More than just one game

[WarszaVillan]

This bit:

We are now having the season that we should have had two years ago. Substantial rebuild on top of substantial re-think as to the way we do things and the way we play.

and this:

It says much for O'Neills legacy that for all his transfer dealing, barely two years after his departure not a single one of his outfield signings is featuring in the starting XI and of the four that remain at the club, Warnock and Dunne would have long since gone if a suitable home could have been found.

Are the two most spot-on things I've read on here in a long, long time.

Memory could be playing tricks but didn't Pubehead sign Eric Licaj while on a pre-season trip in the States? IIRC he had a broken leg at the time.

We signed Lichaj and Weimann in the summer of 2007 so MoN deserves credit for both of them.  That's the most frustrating thing.  He generally did well when he bought youngsters, it was the stupid signings of 'experienced pros' that screwed him and showed his limitations.  The only young player he got massively wrong was Davies.

We did also make a good profit on Young, Downing and Milner, not to mention Barry who he turned from into a class centre midfielder.

[not3bad]

Oh dear.  Is this going to turn into another in depth assessment of MON's transfer policy?

What was our wage bill like compared to Spurs?

[Percy McCarthy]

I thought Davies was quicker before he did his achilles, which was a big part of his game. Saying that, he was very good at Liverpool when he played with an injured shoulder while we were trying to sign his replacements so he could go and get it sorted.

In conclusion, I agree that he was unlucky.

[damon loves JT]

He was unlucky. The most successful players are also the luckiest, it's a fact of life

[paul_e]

currently playing a second season in the championship with no reports of interest from the premier league suggests we overpaid massively.

He was linked with moves to Southampton, Norwich and QPR over the summer...

Sorry, should have typed no reports of 'real' interest.  All the links made were of the same ilk as the vast majority you get in the summer, made perfect sense in the mind of the journalist that wrote them but had no substance.

[pauliewalnuts]

I thought Davies was quicker before he did his achilles, which was a big part of his game. Saying that, he was very good at Liverpool when he played with an injured shoulder while we were trying to sign his replacements so he could go and get it sorted.

In conclusion, I agree that he was unlucky.

I also wonder - and this is probably nonsense - whether the fact he was so open about playing like "a pub player" in his debut (an incredibly honest thing for a footballer to say) sort of dogged him in his time with us.

I thought that on the evidence of what we saw, he wasn't really good enough, although he might have been if he'd had more confidence in his own ability.

Maybe he's a confidence player. I thought the same of Wayne Routledge, too, both here, when he was at Fulham previously, and when he went to Newcastle later on - a player who had the technical ability (and is showing it now at Swanseacelona) but wasn't able to show it most of the time.

I don't know whether the Championship is Davies' level, it may be more that he's built up a bit of confidence from playing without a huge price tag on his head. That's one thing I will say, we paid way, way too much for him, regardless.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I just read that Sunderland have managed a grand total of five shots on goal from their three league matches so far this season.

That's the MON way.

I was reading one of their forums today, and there was much moaning about sitting back and trying to play on the counter attack at home, and having no Plan B. A few of the posters were pointing this out, but most of them were calling them "knee jerkers" and moaners.

It was just like this place a few years ago.

Indeed. It even had a reference to 'happy clappers'. Wonderful read knowing it's not us any more.

[Percy McCarthy]

I was wondering where Greg had gone.

[dave.woodhall]

Did anyone mention Spurs' wages?

[pauliewalnuts]

Did anyone mention Spurs' wages?

Not for a while.

Last active: December 21, 2011, 01:06:42 AM

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Did anyone mention Spurs' wages?

Just one fella called 'MackemCat'.