He needs a year to "adapt".....

[rage]

Our current side has a decent record since end of October / early November

Maybe we should go with the current squad next season instead of having to wait for players to gel

You are basically advocating bringing in 5 first team players, the last three seasons will tell you that the settling in period for so many players takes too much time and by the time we get going the Leagues over

For me its a real balancing act and we only need fine tuning imo. I really worry about bringing in wholesale changes because it does affect your initial momemtum

I think that bringing in players too close to transfer deadline day results in a delayed settling in period that has an impact on our start to the season. I also think that buying too many players in one go has the same impact to the start of our season. 5 first team players or even squad players aren't what we need my friend, I'd be overjoyed with a quality winger and one world class striker. Anything else would be a bonus as long as it wasn't another squad player.

The other problem to our slow starts in my opinion is our excessive rotation at the start of every season under rafa, but that's opening up a completly different can of worms.

[dww]

I think we have the base of a good team. Solid foundations in defence, central midfield and three very good second strikers who offer a lot. We have potential to improve on the wings and in adding a poacher to our team.

I would expect/hope to see three key signings, two wide players and a front man. I guess that will have to be on top of the Fowler - Voronin fourth choice striker swap which I doubt will cause much disruption.

It's a good point about our slow starts but to be fair to Rafa this season was problematic in terms of the fact that established players came back from the world cup in crap form. No one deserved to hold down a place. Hopefully with a more extended pre-season and a rest over the summer we should be able to get out of the blocks better next season.