Anguissa - he looked a £25m player today

[bahay18]

quite simply excellent today and the best player on the pitch . even robbie savage commented on how well he was doing . Completely ignored by MOTD

[Stevieboy]

I have always rated Frank and was dismayed to see the stick he used to get.
Good as he is I would like to see him providing more telling,defence splitting passes as for BDR's goal.
I think as his confidence and acclimatisation to the EPL grows we will see more Yaya Toure type storming runs.
Still think he needs a bit of shooting practice though!!

[FulhamStu]

Does Tony Khan get any credit for bringing him to Fulham ?   How many on here were using the money we paid for Anguissa as a pnother stick to hit TK ?

Last time in the prem I got into a few real barneys with fans on here and TIFF who said Anguissa was the worst player in the world.  I repeatedly said he needs time, he is very young and he is in a completely different environment to one he has ever experienced.  I thought he was decent, yes could appear lazy, but knew there was a decent player in there.   

TK has made mistakes, like all recruitment but he does get some right and this is one.

[cmg]

I know approval of the management is unfashionable, but somebody should get the credit (I will if nobody else does) for pitching the 'buy' price of Anguissa's option higher than Villareal could afford.

[Statto]

Does Tony Khan get any credit for bringing him to Fulham ?   How many on here were using the money we paid for Anguissa as a pnother stick to hit TK ?

Last time in the prem I got into a few real barneys with fans on here and TIFF who said Anguissa was the worst player in the world.  I repeatedly said he needs time, he is very young and he is in a completely different environment to one he has ever experienced.  I thought he was decent, yes could appear lazy, but knew there was a decent player in there.   

TK has made mistakes, like all recruitment but he does get some right and this is one.

If he'd been signed in June 2018 and looked quality at the start of the season, then TK would be due some credit. However he wasnt, and the debacle showed the difference between real life and a computer game, something TK clearly didn't appreciate. In real life, throwing 11 players from different parts of the world together on deadline day doesn't work, even if they're quality players.

[AnOldBrownie]

Does Tony Khan get any credit for bringing him to Fulham ?   How many on here were using the money we paid for Anguissa as a pnother stick to hit TK ?

Last time in the prem I got into a few real barneys with fans on here and TIFF who said Anguissa was the worst player in the world.  I repeatedly said he needs time, he is very young and he is in a completely different environment to one he has ever experienced.  I thought he was decent, yes could appear lazy, but knew there was a decent player in there.   

TK has made mistakes, like all recruitment but he does get some right and this is one.

If he'd been signed in June 2018 and looked quality at the start of the season, then TK would be due some credit. However he wasnt, and the debacle showed the difference between real life and a computer game, something TK clearly didn't appreciate. In real life, throwing 11 players from different parts of the world together on deadline day doesn't work, even if they're quality players.

But he still gets the credit for signing the player?  No? Naivety aside, he signed a good player that some other DoF probably wanted.

We can have a long thread about misses that TK made when it came to signings for the 18/19 season.

Tony Khan and his squad deserve props for identifying and signing Zambo.

[Statto]

Does Tony Khan get any credit for bringing him to Fulham ?   How many on here were using the money we paid for Anguissa as a pnother stick to hit TK ?

Last time in the prem I got into a few real barneys with fans on here and TIFF who said Anguissa was the worst player in the world.  I repeatedly said he needs time, he is very young and he is in a completely different environment to one he has ever experienced.  I thought he was decent, yes could appear lazy, but knew there was a decent player in there.   

TK has made mistakes, like all recruitment but he does get some right and this is one.

If he'd been signed in June 2018 and looked quality at the start of the season, then TK would be due some credit. However he wasnt, and the debacle showed the difference between real life and a computer game, something TK clearly didn't appreciate. In real life, throwing 11 players from different parts of the world together on deadline day doesn't work, even if they're quality players.

But he still gets the credit for signing the player?  No? Naivety aside, he signed a good player that some other DoF probably wanted.

We can have a long thread about misses that TK made when it came to signings for the 18/19 season.

Tony Khan and his squad deserve props for identifying and signing Zambo.

Put it this way - I could have identified and signed Zambo for £25m.

[Andy S]

Where were some of you Frank oozed class two years ago. Just maybe a little fitter and playing in a more suitable formation. Just another 10 to sort out

[70sPimlico]

Some of the hardcore anti khan posters used to use Zambo as an example of how our player recruitment was bad. Obviously, they're still banging the same Khan drum ad nauseam but Zambo doesn't get used as an example any more. Geezer is absolute class

[The Rational Fan]

Some of the hardcore anti khan posters used to use Zambo as an example of how our player recruitment was bad. Obviously, they're still banging the same Khan drum ad nauseam but Zambo doesn't get used as an example any more. Geezer is absolute class

Slavisa said to the media on the 4th August 2018, "We need cover for Kevin McDonald" four days before we signed Anguissa, implying Slavisa didn't rate Cisse as decent cover. Tony Khan delivered what was requested by Slavisa (at least in the media) that is cover for Kevin McDonald and in addition that cover Anguissa is also a quality long-term midfielder (not necessarily as DM starter).

The criticism that Anguissa wasn't ready to be a regular premier league starter at DM is unfair as that probably wasn't what was requested, and Slavisa's comments indicate that he didn't request a PL starter just cover, but Tony Khan wanted to get some DM cover plus build the squad for the future a bit.

One major problem with the promoted squad was KMac was useless from day one after the window closed, hence the need for Chambers to move to DM. KMac played in 15 games where we got 6 points, while the other 23 games we got 20 points (almost good enough to stay up). I really doubt Slavisa thought KMac was a major liability to the squad given he played him nine of the eleven games available and he only went to the media requesting cover for KMac.

If you want to say Tony Khan made the mistake of overrating KMac in the short-term, then he is probably guilt but so is myself, most of the fans, probably Slavisa, a few other staff and even FIFA 19 rated KMac, bascially everyone except Raneri rated KMac as having a least one season in premier league. There were a few calls saying KMac is not good enough, but most of the came after Crystal Palace at Home.

Tony Khan doesn't know any more than most of us about football, which is not great but I also don't think he knows much less either. More here were claiming KMac should be playing for Scotland than he was not good enough to be squad player in 2018/19. Sack TK and we are just as likely to get a below average DOF as we are an above average DOF, but without the daddy connection.

[toshes mate]

What is all this fuss abut crediting TK for signing a good player - that is his job and he shouldn't be making any mistakes at all given that he and his sidekick had claimed his data system was going to radically change football in England.  Even a fool can sign ten players and find that 3 of them are good by chance alone.  What the argument about 2016 was, and still is to a large degree about now, is how the needs of coaches are to be met in a system where too many mistakes seem to be occurring e.g. 'keepers, centrebacks, strikers as has been TK's abyssmal curse upon us from extravagance where not needed to complete absence of what is very much needed.

It really defies belief that some people are so obsessed with racking up TK's stock that they are clutching at straws to get out of the obvious hole they are in.  TK has found his niche in wrestling by all accounts and maybe that is because he hasn't got the finesse required to be a good DoF for a football club.  Anguissa is fit to be play in a PL side - wow, TK, how did you manage that given your appalling record?

[Jamie88]

News doing the rounds this morning of AC Milan preparing a bid for him. Hope we turn down any amount as we will really need him this season. If somebody told me I'd be saying those words two years ago about the same player I'd have never believed it

[FulhamStu]

What is all this fuss abut crediting TK for signing a good player - that is his job and he shouldn't be making any mistakes at all given that he and his sidekick had claimed his data system was going to radically change football in England.  Even a fool can sign ten players and find that 3 of them are good by chance alone.  What the argument about 2016 was, and still is to a large degree about now, is how the needs of coaches are to be met in a system where too many mistakes seem to be occurring e.g. 'keepers, centrebacks, strikers as has been TK's abyssmal curse upon us from extravagance where not needed to complete absence of what is very much needed.

It really defies belief that some people are so obsessed with racking up TK's stock that they are clutching at straws to get out of the obvious hole they are in.  TK has found his niche in wrestling by all accounts and maybe that is because he hasn't got the finesse required to be a good DoF for a football club.  Anguissa is fit to be play in a PL side - wow, TK, how did you manage that given your appalling record?

This reply is a classic, from a fan who is generally very thoughtful and certainly writes like he has a brain in his head.  My response was to say, Tony Khan gets some of his recruitment right, and like pretty much every other club, some very wrong.  I am trying to add balance.  Anti Khan people are like those that are very political, once they decide they are pro labour or conservative, that's it, never mind the facts, they are rubbish and build a narrative to support their view.  I am not a great fan of Tony Khan, I think he has definite positive elements about him and clearly quite a few weaknesses.  I made a post recently about Javi being assistant DOF, he is never mentioned.  Maybe he is more involved than we think.  We are being linked to so many centre halves all of a sudden, our recruitment team don't seem to me to be sitting on their hands.

It's all views and yes people see things differently, I just wish posters had more balance in their arguments.

[Bronaldinho]

Zambo was a highly rated midfielder. He was unlucky to join us when he did really - he took a bit to get up to speed, then got injured and then our management changed.

He has a good relationship with Parker and the loan spell at Villareal, and an injury free season is benefitting us massively.

TK will get some signings right and some wrong, like any other DoF, but there's a lot that factors in to success at a club. Sometimes it just works out for some players, sometimes it doesn't and that could be Relocation, Life changes, Coaching, Tactics, Formations etc.

Anguissa now playing in a 3 man midfield will benefit him, and he's also got another CDM around him to support. He's not the sole anchor anymore, which allows him more freedom to move the ball and get further up the field - hence the assist against Leeds.

[Jim©]

What is all this fuss abut crediting TK for signing a good player - that is his job and he shouldn't be making any mistakes at all given that he and his sidekick had claimed his data system was going to radically change football in England.  Even a fool can sign ten players and find that 3 of them are good by chance alone.  What the argument about 2016 was, and still is to a large degree about now, is how the needs of coaches are to be met in a system where too many mistakes seem to be occurring e.g. 'keepers, centrebacks, strikers as has been TK's abyssmal curse upon us from extravagance where not needed to complete absence of what is very much needed.

It really defies belief that some people are so obsessed with racking up TK's stock that they are clutching at straws to get out of the obvious hole they are in.  TK has found his niche in wrestling by all accounts and maybe that is because he hasn't got the finesse required to be a good DoF for a football club.  Anguissa is fit to be play in a PL side - wow, TK, how did you manage that given your appalling record?

This reply is a classic, from a fan who is generally very thoughtful and certainly writes like he has a brain in his head.  My response was to say, Tony Khan gets some of his recruitment right, and like pretty much every other club, some very wrong.  I am trying to add balance.  Anti Khan people are like those that are very political, once they decide they are pro labour or conservative, that's it, never mind the facts, they are rubbish and build a narrative to support their view.  I am not a great fan of Tony Khan, I think he has definite positive elements about him and clearly quite a few weaknesses.  I made a post recently about Javi being assistant DOF, he is never mentioned.  Maybe he is more involved than we think.  We are being linked to so many centre halves all of a sudden, our recruitment team don't seem to me to be sitting on their hands.

It's all views and yes people see things differently, I just wish posters had more balance in their arguments.

I quite agree Stu- people do seem very myopic when it comes to the case of TK.  It simply can't happen that 100% of signings work- there's no club in this world that can claim a % anywhere near that. Take Brentford as a good example, as we'd probably agree that recruitment is one of their strongpoints:
Last summer they brought in 24 players, 10 have made first team appearances. I don't know enough about them to say which ones have been "good buys" and which haven't, but that's a fairly large error rate.

[Statto]

Anti Khan people are like those that are very political, once they decide they are pro labour or conservative, that's it, never mind the facts, they are rubbish and build a narrative to support their view. 

Yes anyone who disagrees with you must just have warped, biased views. It couldn't possibly be that you're wrong or even biased yourself...

Anyway, in the interests of having a proper debate instead of slagging each other off, my reasoning for not giving TK much credit is that there is more to being a good DoF than just signing a decent player. Any mug can say Benrahma looks good and sign him tomorrow for £25m. What makes a good DoF is someone who can do what Brentford did and get a £25m player like Benrahma for just £2.5m.

Then there are other factors. Can you get these deals done efficiently and quickly, in time for the new season, or will you get kept hanging until deadline day when it's clear to the seller that no one else wants to bid for the player?

Most importantly of all, can you address the specific needs of your team - players who fill the specific holes you need to fill, will fit with your existing tactics and culture, etc? I suspect this is where the average armchair critic would really fall short if they became DoF. 

Which of the foregoing criteria did TK achieve with the Anguissa signing?
Good player? Yes
Good price? No (no less than he was worth)
Good timing? No
Good fit for the team? No, not at the time

So sorry, no Anguissa wasn't a bad signing like Sigurdsson or Jozabed, but the deal was nothing special either, all things considered. Nothing that most of us on here couldn't have done ourselves if we were DoF.

[toshes mate]

What is all this fuss abut crediting TK for signing a good player - that is his job and he shouldn't be making any mistakes at all given that he and his sidekick had claimed his data system was going to radically change football in England.  Even a fool can sign ten players and find that 3 of them are good by chance alone.  What the argument about 2016 was, and still is to a large degree about now, is how the needs of coaches are to be met in a system where too many mistakes seem to be occurring e.g. 'keepers, centrebacks, strikers as has been TK's abyssmal curse upon us from extravagance where not needed to complete absence of what is very much needed.

It really defies belief that some people are so obsessed with racking up TK's stock that they are clutching at straws to get out of the obvious hole they are in.  TK has found his niche in wrestling by all accounts and maybe that is because he hasn't got the finesse required to be a good DoF for a football club.  Anguissa is fit to be play in a PL side - wow, TK, how did you manage that given your appalling record?

This reply is a classic, from a fan who is generally very thoughtful and certainly writes like he has a brain in his head.  My response was to say, Tony Khan gets some of his recruitment right, and like pretty much every other club, some very wrong.  I am trying to add balance.  Anti Khan people are like those that are very political, once they decide they are pro labour or conservative, that's it, never mind the facts, they are rubbish and build a narrative to support their view.  I am not a great fan of Tony Khan, I think he has definite positive elements about him and clearly quite a few weaknesses.  I made a post recently about Javi being assistant DOF, he is never mentioned.  Maybe he is more involved than we think.  We are being linked to so many centre halves all of a sudden, our recruitment team don't seem to me to be sitting on their hands.

It's all views and yes people see things differently, I just wish posters had more balance in their arguments.

Thank you for bringing me down to earth gently rather than the big bang you may think I deserve.  In all honesty had TK not come along like a bull in a china shop with his radical and equally self opinionated side kick then I wouldn't be quite so unenthusiastic about him.  He is no spring chicken and yet he is very immature and even childish in the face of attack (much like I can be at times but then I am not a billionaire's son acting stupid in public with all that that carries with it).  My balance would have been satisfied by honouring Jokanovic when his team won at Wembley and not setting him up for a fall by not burying the hatchet and actually seriously engaging with our Serb over signings.   We know none of that happened and Jokanovic's success was treated as if it was a triumph for the Khans alreadt secretly in talks with Ranieri for when the trap door was opened.    That was contemptuous and unforgiveable from the Khans, IMO .  I have said on here before that had the Khans any doubts about Jokanovic they should have sacked him after Wembley.  They could easily have stated that they didn't believe he could produced survival in the PL.  At least that way the Khans would have been solely and obviously responsible for what followed.

[Jim©]

My balance would have been satisfied by honouring Jokanovic when his team won at Wembley and not setting him up for a fall by not burying the hatchet and actually seriously engaging with our Serb over signings.   We know none of that happened and Jokanovic's success was treated as if it was a triumph for the Khans alreadt secretly in talks with Ranieri for when the trap door was opened.    That was contemptuous and unforgiveable from the Khans, IMO .  I have said on here before that had the Khans any doubts about Jokanovic they should have sacked him after Wembley.  They could easily have stated that they didn't believe he could produced survival in the PL.  At least that way the Khans would have been solely and obviously responsible for what followed.

I think this is the issue though- we don't really know what happened with Slav and signings, rumours seem to think that he wasn't interested in engaging with the process as Scott seemingly is?
The point about having Ranieri is very much in line with the topic; where the Khans can't get much right in some peoples' eyes. You don't have someone lined up and you're unprepared and useless. You do have someone lined up and it's back stabbing etc.
After listening to the Kmac interview with Si Ferry (on youtube, well worth a listen) he does make the point that Slav was far too stubborn to change the way he played to stay up- so perhaps he could have stayed up but didn't want to adapt to the different test that the premier league brought.

[rogerpbackinMidEastUS]

I also think he will give the freedom to pick Cairney and let him play in his best position, not lapping around in front
of the defense playing  "Wilkins Ball" but an attacking midfielder, threading the passes through.

[toshes mate]

I think this is the issue though- we don't really know what happened with Slav and signings, rumours seem to think that he wasn't interested in engaging with the process as Scott seemingly is?
The point about having Ranieri is very much in line with the topic; where the Khans can't get much right in some peoples' eyes. You don't have someone lined up and you're unprepared and useless. You do have someone lined up and it's back stabbing etc.

That is why I said they should have sacked Jokanovic if they had any doubts about him.  Those 'doubts' were in place from the moment Jokanovic stated, publicly, that he had no role in recruitment and that a 'computer guy is handling it'.  But the Khans like/want it both ways and that is their failing IMO.   Football is a continuum that requires stability in its critical areas and it becomes increasingly unstable when part mismatches all the other parts.  I don't know how Jokanovic would have done had he been more involved and better trusted by the Khans, and the sad thing is we will never know, but the Khans had it in their power to do things openly, honestly and in a dignified manner and they chose not to.