He could have been holding up the shirt a week ago and ready to go for Arsenal.

Instead were going to rush Caicedo back and run him, James and Lavia into the ground.

This midfield just won't have the legs over the season to play Xabi's pressing game.

Criminal

4 minutes ago, BordeauxBlue said:

He could have been holding up the shirt a week ago and ready to go for Arsenal.

Instead were going to rush Caicedo back and run him, James and Lavia into the ground.

This midfield just won't have the legs over the season to play Xabi's pressing game.

Criminal

We don't even know the extent of Caicedo's injury situation yet either.

Win goes to city. No replacement for Enzo after their late move for him.

They got their payback after we made them bend the knee over Maresca.

I still give this summer a 9/10.

Got rid of a lot of dross and squad not bloated anymore. Alonso made it possible by somehow convincing the owners that their w**k Sporting Directors signed tons of dog turd players that needed moved ASAP and it all happened in such a short time.

As for Monaco, they are bastards. But it is what it is. We move on. If fit, James and Lavia are top players and perfect next to Caicedo. Remains to be seen if they can stay fit for more than two minutes. Big risk, high reward. I feel that with both of them is more mental than anything else. If they somehow stay healthy for more than 3 months in a row, I believe they can finish the season unharmed.

Any club that has played 2 right backs in midfield so far this season didn’t have a 9/10 window.

Ah bless BlueCo and Eghbali. They let it be known they could have pulled the plug on the Enzo Deal, just as Monaco did with camara, but did not as they negotiated in good faith.

Say what you want about Enzo but they briefed to the 9s they would only let him go if we strengthened our options to not leave Alonso short and yet they did the opposist.

So close, but BlueCo cannot help being BlueCo after all.

I'd still give out transfer window an 8/10, would have been a 10 if the Camara deal had gone through. Hopefully our midfielders can stay fit and we can still be in the title race come January when we can sign someone.

We're hoping that Reece and Lavia stay fit while Caicedo himself is potentially out for a while. This has put a damper on what has been an exciting season so far.

Hope Alonso doesn't sulk about this.

6 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

I'd still give out transfer window an 8/10, would have been a 10 if the Camara deal had gone through. Hopefully our midfielders can stay fit and we can still be in the title race come January when we can sign someone.

You mean when every club will be selling their best players at a premium or not at all?

@BordeauxBlue made it perfectly clear. This was a colossal f**k up.

I worry this could cost us, Strengthened a rival and brought in no replacement, expect to see more of gusto in midfield in the coming months🤢

Useless w**kers. They have completely f**ked us on the last day. They have had MONTHS to sort out the midfield, MONTHS! I said back in June that they were too slow and should have been getting things done quickly after our finish last season, but they moved at a snails pace as usual and wasted time trying to sign players like Xhaka on the cheap.

They were played by City, they left it to the last day on purpose to weaken us and leave us scrambling to find a replacement, and these stupid twats fell right into the trap. They got completely outsmarted with that deadline bullsh*t, City called their bluff. Any competent ownership would have stuck to that deadline, but these clowns thought they were the smart ones. I said the other day it was too late to sell him, I knew these twats were too incompetent to sort the midfield out in time, so I'm not shocked at all, I'm just angry. We can point the fingers all we like at Monaco for cancelling the Camara deal at the last second, but this is on BlueCo, you can't bank on things working out in the dying hours. It's too risky.

I also think they were bullsh*tting about wanting two midfielders, they couldn't afford it so put out their sh*tty little briefs to make it seem like they could. They couldn't do sh*t until Enzo was sold, but couldn't be sure how serious City were about Enzo because they delayed. They played games and they lost, making themselves out to be fools in the transfer market again, just as they were made to look like fools by Barcelona when they tried to sign Raphinha and Kounde.

They've f**ked Alonso over big time now and all we have to hope for is that he is some miracle manager because he now has no midfield to work with until January, minimum. Forget about any hope of pushing Arsenal in the title race, it was never really on anyway, but any hope you did have is gone now. Top 4 is the best we can hope for now and even that is going to be a huge ask without a midfield. An absolute sh*tshow.

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by Scott Harris

Baloguns off now also?

44 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Useless w**kers. They have completely f**ked us on the last day. They have had MONTHS to sort out the midfield, MONTHS! I said back in June that they were too slow and should have been getting things done quickly after our finish last season, but they moved at a snails pace as usual and wasted time trying to sign players like Xhaka on the cheap.

They were played by City, they left it to the last day on purpose to weaken us and leave us scrambling to find a replacement, and these stupid twats fell right into the trap. They got completely outsmarted with that deadline bullsh*t, City called their bluff. Any competent ownership would have stuck to that deadline, but these clowns thought they were the smart ones. I said the other day it was too late to sell him, I knew these twats were too incompetent to sort the midfield out in time, so I'm not shocked at all, I'm just angry. We can point the fingers all we like at Monaco for cancelling the Camara deal at the last second, but this is on BlueCo, you can't bank on things working out in the dying hours. It's too risky.

I also think they were bullsh*tting about wanting two midfielders, they couldn't afford it so put out their sh*tty little briefs to make it seem like they could. They couldn't do sh*t until Enzo was sold, but couldn't be sure how serious City were about Enzo because they delayed. They played games and they lost, making themselves out to be fools in the transfer market again, just as they were made to look like fools by Barcelona when they tried to sign Raphinha and Kounde.

They've f**ked Alonso over big time now and all we have to hope for is that he is some miracle manager because he now has no midfield to work with until January, minimum. Forget about any hope of pushing Arsenal in the title race, it was never really on anyway, but any hope you did have is gone now. Top 4 is the best we can hope for now and even that is going to be a huge ask without a midfield. An absolute sh*tshow.

24 minutes ago, PhilH930 said:

Baloguns off now also?

Aye. He changed his ind about going there too late thought. Nothing can be done to resurrect the Camara deal now.

54 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Useless w**kers. They have completely f**ked us on the last day. They have had MONTHS to sort out the midfield, MONTHS! I said back in June that they were too slow and should have been getting things done quickly after our finish last season, but they moved at a snails pace as usual and wasted time trying to sign players like Xhaka on the cheap.

They were played by City, they left it to the last day on purpose to weaken us and leave us scrambling to find a replacement, and these stupid twats fell right into the trap. They got completely outsmarted with that deadline bullsh*t, City called their bluff. Any competent ownership would have stuck to that deadline, but these clowns thought they were the smart ones. I said the other day it was too late to sell him, I knew these twats were too incompetent to sort the midfield out in time, so I'm not shocked at all, I'm just angry. We can point the fingers all we like at Monaco for cancelling the Camara deal at the last second, but this is on BlueCo, you can't bank on things working out in the dying hours. It's too risky.

I also think they were bullsh*tting about wanting two midfielders, they couldn't afford it so put out their sh*tty little briefs to make it seem like they could. They couldn't do sh*t until Enzo was sold, but couldn't be sure how serious City were about Enzo because they delayed. They played games and they lost, making themselves out to be fools in the transfer market again, just as they were made to look like fools by Barcelona when they tried to sign Raphinha and Kounde.

They've f**ked Alonso over big time now and all we have to hope for is that he is some miracle manager because he now has no midfield to work with until January, minimum. Forget about any hope of pushing Arsenal in the title race, it was never really on anyway, but any hope you did have is gone now. Top 4 is the best we can hope for now and even that is going to be a huge ask without a midfield. An absolute sh*tshow.

Rogers alone makes us a title-challenging squad. I'm not going to be a doomsayer about the squad, it is objectively the best we've had under BlueCo and more than capable of winning trophies. An unproven 22-year old from a middling French team isn't going to meaningfully move that needle, Camara looks a great prospect but he is essentially Valentin Barco in a different font.

As for rotation, well God forbid we have to give a youth player from the best academy in England a few minutes in midfield here and there. We should be doing that far more often than we have done under BlueCo. It's moments like this that have allowed clubs to discover their Lewis-Skelly, Rico Lewis or Nico O'Reilly, or Trent Alexander-Arnold.

I think that blaming Fernandez's transfer for the lack of action is a bit much. I have no doubt it will be the narrative encouraged by BlueCo. The transfer is the biggest financial boon we have had since selling Hazard and at the end of the day, this window was the last time the club could have ever meaninfully profited from a very mediocre transfer. However, it's pretty clear that the main targets are Scott and/or Wharton, and it actually seems unbelievably sensible to wait for them to become available next year instead of splashing cash on yet another unknown young player.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by SydneyChelsea

9 minutes ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Rogers alone makes us a title-challenging squad. I'm not going to be a doomsayer about the squad, it is objectively the best we've had under BlueCo and more than capable of winning trophies. An unproven 22-year old from a middling French team isn't going to meaningfully move that needle, Camara looks a great prospect but he is essentially Valentin Barco in a different font.

As for rotation, well God forbid we have to give a youth player from the best academy in England a few minutes in midfield here and there. We should be doing that far more often than we have done under BlueCo. It's moments like this that have allowed clubs to discover their Lewis-Skelly, Rico Lewis or Nico O'Reilly, or Trent Alexander-Arnold.

I think that blaming Fernandez's transfer for the lack of action is a bit much. I have no doubt it will be the narrative encouraged by BlueCo. The transfer is the biggest financial boon we have had since selling Hazard and at the end of the day, this window was the last time the club could have ever meaninfully profited from a very mediocre transfer. However, it's pretty clear that the main targets are Scott and/or Wharton, and it actually seems unbelievably sensible to wait for them to become available next year instead of splashing cash on yet another unknown young player.

It definitely makes sense to focus on our primary targets but I doubt it will be any easier to prise them from their respective clubs in January or next summer. Other clubs will no doubt join the battle for their signatures. For the first half of this season we need to hope that Caicedo is not seriously injured and that Lavia can stay fit. Reece is an option but not a reliable one given his injury record, and we don't yet have a date on Henderson's availability. Barco should be a decent option but it remains to be seen how he does against the bigger teams. I think it was a mistake to let Essugo go until we were sure that Camara deal was fully completed. He could have provided some more cover. If we hit a few injuries we will be back to playing the likes of Gusto in central midfield, or tapping into the academy.

28 minutes ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Rogers alone makes us a title-challenging squad. I'm not going to be a doomsayer about the squad, it is objectively the best we've had under BlueCo and more than capable of winning trophies. An unproven 22-year old from a middling French team isn't going to meaningfully move that needle, Camara looks a great prospect but he is essentially Valentin Barco in a different font.

As for rotation, well God forbid we have to give a youth player from the best academy in England a few minutes in midfield here and there. We should be doing that far more often than we have done under BlueCo. It's moments like this that have allowed clubs to discover their Lewis-Skelly, Rico Lewis or Nico O'Reilly, or Trent Alexander-Arnold.

I think that blaming Fernandez's transfer for the lack of action is a bit much. I have no doubt it will be the narrative encouraged by BlueCo. The transfer is the biggest financial boon we have had since selling Hazard and at the end of the day, this window was the last time the club could have ever meaninfully profited from a very mediocre transfer. However, it's pretty clear that the main targets are Scott and/or Wharton, and it actually seems unbelievably sensible to wait for them to become available next year instead of splashing cash on yet another unknown young player.

No he doesn't. He's good, but he's not that good and even if he was world class, we still wouldn't challenge for a title with what's going on behind him. Fulham and Brighton were proof that what we have is not good enough. We can go into the youth team all we like, but we won't find anybody ready to step in to the senior teams midfield. All of this is compounded by the fact that Caicedo is injured, with very little pre-season, after a season where he was already looking burnt out. Our midfield is weaker than it was last season, and it was already weak then.

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

No he doesn't. He's good, but he's not that good and even if he was world class, we still wouldn't challenge for a title with what's going on behind him. Fulham and Brighton were proof that what we have is not good enough. We can go into the youth team all we like, but we won't find anybody ready to step in to the senior teams midfield. All of this is compounded by the fact that Caicedo is injured, with very little pre-season, after a season where he was already looking burnt out. Our midfield is weaker than it was last season, and it was already weak then.

Rogers is being played as part of a front 3 so I don't really count him as a midfielder. Enzo F. generally played alongside Caicedo rather than as one of the wide guys like Rogers so I don't see that as a like for like replacement. Our midfield last season was hardly great and yet we have weakened it. We've let Andre Santos, Fernandes, and Essugo leave while bringing in Barco and Henderson. I think most of us imagined Barco and Henderson would likely have peripheral squad roles this season but now it looks like they could be starting regularly.

I’m not convinced Camara was the long term solution anyway, but it doesn’t cover the problem with our midfield.

A fit Caicedo and Lavia would be fine thru Jan. No one would bet on that outcome though.

Still think we might recall Essugo for some depth. Barco should play also - which he’s young, he was good enough to go to the World Cup and this is a chance to prove himself. Nothing I’ve seen convinces me Camara was a better option - was a numbers game there.

It’s done now anyway. Need to get the most out of what we have, and be serious about one or two targets in January.

34 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

No he doesn't. He's good, but he's not that good and even if he was world class, we still wouldn't challenge for a title with what's going on behind him. Fulham and Brighton were proof that what we have is not good enough. We can go into the youth team all we like, but we won't find anybody ready to step in to the senior teams midfield. All of this is compounded by the fact that Caicedo is injured, with very little pre-season, after a season where he was already looking burnt out. Our midfield is weaker than it was last season, and it was already weak then.

I agree that our midfield is weaker than last season. Barco and Henderson looked like great signings when they were squad players that raised the overall floor, but we will go into this season without any of our first-choice midfielders from the last two seasons. However, I don't think that Alonso or the board should be let off so lightly by the 'squad not good enough' approach. We scarcely have a game a week for most of this season. We should be competitive for the title and comfortable for 3rd, anything else is a sideways step at best.

We do have enough quality in James, Lavia and the others to maintain good performances at least until January. Only Santos is a real loss. Fernandez has no role in Alonso's system, he is unwilling to play as a deeper midfielder and insists on playing as a second striker. His role is usurped entirely by Rogers, Palmer and Estevao.

I am more worried about striker. Pedro has been crucial to our system and it's unclear whether Welbeck will offer even a similar reference point for the attack. Welbeck also has a shaky injury history himself so it's likely we are going to see Rogers, Estevao or Neto as a false 9 at some part of the season because Emegha is not the answer.

Barco the giant killer .. everything depends on you .. he made the Argentina squad let’s see what is he made off. But expect a lot of chopping and changing now- Monaco are turds but didn’t we do this with Chalobah any Guiu ourselves -

It's what it is. Positive net spend, cleared out a lot of deadwood, bought some key players but didn't stick the landing well enough

Lacking a CB, CM, WB and CF come January

4 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Useless w**kers. They have completely f**ked us on the last day. They have had MONTHS to sort out the midfield, MONTHS! I said back in June that they were too slow and should have been getting things done quickly after our finish last season, but they moved at a snails pace as usual and wasted time trying to sign players like Xhaka on the cheap.

They were played by City, they left it to the last day on purpose to weaken us and leave us scrambling to find a replacement, and these stupid twats fell right into the trap. They got completely outsmarted with that deadline bullsh*t, City called their bluff. Any competent ownership would have stuck to that deadline, but these clowns thought they were the smart ones. I said the other day it was too late to sell him, I knew these twats were too incompetent to sort the midfield out in time, so I'm not shocked at all, I'm just angry. We can point the fingers all we like at Monaco for cancelling the Camara deal at the last second, but this is on BlueCo, you can't bank on things working out in the dying hours. It's too risky.

I also think they were bullsh*tting about wanting two midfielders, they couldn't afford it so put out their sh*tty little briefs to make it seem like they could. They couldn't do sh*t until Enzo was sold, but couldn't be sure how serious City were about Enzo because they delayed. They played games and they lost, making themselves out to be fools in the transfer market again, just as they were made to look like fools by Barcelona when they tried to sign Raphinha and Kounde.

They've f**ked Alonso over big time now and all we have to hope for is that he is some miracle manager because he now has no midfield to work with until January, minimum. Forget about any hope of pushing Arsenal in the title race, it was never really on anyway, but any hope you did have is gone now. Top 4 is the best we can hope for now and even that is going to be a huge ask without a midfield. An absolute sh*tshow.

why is it so harsh review? They just failed 1 replacement to a player that's not really rated by many in here and camara for all you know could be just another bakayoko.

It's pretty much just 1 game a week with the options of latvia, caicedo, barco, james, henderson to fill 2 spots in midfield.

7 minutes ago, BolaBall said:

why is it so harsh review? They just failed 1 replacement to a player that's not really rated by many in here and camara for all you know could be just another bakayoko.

It's pretty much just 1 game a week with the options of latvia, caicedo, barco, james, henderson to fill 2 spots in midfield.

It was (typically) dumb of BlueCo to go all-in on the unproven Camara and Roma's injury-prone Manu Kone and they deserve criticism for being naive enough to play along with Monaco after the initial rejection. Rather embarassingly they have put out PR pieces to Fabrizio Romano et al yapping about how "classy" we were at the deadline for deigning to let Enzo Fernandez go despite the last-minute issues. It makes the PR about "deadlines" all the worse too.

That said I also don't know why some of our fans think that Man City have played some sort of game here; they clearly had to manage the tensions between reservations about Fernandez's quality relative to the price, and the need to be seen supporting Maresca publicly. The conspiracy that City deliberately delayed this to the last minute to some how inconvenience us is just plain weird. City weren't thinking about whether we were going to sign a replacement, and given we had nearly £200m in bonus transfer revenue after Jackson's sale, we had plenty of money to get a replacement organised if Fernandez's transfer really hinged on a replacement so that's on us.

That said, we should be more appreciative of the business we have done this window. Alonso, Rogers and Lacroix make us a far better team than we were last season, even if our midfield is significant weaker.

4 hours ago, PhilH930 said:

Baloguns off now also?

Karma works fast.

Now Monaco will be in trouble with the financial regulations

14 minutes ago, BordeauxBlue said:

Karma works fast.

Now Monaco will be in trouble with the financial regulations

I saw that their CEO was interviewed at the Conference League draw, and he said they needed to sell at least one more player (eg Camara or Balogun) before Tuesday to comply with the wage restriction.

...oops