Summer Transfer Thread 2012

[mht1892]

Yep, your first suggestion would make sense. Your second one makes no sense!

 

Not a pop at you, MB, but I just don't understand the clamour for obviously mediocre players like Clint Dempsey. It's like when people were advocating the signing of Downing last summer. He was so obviously not the player of the standard required to take us up a few notches, and neither is Dempsey.

 

Dempsey may well be better than what we already have but that is damning the fellow with faint praise!

 

I don't think Dempsey is mediocre, think he's got a lot of quality he's 28/29 but if he was a few million I wouldnt be disappointed, the fact of the matter is though the millions we have spent on a striker and 3 midfielders, Dempsey has scored more than all those combined.

 

He wouldn't be a bad addition, all the people creaming over Hazard I don't get, he's never going to come here, we will sign players because of who we are but the players who want CL football won't come here, I wouldn't mind knowing what our scouts are up to, a club like ours rarely find quality at a low price, it does look like we are building for future with the kids we are bringing in but we need players to make an impact now.

 

It shows that there are quality out there at a decent price, look at half the Newcastle team for example.

[Major Tom]

I don't think Dempsey is mediocre' date=' think he's got a lot of quality he's 28/29 but if he was a few million I wouldnt be disappointed, the fact of the matter is though the millions we have spent on a striker and 3 midfielders, Dempsey has scored more than all those combined.

 

He wouldn't be a bad addition, all the people creaming over Hazard I don't get, he's never going to come here, we will sign players because of who we are but the players who want CL football won't come here, I wouldn't mind knowing what our scouts are up to, a club like ours rarely find quality at a low price, it does look like we are building for future with the kids we are bringing in but we need players to make an impact now.

 

It shows that there are quality out there at a decent price, look at half the Newcastle team for example.[/quote']

 

But this is the crux of it for me, the argument goes "but if he was a few million I wouldnt be disappointed...." The same argument put forward ad nauseum. Adam was only a "few million" but he patently is not good enough. Spending less on mediocre (in my view obviously) players does not justify the end. It just wastes a few million rather than a lot of millions.

 

But, if we did buy Dempsey, where would he fit in do you think?

[Glen C]

*sigh* wow people are seriously wanting clint dempsey? Have our standards really dropped that low? Yes he's decent but what we are needing is more than that. We need game changers. Players that can make something out of nothing and score goals. If the team is playing shit dempsey isn't going to change that. We need a creative midfielder next to lucas, and two goalscoring attacking midfielders who will give support to suarez and gerrard up front. Dempsey is none of these. We go for players like dempsey and all we are going to be doing is cementing our position as a mid table club. Fuck me i remember when we had standards. The players are out there as newcastle have proven.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Dempsey would fit on the bench. Fine for the squad, as long as he came in for under 5m, but not to come in and be the difference to take us up the table.

[dirk grout]

*sigh* wow people are seriously wanting clint dempsey? Have our standards really dropped that low? Yes he's decent but what we are needing is more than that. We need game changers. Players that can make something out of nothing and score goals. If the team is playing shit dempsey isn't going to change that. We need a creative midfielder next to lucas, and two goalscoring attacking midfielders who will give support to suarez and gerrard up front. Dempsey is none of these. We go for players like dempsey and all we are going to be doing is cementing our position as a mid table club. Fuck me i remember when we had standards. The players are out there as newcastle have proven.

 

Why do people keep saying this? Newcastle are going to win nothing and finish fifth. Is this what we are aiming for?

[Major Tom]

Why do people keep saying this? Newcastle are going to win nothing and finish fifth. Is this what we are aiming for?

 

It's better than 8th.

 

But I think the point is that players at reasonable prices are out there to significantly improve your squad. If your scouts are good enough, of course.

 

Well that was the point I was making yesterday anyway.

[Glen C]

Why do people keep saying this? Newcastle are going to win nothing and finish fifth. Is this what we are aiming for?

 

No we are aiming for higher, we want the title. My point is though that there are bargains out there like cisse that we can get who will get us into the top 4. Its unrealistic to think we can aim for the title next year but definitely realistic to aim for top 4 and then the following year push on from there.

[Lee909]

Dempsey would fit on the bench. Fine for the squad, as long as he came in for under 5m, but not to come in and be the difference to take us up the table.

 

Agree with this.

If we had the players needed in the first team and had the likes of Adam and Dempsey on the bench we would be doing ok.

Only players from Fulham I would like are the Russian forward Pob... and Dembele

[Major Tom]

Agree with this.

If we had the players needed in the first team and had the likes of Adam and Dempsey on the bench we would be doing ok.

Only players from Fulham I would like are the Russian forward Pob... and Dembele

 

Adam and Dempsey on the bench? Really?

 

We are chasing a game and I look to the bench and I see Adam and Dempsey, I am not heartened in the slightest!

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Agree with this.

If we had the players needed in the first team and had the likes of Adam and Dempsey on the bench we would be doing ok.

 

Yep, but we're a long way to go before that.

[TheHowieLama]

Dempsey is a better option off the bench than Kuyt and is better then anyone we have to play off the striker barring Gerrard, who has been injured quite alot over the last couple of years and has had to pull time in the midfield. So he is a step up in that role. Any player we could get who is markedly better than Dempsey would walk into the first team anyway.

[fowler9]

Downing isn't a better player than Ashley Young, he never has been, and never will be. Young scores more goals and creates more goals and always has. He's quicker, more skilful, more creative, more direct, and more versatile.

 

Dwoning isn't a better player than Walcott either.

 

he has some degree of technical ability so that makes him better than Walcott for me

 

Downing and Young are different sorts of players and as we've seen for Villa and England work well in the same side albeit for Liverpool or Man U if you had two of them you'd want one of them to be a richer mans version, Downing was the better of the two last season whilst Young has been better over the course of his career, I wanted Downing more than Young as I feel he is the style of player we need more, unfortunately his performances have been in the main utter gash

[TheHowieLama]

Downing is nowhere near as dangerous as either of the other two, surely you can see that. He has a bit of pace but is never a threat to run behind the defense at the goal. The other two stretch the defense and create space.

[Glen C]

downing is just average and i'd take young and walcott over him in a heartbeat.

[fowler9]

Downing is nowhere near as dangerous as either of the other two, surely you can see that. He has a bit of pace but is never a threat to run behind the defense at the goal. The other two stretch the defense and create space.

 

Young can be devastating on his day but also be equally poor and predictable, whilst Walcott is just a pile of shite, If I wanted a sprinter on my team I'd have Usain Bolt, Downing in the past has been more of a traditional wide man, fairly fast and has a bit of skill and has shown the ability to get a reasonable amount of goals a season, he'll never be top class but he has far more in his locker than the coward figure we've had stood on the left wing this season, he'd be one of the first I'd bin off in the summer but I think he could've been so much better

[silverlining]

Why do people keep saying this? Newcastle are going to win nothing and finish fifth. Is this what we are aiming for?

 

Right, so by your spastic logic, we should only buy players from teams that have just won the title.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

he has some degree of technical ability so that makes him better than Walcott for me

 

Walcott is far better than you're making out. Far, far better than Downing. Better than Young, too.

[TheHowieLama]

Young can be devastating on his day but also be equally poor and predictable, whilst Walcott is just a pile of shite, If I wanted a sprinter on my team I'd have Usain Bolt, Downing in the past has been more of a traditional wide man, fairly fast and has a bit of skill and has shown the ability to get a reasonable amount of goals a season, he'll never be top class but he has far more in his locker than the coward figure we've had stood on the left wing this season, he'd be one of the first I'd bin off in the summer but I think he could've been so much better

 

I do not think your opinions on Young and Walcott compared to Downing are shared by many.

Consider that the most dangerous winger we have had in the last 10 years was Cisse.

[Mr Nando]

Young can be devastating on his day but also be equally poor and predictable, whilst Walcott is just a pile of shite, If I wanted a sprinter on my team I'd have Usain Bolt, Downing in the past has been more of a traditional wide man, fairly fast and has a bit of skill and has shown the ability to get a reasonable amount of goals a season, he'll never be top class but he has far more in his locker than the coward figure we've had stood on the left wing this season, he'd be one of the first I'd bin off in the summer but I think he could've been so much better

 

That 'sprinter' scores more goals, gets more assists and is more of a threat than Downing has or ever will be.

[silverlining]

Young can be devastating on his day but also be equally poor and predictable, whilst Walcott is just a pile of shite, If I wanted a sprinter on my team I'd have Usain Bolt, Downing in the past has been more of a traditional wide man, fairly fast and has a bit of skill and has shown the ability to get a reasonable amount of goals a season, he'll never be top class but he has far more in his locker than the coward figure we've had stood on the left wing this season, he'd be one of the first I'd bin off in the summer but I think he could've been so much better

 

Walcott has 8 goals and is in double figures for assists.

 

Downing has zero goals and zero assists.

 

Admittedly, that's a lot worse than his usual average of about 3 goals a season, but not without precedent - he went through the entire 2008/9 season at Middlesbrough without scoring a single Premiership goal.

[Jairzinho]

Dempsey would fit on the bench. Fine for the squad, as long as he came in for under 5m, but not to come in and be the difference to take us up the table.

 

He'd presumably also want a four year deal on about 80k p/w.

 

We'd be loaning him to Lille within 18 months.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

He'd presumably also want a four year deal on about 80k p/w.

 

Why so?

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't want Dempsey. I'm just setting out the case in which it wouldn't be the end of the world. For a small fee, to be used as a squad member and only when we've got a great team ahead of him.

 

For the record, I didn't want Cole, Pennant, Downing, Carroll, and many other players besides. We've spent out money poorly. We've had some cracking signings, who were clearly going to be good, like Alonso, Agger, Torres, Suarez, and many more besides, and we need more from Column B and less from Column A. If that makes me a shit support, then I'm all for it.

[PaulMcC]

Walcott and Young are far better than Downing

 

They aren't completely shit which automatically makes them better than Downing.

[Jairzinho]

Why so?

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't want Dempsey. I'm just setting out the case in which it wouldn't be the end of the world. For a small fee, to be used as a squad member and only when we've got a great team ahead of him.

 

For the record, I didn't want Cole, Pennant, Downing, Carroll, and many other players besides. We've spent out money poorly. We've had some cracking signings, who were clearly going to be good, like Alonso, Agger, Torres, Suarez, and many more besides, and we need more from Column B and less from Column A. If that makes me a shit support, then I'm all for it.

 

But we won't get him on a small fee, or reasonable wages, or reasonable contract length relative to his age. Players like Dempsey only get one big move in their career, or none, his agent will be doing his utmost to rinse whichever club wants him. Maybe I'm just being massively paranoid. Too many Degens, Jovanovics, Voronins, Coles etc will do that.

 

I think all attacking signings we make should be young(ish) players with pace.

[Major Tom]

But we won't get him on a small fee, or reasonable wages, or reasonable contract length relative to his age. Players like Dempsey only get one big move in their career, or none, his agent will be doing his utmost to rinse whichever club wants him.

 

I think all attacking signings we make should be young(ish) players with pace.

 

Agreed.