have a new manager in place" aspect if I were confident our new manager would have control over personnel decisions. Odds are he won't.
5) True, but that's not an argument against addressing other needs. We aren't one striker away from running roughshod over the Premiership, after all, even if it is our biggest need.
6) These aren't the pre-Abramovich days. If you had lived a few millennia ago, you wouldn't have electricity, plumbing, running water, an automobile, a television, blah blah blah. Should you go without all of that even though you live in the year 2012?
Stim
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What do you want us to compete in exactly? We have the cwc and the league cup, 12 points behind the leaders in the league and we have Thursday night football to contend with. I personally will take a top 4 finish this season because winning the league is not only very unlikely but would see fsw in a more permanent role
Celery1989
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I like Diame a lot. I would definitely add him to what appears to be a long list of CM/DMC targets that we are scouting currently for January.
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