The Mail Bag
Yesterday's squad
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I've been thinking about yesterday's squad and the fact that there were a lot of young or younger players in it. We had Anichebe, Vaughan and Rodwell all getting game time as well as Baxter and Gueye on the bench. I know that Jags and Saha are out injured at the moment but off the top of my head I can't think of any other senior players who are injured at present.
Maybe I'm wrong but for me the profile of yesterday's squad could mean one of two things:
Firstly, Moyes is getting ready to ship a load of senior players to balance the books.
Secondly he could feel that the season is already over in terms of a high league placing and he is going to give the youngsters a lot more game time than he normally would at this stage of the season. He may just play a full squad for the FA Cup and see how we go.
It could be just finances forcing the club's hand, but for me, a mid-table finish and a number of decent young players ready for next season would be a decent end to what has been a very disappointing season to date.
Kieran Fitzgerald, Posted 17/01/2011 at 17:43:55
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Otherwise agree with the option B and think Moyes is looking to bring new blood through sooner rather than later. Don't agree that this means he is selling Rodwell either.
Can we be neither a buying or a selling club?
Moyes will now do what Moyes does best, and that's scour the lower leagues to find maybe a couple of hidden gems, and move on some of the dead wood. It's time to rebuild now and look to the future, as I think this ship has missed it's stop.
It would cost at least £5m-£6m (wishfull) to get a Pienaar quality player and at least £50k a week in wages?
So, if Pienaar wanted an extra £20k a week on top of this (parity with Arteta?) then the extra 20k would add up to £4m over a four year contract?
So, put simply we COULD have signed Pienaar for £4m....a known player, no gamble, great understanding with existing players, etc?
So, am I completely missing something here or do these maths simply provide the completely depressing PROOF that we are now past zero investment and are officially cost cutting!?!?!?
Suppose there could be an arguement that we could 'pull a gem' on lower wages; but come on...its hardly an odds on gamble.
Poor managment again.
So he will go to Spurs now or wait to see who qualifies in the summer.
This is the problem .. as stated ad infinitum by others ... unless we're able to guarantee or at least seem likely for European football, we will lose our best players, and who could blame them?
I would expect the RS to start suffering the same problem about ... now ..
I say we thank Pienaar, applaud him when he returns, and move on without him, because that's the reality.
Osman and Hibbert may have qualities good enough for a mid table team but they fall well short of one that has top four aspirations. I can think of a few others that fit into that category as I am sure many of you will agree. Each time one of those players pulls the shirt on a young one misses out on vital experience.
It is plainly ridiculous that Rodwell, Vaughan and other youngsters miss out while has-beens and never-have-beens hold down places. The current situation provides Moyes with a golden opportunity to expose our youngsters to the rigours of first team football.
It may seem a cavalier sink or swim approach yet more of the same old same old is too dreary to contemplate.
Howard ? one of the best keepers around.
Baines ? Best left back in Prem.
Distin ? Good solid preformer.
Heittinga ? World class C/B.
Neville ? Great Skipper.
Bily ? Frustrating but capable of brilliance
Fellaini ? Envy of every other team
Rodwell ? Future blues/England skipper
Coleman ? Stevie who?
Beckford ? Goals are starting to come
Gueye ? Given chance could be class
And that's without mentioning Jags, Arteta, Duffy, Silva etc. Look it's not rose tinted glasses I'm using just trying to put it into perspective that we're just selling a 29-year-old winger/whinger who thinks that London's streets are paved with gold that we're losing.... So thanks for the memories Stevie see you when you're warming the bench for some cockney shite next season!
They are comments which saw many, including MK, have a right go at.
We are have way through the transfer window and the process has obviously begun in Moyes eyes, the Yak and Pienaar gone and I suspect others will follow. The problem is nothing looks like coming in either on loan or with any money we do get.
It does appear that Moyes has written this season off and will use whats left of the current squad at the end of January to blood them for next season or attempt to bring in one or two players in the summer.
The good news in this is that Moyes will have to play some youngsters and change the formation, the bad news is no new blood now to replace what goes. Its a real gamble considering we are only 4 point above a struggle.
Does that mean Moyes has no choice in the matter? Gary (8) asks if we are officially cost cutting which is a totally different thing to having no money to buy players. The cake just seems to be getting smaller and smaller..
We have a wage structure, if people dont like it they should ship out.
That said, our squad is very, very thin in terms of strikers who can score regularly. We probably have one of the worst frontlines in the prem. I think a mid-table finish this season is about as good as we could hope for, which is a shame because a lot of the teams in front of us are not actually that good.
I'd actually rather Moyes pick up bargain basement buys and keep the wages low. Artetas head has not been the same since he signed his new contract. Felli is head and shoulders above him in terms of performances....and height obviously. :)
Let get Dale Jennings and if he is is good as he looks then in 3 years time we could have a truly awesome midfield of
Jennings-rodwell-fellaini-Coleman
All aged between 21 and 25 (i think).
We do need some new additions, and we do need to keep playing positive attacking football to keep confidence of fans and players high.
Not sure either of those last two points will occur but I'm hoping.
Bily, can't even get a start, thats how much Moyes thinks of his £9m signing, I mean, how long is he going to be willing to stick around?
Guaye is an unknown commodity, so could be class, but could easily be shite. Silva, I haven't heard a jot about him being anything special, to tell you the truth, I actually forgot about him.
Rodwell, Fellaini, Jags could all be players sacrificed to bring in some cash, because we are that skint. Also, how long are our better players going to stick around, if it looks like the club is going nowhere?
I know your trying to be positive, but I just don't see things as you do.
If he's to be touted as a future club/country captain then i think he needs to show us more.
The only problem is, we need more cash than we are going to get for them to buy equivalent players that are going to hit the ground running, or we have to buy youngsters and be prepared to take a couple more seasons like this one whilst they develop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axnY3auosDU
This guy looks class. Has been dubbed one of England's biggest prospects in the future. Hopefully he is the pacy-attacking winger we've been crying out for. One for the future, get on.
This isn't in any way a negative post. Osman has had a couple of decent games, set up Beckford for the second. Great little engine on him and takes far too much stick. I dont think Pienaar will be a great loss as we are getting back more than we paid for him, and moyes can re-invest where he sees fit. You can't argue that he hasn't invested well the little money he has had if you compare our midfield and defence to the one he inherited.
Just give the management a break and let them get on with it.
If Arteta was justifying his big wage we would all say well he deserves it he is better than pienaar, but the fact is Pienaar this season has been twice the player Arteta is.
We cannot afford too many players on that wage so we were never going to offer him the same wage.
Dont be suprised if we see Arteta getting pushed out in the summer, as to me if we are going to play 4-4-2 he does not appear to have the legs to be the more attacking one of the two centre mids and he could not lace Fellainis boots in that holding role.
Firstly they have done fuck all to deserve being in the first team and more importantly secondly....these two lads are nothing but hype with no delivery.
I know we need more players...but for god's sake surely Guyere should be ahead of either of these two lads who really aren't prem league quality.
Anichebe...I am still shaking my head...just how the hell does he warrant a place in the first team with no ability??
If you take into account we sold Rooney, Jeffers, Ball and Dunne (who also cost nothing) for £47M, Lescott for £22-24M, not to mention AJ, Beattie, McFadden and now Pienaar, effectively means we have spent nothing on players in the last 7 years... so where is the money going? Wages? No, we are 14th in that league.
So to sum up, despite spending nothing on players and having the smallest squad and so less wages, our revenue having gone from £45M to £78-80M over the last 3 years, also spent nothing on the ground since PJ left, but our debt has gone from £26M under PJ to £80M currently... How? And why?
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1 Posted 17/01/2011 at 18:45:38
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