Thoughts on our transfer dealings so far

[dww]

I don't think Ngog is far off being ready. He looks intelligent and well suited to the way we play. I can see why people are concerned about relying on him but I think if we are ever going to develop a young player ones in his position have to be given the chance to shine.

[tomasjj]

N'gog isn't ready. Kuyt is first choice on the RW. Voronin isn't good enough. Babel I like, but he hasn't proved he can act as back up. I've yet to see him score when he has played up front in the Torres role, maybe the break away goal in the CL v Arsenal?

Benitez has already made it quite clear Babel is not for sale, though I see your point. But I think we lack depth and swapping one decent player for another would not assist on that front.

Getting rid of rubbish like Voronin on the other hand I would have no problem with, like wise Dossena who has not settled.

I am more talking about swapping a so.so player like Babel for a top player would could be one of the mainstays in our team.

To be honest, I think Voronin is twice the footballer that Babel is. Babel is just blessed with the physical attributes.

As for Dossena, I think we need him to stay now that Aurelio has broken down again. One young, albeit talented, left back and one who is often injured does not fill me with confidence. I'd rather we kept Dossena and tried to iron out some of his dodgy positioning, especially as his attitude seems spot on.

[tomasjj]

I don't think Ngog is far off being ready. He looks intelligent and well suited to the way we play. I can see why people are concerned about relying on him but I think if we are ever going to develop a young player ones in his position have to be given the chance to shine.

Aye, that's the classic catch 22. However, if Torres got an injury keeping him out for a month or two, I think our league challenge would appear on slippery slopes if Ngog was the stand in.

[dww]

Aye, that's the classic catch 22. However, if Torres got an injury keeping him out for a month or two, I think our league challenge would appear on slippery slopes if Ngog was the stand in.

I tend to agree at the minute. I think he and/or Kuyt would be fine if either a/ Babel stops being **** or b/ we bought in another forward for the three behind him. I really like the runs Ngog makes and while it is always difficult to judge whether a player will score goals at the highest level until they play there I think he would certainly be good at allowing us to keep a similar team shape and still be successful.

The problem as I see it is that, as with the CB position, anyone who is good enough for our squad position and who wouldn't make you worry if they came in will be wanting to play first team football. I guess a more versatile player might find it easier to get into the team but with Benayoun, Kuyt and Babel in the squad we have a number of players to compete with for those roles too.

[Roboklopp]

I like how you descibed Rafa Beintez Maudes:

Half

Empty

[DannyMan2006]

I am more talking about swapping a so.so player like Babel for a top player would could be one of the mainstays in our team.

To be honest, I think Voronin is twice the footballer that Babel is. Babel is just blessed with the physical attributes.

As for Dossena, I think we need him to stay now that Aurelio has broken down again. One young, albeit talented, left back and one who is often injured does not fill me with confidence. I'd rather we kept Dossena and tried to iron out some of his dodgy positioning, especially as his attitude seems spot on.

We disagree on Babel as i still think he'll be a success here. On Dossena I can see your point. Would depend how long we expect Aurelio to be out for.

[DannyMan2006]

I don't think Ngog is far off being ready. He looks intelligent and well suited to the way we play. I can see why people are concerned about relying on him but I think if we are ever going to develop a young player ones in his position have to be given the chance to shine.

He'd still get games. Could start in League Cup games with the new front man, as well as some FA cup games and CL games if we cruise through. He'd also be sub in the event of injury to Torres and maybe if gerrard is injured.

I think there will be game time, but we would be in a position of not having to rely on him.

[Roboklopp]

aye

[tomasjj]

We disagree on Babel as i still think he'll be a success here. On Dossena I can see your point. Would depend how long we expect Aurelio to be out for.

Fair dos. I just happen to think that Babel lacks a footballers mind, and doubt if he will be able to develop that at this age.

Dossena does also offer Riera a bit of competition imo, and gives us another tactical option since he is a wingback.

[Darkon]

For me it depends on whether we look at our squad only, or relatively to our rivals.

Looking at our own club exclusively I would say we are slightly weakened. We have lost hyypia and have to rely on untried youngsters, which is a loss to me. Also his presence and professionalism will be missed. Loosing Alonso is also a hit when you look at how important he was last season. But I have confidence that Aqua-boy can take his place comfortably when he gets settled, but until then we are slightly weakened there. Johnson is def. an improvement on Arbeloa, so that is good - the rest of the squad is pretty much status quo.

Compared to our main rivals I would say we are strengthened next to man utd and arsenal who have both taken a step back. We are pretty much at the same strength as Chelsea compared to last season I reckon. Man city is the big unknown in this one.

[flyboy]

we have been significantly weakened with alonsos departure and to replace him with a crocked player (as good as rafa claims him to be) and then to count on lucas to fill alonsos position its absolutely naive by rafa.its just bloody frustrating that we are not taking advantage of man u not properly replacing tevez and ronaldo...probably our best chance ever to lift the title and we are starting the season WEAKENED.

[DannyMan2006]

we have been significantly weakened with alonsos departure and to replace him with a crocked player (as good as rafa claims him to be) and then to count on lucas to fill alonsos position its absolutely naive by rafa.its just bloody frustrating that we are not taking advantage of man u not properly replacing tevez and ronaldo...probably our best chance ever to lift the title and we are starting the season WEAKENED.

Maybe you can suggest an alternative? What would you have done?

[flyboy]

i'm just highlighting he hasnt done enough to bring in quality players...i dont give a crap how he should do it ,but just get it done. and to bring in aquilani now but not before saying that buying owen(weasel) would be a liability due to his injuries is contradicting enough.bottom line he hasnt managed this summer transfers well enough and not building on last seasons momentum is gonna cost us dearly.

[shelly]

i'm just highlighting he hasnt done enough to bring in quality players...i dont give a crap how he should do it ,but just get it done. and to bring in aquilani now but not before saying that buying owen(weasel) would be a liability due to his injuries is contradicting enough.bottom line he hasnt managed this summer transfers well enough and not building on last seasons momentum is gonna cost us dearly.

Rafa said that he did not buy Owen because Owen expected first team football in his effort to get back into the England squad - nothing to do with his injuries.

Aquilani's injury is a long-term one but one that as Rafa suggested could happen to any footballer and it has strongly been suggested that the lack of recovery from his injuries (thigh before and ankle now) are due to mismanagement by the Roma medical team. Something substantiated by Aquilani's recent interview
2 points of note:
1) he was happy that the doctors here immediately identified what's wrong with him and think that they can treat it with full recovery - I may be wrong but I got the idea that he was happy to find someone who said "yes, ok, we'll deal with that" rather than waffling and insisting on bringing him back too early
2) He also pointed out that the doctors here are asking him to take it easy for a bit more whereas he had already started training in Roma, suggesting that the doctors here are not convinced he was recovered enough to start training whereas the Roma doctors were - which might be construed as they were rushing him back somewhat..

The main thrust of your argument however pointed to Rafa not bringing in quality players - you don't care how he does it, and you didn't answer DannyMan2006's question of how you would have gone about it. I ask you again - given the recent budget constraints due to the credit crunch, Rafa spent a lot of his transfer budget on extending the contracts of our key players - is that in your opinion the wrong thing to do? Who would you have brought in given our budget that would be an improvement? And don't name people like Villa or Aguero they are way out of our budget.

I am not saying that we are not weakened from last season, I agree we are. Alonso was my favourite player but HE wanted out. Arbeloa did as well. And we are definitely lacking defensive cover. But Rafa is actively looking at CBs we know this! Plus Rafa has also alluded to looking for attacking talent as well - which might not be possible given the budget. But we can still hope -The transfer window is not yet closed!