Mislav Orsic

[BotleySaint]

3 hours ago, ally_uk said:

Must be 🐕 💩  in training 

He has looked way off the pace when he's played, which to be fair isnt much.

But has showed all the signs of being the next Neil McCann.

[gammon cheeks]

So basically we spent 58 million quid in jan and not one player has improved us at all!

[Lighthouse]

16 hours ago, pimpin4rizeal said:

I find this is a bit hard to believe though.. he was good enough at World Cup.. good enough to score past Chelsea good enough to get a hatrick vs spurs.. he’s proven himself against premiership clubs in the europa ..

fitness issues maybe, maybe a fall out but I don’t think this is ability related even though he looked a bit off the pace in the couple of games he did play 

He’s never played domestic football outside of Croatia, a couple of decent Europeans and international games here and there don’t really count for much. Moi ran the show against Man City in Europe once, El Hadj Diouf was one of the stars of WC 2002. I was sceptical before we signed him that there didn’t appear to be much in his career to indicate a top league player and he’s looked completely out of his depth here.

[the saint in winchester]

Now the Croatia manager says he won't select 'Orsa' for the national team until he is playing regularly for his club side (us) and is match fit.

This has not worked out well for anyone, has it?

Edited 21 March, 2023 by the saint in winchester

[Ball boy]

On 17/03/2023 at 15:48, gammon cheeks said:

So basically we spent 58 million quid in jan and not one player has improved us at all!

Alcaraz? Definitely improved us.

[SotonianWill]

7 hours ago, Ball boy said:

Alcaraz? Definitely improved us.

id say sulemana has improved us as well. he’s not great but we have got better with him if he drives forward. Although not being good yet Paul hasn’t actually got a good chance on goal yet (other than long range) mainly because the delivery is terrible. 

[Turkish]

Just now, SotonianWill said:

id say sulemana has improved us as well. he’s not great but we have got better with him if he drives forward. Although not being good yet Paul hasn’t actually got a good chance on goal yet (other than long range) mainly because the delivery is terrible. 

I actually think they might make a decent pair up front. It’s pretty basic football with the big lad up top and the little pacy one round him to pick up his lay offs but it could work. Although at the moment Adams is playing well so there on merit ahead of him

[Saint_clark]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

I actually think they might make a decent pair up front. It’s pretty basic football with the big lad up top and the little pacy one round him to pick up his lay offs but it could work. Although at the moment Adams is playing well so there on merit ahead of him

Trouble with that is I don't think Onuachu has looked any good playing with his back to goal. Adams is much more likely to flick the ball on or chest, control and lay it off. 

[saintwbu]

54 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Trouble with that is I don't think Onuachu has looked any good playing with his back to goal. Adams is much more likely to flick the ball on or chest, control and lay it off. 

He did against Chelsea

[Saint Garrett]

Onuachu also offers very little in front of goal, and defensively in the press. Adam’s is rightly in front of him IMO. He looks like a bit of a desperate signing in all honesty, 

[The Left Back]

18 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

Onuachu also offers very little in front of goal, and defensively in the press. Adam’s is rightly in front of him IMO. He looks like a bit of a desperate signing in all honesty, 

I'm a little more upbeat than that (albeit on minimal evidence either way).  It seems to me Onuachu was going to be an asset based on how we were playing (or at least trying to play under the Welsh wizard) when we signed him.  Now we have changed our manager and the way we are playing that it is harder to know how it will work with him.  At the end of the day he scored a lot of goals in a top flight league (yes only Belgium, but he's won a league and played in Europe), and he's at the peak of his career.  I'd give him the benefit of time to settle and learn a new style of playing before writing him off.

[gammon cheeks]

17 hours ago, Ball boy said:

Alcaraz? Definitely improved us.

Alcaraz , sorry forget about !  Very good player to be honest 😇

[JRM]

I'm still convinced we've been done and the real player is somewhere in Croatia still 

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/23511884.orsic-nearing-exit-bring-end-puzzling-southampton-transfer-saga/

[Chez]

7 minutes ago, JRM said:

I'm still convinced we've been done and the real player is somewhere in Croatia still 

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/23511884.orsic-nearing-exit-bring-end-puzzling-southampton-transfer-saga/

"The Spaniard has exacerbated these situations with a well-meaning but equally blatantly designed dishonesty, leaving supporters without the answers that explain why he is not involved."

Alfie House isn't pulling any punches!

[Fabrice29]

1 hour ago, JRM said:

I'm still convinced we've been done and the real player is somewhere in Croatia still 

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/23511884.orsic-nearing-exit-bring-end-puzzling-southampton-transfer-saga/

Not totally convinced by that, you've always got to be dubious of players who get to 28 and haven't had a big move. Couple of long range goals on highlights is great, especially against English opposition but he wasn't some international superstar (he was a sub for Croatia who scored in a rotated team in the 3rd place play off. A squad DCC couldn't get into). I think we took a fairly cheap gamble in desperate times and it hasn't worked out. He's been given opportunities and has looked well out of his depth. It happens, we move on. 

[The Curse of St Mary's]

2 hours ago, Chez said:

"The Spaniard has exacerbated these situations with a well-meaning but equally blatantly designed dishonesty, leaving supporters without the answers that explain why he is not involved."

Alfie House isn't pulling any punches!

Alfie really hasn't warmed to Selles. He's one of us 😁

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Fabrice29 said:

Not totally convinced by that, you've always got to be dubious of players who get to 28 and haven't had a big move. Couple of long range goals on highlights is great, especially against English opposition but he wasn't some international superstar (he was a sub for Croatia who scored in a rotated team in the 3rd place play off. A squad DCC couldn't get into). I think we took a fairly cheap gamble in desperate times and it hasn't worked out. He's been given opportunities and has looked well out of his depth. It happens, we move on. 

we seemed to sign him on the back of one half decent game for Croatia. Proper Karol Paborsky. He is a winger with no pace or tricks. We already had Ely to offer us that (he had one good CL game too as I recall). He looked out of his depth here and I don't blame either manager for not picking him. The scout that brought him here is the one that needs to be called out.  

[aintforever]

Orsic is definitely the weirdest signing in a season of bat-shit mad decisions.

Does anyone actually know how the transfer decisions are made at Saints and who is involved? If my memory is right there used to be some sort of committee. This season there seems to be a complete disconnect between those deciding on the transfers and those picking the team. We would have had more success this season if it was just Arry signing some old mates, at least he would have played his signings.

[Chez]

3 minutes ago, aintforever said:

Orsic is definitely the weirdest signing in a season of bat-shit mad decisions.

Does anyone actually know how the transfer decisions are made at Saints and who is involved? If my memory is right there used to be some sort of committee. This season there seems to be a complete disconnect between those deciding on the transfers and those picking the team. We would have had more success this season if it was just Arry signing some old mates, at least he would have played his signings.

Very good question. All the Man City signings feel like a single person (Shields) decision and with little input from the transfer committee (does that still exist?). God knows how much input or say Ralph had. He seemed to bring fuck all to the party, which, when you are bringing in a manager from another league, is half the attraction - can he bring a load of unpolished gems with him. All the January signings, Bree apart, feel like they were found on Football Manager simply by keying in Nathan's various criteria like `height', `aggressiveness' and `stronger foot'. Clubs continually go on about how much time managers put in, but ff it is not scouting players, I honestly don't know what they are doing all day, every day.  Managers live and die by the quality of the players and signings made, yet their input seems to be less and less. If I was a manager and I was fired because my team lost every week because the scouts had recommended/signed Orsic, Aribo, Onuachu et al, I'd be pretty annoyed. 

 

[Lord Duckhunter]

43 minutes ago, Chez said:

  Managers live and die by the quality of the players and signings made, yet their input seems to be less and less. If I was a manager and I was fired because my team lost every week because the scouts had recommended/signed Orsic, Aribo, Onuachu et al, I'd be pretty annoyed. 

 

That ship sailed years ago. 95% of managers ware giving a group of players and told to work with them. They’ll get a say in what they want, but not in who they end up with.
 

I know for a fact that Jones was told he would be given a squad and be expected to work with them. It’s  that’s one of the reasons he got the job & one of the reasons Ralph didn’t appeal to SR. Whether they panicked and changed course during the Jan window, I don’t know. But the initial conversation and intention was he’d have no input at all……

[Whitey Grandad]

Sometimes these deals are made as a favour to the selling club. Think of it as money laundering.

[Mr X]

2 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

Not totally convinced by that, you've always got to be dubious of players who get to 28 and haven't had a big move. Couple of long range goals on highlights is great, especially against English opposition but he wasn't some international superstar (he was a sub for Croatia who scored in a rotated team in the 3rd place play off. A squad DCC couldn't get into). I think we took a fairly cheap gamble in desperate times and it hasn't worked out. He's been given opportunities and has looked well out of his depth. It happens, we move on. 

Tall Paul looks totally out of his Depth though too 

[benjii]

The best transfer window we've had in recent years, by far, was the one where our manager, Koeman, was clearly linked to many of the signings. You'd think we might have learnt something from that.

Edited 10 May, 2023 by benjii

[JRM]

17 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Sometimes these deals are made as a favour to the selling club. Think of it as money laundering.

Makes sense actually, if Dragan needed to get a payment into Croatia under legitimate means using a football transfer as cover. 

I met a scout at a game in Poland years ago who was doing some work for Bolton at the time , they put together analysis of performance, qualities etc but generally don't go as far as recommending a player, more a case of these are his strengths if that's what you are looking for then go for it. 

It seems to me Saints have made expensive mistakes with little thought in how those players will actually fit into the team 

[JRM]

15 minutes ago, Mr X said:

Tall Paul looks totally out of his Depth though too 

Agreed, he's terrible. 

[aintforever]

28 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

That ship sailed years ago. 95% of managers ware giving a group of players and told to work with them. They’ll get a say in what they want, but not in who they end up with.
 

I know for a fact that Jones was told he would be given a squad and be expected to work with them. It’s  that’s one of the reasons he got the job & one of the reasons Ralph didn’t appeal to SR. Whether they panicked and changed course during the Jan window, I don’t know. But the initial conversation and intention was he’d have no input at all……

That would explain why the club is in such a mess.

 

[Chez]

5 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

That ship sailed years ago. 95% of managers ware giving a group of players and told to work with them. They’ll get a say in what they want, but not in who they end up with.
 

I know for a fact that Jones was told he would be given a squad and be expected to work with them. It’s  that’s one of the reasons he got the job & one of the reasons Ralph didn’t appeal to SR. Whether they panicked and changed course during the Jan window, I don’t know. But the initial conversation and intention was he’d have no input at all……

Sorry, why didn't Ralph appeal to SR? You've not made that clear. Are you suggesting that he wanted to be the guy that had the final say on the players that they bought? He seemed to have had limited input in transfers as far as I could see. Jones got the opportunity to set the criteria of the type of player he wanted (he mentioned that a lot in interviews), so he had some input, albeit not the actual selection of players.

[Baz Fl]

He is a perfect example of why we are where we are, bloody inexcusable for a club our size to waste money.

[davefizzy14]

Totally baffling that Orsic has not been used atall. Here is a player with pedigree who has played and scored regularly in the Champions league and in the World Cup. 

[Chez]

7 minutes ago, davefizzy14 said:

Totally baffling that Orsic has not been used atall. Here is a player with pedigree who has played and scored regularly in the Champions league and in the World Cup. 

What's baffling is why we signed him.

[davefizzy14]

Just now, Chez said:

What's baffling is why we signed him.

Why is it? 

[Chez]

3 minutes ago, davefizzy14 said:

Why is it? 

good point. Our scouts are pretty clueless and signing yet another player ill-equipped to play in the Prem is not baffling at all.

However, I am still baffled why they thought a winger with no trick or pace would help us create more chances and win more games.

[davefizzy14]

3 minutes ago, Chez said:

good point. Our scouts are pretty clueless and signing yet another player ill-equipped to play in the Prem is not baffling at all.

However, I am still baffled why they thought a winger with no trick or pace would help us create more chances and win more games.

I disagree with you. Hes clearly got pedigree as evidenced by scoring regularly in Europe and international level too. 

[Whitey Grandad]

13 minutes ago, davefizzy14 said:

Why is it? 

Why we should sign him and then not play him.

[Toussaint]

On 10/05/2023 at 16:51, Chez said:

Very good question. All the Man City signings feel like a single person (Shields) decision and with little input from the transfer committee (does that still exist?). God knows how much input or say Ralph had. He seemed to bring fuck all to the party, which, when you are bringing in a manager from another league, is half the attraction - can he bring a load of unpolished gems with him. All the January signings, Bree apart, feel like they were found on Football Manager simply by keying in Nathan's various criteria like `height', `aggressiveness' and `stronger foot'. Clubs continually go on about how much time managers put in, but ff it is not scouting players, I honestly don't know what they are doing all day, every day.  Managers live and die by the quality of the players and signings made, yet their input seems to be less and less. If I was a manager and I was fired because my team lost every week because the scouts had recommended/signed Orsic, Aribo, Onuachu et al, I'd be pretty annoyed. 

 

My theory is little or no input, leading to  him becoming despondent and ultimately ineffective. 

[Maggie May]

47 minutes ago, Chez said:

good point. Our scouts are pretty clueless and signing yet another player ill-equipped to play in the Prem is not baffling at all.

However, I am still baffled why they thought a winger with no trick or pace would help us create more chances and win more games.

Barring Alcaraz and Lavia, this has been our worst year for transfers in recent memory.  Probably as far back as Redknapp’s first January signings. The comparisons between this season and 2005 are staggering.

[Saint Garrett]

10 hours ago, Maggie May said:

Barring Alcaraz and Lavia, this has been our worst year for transfers in recent memory.  Probably as far back as Redknapp’s first January signings. The comparisons between this season and 2005 are staggering.

But given how many players we've signed this season, and the amount of money spent some of them were going to be decent. Looking at the below, it's not a surprise we've struggled this season.  And us having Adams, Armstrong, Mara, Onuachu as our striking options...

Good:
Lavia - £12m - No comment needed. Got the world at his feet.
Alcaraz - £12m - Class player, gets a bit lost in games, but he's young. Would love him to stay next season
ABK - £10m - Good player, heads gone since Ralph left though. Shame as looked class at the start of the season. Should be able to make a profit on him this summer

Potential to still be good:
Larios - £7m - Long term investment - who knows, not what we needed at the time.
Edozie - £8m - Long term investment - not what we needed at the time, could be great next season
Mara - £12m - Long term investment, brought in as 4th choice replacing Long. Might be an asset next season in Champ, wouldn't want him first choice though
Bree - £1m - Pretty much risk free, replacement for KWP, could be good next season

Poor / Stupid / Not what we needed:
AMN - Loan - Dreadful player
Lis - Free - on loan, one for SR.
Bazunu - £12m - Not good enough in prem, Champ might be good for him
Orsic - £8m - Has pedigree, doesn't make sense at all, leaving...just weird all around
Aribo - £7m - Shite, Champ might be more his level
DCC - £8m - Assume on big wages, might not be able to get rid of
Onuachu - £18m!!!!! - Absolutely shite, get rid
Sulemena - £22m - Big money, small impact. Expect him to be an asset next season if he stays

[Holmes_and_Watson]

6 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

But given how many players we've signed this season, and the amount of money spent some of them were going to be decent. Looking at the below, it's not a surprise we've struggled this season.  And us having Adams, Armstrong, Mara, Onuachu as our striking options...

Good:
Lavia - £12m - No comment needed. Got the world at his feet.
Alcaraz - £12m - Class player, gets a bit lost in games, but he's young. Would love him to stay next season
ABK - £10m - Good player, heads gone since Ralph left though. Shame as looked class at the start of the season. Should be able to make a profit on him this summer

Potential to still be good:
Larios - £7m - Long term investment - who knows, not what we needed at the time.
Edozie - £8m - Long term investment - not what we needed at the time, could be great next season
Mara - £12m - Long term investment, brought in as 4th choice replacing Long. Might be an asset next season in Champ, wouldn't want him first choice though
Bree - £1m - Pretty much risk free, replacement for KWP, could be good next season

Poor / Stupid / Not what we needed:
AMN - Loan - Dreadful player
Lis - Free - on loan, one for SR.
Bazunu - £12m - Not good enough in prem, Champ might be good for him
Orsic - £8m - Has pedigree, doesn't make sense at all, leaving...just weird all around
Aribo - £7m - Shite, Champ might be more his level
DCC - £8m - Assume on big wages, might not be able to get rid of
Onuachu - £18m!!!!! - Absolutely shite, get rid
Sulemena - £22m - Big money, small impact. Expect him to be an asset next season if he stays

Even on your poor/ not what we needed list there are a few who you say could find their level next season, so may also have the potential to be good.

And that's the genius of SR. Other clubs buy players in an endless, desperate attempt to cling on for survival. SR identify the players they can make a profit on, and adjust the league they are in accordingly. So much cleverer! 🙂

[Turkish]

12 hours ago, Chez said:

good point. Our scouts are pretty clueless and signing yet another player ill-equipped to play in the Prem is not baffling at all.

However, I am still baffled why they thought a winger with no trick or pace would help us create more chances and win more games.

like our other wingers probably great until he gets a touch of the ball. 

[egg]

17 minutes ago, Saint Garrett said:

But given how many players we've signed this season, and the amount of money spent some of them were going to be decent. Looking at the below, it's not a surprise we've struggled this season.  And us having Adams, Armstrong, Mara, Onuachu as our striking options...

Good:
Lavia - £12m - No comment needed. Got the world at his feet.
Alcaraz - £12m - Class player, gets a bit lost in games, but he's young. Would love him to stay next season
ABK - £10m - Good player, heads gone since Ralph left though. Shame as looked class at the start of the season. Should be able to make a profit on him this summer

Potential to still be good:
Larios - £7m - Long term investment - who knows, not what we needed at the time.
Edozie - £8m - Long term investment - not what we needed at the time, could be great next season
Mara - £12m - Long term investment, brought in as 4th choice replacing Long. Might be an asset next season in Champ, wouldn't want him first choice though
Bree - £1m - Pretty much risk free, replacement for KWP, could be good next season

Poor / Stupid / Not what we needed:
AMN - Loan - Dreadful player
Lis - Free - on loan, one for SR.
Bazunu - £12m - Not good enough in prem, Champ might be good for him
Orsic - £8m - Has pedigree, doesn't make sense at all, leaving...just weird all around
Aribo - £7m - Shite, Champ might be more his level
DCC - £8m - Assume on big wages, might not be able to get rid of
Onuachu - £18m!!!!! - Absolutely shite, get rid
Sulemena - £22m - Big money, small impact. Expect him to be an asset next season if he stays

We went for quantity over quality, potential over proven. Absolute clusterfuck.

The amount we spent on Larios, Mara and Edozie could have bought us the one goalscorer who'd have kept us up, ditto the money on Sulemana and big Paul in the January window. Ditto the goalie - that money, plus maybe a bit more, could have got us someone who could actually make saves and not send his defence into a panic. 

Poor recruitment has cost us. It's a real shame as the owners haven't been afraid to spend. 

Edited 12 May, 2023 by egg

[Convict Colony]

12 hours ago, Chez said:

good point. Our scouts are pretty clueless and signing yet another player ill-equipped to play in the Prem is not baffling at all.

However, I am still baffled why they thought a winger with no trick or pace would help us create more chances and win more games.

I know its like they've never seen redmond or moi

[egg]

5 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

I know its like they've never seen redmond or moi

Redmond would have offered much more this season than Moi, Orsic or Edozie. 

[John Boy Saint]

Pretty sure whilst he isn't pleased he is not playing - at 30 aside from his time in the Chinese Super League when the wages for overseas players were nuts AND tax free, he is probably quite happy feathering his nest a bit more for doing nothing. 

How many players have we had from little clubs who have been "backed up" by a YouTube show reel from CL league games against bigger fish, and turned out to be a bit Meh! - Poor old Mislav here shredding Spurs, and everyone's favourite Moi giving Citeh a torrid time - who upon his first contract uttered "my signing here has set me up for life". You just get the impression that behind closed doors at SMS in positions of influence the pencils aren't very sharp! 

[Chez]

1 hour ago, egg said:

We went for quantity over quality, potential over proven. Absolute clusterfuck.

The amount we spent on Larios, Mara and Edozie could have bought us the one goalscorer who'd have kept us up, ditto the money on Sulemana and big Paul in the January window. Ditto the goalie - that money, plus maybe a bit more, could have got us someone who could actually make saves and not send his defence into a panic. 

Poor recruitment has cost us. It's a real shame as the owners haven't been afraid to spend. 

The recruitment, even that of lots of young inexperienced players, would have been fine if we had senior players already at the club that were really good. But we didn't. We had lots and lots of below average Prem players, like McCarthy, Perraud, Diallo, Djenepo, Walcott, Adam Armstrong etc. We needed first team players that were immediately better than those we had. Instead, we added young talent that, in time, could help elevate us. We barely survived last season. We needed to turn a sinking ship around. Unless we strengthened the starting side, the end result would likely be more of the same. We were lucky that we landed with Lavia and ABK otherwise things could have been even worse (that's hard to imagine I know).   

This is what we had:
McCArthy
KWP Bednarek, Salisu, Perraud
Romeu, JWP
S Armstrong Djenepo
Adams A Armstrong

...and we did not really improve it. 

 

[Mltburger]

Selling good players and replacing them with players that are not as good has been a problem over the last 4/5 years. Quality has dipped year on year, to the point that our own perspective of what is a good or bad player has plummeted with it. Yoshida exemplifies it perfectly, fans ranted and feared the worst whenever he had to stand in for Van Dyke or Fonte, fast forward a year and fans were hoping he got picked as the alternatives were even worse! Now we are debating the merits of Jack Stephens for the Championship when a few years previously he was 4th choice and only worth risking for a cup game against lower opposition.

Poor recruitment is not just confined to Sports Republic either, Danny Ings aside, we have not bought a single player since Van Dyke who we have manged to sale for more than we paid!!

So much for the buy cheap and sale high model, the majority of the players bought, we couldn't even give away (Lemina, Boufal, Hoedt, Clasie, Martina,Pied,Carrillo,Gardos,Valery,Gunn).

The current crop of recruits may buck the trend, but previous poor recruitment has not been down to one owner or manager. Saints need a top to bottom review of the entire scouting network as our recruitment has been shocking. A club of our size and resources simply cannot afford to make so many mistakes in recruitment. Mistakes that have finally caught up with us.

[egg]

59 minutes ago, Chez said:

The recruitment, even that of lots of young inexperienced players, would have been fine if we had senior players already at the club that were really good. But we didn't. We had lots and lots of below average Prem players, like McCarthy, Perraud, Diallo, Djenepo, Walcott, Adam Armstrong etc. We needed first team players that were immediately better than those we had. Instead, we added young talent that, in time, could help elevate us. We barely survived last season. We needed to turn a sinking ship around. Unless we strengthened the starting side, the end result would likely be more of the same. We were lucky that we landed with Lavia and ABK otherwise things could have been even worse (that's hard to imagine I know).   

This is what we had:
McCArthy
KWP Bednarek, Salisu, Perraud
Romeu, JWP
S Armstrong Djenepo
Adams A Armstrong

...and we did not really improve it. 

 

A Armstrong aside, that line up is better than many we've put out this season. 

[Charlie Wayman]

15 hours ago, Chez said:

good point. Our scouts are pretty clueless and signing yet another player ill-equipped to play in the Prem is not baffling at all.

However, I am still baffled why they thought a winger with no trick or pace would help us create more chances and win more games.

Yep but what's the answer? We can't afford to buy proven PL players so we are stuck with trying to find future stars from the other major leagues around the world and of course a high proportion of these won't be good enough. We don't have wealth so must gamble.

It's why we all do Euromillions.

[Chez]

1 hour ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Yep but what's the answer? We can't afford to buy proven PL players so we are stuck with trying to find future stars from the other major leagues around the world and of course a high proportion of these won't be good enough. We don't have wealth so must gamble.

It's why we all do Euromillions.

Fair question. If proven Prem players come at a premium, then buying the equivalent player from Denmark, Japan or Argentina etc. is the only option. It then comes down to the quality of your scouting. A window where we signed four Man City youngsters (and we perhaps tried to buy Delap too) doesn't really suggest we searched the world top to bottom to unearth that proven talent at prices we can afford. I'd have several scouts in Argentina, as they have lots of talent, but there is no money for wages.

Obviously now we are going down, things change, but if we had another shot at the summer, then I'd of looked at the side below and seen where we were weak and attacked those areas first with senior players from abroad.

McCArthy
KWP Bednarek, Salisu, Perraud
Romeu, JWP
S Armstrong Djenepo
Adams A Armstrong

We did add some senior players in the summer, but were Lis, DCC, AMN and Aribo really ever going improve us? (and were they meant to be starters from day 1 or squad players?) I guess with hindsight it's easy to say `no' (and maybe you could argue ABK was an upgrade), but all had squad player written all over them. I can't get my head around us on the one hand trying to get Gakpo in, one of the best players in the Dutch league at the time, which would have been an excellent move, while also bringing in Aribo (not even the best attacker/winger at Rangers) or AMN (a player that had one decent Prem game for WBA, and that was against us).     

I have no issue with us buying future stars from Man City or Chelsea (so long as they really are prospects) to slowly integrate into the side (quickly if they are of Lavia's ability). That plan makes perfect sense to me.

 

[Convict Colony]

4 hours ago, egg said:

Redmond would have offered much more this season than Moi, Orsic or Edozie. 

Interestingly enough he is playing on the right wing for bestikas and playing well, maybe we messed up by thinking he was a left winger the entire time he was here

[Fabrice29]

2 hours ago, Convict Colony said:

Interestingly enough he is playing on the right wing for bestikas and playing well, maybe we messed up by thinking he was a left winger the entire time he was here

Or maybe the Turkish league is a bit shit with very relaxed tax rules and a nice place for players looking for a payday and to add some numbers to their career?