Yup.
Failure above AI and the players…they need our all out support
And the sooner the hugheses and edwarses piss off the better.
To be fair ive never heard of him - but its not my highly paid job to do so but this is the guy we needed before anybody else..
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We have done. Nyoni has effectively been promoted to compete for the first team spaces. Other than that, our focus has been on wingers and defence where we had greater immediate needs.
We don’t have the capacity to run squads and generate funds for transfers quite the way Chelsea do - Chelsea have sold at least 6 players and loaned another 9 out. They have also benefitted significantly from heavy investment under their previous owner, much of which got written off when the club was sold to their current owners who have been spending crazy amounts of money from their hedge/ investment funds and selling other club assets to themselves to try to evade various financial rules.
Fine, but whoever this catastrophe called Hughes is handing the reins over to better start laying the groundwork from now. After having seen how bonkers the market has gotten, it’ll be a huge surprise if all PL clubs aren’t interested in him as well.
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TAW had been talking about him before the summer in their transfer podcast
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RB - Bradley
CM - Nyoni
CF - Ekitike
RW - Obviously recognised by the club, hence the interest in Minteh and Sarr, but it’s a very difficult position to fill in the current market as we’ve seen by the prices being bandied about.
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Those interests were very late. We knew Salah needed to be replaced at least 8 months ago now.
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And we went all in for Diomande which didn’t come off. I’m not saying the situation is perfect, or that things couldn’t have been done better, but the sky isn’t falling in as some seem to think.
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My issue is…
Bradley always broken. Never completed more than 7 games.
Nyoni cannot play every week as hes 18
Ekitike - out for another 4 months at best.
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We have basically learned nothing from that disastrous season when T-Rex assaulted VVD and then both Matip and Joe went out with season ending injuries.
I can guarantee you, neither Conor nor Hugo will make any contribution worth a mention this ENTIRE season. We seem to forget the severity of the injuries they are coming back from. As an example, it took VVD an entire season before he said he started feeling like himself on the pitch again.
Nyoni is being treated like what he is, a youngster making his way into the first team squad. What we needed was a midfielder who can cover the defensive side of things in front of the back four and/or a metronomic passer with good range.
We needed a starting midfielder. There were plenty around. Especially plenty who would be an upgrade to what we have.
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I’m sorry, we were never a realistic option for Diomande. That was pretty obvious. This guy Hughes is a chancer. All these news stories planted months before we even made an official bid which was promptly rebuffed.
I totally agree with not going for him as that price for a teenager with one proper season of senior football is just bonkers. And that’s the problem, it was an amateurish move to not notice that Leipzig was itching to start a bidding war.
I’m neither implying that we can nor that we should do anything chelski does, yet promoting nyoni, which i am very happy about, surely cant be the solution to the issues our midfield has.
Thats all I’m saying
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And… Are we saying nyoni is better than Jones?
Only time will tell but that’s a risk for sure.
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I’m pretty ok with us plugging gaping holes and assessing what’s necessary in 6 months or a year’s time than a scatter gun approach.
It’s also a good opportunity to see some players step up in a different way, for every player not working in a system could be perfect for a new one, that’s where Iraola will have to earn his money as well.
We need to live with past decisions, as much as I’d prefer we’d have a stronger right back and midfield.
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He has a higher ceiling than Jones, but Jones would be much more trusted right now.
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Thing is a Jones of past seasons perhaps but currently I’d rather play Nyoni.
Gakpo can play centrally it’s why I wasn’t keen on selling him and bringing it a predominantly wing based player.
Especially one that’s injured, ignoring Sarr that was just baffling and Palace are dumb not to take that.
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Yet, he is more of an archetypal 8, so not what we need.
But he is a midfielder, so lets just by another 8.
Good player though.
FFS stop being sensible.
Instead.
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By using Chelsea as a comparison you kind of are?
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Iraola plays with a midfield two and I think that’s going to be the case for the rest of the season.
Personally, I’d have been open to selling Mac Allister and bringing in a starting caliber midfielder. My preference would’ve been Wharton since our homegrown numbers are a bit of a mess. That said, I can also understand the club’s thinking if none of their midfield targets were available this window. Sticking with a good player coming off a poor season (Mac Allister) isn’t the worst place to be.
I think Nyoni is good enough to start right now, but obviously I don’t see him in training every day. Based on preseason and the limited minutes he got against Forest, I’d like to see him alongside one of the ball carriers (Szobo or Gravenberch).If we’re only playing a midfield two, which I suspect we will all season, then having four capable options plus two emergency backups (Endo and McConnell) should be enough.I’m actually more worried about the fullbacks. I like Bradley as a player, and I think Kerkez may turn into a good but never elite left back, kind of an Arne Riise level player. Right now, though, he’s struggling. I don’t have much faith in Tsimikas or Frimpong, but hopefully I’m wrong.
My biggest concern is still center forward and right wing. I still think we need one more attacker, even if Gakpo stays.
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