Greedyfly

Hoedt is getting worse and worse each week. Certainly not a decent VVD/Fonte replacement so far. Both of those started fast as well.

I will eat my pants if he signs. He is far too good for us. Has no intention of coming here in the summer is my feeling.

I thought that too, he seems to have grown if anything. Very nice player though, him, Sims and McQueen should have had more of a look-in this season for me.

Well he's also been injured and taking ages to get over said injury so either way....Also I'm not sure who you're calling a plum either but your propensity to make some profoundly inaccurate comments suggests that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Well that's his first 90 mins since Huddersfield so, no, but mostly because, Spurs game aside, he's hardly played. Some cracking insight though.

Some arguments in the LeTiss household then because Mitch thinks Mope is the incompetent fool most on here think he is.

I can only assume you're the King of sarcasm because, results aside, the football has been abysmal. Cumbersome, defensively sloppy, slow and without an attacking direction. Agree with the majority, he's an utterly awful manager in all aspects of the game. If we survive I still hope he's fired because, as said ad nauseam, his teams all play dull defensive football. It was bad in large patches under Puel, but it was also good on occasion (West Ham away for example), literally non of it has been good under MoPe.

Personally, I think this one gets done. Millbrook has made a good case above and there appears too many positive 'vibes' (for want of a better word) around this one (his liking of certain social media posts (which as dopey as it sounds holds some weight these days), Russian media's stance softening, Crook saying it won't happen (which is a blessing in itself)) and the fact that we simply don't survive without this injection of pace and assists. We need a pacey outlet to move stubborn defences around and to make room the other pedestrians in our team. As bad and as useless as the board has been over the last few years, I believe even they know this...why they can't work on a deal for an animal of a CB at the same time is beyond me however!

He was at a training camp in Marbella and does not have red hair

Firstly, I'll be as I please especially when I'm being called out by someone who clearly hasn't the first clue about what he's on about. Mate. Secondly, I didn't state any 'facts' but suggested anyone not thinking MP was culpable should consider looking at his history to see that there's evidence to suggest he is in part (a large part - that's my opinion) to blame. However, as you couldn't be bothered here's what I came up with; I have seen his Alaves team play on the odd occasion and they were as defensive and as boring as our current team, as highlighted by the FACT that they were the forth lowest scorers in La Liga last season. This is even more irritating when we were told that Saints fans were in for a treat with MP's appointment with MP himself believing we had a 'squad to play high intensity attacking football' (Reed's comments, not mine)when this evidence seemed to totally contradict that. If you look at his Alaves first team and the most used players, 5 of them were loanees from Spain's top clubs and one from Italy (those were Hernandez, Deyverson, Camarasa, Llorente and Romero most of whom were there before he arrived before you scream 'stroke of genius on his part') many of which are highly rated by their clubs but are naturally behind the Ronaldo's, Modric's, Messi's of this world, so the notion that he did well at Alaves (9th) really should be replaced with 'should have done better'. It's not a tough league outside the top 3. Also what else is telling is that Alaves's top scorer that season turned in a measly 7 goals...suggesting that it's not always the players but how the team is set up. I've looked into his Argentinean clubs too but I'm not going to regurgitate them here as it's late and I'm struggling to work off a mobile, but as I've now given you some idea how to do it yourself, maybe you can do that part on your own. I can tell you they were far from impressive in a fairly noddy league.

How does it sound like my opinion? If it was an opinion piece I wouldn't have pointed you in the direction of his previous clubs for comparisons sake. Don't say things for the sake of saying them. Also, you have google, look them up for yourself before typing dopey replies. Start with Alaves, the players he had on loan there, how many those players scored compared to the other teams around, compare those stats with the competitiveness of the league outside the top 2 or 3. Then maybe work back to Argentina where his teams are far from prolific.

I'd go and look at the stats at the previous clubs he's managed. They do suggest that he's culpable both here (although not entirely his fault) and elsewhere

And honestly, I don't say this much, but I hope you're well and truly right on this one

You say we do, I say we don't. It's like watching paint dry watching Tadic/Boufal/JWP and worst of all Redmond get forward in support of our lone striker. As for the, who would you get then bs, I've answered that above and on other threads. What, you think in all of the world only Carrillo is available? He has kicked a ball, it just hasn't often ended up in the goal. In fact, he hasn't 'kicked' a single ball into the goal this season. I truly honestly hope in the most inaccurate person on this one, I really do. I don't take pleasure in being negative about a potential signing BUT I think this is a risk that we actually don't need to take, and if I am right it'll cost us our prem status.

Sorry said I was done, but I clearly wasn't. That's all well and good, and if this was the case I'd agree completely that he was a useful if not expensive signing. Unfortunately, we don't break forward from midfield in numbers or at pace, we haven't all season preferring a more reserved approach to prevent the counter (it's worked so well). So whether he holds the ball up well or not is largely irrelevant unless we are going to change our entire approach (which MP has shown he's incapable of doing). As for 'give him a chance'; which part of 'we do not have that luxury as we need goals now' are you people not getting. As for being irritated, I'd suggest then that a football forum isn't for you if that's the case. People writing of Pelle, Mane or Lambert for example when they had demonstrated they could find the target on multiple occasions were wrong to do so, that's not the same case here.

Some top reasoning there, well done. You've failed to grasp even the salient points of why myself and a couple of others think this is a huge gamble that we didn't need to take. A gamble that our prem status largely depends on. At least St Jim presented a well reasoned response other than 'get behind the team ffs'.

So basically not very good then. Has never scored more than 13 (sorry once, scrolling wasn't working) in any one season and that's in some average leagues. Also, there must be a reason why he is always on the bench...maybe because he's not good to enough to be the number 1 striker at a club and because no decent manager rates him. Anyway, I'm done with this. I'm uninspired but remain hopeful. I think it's a massive gamble and we already have 2 out of 3 strikers who are incapable of scoring at the club.

Promes and Janssen would indeed make this a good window as those signings alone would improve us. But don't start with the 'plastics' sh it because people are raising genuine concerns about a player without a genuine track record. I'll still get behind the team and I still want them to win, but I don't like Mp and I'm unconvinced that letting him sign his mate is the best course of action for a struggling team with a relegation threatened squad.

There is literally one playing in the prem right now. Ignoring that there's one time target Dost, **** even a Pelle return would be better.

Thank **** I'm not the only one who feels like this.

It comes from 184 apps and just 43 goals in two very average leagues. Sure, I'll accept that his playing time has been limited at Monaco but that doesn't hide the fact he couldn't score in Argentina either...though that could have something to do with the useless coach he was playing under which isn't going to change coming here

I'm not telling you how to react to anything you make your own mistakes, and there are plenty on here acting excited and relieved to 'just be making a signing'. I'm saying it's an underwhelming signing for me, especially at 20m euros and when there is quite literally a target man for sale in the prem who has history in scoring goals. For once I agree with Pellegrino in that we shouldn't be signing someone just for the sake of it, and certainly not one selected by him who has a poor return in two leagues. We are in a precarious position and we need to score goals now (I mean we can't defend for **** either anymore) so taking a 20m gamble on someone who has never been prolific seems like a ****ing awful business decision to me by a management team who, over the last two years, have a track record in this area. If he comes in, bags us 8 goals he'll be worth every single penny and I'll be publicly wrong and you can all show me this thread again. If, however, he comes in and is as reported is basically Bambi on ice, then we've pretty much signed our own death warrant

Ok then, you think so highly of him you tell me why you're lauding him as the next messiah.

The answer to his question was the answer I gave. I've not seen a rhino take a dump ever, but I still know from texts, studies and other facts, that's it's a pile of ****. Like I said comparable to Long in terms of goals vs apps but you could argue Shane has that rate in tougher leagues. This is a classic case of people getting excited about us signing someone just because it's a signing, not because he's any good.

You only have to look at his stats ffs, 184 apps 43 goal in two very **** leagues. For comparison Long has 86 in 380, they're almost comparable. We need someone who can score, not a tall mate for MP.