Summer Transfer Thread - The Verdict.

[mallo]

5.5/10 for me - Carlos and Kamara are upgrades and I guess Coutinho should be seen as an upgrade if he can get some form. It might just be that Dendoncker shores up the midfield enough that we actually have a goal threat, but the lack of a striker for me is a big miss. We just don't have any real options. Hoping Archer can step up I guess. I do feel that unless we get SG out then it's 'worth' a 4.5 due to the lack of any gameplan.

[paul_e]

On whoscored in the team page they have a section listing strengths and weaknesses. I think it hits on exactly why we did the business we did yesterday:

- Weaknesses
Finishing scoring chances - Weak
Defending against long shots - Weak
Defending counter attacks - Weak
Avoiding individual errors - Weak
Defending set pieces - Very Weak

They list the same for players so strengths for them:
Dendoncker
Aerial Duels - Strong
Concentration - Strong

Bednarek
Ball interception - Very Strong
Aerial Duels - Strong
Holding on to the ball - Strong
Concentration - Strong

So they are pretty obviously addressing the bottom 2. The 2nd and 3rd are where Gerrard needs to fix his tactics. That leaves the obvious gap that we need to be more ruthless up front, which i think we all agree is the thing we didn't address in the window.

[Small Rodent]

The one small hope I’m clinging on to is that they’ve decided to keep Luiz because they’re hopeful a new manager will play him correctly and therefore persuade him to sign a new deal.  Ditto Bailey, Sanson (not new deals but to be played).

Same thinking here.

[chrisw1]

It's a pretty underwhelming end to the widnow.

Kamara was excellent business.  Coutinho was on paper, unfortunately on the field it's yet to prove to be.

I suspect we'll never see the best of Carlos.  As for Dendonker and Bednarek, they're the definition of underwhelming.  I think both are ok and will improve our squad a bit, but they're hardly signings that will help us close te gap with the top 6/7 or even keep pace with Newcastle.

Last Jan we had a pretty short window to get a jump on Newcastle whilst they battled relegation and consolidated before making their move.  The respective appointments of Howe and Gerrard put paid to that, and our timidity in the market this summer has prety much ended any hopes.

[Scott Nielsen]

Maybe our owners have looked at Chelsea spending 283m, just to try and hold onto third, and had a rethink.

What would we have to spend over the next five years to catch up with the very best clubs? A billion? More?

[Rigadon]

Maybe our owners have looked at Chelsea spending 283m, just to try and hold onto third, and had a rethink.

What would we have to spend over the next five years to catch up with the very best clubs? A billion? More?

That isn't new news though is it?

[ChicagoLion]

Maybe our owners have looked at Chelsea spending 283m, just to try and hold onto third, and had a rethink.

What would we have to spend over the next five years to catch up with the very best clubs? A billion? More?

That isn't new news though is it?

which is why the emphasis on youth and trying to supplement thransfers with home grown. However it looks like that policy has been discarded as we don’t seem to want to bring them into the first team set up.