Late recruitment

[MickTheBeard]

It's ironic that our late recruits the swiss r/back,the westham c/back weren't marcos boys he only plays them if their is no one else,i believe they were brought in to relace kongolo and the two wingers sent out on loan for pretending to being footballers,in a resent quote from america our secret director of football quoted this is the best squad we have since my dad bought the club.Well their are some improvements but stop adding players for money which aren't better than we have got, more of 1 step forward then 2 steps back,a lot of players i understand wont come to a relegation contender,but good coaches wont stay if their hands are tied,stick to artificial playacting wrestling where ability is not required,we need extra ability to keep us up not actors.

[hovewhite]

Definitely a lot of truth in that OP I think.

[@jolslover]

No there's not - definitely read that Diop was Silvas no1 CB choice from the start of the window

See quotes below
Silva said, "it was apparent from the moment we started planning the season [new signing Issa Diop] was a big target for us".

Diop has played above Duffy this season so far, I believe only reason he's not nailed down starting position is because Ream and Tosin have done well thus far .. I think it would be harsh to drop one of them as of yet

[Sting of the North]

Well, facts often does not a good rant make. Thus, better avoided in these entertaining threads.

[hovewhite]

No there's not - definitely read that Diop was Silvas no1 CB choice from the start of the window

See quotes below
Silva said, "it was apparent from the moment we started planning the season [new signing Issa Diop] was a big target for us".

Diop has played above Duffy this season so far, I believe only reason he's not nailed down starting position is because Ream and Tosin have done well thus far .. I think it would be harsh to drop one of them as of yet

I suppose then to your logic,the left and right backs signings were the same.cause I doubt it

[Sting of the North]

No there's not - definitely read that Diop was Silvas no1 CB choice from the start of the window

See quotes below
Silva said, "it was apparent from the moment we started planning the season [new signing Issa Diop] was a big target for us".

Diop has played above Duffy this season so far, I believe only reason he's not nailed down starting position is because Ream and Tosin have done well thus far .. I think it would be harsh to drop one of them as of yet

I suppose then to your logic,the left and right backs signings were the same.cause I doubt it

Do you mean the 'logic' of actually looking at what the manager himself stated? Why don't you try to look into the matter then? We were after Mbabu for quite some time, and he was hardly a deadline signing, so what makes you believe that Silva didn't want him (other than the amusing bundle of words presented by mr. Beard above)?

Or do you mean the 'logic' of presenting the possibility that the play of Ream and Tosin is the main reason our CB recruits haven't played much yet? That would then be perfectly applicable to RB and LB as well I believe, since both Tete and Robinson has been excellent so far.

Or is there some other 'logic' you are referring to?

[Chutney]

No there's not - definitely read that Diop was Silvas no1 CB choice from the start of the window

See quotes below
Silva said, "it was apparent from the moment we started planning the season [new signing Issa Diop] was a big target for us".

Diop has played above Duffy this season so far, I believe only reason he's not nailed down starting position is because Ream and Tosin have done well thus far .. I think it would be harsh to drop one of them as of yet

I suppose then to your logic,the left and right backs signings were the same.cause I doubt it

Do you mean the 'logic' of actually looking at what the manager himself stated? Why don't you try to look into the matter then? We were after Mbabu for quite some time, and he was hardly a deadline signing, so what makes you believe that Silva didn't want him (other than the amusing bundle of words presented by mr. Beard above)?

Or do you mean the 'logic' of presenting the possibility that the play of Ream and Tosin is the main reason our CB recruits haven't played much yet? That would then be perfectly applicable to RB and LB as well I believe, since both Tete and Robinson has been excellent so far.

Or is there some other 'logic' you are referring to?

You do have to ask questions of any recruitment team that signs a CB for £15mil that can't get in the team ahead of Tim Ream (no offence to tim at all, he's just getting on a bit and hasn't ever been premier league quality).

[filham]

I have said on other threads and I will say it again. Eleven summer signings and after eight games only three of them have so far demonstrated they are premier league quality.

[Chutney]

I have said on other threads and I will say it again. Eleven summer signings and after eight games only three of them have so far demonstrated they are premier league quality.

Pereira, Palhiniha and Leno? its a shame none of them are defenders, the one area it was abundantly clear we needed to improve over the summer....

[alfie]

I have said on other threads and I will say it again. Eleven summer signings and after eight games only three of them have so far demonstrated they are premier league quality.

Pereira, Palhiniha and Leno? its a shame none of them are defenders, the one area it was abundantly clear we needed to improve over the summer....

Diop ?
Duffy ?

[Somerset Fulham]

Christ! Its like flat earthers denying the reality right in front of them.

Diop and Duffy are both Premier League quality defenders, it just so happens that luckily (for us) we also have another two Premier League quality defenders ahead of them at the moment.

[S.F.Sorrow]

I have said on other threads and I will say it again. Eleven summer signings and after eight games only three of them have so far demonstrated they are premier league quality.

Pereira, Palhiniha and Leno? its a shame none of them are defenders, the one area it was abundantly clear we needed to improve over the summer....

The problem was that we needed upgrades/depth in pretty much ALL positions. With FFP this can of course be very difficult for smaller, promoted clubs. Some of the players we got are ok. Some of them are even GREAT (Palhinho, Leno). Unfortunately some of them also seem to be well below the standard required for the PL.

The positions we have failed to upgrade to the required standard or provide the necessary depth for seem to be:

Striker, RB. LB, DM, CM, CB.

That's every position except wingers.

Yes, I've include CB as none of the new arrivals seem to be an improvement over Ream (so far), which is what we actually needed. Duffy was clearly an emergency panic loan when the club had failed to sign even a single CB. before the start of the season (again...). Thankfully Ream has surprised everyone by having his best season at Fulham EVER but I honestly can't see him keeping this up for a full season.

Wingers are actually the only position where we seem to have excellent cover. We can't blame the club for all the unfortunate injuries. If anyhing we should praise them for providing good depth. Who would have thought we needed all those wingers when there were glaring holes in the rest of the squad? Of course it remains to be seen whether Solomon will adapt to the PL. The jury is still out on James/Willian too for me. I haven't seen anything to suggest they are upgrades on Kebano/Wilson but at least we have decent cover.

Until the January window we will just have to live with the fact that an injury/suspension in pratically ANY position will weaken us significantly.

Yes, I am disapponted with our transfer business... AGAIN. But at least there are signs of improvement over our two last seasons in the PL. I actually think we can make it this time but I also think it will be VERY close. Anything other than three points against Bournemouth + Villa means we're back in a relegation fight.

[Pluto]

We actually worsened our options in two key positions - should have retained Bryan instead of gambling on Kurzawa and kept Seri to give us a legitimate backup centre midfield option that isn't Chalobah and Onomah who are both league one standard at best.

[alfie]

We actually worsened our options in two key positions - should have retained Bryan instead of gambling on Kurzawa and kept Seri to give us a legitimate backup centre midfield option that isn't Chalobah and Onomah who are both league one standard at best.

So Palhinha gets suspended and you want Seri in there, doing what he does, hmm don't think so.

[Baszab]

Seri would be light years ahead of Chalaboah who is useless and Onomah who is lazy and useless at PL level

They have both got to where they want to be personally  - unfortunately that's not the place that FFC wants atm

[alfie]

Seri would be light years ahead of Chalaboah who is useless and Onomah who is lazy and useless at PL level

They have both got to where they want to be personally  - unfortunately that's not the place that FFC wants atm

Well of course it's your entitled opinion, but in my opinion there is no way Seri could do what Palhinha does.

[Mince n Tatties]

We actually worsened our options in two key positions - should have retained Bryan instead of gambling on Kurzawa and kept Seri to give us a legitimate backup centre midfield option that isn't Chalobah and Onomah who are both league one standard at best.

Seri not uprooting any trees at Hull,been subbed a few times.

[Somerset Fulham]

We actually worsened our options in two key positions - should have retained Bryan instead of gambling on Kurzawa and kept Seri to give us a legitimate backup centre midfield option that isn't Chalobah and Onomah who are both league one standard at best.

Seri not uprooting any trees at Hull,been subbed a few times.

He didn't even start on Saturday.

[filham]

Seri would be light years ahead of Chalaboah who is useless and Onomah who is lazy and useless at PL level

They have both got to where they want to be personally  - unfortunately that's not the place that FFC wants atm

Well of course it's your entitled opinion, but in my opinion there is no way Seri could do what Palhinha does.

Cover for Palhina is a weakness, Seri would not have been the answer. Anything Seri can do Cairney can do better but neither of them can cover for Palhina.

[Palhinha Colada]

No there's not - definitely read that Diop was Silvas no1 CB choice from the start of the window

See quotes below
Silva said, "it was apparent from the moment we started planning the season [new signing Issa Diop] was a big target for us".

Diop has played above Duffy this season so far, I believe only reason he's not nailed down starting position is because Ream and Tosin have done well thus far .. I think it would be harsh to drop one of them as of yet

Unless there's more context to that quote, that could mean that TK had him targeted (as he'd been on our radar for awhile).

Back to the point ... yes, our transfer dealings look a little squirrely, especially for the back four, which is where we needed improvements/cover. We are extremely fortunate that Tete, Robinson and Ream are playing so well this season (and saw the problem when 1-2 of them were out). Not getting another CM in August may be the largest whiff, though. That *has* to be remedied in January. I'd also see if we could loan out Mbabu and grab a different RB option. Marco starting BDR there yesterday said all that needed to be said on that topic.