The summer signings

[jeowje]

I'm hopeful as always, but far from expectant.

This 'yound and hungry' requirement is all well and good, but haven't we already got too many 'young and hungry' academy players that are just not good enough? We actually need the players to be better than we alraedy have, thats the point. Hopefully they will be.

[ktvillan]

I'm going 6/10.  Good signings for the medium and longer term, assuming Lambert's judgement is correct and they can hack it at PL level.  However my concern is that we might still be a bit short of top level experience for the short term, and could find ourselves struggling because of that.  And by top level experience, it doesn't necessarily mean premier league, I'm thinking we could have done with maybe two more players out of the same bracket as Vlaar and KEA.

[Percy McCarthy]

A couple of posters have picked up on something I was thinking and hoping - that the sheer volume of new faces can change the culture at the club. An acquaintance of mine spoke to TSM recently, who told him how GMac had warned him that ours was the worst dressing room he'd ever known. TSM thought he could turn that round but couldn't. More excuses maybe, but unlike his others it has a ring of truth about it.

[Quiet Lion]

Keown reckons we could go down. Twunt.

Could......

Well I would have to agree with him.

I am usually a pretty positive supporter, especially compared to most on here. Yet I can't help but think we will need a bit of luck this season to stay up.

Happy ish with the signings, but if the likes of Gabby and N'zog carry on last years form, and Dunne continues to be a liability & we dont sort out our inability to defend set pieces, then yeah we could struggle.

If we were comfortable mid table last year, then I would be happier with the signings, as it is we will need this lot to gel and adapt to the league fairly sharpish.

[maidstonevillain]

A couple of posters have picked up on something I was thinking and hoping - that the sheer volume of new faces can change the culture at the club. An acquaintance of mine spoke to TSM recently, who told him how GMac had warned him that ours was the worst dressing room he'd ever known. TSM thought he could turn that round but couldn't. More excuses maybe, but unlike his others it has a ring of truth about it.

You somehow do get the feeling that has a more than a ring of truth. A legacy of the MON years, perhaps due to the type of players he used to buy and the way he used to control them, and the club. GH probably recognised this also, hence the alienation of a number of the players, and why he almost ended up in an early grave. And TSM was probably just too nice to deal with it.

Perhaps Lamberts plan is first to dilute he poison.

[JUAN PABLO]

who was the pillock that put 0/10   

[ozzjim]

A couple of posters have picked up on something I was thinking and hoping - that the sheer volume of new faces can change the culture at the club. An acquaintance of mine spoke to TSM recently, who told him how GMac had warned him that ours was the worst dressing room he'd ever known. TSM thought he could turn that round but couldn't. More excuses maybe, but unlike his others it has a ring of truth about it.

You somehow do get the feeling that has a more than a ring of truth. A legacy of the MON years, perhaps due to the type of players he used to buy and the way he used to control them, and the club. GH probably recognised this also, hence the alienation of a number of the players, and why he almost ended up in an early grave. And TSM was probably just too nice to deal with it.

Perhaps Lamberts plan is first to dilute he poison.

I think Collins, Warnock and Hutton being jettisoned so fast point to this being a real possibility. One advantage of buying the younger style is that they can be moulded more easily and leave their egos at the door. Maybe that is the plan. Plus a good few of them have been leaders at their clubs, Vlaar, Westwood etc.

[JUAN PABLO]

Keown reckons we could go down. Twunt.

wish he would stick to ringing the bells . Twat

[oldtimernow]

who was the pillock that put 0/10   

MON?   

or the anti Randy brigade?

[levico]

I gave 7 but now think I might have over marked. Still can't see any creative midfield players who are going to create chances for the strikers. Unless of course Gabby and Albrighton come back with a bang.

[Ian.]

A couple of posters have picked up on something I was thinking and hoping - that the sheer volume of new faces can change the culture at the club. An acquaintance of mine spoke to TSM recently, who told him how GMac had warned him that ours was the worst dressing room he'd ever known. TSM thought he could turn that round but couldn't. More excuses maybe, but unlike his others it has a ring of truth about it.

You somehow do get the feeling that has a more than a ring of truth. A legacy of the MON years, perhaps due to the type of players he used to buy and the way he used to control them, and the club. GH probably recognised this also, hence the alienation of a number of the players, and why he almost ended up in an early grave. And TSM was probably just too nice to deal with it.

Perhaps Lamberts plan is first to dilute he poison.

I think Collins, Warnock and Hutton being jettisoned so fast point to this being a real possibility. One advantage of buying the younger style is that they can be moulded more easily and leave their egos at the door. Maybe that is the plan. Plus a good few of them have been leaders at their clubs, Vlaar, Westwood etc.

It does make sense. They don't seem a likable bunch of players. I would like to hear what Sid, KMac and Houlier really truly thought of the crowd MON left behind. One day we might find out.

[brian green]

The point about the dressing room morale is well made.   One of the biggest pluses about buying young and relatively inexperienced players is that they have not had time for their egos to to become inflated.   You only have to look at what a player Ireland was with Citeh before it all went to his head and he became - and may well still be - a problem player.   I remember very clearly the signing of the white Andy Gray for peanuts from a team playing on the edge of the arctic circle.   Then we saw that he could jump a foot and a half higher than his markers and gave ourselves a big pat on the back for being so shrewd.

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

Im quite surprised with the high numbers people are giving, we have not signed one proven Premier League footballer. Indeed most of the signings are people we have all never heard of.
I would dearly love to share your optimism but i just dont, hence my vote of 1. We NEEDED experience. In reality history proves that most of our youngsters (most of our team) wont make it.
If history is to be proved correct then we will be playing Championship football next year.
Lets hope we can rewrite the record books eh.

Nzogbia is a "proven experienced premier league player" and cost £9m. On that basis Lambert would of had to spend £72m to bring in eight players !! We will now be hungry and players will give 100%. Vlaar is a captain from a team in the champions league. Al Hamidi is already proving to be top quality and Ho;man is another international player along with Benteke who gives us another dimension. We are now building for the future and i trust Lambert to get this team to progress into a very good and hard to beat team .............

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

I think the truth is none of us know how they're all going to turn out.  But if you're trying to be objective, or were looking at us from the outside, there is cause for concern:

1. We've had an awful start.
2. Our existing squad wasn't that great to start with.
3. None of our new signings have much experience in the Premier League or a league of similar quality;
4. Of those experienced pros that we do have - most seem uncommitted (Warnock, Dunne), are on the slide (Given), shit (Hutton), or unreliable (Ireland, N'Zogbia, Agbonlahor).  Excluding Petrov for obvious reasons, it leaves Darren Bent as the only proven and reliable Premier League player we have.
5.  At least 3 of the new signings seem to be Lambert's second choices - it looks like he wanted Dempsey, Cresswell and Stephens - he got Benteke, Bennett and Westwood.
6.  Even if 2 or 3 of the new/recent signings turn out to be stars or even just solid, mid-table players, it's going to take awhile for them to knit together into an effective squad.

So we're effectively trusting that Paul Lambert has got it right and/or there are three other teams who are worse than us. 

[Chipsticks]

I think the truth is none of us know how they're all going to turn out.  But if you're trying to be objective, or were looking at us from the outside, there is cause for concern:

1. We've had an awful start.
2. Our existing squad wasn't that great to start with.
3. None of our new signings have much experience in the Premier League or a league of similar quality;
4. Of those experienced pros that we do have - most seem uncommitted (Warnock, Dunne), are on the slide (Given), shit (Hutton), or unreliable (Ireland, N'Zogbia, Agbonlahor).  Excluding Petrov for obvious reasons, it leaves Darren Bent as the only proven and reliable Premier League player we have.
5.  At least 3 of the new signings seem to be Lambert's second choices - it looks like he wanted Dempsey, Cresswell and Stephens - he got Benteke, Bennett and Westwood.
6.  Even if 2 or 3 of the new/recent signings turn out to be stars or even just solid, mid-table players, it's going to take awhile for them to knit together into an effective squad.

So we're effectively trusting that Paul Lambert has got it right and/or there are three other teams who are worse than us. 

I don't think it will come down to this, but Reading, Southampton, and Norwich are all worse than us in my opinion.