Our present squad

[BromleyMonkey]

After his insta posts he might not want to come back.
But provided Glasner leaves, there is a chance

Don’t blame him, shame because he was well on the way to becoming a cult hero despite his limited appearances

 

[park the bus]

Amazing how much leeway a professional footballer gets. Granted, hitting the floor running can be the requirement in some jobs, but it is accepted that a player needs time to bed into a new environment, new teammates, different tactics, and the canteen is not where it used to boo hoo! Once the modern footballer has navigated these tricky obstacles how long exactly before he can perform the very basics like ball control, running around, and passing to a teammate, and start to justify his excessive fee and wage?

 

[Teddy Eagle]

After his insta posts he might not want to come back.
But provided Glasner leaves, there is a chance

Shows how fickle football is when some players are nailed on despite some ineffective performances while anothers can't get a start. Different manager and the story might be reversed.

 

[McAhuna]

Shows how fickle football is when some players are nailed on despite some ineffective performances while anothers can't get a start. Different manager and the story might be reversed.

Same in every workplace.
Some just know how to smile at the boss, despite being s*** at their job.

Uche did look to have a lot of talent and potential. When you look at some we have bought for much bigger fees, £17m doesn't seem unreasonable.

 

[TheBigToePunt]

.....Uche did look to have a lot of talent and potential. When you look at some we have bought for much bigger fees, £17m doesn't seem unreasonable.

It probably isn't unreasonable. Perhaps if wages, transfer fees, previous CV and suchlike were all kept hidden from the manager and fans, and the team was selected as a genuine, blind meritocracy then Uche would have gotten more game time, if only because Johnson and Pino in particular have struggled so much. Perhaps Esse or even Rak Sakyi would have played more, for that matter.

Thing is, even in this hypothetical arrangement the key question would surely be whether any particular player is good enough to achieve the club's aims, rather than how they compare to other players.

That's probably the key thing. The fact that Uche might be better value than Johnson or Pino or whoever, or even that he might be no worse on the pitch, doesn't necessarily make him good enough to be part of a team that stays out of trouble in the league and (hopefully) has a good crack at the cups. That's what we need.

In other words, the failure of our expensive signings to perform doesn't make a cheaper one good enough!

 

[samprior]

Same in every workplace.
Some just know how to smile at the boss, despite being s*** at their job.

Uche did look to have a lot of talent and potential. When you look at some we have bought for much bigger fees, £17m doesn't seem unreasonable.

I'd much rather we'd have stuck with Uche for 17m than spending a further 35m on Johnson. Despite the headless chicken nature of his play, Uche did at least touch the ball in games and scored a couple of nice goals. Johnson has had a lot more minutes and we're all still waiting for him to contribute anything.