craig

Don't worry bud, you are still close to the top of that particular leaderboard.....

They are in the distant past mate

I was hoping to get some nibbles, glad you obliged Bill 🤣

Mate, we need more options up front. We have lost Morelos, Colak seems to be unwanted, that is us two players down. Roofe cant be relied upon due to fitness concerns. We have brought in Lammers (I suspect he will be played as a 10 rather than striker) and Sima on loan. We can't go into this season with just the two options plus an unreliable Roofe and an unwanted Colak. We need more options. That said, Beale's team was scoring fairly healthily when he came in through end of season - we need to be much more solid at the back and be far more stingy with goals conceded. in the invincibles season we knew if we scored one goal we were likely to win the game - last season and season before we knew we would need at least two to win games....

Aside from the lunacy of some weird fixture split after 33 games, every team has the same teams to overcome - the split does, though, make a mockery of the "everyone has the same fixtures" nonsense

We can bring back Aaron Ramsey

Not necessarily - he may have been told he was coming in as competition for Tav but with a longer term view - Tav is 31 now so not getting any younger - I would imagine we WILL start to manage Tav's minutes - but that also isnt easy to do given how much we rely on him in offensive stats - that reliance needs to change and, when it does, Tav can get some much needed rest

lol, yer some guy Rouseau

For a change you agreed with most of them, lol

Why would Cantwell do that when Tavernier takes them all ?

The playwers train for 2 hours at a time so even a double session is 4 hours - that leaves them 20 hours in a day - you want them to just play football 24/7 ?

Agree BD. Koulibaly yesterday said "yep, it was the money - I can now help my family, friends, village I am from". Cash is king.... and is hard to reject when it is multiples of generational wealth. They don't have the CL, that is true.... but how long before the best players in the world are plying their trade in Saudi and other gulf states and their gulf CL is competing with UEFA's version ? I doubt it will be in my lifetime, but stranger things have happened. We need only look at how quickly the PGA caved to LIV for warning - though, in that instance it came down to deep pockets because the PGA couldnt continue with the legal expense.

Impact player when teams are tiring. Certainly not a starter

Think I saw something last week or the week before saying Preston had stepped away from the signing

Which is fine, his versatility helps - if he is any good then he fills a couple of positions without the need for extra players and extra wages. Gives us depth on both sides of defence as well as through the middle. Looks a bit of a unit, so can see him getting minutes at CB alongside Goldson

Sterling is both a RB and RCB - has also, I believe, played on the wing in prtevious loan spells or with Chelsea Academy

They (Celtic) are also running risks too with their "I will see you here next May" comments from Rodgers, along with his claim to want to do better in Europe, effectively suggesting that domestic success is a foregone conclusion. I would argue that the galvanisation should be stronger for us than for them. That said, no professional should need the words of a rival to motivate them to beat them

I am not saying they are - Jamie Carragher was the one complaining about them coming in and taking players, and how he wasnt bothered when it was Benzema etc but when there was word of Silva possibly going (and Neves is only 26 too) that it started to concern him. It is only a matter of time before they start to take players in their prime - take some of the biggest names now, get established, then look to take players in prime because the standard has improved.

The English are complaining about the Saudis coming in and taking all the best players in their prime.... It is extreme hypocrisy - the English did the EXACT same thing when the Sky money came rolling into England. They are all crying now because all of a sudden there is competition

Whilst it seems that I am defending our pursuit of Dessers, I actually am not - more that I am defending the process or balance between experience and spending money. ALL of the strikers we have been linked with underwhelm me - so I am definitely hoping I am VERY wrong !

We are going to have to My point is that spending 3 mill on Dessers could be the best money we have spent in years if he gives us 40 goals and leads us to the title. But you dont want to sign him, predominantly, because a) his age and b) there is a transfer fee

Our previous DoF also was, latterly (and I say this as someone who thought he had initially done some excellent work) a failure at working to our desired model. I think he brought in some excellent players, I stand by that - but last summer was largely unsuccessful and he also kept the invincibles squad together too long. The DoF is great... if he is a great DoF. Wilson was both good and bad for us - but in the last two seasons our transfer policy was poor. I would say that it depends on the DoF when it comes to recruitment - I agree with you, but if you have a DoF who cant spot a player that can fit club philosophy then it won't work out. Could easily be argued that the scouting department is even more important than the DoF

Fair point - but I don't have the time to go through every squad member. We can pontificate about xG and xA and better profiles all day long - but the only proof will be when they are here. Torres, I imagine, had unbelievable xG when at Liverpool, then went to Chelsea and the stats, probably (without checking) likely looked like shit. The point also being that players often suit certain environments, playing styles, formations over others - there are no guarantees. We could pick up Dessers and he could score 30 goals in half a season and in January we have some lower end EPL team wanting to spend 10 mill on him to help them stave off relegation - we have literally NO IDEA what any of them will bring. As I said, not every signing needs to have a re-sale value - but at 28 we also have no idea whether that is the case or not. I don't think that we necessarily do need then to have resale value - it is a balance - if you bring in a 28 yr old who has no resale value but he brings out the best in a younger player around him then the resale value of said younger player may be increased. Whilst clubs buy individuals, the game isnt played in an individual vacuum.

Phew, lol You simply can't have a joint-up approach when we dont even have a DoF in place. And, I would argue, that it makes sense to take your time in making that appointment because the right appointment can springboard you to success but the wrong appointment and we go years behind Celtic again. The club are clearly trying to fill this position but, IMHO, correctly taking their time. I would be asking Davie Weir...... However, whilst we don't have one, the best person to rely on is the manager - who else is there that can be relied upon for the footballing strategy until we appoint a DoF ? I am not disagreeing with you on the need for a DoF. However, either way you look at it, be it Colak or anyone else, if a manager doesnt like a player then they simply don't play them - if a DoF forces a player upon a manager AND forces the manager to then play them.... that is a recipe for even bigger disaster than not having a DoF.

No, I didnt. Check what I said.... I said "possible starters". Are Barisic and Yilmaz going to play on top of each other ? McLaughlin and Butland BOTH playing in goal ? Not every deal needs to have a re-sale. If you have experienced players that come in, help the younger players, win some trophies, and you sell the younger players on once they have the experience, then you don't need to re-sell everyone. For an extreme example, if you could get a 28 yr old Messi for 4 mill but couldnt sell him on, you are saying don't bring him in. Makes no sense if they can improve the team and help get us trophies and European football. As I said, you dont need every signing to have a resale value. But, ignoring that..... who is it that you think we could get, in our price range, younger, who would be better for us than Dessers ? Getting decent quality strikers is difficult to do for anyone - even moreso in the market we are shopping in.