Summer Transfer Rating

I think that it’s an 8.5/10 window. I don’t think that Lacroix is a superstar defender and the replacements for him will suffice. Munoz was a brilliant servant and irreplaceable at his marauding best but sadly those days are gone and it was good business to get £22 million for him.

Timber is a brilliant acquisition and the new right back looks competent. Chilwell was and again will be a good influence even if won’t start ahead of Mitchell. Disasi is comparable to Lacroix. The depth of the squad is much better overall and I think that if Sarr and Mateta pull their finger out, we could be just as good as last year’s team if not as good as the side with Eze, Guehi and Olise.

Wish we would move to 4 3 3 with Timber as a box to box midfielder. I always felt we needed a crunching midfield tackler like Viera or Peter Nicholas.

Lastly, In appreciate that Disasi is only a loan however we just need to get through this season and stay in the Premiership and have a couple of decent cup runs. This side is capable of that.

Reasons to be hopeful!
 
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I don’t think it will be fair to judge this window until we see how Sarge uses the players he has.

For me, as I posted before, we should move away from Glasner system simply because the players used for playing that system that remain are not as good as what made it work before.

All of us can see we have been weak in the middle of the park and if we can see it, I would like to think that the new boss can see it. Let’s switch to a 3 in midfield and get some bite in there. If we play Wharton, timber/hughes/lerma and Kamada then we have a good chance of actually feeding a decent amount of chances to grand larceny/eddie or dare I say JPM. It still leaves the fullbacks/wingbacks to tuck in when needed or push on when required and we still have some decent wide player options.
 
For me, it all rests on the defence. If Disasi can come in and command the space left by Lacroix then I believe we'll be stronger than last season. We now have proper competition in the wing-back roles, we have Timber to add some athleticism in the middle of the park and in McNeil we have a proper left-sided forward. Added to that, we've added two quick and tricky forwards, who at least should offer something from the bench.

Reading up on Osario, it sounds like he may well suit our system more than a typical winger. Here, an analyst breaks down how he was having more of an impact drifting in field, rather than staying out wide. It also sounds like he could potentially add some goals (please!)

Darío Osorio Scout Report At FC Midtjylland 2024/2025 – The Midtjylland Star’s Evolution in Denmark | TFA

Who Is Darío Osorio? Darío Osorio is experimenting with a new role at Midtjylland. The 20-year-old has refined his technique, becoming a top offensive player…
totalfootballanalysis.com totalfootballanalysis.com

So, for me, I'm going to give it an 8, but the reality is so much is unknown about a lot of these players, so it could end up being a 10...or a 4!
 
JHB said:
The loans are odd. I get bringing in a young centre back as cover once Raid got injured but I’d be surprised if he plays much. Asking an untested kid to step into centre back in the Premier League is a big ask. I’d rather we tried to find some experience à la Chilwell but suppose time was limited.

Guessand I don’t understand at all. A failure at Villa and very underwhelming with us last time out. Plays in a position we already have too many players in. Maybe he comes good but looks like a waste of a loan spot to me.
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Totally agree. One can imagine the management sitting around the executive table, and one of them pipes up, "I've been looking at our squad sheet and what we need is more right sided forward type players, one can never have enough of them. Let's get that Guessand fellow back in!"
 
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DenTyler said:
I don’t think it will be fair to judge this window until we see how Sarge uses the players he has.

For me, as I posted before, we should move away from Glasner system simply because the players used for playing that system that remain are not as good as what made it work before.

All of us can see we have been weak in the middle of the park and if we can see it, I would like to think that the new boss can see it. Let’s switch to a 3 in midfield and get some bite in there. If we play Wharton, timber/hughes/lerma and Kamada then we have a good chance of actually feeding a decent amount of chances to grand larceny/eddie or dare I say JPM. It still leaves the fullbacks/wingbacks to tuck in when needed or push on when required and we still have some decent wide player options.
Click to expand...

I couldn't see that. Last season with Wharton and Kamada we were solid as. The whole point of hte set up was that they were compact and sat in (hence no goals from there). But we were never overrun in midfield.

Hence why old boss and new boss have played 2 in the middle.....
 
taylors lovechild said:
For me, it all rests on the defence. If Disasi can come in and command the space left by Lacroix then I believe we'll be stronger than last season. We now have proper competition in the wing-back roles, we have Timber to add some athleticism in the middle of the park and in McNeil we have a proper left-sided forward. Added to that, we've added two quick and tricky forwards, who at least should offer something from the bench.

Reading up on Osario, it sounds like he may well suit our system more than a typical winger. Here, an analyst breaks down how he was having more of an impact drifting in field, rather than staying out wide. It also sounds like he could potentially add some goals (please!)

Darío Osorio Scout Report At FC Midtjylland 2024/2025 – The Midtjylland Star’s Evolution in Denmark | TFA

Who Is Darío Osorio? Darío Osorio is experimenting with a new role at Midtjylland. The 20-year-old has refined his technique, becoming a top offensive player…
totalfootballanalysis.com totalfootballanalysis.com

So, for me, I'm going to give it an 8, but the reality is so much is unknown about a lot of these players, so it could end up being a 10...or a 4!
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Osario certainly looks interesting.

Would love for him to hit the ground running and keep Sarr out of the team.
 
I wouldn't be too hasty dismissing Sarr.
We need his goals and his pace.
Our attack is seriously one paced without him.
We are fickle as fans and if he comes back and plays well he will be forgiven as was the case with Glasner and Mateta.
 
PatrickA said:
I wouldn't be too hasty dismissing Sarr.
We need his goals and his pace.
Our attack is seriously one paced without him.
We are fickle as fans and if he comes back and plays well he will be forgiven as was the case with Glasner and Mateta.
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I'm not. Just hoping that the new boys are so good we dont need him and can let him and JP rot.
 
park the bus said:
Totally agree. One can imagine the management sitting around the executive table, and one of them pipes up, "I've been looking at our squad sheet and what we need is more right sided forward type players, one can never have enough of them. Let's get that Guessand fellow back in!"
Click to expand...
I was there when he popped the last gasp winner against Wolves. He has a value.

We are playing about 10 million games this season. Again. We need cover.

And in my view he can be better than Nketiah and JSL. Oh, for either of them to find a groove this season.
 
silvertop said:
I was there when he popped the last gasp winner against Wolves. He has a value.

We are playing about 10 million games this season. Again. We need cover.

And in my view he can be better than Nketiah and JSL. Oh, for either of them to find a groove this season.
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I’d argue that we had lots of cover. In his best position we have Sarr, Pino, McNeil, Osario, Gozo and Nketiah at a push. Up front we had JPM, JSL Nketiah.

Did we really need a seventh wide forward / number 10 and fourth striker?
 
JHB said:
I’d argue that we had lots of cover. In his best position we have Sarr, Pino, McNeil, Osario, Gozo and Nketiah at a push. Up front we had JPM, JSL Nketiah.

Did we really need a seventh wide forward / number 10 and fourth striker?
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You forgot Franca, easy enough I guess. If he is still with club and not out on loan. Too many to choose from...
 
TheBigToePunt said:
I wonder if your otherwise excellent assessment is missing one crucial factor: the effect of all this trade on our SCR figure. The rules have changed and we are, in any event, subject to the most stringent version as we are in Europe. I saw in a few places that our SCR was at some 94% at the end of last season. The premier league allows 85%, Europe 70% (something like that, anyway).

I am increasingly convinced that Hobbs and Parish commenced this dizzying amount of trading not with the aim of strengthening the team or squad exactly, but with the aim of putting together a serviceable squad whilst effectively cost cutting to avoid non-compliance with the regulations.

Of course, the club don't broadcast that sort of thing (and fair enough, too) but if that was in fact the challenge faced by Hobbs then I suppose assessing him and the club on how well the team does might be inappropriate?

For all we know, we might crash out of Europe early and finish 17th but yet Hobbs etc could have actually done a great job. We just don't know what his remit was.
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Just to add to the confusion, I think the 2 SCR systems are based on different 12 month periods. If I am correct, the EPL SCR runs from 1 Jul to 30 Jun, whilst the UEFA SCR is based on the calendar year so 1 Jan to 31 Dec.
 
It was refreshing to hear our manager say he was happy with the business done. He also confirmed we turned down bids for Wharton and that Sarr needs time to sulk.
 
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