January 2017 Transfer Speculation

baracks_a_hammer

Joe hart would be fantastic - a real presence and defensive leader

Him and will Hughes (to start taking over from noble) would be my choice of top targets

I would say we should make a r/b a must but it starts to sound like a broken record. By making it a non priority we might actually sign one.

Hammerex

Diamantis_Are_Forever said:

West Ham will go back in with a £15m bid for Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart this summer. (The Sun)

Can't believe they would spend 15m on a goalkeeper when we already have two
decent goalies already.
Much better off spending the money on a decent striker to back up A C.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

The club need to be identifying a real LONG term solution at right back from now till June, because that is the major hole in our squad right now (and not the only one)

We need another forward as well, I like that Calleri is willing to fight but I doubt he'll come good

Andy carroll has proven he can score and be the striker we need but his injury record speaks for itself he cannot be relied on

I personally don't think Hart is needed, I just don't see how he's that much better than what we have and he'll be very expensive

Big half a season for several of the players

Ayew needs to show something (anything), Feghouli to prove he can cut it consistently in the EPL, Nordtveit, Calleri and Masuaka likewise, Cresswell needs to show if he can become one of the better left backs in the legaue, byram finally has his chance to see if he's good enough and snodgrass and Fonte need to show their form for their old clubs for us

Big calls to make as in terms of numbers this squad is huge but there are too many underperforming players in this squad

grey_til_I_dye

Slav in his presser, re: Joe Hart

"We are heavily linked with every player looking for a move! I rate Joe Hart really highly as a great goalkeeper and personality. On the other hand, if there is one position that I am not even thinking of changing it is goalkeeper because I have two great ones".

Unless, of course, he's been told to say that... ;whistle

Tomw85

I would welcome the signing of Hart but as Grey has posted above I think that is highly unlikely.

For me we should focus on getting in Trippier, Will Hughes and a 20+ goals a season striker (if there is one out there in our price range, whose club want to sell and they are interested in joining us!) so should be pretty easy right...

Vorselaarhammer

The only position where we have 2 PL quality choices is GK...

Swissiron

it will be really stupid to sign Hart when we need to fill two other places much more than the GK spot.

brookingsirons

only 2 swiss ;biggrin

baracks_a_hammer

Tomw

Totally agree re Hughes

The sort of player who right now is within our grasp. If we don't he'll go elsewhere in the Prem, be a hit, and will then be considered beyond us.

brookingsirons

wish list would be

Trippier
Sigurdsson
Jackson Martinez

just saying what I said on here yesterday
;whistle

Why not 50/60m should be available shouldn't it ;biggrin

alderz

IMO

Both Randy & Adrian are good PL keepers. Joe Hart is significantly better than them both. Like, by a long way. I don't think signing a GK should be top of the priority list, but when someone comes along who is that good I think you'd be foolish not to look.

We've got Snodgrass, Feghouli & Antonio who are good PL right wingers. But if Gareth Bale is available to us I don't think we should be turning him down.

(Exaggerated comparison, but you get the drift)

baracks_a_hammer

Alderz ;ok

If hart could be bought for £15m and he wanted to come we'd be bonkers not to have a go

Swissiron

and a 100k a week

baracks_a_hammer

That's what it will cost these days

A big reason why Man Utd won lots of things was having the massive presence of schmeichel between the sticks

IronHerb

and Keane and Giggs and.....

Tomw85

Didn't Clough say that his best signing was his keeper too. That said I would rather funds went were needed more first, but if not able to find the right player or the deal is too good to turn down I could understand it.

Baracks I full agree about Will Hughes, can take over from Noble in the next season or two and keeps and core of home grown players too. Plus I'm sure he would want to prove him self having stepped up from the Championship.

Moore_than_a_nick

Looks like we will be in the same place this summer as we were last, having not addressed (successfully) the main transfer priorities. This is what I wrote last July:

"So in summary, in order to improve our goal difference from both ends, I'd prioritise:
1. Striker who will take more of his chances than those we have (I like Bacca; but I definitely wouldn't let Sakho go, since in the right mood and fit he should be good enough for us)
2. Proven top-level rightback who can defend as well as attack (I'd be very happy with Zabaleta, if available)
3. Upgrade on Noble/Kouyate who will win the ball, keep it (better) and join up the play (but is this Nordveit?)"

Maybe Obiang has proven to be a good attempt at solving problem 3. He wobbled against Citeh, but we can forgive him that if he gets back on form. Nordveidt hasn't had the chance to prove himself in his best position, which is frustrating all round. But the first two problems remain our top priorities. On the other hand, if we really get the old Sakho back for the last couple of months of the season and Ayew proves his worth as a second striker, I'd say that only a world class striker is worth going for - just the sort that is unlikely to come to us.

Moore_than_a_nick

On a separate but related point, just as frustrating as our inability (no matter how justified) to address the RB and striker issues is that we don't seem to know our best formation. Three at the back suits our attack-minded fullbacks and our relative abundance of decent CBs. But having got our season back on track, after one or two (?) losses we ditch it. Likewise, the diamond (Obiang-Noble, Kouyate-Lanzini) with two up front would also have seemed to suit us (before buying Snodgrass - since at that point we didn't have proven great traditional wingers, even if Feghouli has shown some signs). But we haven't even tried it. Now we have Snodgrass and Feghouli and Antonio doing well in a few games as a second striker, it looks like we'll move ahead with 4-4-2. But that doesn't suit our fullbacks or our relatively weak (this season) CM... Round and round in circles, it seems (our CM and identification of our best formation and line-up).

EXETERHAMMER

'TEVEZ TOLD ME TO STAY WITH HAMMERS'

Returning to this post earlier. I really do think that Calleri could come good. If his attitude is as positive as he says it is, then he is already half way there. Good on him and I hope he gets his chance to shine for us.

grey_til_I_dye

It's clearly difficult for many players to come to terms with life in the UK and playing in the PL, and we've seen any number of very good players fail to make it.

It's an interesting contrast with Zaza, who just felt he had to give up (fair play to him for putting it on himself) and Calleri who feels he wants to try and push through the issues he is facing.

Would be a fantastic bonus if he came good for us.

Fortuneseeker

We just need someone to supply lots of chances for Calleri and he will come good by getting his confidence back up. I wonder who there is out there who has a reputation for creating a high number of goal scoring opportunities? ;whistle

chicagohammer

I also think the Hart would be a good signing if we could get him, probably not that relevant but I recall the huge lift we got back in the day when we splashed out a record sum on Phil Parkes

Fortuneseeker

Chicago,

I remember that but it took a little time before the rest of the defence learnt he couldn't stop everything and that they needed to help him out occasionally. ;biggrin

MrsGrey

Moore_than

But for me, there's no such thing as a 'best formation' for all eventualities.

I think the manager should adjust/tinker to create a 'best formation in the circumstances'.

And in some cases, that's 'who is available?' Which is for me why we went t 3 at the back - not for a 'philosophy' type reason.

Yeoldhammer

We went 3 at the back because we didn't have a proper right back and whoever was playing there was a liability. Not really much tactical sense about it.

NEoldiron

Yeold, I think Sane would give any RB in the PL a roasting. Byram's not as bad as you make out and he's still young and learning, give him a break.

Bazshuayi

Calleri's touch and movement looked pretty good when he first came to us. He's technically decent (like most S Americans) but perhaps a little lightweight. Confidence levels are obviously crucial to performances. I think there's a decent striker there. I also think strikers with a lot bigger reputations than him have failed in the Prem. I hope he gives Bilic a selection headache or two in the near future (with some decent performances off the bench)

Huttonhammer

Marseille lost their first game with Payet , with him coming on in the second half to Metz who were second from bottom.
Reports say Payet is not going to play any more as he wants to play for a better team .

Moore_than_a_nick

Mrs Grey, yes, I agree that your best team is not necessarily the same personnel and formation for every game, even if everyone's available. But I think every team needs to know it's best formation and line-up (Plan A) for most games, and then tweak it, or just have a plan B, when the oppo or availability calls for it. I don't think we know what our Plan A is. We can't say that we moved to 3 at the back because we didn't have a good RB available - it's not like we were missing anyone. We simply don't have a good defensive RB. So clearly (for me) either Plan A has to take this into account or we have to buy one. The club clearly noticed this but either thought Byram was still the future or didn't have the cash or the drawing power for a top-class RB, so they bought a veteran who just hasn't worked out for us. So Plan A (again, for me) can't be 4-4-2, yet that is the system we seem to be settling around. Cressers' poor form in his own half makes it even less suitable. Furthermore, I don't think we can rely on Feghouli on the wing or Antonio as a second striker. The former has only shown a few glimpses of attacking threat among a lot of dross, and the latter will play his heart out anywhere, but seems best suited as one of the wide players of a front 3.

I can see why we started off the season with 4-4-3 - it served us well last season. But when we were being opened up too often due to the poor form of many players, the change to 3 at the back stopped the rot. After that, I suppose it may be that Bilic did want to continue with this system, but just couldn't find 3 good enough CBs available for all games. He clearly doesn't want to play Oxford, Burke, Henry or Nordveidt there at the moment, so if Collins and Kouyate were unavailable, he chose to play 4 at the back. I would say that if this was his judgment, he underestimated the defensive frailties of our full backs and midfield.

IronHerb

I watched the last 20 minutes of the Marseille game and they made us look half decent. Metz could have scored 4 in the last 20 minutes although they did hit their own bar from a Payet cross. Very poor.