EvilC wrote:What is great about a 34 year old striker with a knackered knee that scored three league goals last season? Nothing, unless you are David Sullivan.
We love a crocked player
Dyer, Ashton, Reid, Carroll (many others i cant remember now)
Last edited by nickstanley66 on Thu May 17, 2018 12:13 pm, edited 2 times in total.
I'd like to see us go for Simon Kjaer. Would sort out our problems at the back, doesn't let himself be bullied be strikers, loves a tackle but can read the game well and is calm and composed too, decent from set plays too.
Really surprised a Premier League team has never taken a punt on him. He's been a success in Serie A, Bundesliga, La Liga and Ligue One and whilst Sevilla to West Ham is a downwards move at 29, 30, which he is now, this could be his last chance to move to England.
He has reconsidered retiring, and had apparently had offers, on and off the pitch.
I reckon Sullivan has or will make an offer, would be seen as a coup and be unveiled as a legend of world football, and all that.
Still a decent keeper though, and free, although his salary would be top dollar.
I might of imagined this, but did Buffon say he had a liking for West Ham at some stage ?[/quote]
Yes he said he liked the badge, he said it looked very communist with the crossed hammers.
Colours never run wrote:You're very hung up on his misgivings this season (without really taking into account his injury record and managerial change), yet skirt conveniently over what he did in the previous 2 season's (1 and a half when he finally got given his chance he grabbed with both hands).
Because if you didn't, you would realise he's been very productive by way of goals scored/assisted/chances created during that time he breakthrough to be an established 1st teamer which deservedly led to numerous England call-ups.
You said that Moyes was a busted flush and that we shouldn't take what he did in the past into consideration.
I like Antonio as a player, I think he has a lot to offer if he gets off his high horse and converts to a wingback.
The simple fact is he’s scored a measly 3 goals since Payet left a season and a half a go. 15 in a year was awesome, 3 the year and a half after seems to me like he’s been found out a little. I think the Watford game showed what he can do in that deeper role, and he had some good performances alongside Arnie where Antonio did the running. But we simply cannot rely on him to be a goal scorer unless we want to be fighting relegation every season.
apart from a central midfield that can pass a ball between them, an improved defence (i'd hope for an upgrade on Reid), and a striker to help Arnie out, we are crying out for some pacy wingers to stretch teams, especially on the right.
A couple of decent passers that can find players with pace in advanced positions would make a huge difference.
thejackhammer wrote:I like Antonio as a player, I think he has a lot to offer if he gets off his high horse and converts to a wingback.
The simple fact is he’s scored a measly 3 goals since Payet left a season and a half a go. 15 in a year was awesome, 3 the year and a half after seems to me like he’s been found out a little. I think the Watford game showed what he can do in that deeper role, and he had some good performances alongside Arnie where Antonio did the running. But we simply cannot rely on him to be a goal scorer unless we want to be fighting relegation every season.
we shouldn't be playing with wing backs. The only teams outside of Chelsea who did were WBA, Stoke, Swansea, us and Watford, and three of them got relegated!
Buffon is still one of the best keepers in the world, although it helps that he's had one of the best defences in the world in front of him for most of his career. Would be an unbelievable signing regardless of age. And yeah, he has said in the past we are a club he'd love to play for, but the chances of it actually happening are likely zero
I think he’s got to settle for a place off the bench then. We only have room for 3 or 4 attacking players, Lanzini and a Arnie are a guarantee, and we’re all hoping for at least one striker or attacking player to come in as a starter. Plus hopefully we resign Mario either permanently or on loan.
He’s woefully out of form and being one of our main attackers we can’t be carrying that lack of end product.
we will hopefully have a new manager, so think we shouldn't make mass changes until we see them perform over 6+ months.
keeper: keep adrian as upgrading him would be costly when we need the money in other areas. would be happy with heaton/foster i guess. we deperately need a new backup though.
buy: mario 25m; romeu 30m; any RB please;
sell: nobody at the moment - we need to be patient with some and see how well players integrate with the new manager. none of our underperforming player are really worth anything anyway.
i know i'm dreaming if we would actually have 55m+ net spend, but spending a bit on quality first team players is really the only way of moving forward.
On the train a couple of seats from Steve Bruce earlier today. Heard him on the phone talking about a player he wants to keep and suggesting that a pay half now half later deal would be good. Not sure how many they have on loan but know they have 7 or 8 whose contracts end. Could be he was talking about Snodgrass as he mentioned it was almost like having another striker.
Hammer1972 wrote:We need a long term goalkeeping solution. Surely this season has shown that having a 'name' brought in for a short period is not the answer.
Either back Adrian or replace him properly.
The problem wasn't that the solution was short term, it was that he was ****.
thejackhammer wrote:I like Antonio as a player, I think he has a lot to offer if he gets off his high horse and converts to a wingback.
The simple fact is he’s scored a measly 3 goals since Payet left a season and a half a go. 15 in a year was awesome, 3 the year and a half after seems to me like he’s been found out a little. I think the Watford game showed what he can do in that deeper role, and he had some good performances alongside Arnie where Antonio did the running. But we simply cannot rely on him to be a goal scorer unless we want to be fighting relegation every season.
Well then shouldn’t we be worried about his poor injury record?
I understand he’s not a desperate upgrade, I just wouldn’t want to be starting the season relying on Antonio as one of our star players. I’d certainly sell him if it meant we could get Traore in for a similar fee, or if Antonio is happy to be used off the bench.