Season's Best Buys

[filham]

I am surprised by the criticism on this board of our management for not splashing the cash more in the transfer market this season. We have bought 16 new players into the club this season which must be far more than ever before.

Of course it has taken a while for the Coach to develop these players into a good team but after the great result at Newcastle it looked as if the whole exercise had turned into a success.

Now which six of the new players are looking the best and are the most important in a promotion drive.
I would go for:-

1.Kalas
2.McDonald
3.Johansen
4.Malone
5.Aluko
6.Button

I think all of these six should be pencilled in the team sheets for the remaining eight matches.

The big disappointments are Martin and Sigurdsson, the most highly priced of the new signings who now seem to be fixed to the bench. They were signed late in the window were they late panic buys for positions where we were desperate for improved players.

[nose]

January was a great disapointment
A missed opportunity to improve at the appropriate moment
Just like 1983
The six you mention are all good, we needed others thatwere obvious and we all recall the manager being distressed before the panic purchases that did not turn out well

[toshes mate]

Have to agree with nose.   I am not going to have a go at any of the players brought in, even Martin, but simply to say that we lost two very valuable strikers in the summer and by January everybody knew we were lacking real strike force options (note the plural).   No one from the transfer team has explained why we did not cover the outgoings in January with at least one good striker to challenge Martin for his spot (something he seriously needed to have from day one of his loan spell).

[filham]

We don't know who was available and who wanted to come to us in January, there was of course the risk of buying a second Martin which would have been much worse than bringing in Cyriac who is looking pretty useful.

[AlexW132]

Jozabed was also a big mistake

[filham]

And what about Petsos, is he fit, if so and if he is up to the pace why was he not available to replace McDonald against Wolves.

[AlexW132]

We have bought 16 new players into the club this season which must be far more than ever before.

By my calculations, even excluding players who never got a game, we signed 16 players in each of the two seasons before this one as well. First season under Al Fayed we signed about 20.

The big disappointments are Martin and Sigurdsson, the most highly priced of the new signings

We don't know the loan fee for Martin, but the highest reported figure I've heard is £3m, which would still make him cheaper than Sigurdsson, Jozabed and Kebano, if not others. Although I agree with your general point that the most expensive transfers have been the big money deals, with the possible exception, based on his form after AFCON, of Kebano.

Al Fayed didn't have FFP to deal with

[YankeeJim]

I think management did fine. Could they have done better? I don't know. They could have blew cash for the sake of it (Mitroglu) but more likely couldn't find the players they wanted. After several years of neglect by Mo & company and two years of bad decisions by Khan & company, this past season has been a joy. I look forward to a good summer window in preparation for next season.

[@jolslover]

I was very happy with our summer window at the time and am still very happy now.

[The Old Count]

We have bought 16 new players into the club this season which must be far more than ever before.

By my calculations, even excluding players who never got a game, we signed 16 players in each of the two seasons before this one as well. First season under Al Fayed we signed about 20.

The big disappointments are Martin and Sigurdsson, the most highly priced of the new signings

We don't know the loan fee for Martin, but the highest reported figure I've heard is £3m, which would still make him cheaper than Sigurdsson, Jozabed and Kebano, if not others. Although I agree with your general point that the most expensive transfers have been the big money deals, with the possible exception, based on his form after AFCON, of Kebano.

Al Fayed didn't have FFP to deal with

If he had he would have found a way round it.

[hovewhite]

I was very happy with our summer window at the time and am still very happy now.

Like wise very happy.

[MJG]

So really in conclusion we should not make big money buys (£4m +) in the future as there are bargains out there who perform just as well.

[MJG]

So really in conclusion we should not make big money buys (£4m +) in the future as there are bargains out there who perform just as well.

If we've the same budget next summer, £20m, my proposal would be to allocate £5m to Khan and Kline and their little project, and allocate the other £15m to a separate team comprising Jokanovic, the scouts (and perhaps the odd experienced professional UK/Europe-based statistician)

So he can get Jozabad Mk2 ;-)

[J.Perkins]

I am surprised by the criticism on this board of our management for not splashing the cash more in the transfer market this season. We have bought 16 new players into the club this season which must be far more than ever before.

Of course it has taken a while for the Coach to develop these players into a good team but after the great result at Newcastle it looked as if the whole exercise had turned into a success.

Now which six of the new players are looking the best and are the most important in a promotion drive.
I would go for:-

1.Kalas
2.McDonald
3.Johansen
4.Malone
5.Aluko
6.Button

I think all of these six should be pencilled in the team sheets for the remaining eight matches.

The big disappointments are Martin and Sigurdsson, the most highly priced of the new signings who now seem to be fixed to the bench. They were signed late in the window were they late panic buys for positions where we were desperate for improved players.

Malone more important than Aluko? Can't agree with that. He's an average full back who's main job is to manage the game time of Sessegnon.

And Martin hasn't been a failure. He's our best striker, who was well on target for 20 goals before the Derby fiasco.

[Mince n Tatties]

I am surprised by the criticism on this board of our management for not splashing the cash more in the transfer market this season. We have bought 16 new players into the club this season which must be far more than ever before.

Of course it has taken a while for the Coach to develop these players into a good team but after the great result at Newcastle it looked as if the whole exercise had turned into a success.

Now which six of the new players are looking the best and are the most important in a promotion drive.
I would go for:-

1.Kalas
2.McDonald
3.Johansen
4.Malone
5.Aluko
6.Button

I think all of these six should be pencilled in the team sheets for the remaining eight matches.

The big disappointments are Martin and Sigurdsson, the most highly priced of the new signings who now seem to be fixed to the bench. They were signed late in the window were they late panic buys for positions where we were desperate for improved players.

Malone more important than Aluko? Can't agree with that. He's an average full back who's main job is to manage the game time of Sessegnon.

And Martin hasn't been a failure. He's our best striker, who was well on target for 20 goals before the Derby fiasco.

Really?
Thought Malone had just been named in Championship
side of the season.
I read somewhere Saturday.

[AlexW132]

I am surprised by the criticism on this board of our management for not splashing the cash more in the transfer market this season. We have bought 16 new players into the club this season which must be far more than ever before.

Of course it has taken a while for the Coach to develop these players into a good team but after the great result at Newcastle it looked as if the whole exercise had turned into a success.

Now which six of the new players are looking the best and are the most important in a promotion drive.
I would go for:-

1.Kalas
2.McDonald
3.Johansen
4.Malone
5.Aluko
6.Button

I think all of these six should be pencilled in the team sheets for the remaining eight matches.

The big disappointments are Martin and Sigurdsson, the most highly priced of the new signings who now seem to be fixed to the bench. They were signed late in the window were they late panic buys for positions where we were desperate for improved players.

Malone more important than Aluko? Can't agree with that. He's an average full back who's main job is to manage the game time of Sessegnon.

And Martin hasn't been a failure. He's our best striker, who was well on target for 20 goals before the Derby fiasco.

Really?
Thought Malone had just been named in Championship
side of the season.
I read somewhere Saturday.

Because there weren't any other decent left backs

[toshes mate]

We don't know who was available and who wanted to come to us in January, there was of course the risk of buying a second Martin which would have been much worse than bringing in Cyriac who is looking pretty useful.

I agree he is looking useful but he hasn't started a game in the striker role.  My comment was about leaving the cupboard bare as a result of Smith and Woodrow being sold and loaned out which presumably meant that before the deadline a serious striker was lined up and ready to be signed.  Why hasn't it been explained just what went wrong?

[toshes mate]

There is a black hole in the Fulham team down to lack of options up front aggravated by Piazon's injury as he was so successfully used as a player who could ghost into dangerous positions and score.  Kebano and Cyriac look capable of performing this role but only when the midfield functions really well.  The serious downsides are the lack of depth and options in the squad both in key midfield positions (cover for McDonald, Johansen, and Cairney) and in strike force so that the squad could be rotated in the engine room and in formation options.  If we played a slightly different game at home then we may have won a lot more points from home games.     

[filham]

There is a black hole in the Fulham team down to lack of options up front aggravated by Piazon's injury as he was so successfully used as a player who could ghost into dangerous positions and score.  Kebano and Cyriac look capable of performing this role but only when the midfield functions really well.  The serious downsides are the lack of depth and options in the squad both in key midfield positions (cover for McDonald, Johansen, and Cairney) and in strike force so that the squad could be rotated in the engine room and in formation options.  If we played a slightly different game at home then we may have won a lot more points from home games.     

You are right about the lack of cover for McDonald. Johansen and Cairney but you know  the three of them have been playing so well together, and have formed an engine room that has been largely responsible for our success, that up to the Wolves game no one else would have got a look in. Never the less there should be cover there. What has happened to Petsos .

[Nathan_ffc]

I just dont get our fans. Malone gets in to the team of the season....rather than praise him, people quickly say its because there weren't any better options?! It was like when Aluko got player of the month. Fans were instantly saying that he isn't that good.