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BlueBen

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It is interesting. I remember a post I made in October/November last year (I think maybe during a discussion with BlueBen?).. Obviously it was very disappointing that we didn't end up signing Sanchez after selling Suarez, and it was asked 'why didn't we then sign someone else instead?' - definitely a very fair question!

My response was that instead of just throwing money at everyone in the hope of landing anyone to be that 'Suarez replacement', we may have had a specific ranking of targets we were working our way through and whoever was next on that list for whatever reason wasn't available at the time (easy to imagine that list probably contained Sanchez, Firmino & Depay, all players in a fairly similar mould).

Perhaps we'd been given an indication by the club or the player's representative that while he wouldn't be available immediately, this player's contractual situation meant that his availability might change over the next 12 months? Who knows. We obviously paid the price for it in 2014/15 but if it meant we ended up with someone we actually wanted like Firmino or a Depay instead of our 7th or 8th option on that list then I can kind of understand the logic behind waiting.
It's possible, I suppose.

On the other hand, it's also possible that you are giving the club too much credit!

As we have discussed previously, there are inherent risks in "wait and hope" approach, such as other clubs coming in for the player, the player's form dropping off, etc. We might have just got lucky that this time, things worked out in our favour?

Just for the record, I never called for a Suarez ''replacement", a like-for-like player who would just continue on Suarez's work. I just wanted us to at least try to find a way or ways to make up for the shortfall in production that Suarez's departure created. Clearly, we didn't do that. I also find it hard to believe that, apart from Sanchez, no other players were available at the time that could come in and contribute for a side that had qualified for the Champions League.

So while I am happy to have landed Firmino, his signing does not, in my opinion, excuse the disaster that was last summer's transfer window.
 

simba_

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ADL9798

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The reason he wasn't getting games was he wasn't taking on players, giving the ball off way too often (even when he blatantly should shoot), and was generally timid

It might change this season, but still not something you'd bank on
Then it's confidence and decisiveness in the final third you're worried about, and not speed, isn't it? For Markovic the issue isn't whether he's fast or not (he clearly is), it's knowing when & where to use it most effectively.
 

Cooldude

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Then it's confidence and decisiveness in the final third you're worried about, and not speed, isn't it? For Markovic the issue isn't whether he's fast or not (he clearly is), it's knowing when & where to use it most effectively.
No, that's exactly what I said posts ago, Markovic hardly ever showed his pace, so it's useless to be quick in 100ms in training. Yet people point to him being why we have pace in the squad, and hence why I questioned it

Was just a throwaway comment about lacking genuine pace upfront but then it blows up into some tangent for some reason
 

jod23

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im remaining neutral on Ibe. he has potential, but if we dont make theGHMNPSUUCL* next season, and Ibe performs exceptionally well i can see another club snapping him up.

been hurt too many times.
Cant see Ibe going anywhere for the forseeable future. Just doesnt seem like a campaigner.
 

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ADL9798

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No, that's exactly what I said posts ago, Markovic hardly ever showed his pace, so it's useless to be quick in 100ms in training. Yet people point to him being why we have pace in the squad, and hence why I questioned it

Was just a throwaway comment about lacking genuine pace upfront but then it blows up into some tangent for some reason
Haha yeah I think we were essentially saying the same thing - I said that we had plenty of quick players and that this wasn't the issue, and that what we lacked as a team last season was decisiveness in the final third (among other things), even Raheem was guilty of this. Looking forward to seeing if we've improved in this area over the summer.
 

Cooldude

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Haha yeah I think we were essentially saying the same thing - I said that we had plenty of quick players and that this wasn't the issue, and that what we lacked as a team last season was decisiveness in the final third (among other things), even Raheem was guilty of this. Looking forward to seeing if we've improved in this area over the summer.
Hmmm I guess we'll disagree there, the only two people last season who showed any real pace and directness in their play last year consistently was Sterling and Ibe. We generally played possession based slow, slow tempo football. We'll see what happens this season, I think Firmino improves it a bit, but I disagree that we're the "quickest side of the top 6"
 
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