I assume Europa league, rather than conference, increases the requirements as well. Felt like there’d be a fair proportion of games in the conference where the team that drew with Exeter would be favourites but any Europa game we wanted to win (ie all of them until we get knocked out) we’d have to be close to full strength.
4 months ago
1K
You are aware that according to all mejia reports, that Nuno prefers a smaller squad to work with.
I don’t think anyone is suggesting we don’t need to add, just that we have time. So no need to panic, have a cup of tea, possibly a biscuit and wait for the next test match. (Other options including a pot noodle are available)
The current squad signing dates:
Sels - 1 Feb 24 (deadline day)
Miguel - 9 Jul 24
Aina - 22 Jul 23
Williams - 10 Jul 22
Murillo - 30 Aug 23
Milenković - 18 Jul 24
Morato - 30 Aug 24
Boly - 1 Sep 22 (deadline day)
Carmo - 25 Aug 24
Bindon - 3 Feb 25
Abbott - n/a
Sangaré - 1 Sep 23 (deadline day)
Domínguez - 1 Sep 23 (deadline day)
Danilo - Jan 23 (day unknown)
MGW - 19 Aug 22
Yates - n/a
Anderson - 1 Jul 24
CHO - 1 Sep 23 (deadline day)
Jota Silva - 1 Aug 24
Awoniyi - 25 Jun 22
Wood - 20 Jan 23… plus to the 2 new Brazilian boys.
As I write it is 18 July. So only Taiwo, Miguel, Williams & Anderson were signed earlier than this date in previous years, plus The Serbinator exactly a year ago. And of those Anderson was a special case, given PSR deadlines, & Taiwo & Neco were part of a total rebuild of the squad from scratch.
[So basically you are getting your knickers in a twist because we haven’t signed a reserve goalkeeper yet - though we have signed a Brazilian international forward & one of the most highly-rated young Brazilian defenders, if that lowers your blood pressure…]
Moreover, Sels, Murillo, Morato, Boly, Carmo, Sangaré, Domínguez & CHO were all signed less than a week before deadline day or actually on it.
Yes, it’s nice to get business done early, but it’s less vital if/when you retain the majority of the squad (which we have). And there is a huge difference between getting some business done early (which we have) & insisting that all of our business must be done early, or else we’re in trouble.
In short, stop fucking panicking, you panty-wetter!
On a totally unrelated note, it feels pretty mad to me that (academy graduates aside) our longest-serving player is Taiwo Awoniyi, at 3 years & 3 weeks. Mental.
I never said we should get all of our business done early, and I'm not 'fucking panicking'. Such classic TalkBack.
Step 1: Offer a nuanced fairly centre ground type opinion
Step 2: Someone decides that you are a fascist dictator calling for genocide and calls you a cunt.Silly me; I mistook “does it feel like we’re close to signing anyone” & ”we are way behind where I… think we should be” as a fair distance from ‘nuanced centre ground’. And I still do.
Let’s face it, Shady, it’s not as though you don’t have form for being a tad towards the worrying end of the spectrum, is it?
I didn’t call you a fascist or a cunt; I simply provided some evidence that getting all angst-filled in mid-July might just be a little premature.
Still, if there are some Lederhosen in a cupboard somewhere in Schloß Schady & you feel like a bit of a strut under a few searchlights, fill your (Jack) boots; it’s a free(-ish) country.
I don’t think it does (assuming you mean additional games when you talk about requirements). The Europa has 8 “match days” (yuck) compared to the Conference’s 6, but doesn’t have the two-leg qualification play-off at the start. From January on (knock-out play-offs if required, round of 16, QF, SF & final) the two competitions are identical.
So the same number of extra games, basically - a maximum of 17 & a minimum of 8 (assuming qualification in Conf case).
I don't mean additional games on their own, I mean additional games that will be competitive enough to require us to field something close to a full strength team.
Our squad is smaller than last season - FACT
Our squad is weaker than last season- FACT
Our squad needs to be stronger than last season - FACT
We need quality new signings - FACT
We need to get a bit of a move on - FACT.
The market is harder before the end of the window but deals can still be done. Most on here were saying how difficult the January window is (whilst other clubs got things done). But no signings did harm us and we really don’t want to be going into September short on quality or having panic bought on deadline day.
I don't think you're a fascist, Jim.
Cheers Loaf. Though I do have a haircut slightly reminiscent of the Furher. Suffice to say I avoid taking part in "Mo-vember".
"Other clubs got stuff done in January".
Sure, but in our area of the table, mainly Villa - they spent a lot, mostly on players who were out of our range, missed out on CL and will probably pay a price for that.
I would also have liked us to sign someone in January, and for sure it might have got us over the line for Champions League, so there will always be that what if. But what we don't know is what that would have cost, and it wouldn't have been a guarantee. I'm sure we could have signed the PL equivalent of Adama Diakhaby, but I don't think it would have helped.
This recruitment policy is a massive upgrade on the one that brought Lingard, Origi et Al to the club. Sometimes we'll err on the side of caution and regret it, but I'm ok with that.
Tried to star out bits of that name to avoid excess trauma, but something didn't work and I had to type in full. Apologies all.
Didn't Villa fund their January recruitment drive by selling Dhuran for about 85 million?
Who could we have sold for 85 million?Also, I had managed to forget Origi 'played' for us. I'm going to have to start the forgetting process all over again...
I am still trying to work out who Al was? Or was that just what we were allowed to call him? [Up-to-the-minute Paul Simon joke for all you kids out there]
Difficult to judge (in either competition) until we’ve seen a draw.
