Exactamundo. If anything getting rid of Luis and keeping Mo and being a CB (or two) short looks the mistake, not ‘too much change’. We didn’t chose to lose Trent or Diogo and those two arguably pushed us towards signing Flo and getting both of Hugo and Alex.
Agreed. I know the wages situation re Donnarumma but Mama looks an underwhelming purchase.
Alex was arguably a poorly executed transfer - we paid the fee for him that reflected he was a proven PL star who could hit the ground running but we won’t see that until close to Christmas; at the same time we missed out on Guehi who would make a big difference at CB because we allegedly wouldn’t pay the extra 5m ‘proven PL’ that could have got him at the beginning of the window with a preseason to bed in.
Frimpong also looks an unusual purchase in that we paid a fair chunk for a player who hasn’t really played in the positions we wanted him to nor in the PL while we also have a developing RB who may yet make the position his. An experienced PL RB (Tete?) may have been a more ‘obvious’ option?
The answer to the opening question…
Is…in hindsight
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You’re not wrong!! I was buzzing at the business we did (except not signing a ‘proven’ CB) but now feeling a little deflated.
The Guehi one made no sense at all! As you say we were willing to splash big money on other players, but not an extra 5m on a top class CB??!!
I said all along I wanted Guehi over Isak, but I still want Isak to prove me wrong.
(Luckily I spotted the ‘k’ where the ‘t’ is in want before posting)
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I don’t think our shortcomings are so much about how many changes we made, the reality is they were needed, but more about the lack of vision & planning to the point where Arne now has no clue how to put it together.
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I hate it when I feel that something is wrong, and then everything unfolds as I was fearing in the first place. I’d far prefer if all our new signings were instantly blending into a super-team with the remaining lads from last season’s team, were blowing everything out of the water, winning all trophies available, and I’d proven to be a miserable, clueless pessimist.
Alas… 
The discussions about Guehi’s height were well turned over during over in the summer, but looking at the things we’re struggling with this year its difficult to see adding him doesnt just double down on the things we’re not doing well currently. Does this point to a blind spot everyone had?
It seems difficult to believe, but is it possible it was the injury to the 18 year old Italian (giant) who no one had heard of before we signed him that has ultimately screwed us?
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He’s strong in the air and much better with the ball than Ibou. Not sure why he wouldn’t be an improvement upon/give a kick up the ass to a frankly out of sorts Ibou and a less than perfect Virg.
Sure the little lion’s laming has been a big blow but he had only played less than 20 games in his career and the club can’t have expected him to come in immediately and deliver. His signing was to allow JoGo to go and him to be our fourth CB.
This is where honest criticism becomes a bit annoying.
We can all criticise the team and the staff at the minute, but suggesting that Edwards, Hughes and Slot went on a £400m spending splurge with no plan is a bit silly.
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Even if it looks like it!
They had a very clear plan, it’s just not worked yet. Would anyone have argued with any of the following at the start of this season:
- Need a number 9 who can hit a barn door with a machine gun = Isak
- Need another forward after the Jota Tragedy/Diaz leaving = Ekitike
- Need a RB after Trent left = Frimpong
- Robbo not getting any younger, competition needed = Kerkez
- Need a CB = Young lad with potential + Guehi (what a fuck up that was)
- Can’t unlock low block teams and don’t score / create enough from midfield = Wirtz
- Kelleher left = Mama - highly rated young keeper at great price.
OK the CB thing was a massive cock up, but everything else makes perfect sense on paper…but it sometimes just takes a while for everyone to click or doesn’t happen at all even though it all seems great at the time!
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Number 1 is easy to argue as he is not and never would be worth £125 million and he went on strike to force the move, absolutely the wrong player for us and now we play him because we have to because of the price we paid , absolutely never needed and playing him over ekitike is costing us .
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Maybe with hindsight, but I defy anyone to claim they thought that getting Darwin out and bringing in Isak was anything other than a brilliant move? (albeit at high price) Maybe I’m doing some on here a disservice and I will apologise now to anyone who did, but it won’t be too many/if any who thought in August (or whenever it was) that we were fine with just Ekitike and no other attackers.
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Pretty sure many thought we didn’t/shouldn’t go near him as soon as he went on strike, people claim we have a no dickheads policy on players etc …and thats how he looked to many by doing what he did , yeah he wanted the move, but he was under contract and should have continued to play and let things play out between the clubs as we still wanted him, by not having any preseason etc it has fucked him up appaently but because we payed for him knowing he is not ready we still play him …hugo hit the ground running and has shown a desire to be part of the team by chasing , from what ive seen of isak, he cant be arsed half the time , maybe he’ll come good , but imo he’s not suited for us .
I mean that’s all well and good, except no one can quite make out what said plan is? & whatever it is, it’s blown up in our faces quite spectacularly.
It was to say we broke the British transfer record twice
I agree with all that @dildoswaggins, and there weren’t many dissenting voices to any of that business as it was being done.
With the Guehi thing, I think we (and the player) trusted Palace that it was done, and we probably won’t make that mistake again.
With the rest of the summer business, I think the plan was to replace the creativity we lost in Trent by bringing in Wirtz, and it was based on an analysis (with the PSG experience being a template) that we needed more pace and technical ability to break down deep lying defences and stretch teams in transition.
But I something has definitely happened in football over the last year, and it went up a level over the summer - teams have increasing doubled down on the idea of football as a series of set piece moments. It’s not just a smaller team thing - Arsenal are leading the league playing for corners and free kicks. The team we played at the weekend appointed their fucking throw coach as manager and doubled down on the idea that anywhere in the final third the ball gets flung in the box. He even bollocked then when the stopped doing it.
I think the reason why Slot keeps going on about it is because the club had a strategy to deal with a direction of travel, and the league gave noticeably gone in different direction and we’re left flapping about trying to deal with it.
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My post above is I think exactly what the plan was. That isn’t to say it’s working, but it made sense to me at least.
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