Ole and his dross signings

[FrankDrebin]

Maguire - Overpriced, I think everyone will acknowledge that, but he's been a good signing for the club.
Comfortable on the ball, great in the air, continually fit and seems a good character.
He's had a somewhat indifferent campaign though. He's had some real lows and some real highs. Still, I have few issues with him to continue performing in our back four.
Tactically its hard to play a high line with him though.
7/10

AWB - questions again regarding his price but he's still at a good age and will likely continue to be our mainstay RB for years to come.
Slightly awkward approach at times and he does need to continue in developing his off the ball movement, both defensively and offensively.
Like last seasons he's still hindered at the present considering we have no out-and-out right sided winger for him to build a proper connection with.
7/10

James - Speed merchant who has the knack of popping up with the occasional goal.
Tactically quite effective on the counter and works his rear end off but technical aspects are really lacking in his overall game.
Still 50/50 whether he'll have a long term future at the club. Has admirers around the country though.
5/10

Bruno - Best signing the club has made since RVP. Hugely influential figure.
9/10

Telles - Slightly underwhelming so far. He's had some good halfs and some rather uninspiring ones. Expected more quality with his delivery and set-pieces.
Still, I think he'll continue to grow more influential in time. But he'll always be a back-up for me.
6/10

Cavani - He's given the fans and management a real sense of being more appreciative towards the classic number 9 forward in our current set-up but his injury concerns continue to be an issue, as we knew before hand. Has produced some good moments this season with some classy finishes, while also producing some real odd-ball moments, though this seems synonymous with Cavani throughout his time in Europe.
7/10

Beek - Hugely disappointing so far. Looks mentally and physically unprepared for the English game at the present.
Still, I wouldn't write him off just yet.
And, if it comes down to it, he will always have his admirers abroad, if we were thinking of moving him on. Has the potential of being a makeweight in the summer.
(Can see him fitting in well at Dortmund or Barca for example.)
4/10

Pellestri and Diallo ? obviously far too early to come to a solid conclusion .

 

[RkkMan]

We had a better defensive record (conceded less goals) with a midfield of Pogba and Herrera with Smalling and Lindelof at CB

Pogba/Herrera/Fellaini I fixed that(with Carrick on a few occasions)
If you remember we only used Pogba in a pivot mostly at the start of the season but Jose fixed it up when he became a liability defensively hence all the talk of "Pogba`s best position" and "Pogba is a LCM in a 4-3-3"
Jog your memory before posting fella

 

[Cassidy]

Pogba/Herrera/Fellaini I fixed that(with Carrick on a few occasions)
If you remember we only used Pogba in a pivot mostly at the start of the season but Jose fixed it up when he became a liability defensively hence all the talk of "Pogba`s best position" and "Pogba is a LCM in a 4-3-3"
Jog your memory before posting fella

Ole played Pogba and Herrera, maybe you should jog your memory

 

[devilish]

So if we played a midfield pivot of Fred/Pogba with a VVD/Ramos in place of Maguire our performances at the back would just magically improve then?? Surely even you can see how silly that sounds and we don`t use McFred in midfield in the smaller games when Pogba is fit anyway so I dont get your point


We`ve only used McFred mostly in the big games but in the smaller games when Pogba was fit he`s started mainly next to one of Matic/Fred/Scott that`s not being defensive. Nobody has suggested that AWB/Maguire are world class players but they`ve been good individually and the former still has room to improve to suggest they are big problems when we have zero structure in our midfield pivot, no RW and no performing ST is being very unfair. Even VVD/Ramos would look less good than they are with McFred/Matic in front of them and any attacking RB would likely struggle with practically no RW to properly link up with. If AWB is still performing poorly with a top class RW in front of him(and BTW he hasn`t been bar a few bad games) and if Maguire is still performing poorly with a Declan Rice in midfield next to Pogba(like AWB he hasnt been poor not an 80m CB but not poor) then we can firmly classify them as shocking signings.

Leicester simply have a world class scouting network. They`ve lost Mahrez, Kante, Maguire, Chilwell amongst other top players and still managed to be a solid top 6 team he`s not the only key player they`ve sold that they look better off without. If a player leaves a team and they seem to be better off without him but he still manages to improve the club he`s joined all these mental gymnastics are an extremely unnecessary part of a discussion unless this player HEAVILY flops in the club he joins which neither of the players I`ve mentioned have

Look mate we're going into circles here. The reality is that we spent ridiculously high for two solid but hardly spectacular signings, players who would never be world class. Its ridiculous to say that anyone wanting those players isn't at fault for their fee. Of course they were. They knew very well that Maguire and AWB would cost a bomb. Its like someone going to a Ferrari store. He knows that he'll be spending huge amount of money there.

However here's the thing. I don't think its entirely Ole's fault. Quite contrary I think that Maguire/AWB signing. Here's what I said in a previous post

Is it all Ole's fault though.

Let's rewind to season 2013-2014. An experienced CEO and the best manager the club had ever had ended up being replaced with Woodward and Moyes. Woodward had no idea of how to be a CEO of a club while Moyes had never managed a top club before. Moyes was allowed to stop any signings planned (ex Thiago) and to fire Sir Alex's men. That's a level of power not even prime Mourinho at Inter was allowed to do. We replaced the guys with his men including Jon Mourtough.

Moyes was fired few months later and he took most of his men with him. We went for LVG, a man who got fired at most of the biggest clubs in the world. LVG was allowed to bring whoever he wanted with little to no oversight whatsoever. At that point pressure was building against Woodward who then delegated transfer negotiation to Mat Judge ie someone whose got like zero knowledge about football. Evra would later on label Judge as incompetent and lazy. LVG had his contract renewed and then he was fired after winning the FA cup. Mou came in.

Mou had a similar record in terms of transfer signings. The club was now building a reputation of paying over the odds for players both in terms of fees and salaries. Mou was allowed to bring his own men but things starting to change towards the end of his tenure. In fact he was saddled with Mckenna and Carrick two people who had like zero experience in their new jobs. United's performance nosedived, Mou lost the dressing room and was sacked. Once again we first renewed the manager contract only to then sack him. Anyway Ole came in as a transitional manager and inherited Carrick and Mckenna whose only experience in their job was a disastrous term with Mou.

During that time some wise guy decided to give Jones a long term contract. God only knows why. If I remember well Rojo's contract was also renewed. Ole brought Phelan and a group of very inexperienced coaching staff with him. Ole did well and was given the job on a permanent basis. Talks of a DOF and technical director started to pop up at this point as scouts lamented how Mou shacked them.

Well our army of scouts were unleashed at that point and they went for......Maguire and AWB. These were very safe options, players who would never be world class but who wouldn't embarrass themselves at United. We basically paid 130m on two players who won't make the manager or the scouts look silly. The only gamble we took was James who was brought on Giggs advice. The guy had pace but little else. Meanwhile a proven EPL striker was sold off. The guy went at Inter who identified the reason why he was so unfit (dietary problems) and is now scoring piles of goals in the Serie A.

United were playing shit at this point and we desperately needed a top midfielder. We signed Bruno and he basically bailed not only the club but his manager as well.

Talks of a DOF and a technical director became frequent and it was evident last summer that a change in how we operate was imminent. The transfer strategy last summer were completely different to the year before. Caution went out of the window as the club signed VDB (Value signing), Telles (value signing), Cavani (value signing) and 2 kids. It seems that spending 100m on Sancho was stupid (which is) but spending around 50m on two kids with near zero experience at top level is not. Go figures.

This endless race for this top DOF and technical director came to an end few weeks ago and the club hired......Jon Mortough and Fletcher. The former was Moyes man and has been involved at the club for the past 7 'glorious' years. Fletcher on the other hand has around 20 minutes coaching experience in him.

So we've got a CEO who had never been a CEO of a top club before signing for us. We've got a DOF whose never been a DOF before getting the job. We've got a technical director who had never been a technical director (or anything else apart from a decent but not WC player) before. We've got Matt Judge whose prior of joining us had never been involved in football before. We've got a manager from Molde whose previous experience in the EPL was humiliating. Ole's first team coaches are two people whose experience in the job is pretty limited as well. His entire coaching staff bar Phelan is pretty inexperienced as well. Then of course there's a parody of bad signings, ridiculous contract extensions (we seem set to extend Bailly's contract as well btw), a crazy swap deal and silly salaries given.

There seem to be a pattern here ie a club whose got an aversion in hiring the best in the job, opting instead in hiring the random guy

Finally I am aware that Pep wanted Maguire . He also wanted Sanchez as well. Have you ever wondered why Shitty haven't signed them????

 

[RkkMan]

Ole played Pogba and Herrera, maybe you should jog your memory

For very few games in the season. Majority of our games that season we played a 4-3-3 with Pogba, Herrera and one of Carrick/Fellaini including in the EL final. Go check our game by game stats on Transfermarkt of the 16/17 season

Look mate we're going into circles here. The reality is that we spent ridiculously high for two solid but hardly spectacular signings, players who would never be world class. Its ridiculous to say that anyone wanting those players isn't at fault for their fee. Of course they were. They knew very well that Maguire and AWB would cost a bomb. Its like someone going to a Ferrari store. He knows that he'll be spending huge amount of money there.

However here's the thing. I don't think its entirely Ole's fault. Quite contrary I think that Maguire/AWB signing. Here's what I said in a previous post



Finally I am aware that Pep wanted Maguire . He also wanted Sanchez as well. Have you ever wondered why Shitty haven't signed them????

They dodged a bullet with Alexis but Maguire would have thrived in Pep`s system IMO he`d comfortably start ahead of Stones.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Bruno - fantastic signing. Got him at a reasonable price too.

Maguire - signed for 80 million to literally have the VVD effect. Failed. At 80 million, we got a good defender. Poor signing.

AWB - dont understand this guy. So good defensively, so odd in possession. 50 million = poor signing.

James - 15 million punt. May turn good. Not sure why people look through the fee. We clearly dont have unlimited funds. Poor signing.

VDB - a talented player but we don't know what to do with him. Jose, Moyes and LvG were crucified for such signings. Huge waste of money from Ole.

Cavani - I like this a lot. Was hoping we'd get more from him and maybe our young forwards will learn something. For free - great signing.

Amad - we spent 40 million on a kid, who has barely played professional football during the covid era. No comment - may turn out to be amazing. If not...

As always, we throw around a lot of money and have nothing to show for it. That said, a better manager would get a lot more out of these guys.

 

[Siorac]

The problem with our recruitment isn't just that we're signing players who are individually not good enough. That happens a fair bit, too, but there's always a risk of that.

However, we don't seem to give much thought to how a new signing will fit into the team. We signed a centre-back who not only doesn't cover for Lindelöf's weaknesses - he actually exposes them even more, as he's even slower. We want to play the ball out from the back - I think we want that because we do spend a lot of time passing it around in our own half - but we signed a right-back who's a pressing team's wet dream. We signed a midfielder who excels at ball retention and off-the-ball movement - but we play him as the replacement of our direct, goalscoring attacking midfielder who is the heartbeat of our entire style of play, as vague and undefined as that tends to be at times.

At times, we have a right side of Wan-Bissaka and James, with McTominay covering that side of midfield. That triangle is where the ball goes to cry. You cannot expect any sort of meaningful ball retention with one side of the team being so monumentally bad at that aspect of the game. I keep harping on about this but a very basic requirement should be that every player we sign is very comfortable on the ball. If they aren't, they shouldn't be signed, no matter how good they are at sliding tackles or sprinting.

 

[Rozay]

Should he be accountable for wasting an absolute fortune on a total dross?

Maguire - £ 80M
AWB - £ 50M
James - £ 15M
VDB - £ 45M

That’s around £ 200M on players that have either barely improved us or have done nothing at all, yet people are comfortable with giving him another summer of spending to mask his coaching inability?

The first two have been good signings. James is a poor footballer, although I could see the appeal in the gamble given he was young and unusually fast. But he’s poor.

VDB has been poor. He’s clearly playing with no confidence at all though. He’s scared shitless to be progressive and take any responsibility, and as a result he kept killing every attack yesterday by not making the obvious pass but instead trying to pass it sideways or backwards and hide. Still think there’s more in him simply because he just looks scared, which in theory could change at any given time and then we’ll see what he can do.

 

[devilish]

They dodged a bullet with Alexis but Maguire would have thrived in Pep`s system IMO he`d comfortably start ahead of Stones.

I very few much doubt it. Top EPL clubs need to play with a high line. That require pace to backtrack quickly. Maguire lack that.

 

[RkkMan]

I very few much doubt it. Top EPL clubs need to play with a high line. That require pace to backtrack quickly. Maguire lack that.

He`d have a fast CB playing next to him in Dias, a midfield that can actually retain possesion well and a system where the team dominates possession so he wouldn`t be forced to sit back so much .His marauding runs when he was at Leicester(who used to play a high line with him BTW) and ball playing ability would be twice as effective in City`s team than in this dysfunctional Utd team.

 

[Cassidy]

@RkkMan don’t understand the Stones comment. He has been excellent this season. He is keeping Laporte out of the side and he was very good at Everton (better than Maguire at Leicester)

 

[Giggsy13]

Why ignore Bruno, Telles and Cavani? He signed them as well

Telles has not been a good signing.

 

[Devil81]

People forget who was getting in the team before these signings. Ignore the price tags, that's nothing to do with the manager.

Maguire and AWB was a huge improvement on our previous defence.

James and vdB were reasonable upgrades that filled the space of Lingard, Andreas and Mata.

Telles is a clear upgrade on Williams.

Cavani was an upgrade on Ighalo.

Most importantly, these signings were available at the time - and we took the opportunity to improve the areas where possible.

Wow! So we've upgraded from Lidl to Aldi!!

 

[Lynty]

Wow! So we've upgraded from Lidl to Aldi!!

Funny that Aldi brand players are good enough to get second this season.

 

[Devil81]

Funny that Aldi brand players are good enough to get second this season.

It's a joke mate, don't take it too seriously.

Obviously a grade above Aldi standard

 

[Ludens the Red]

The problem with our recruitment isn't just that we're signing players who are individually not good enough. That happens a fair bit, too, but there's always a risk of that.

However, we don't seem to give much thought to how a new signing will fit into the team. We signed a centre-back who not only doesn't cover for Lindelöf's weaknesses - he actually exposes them even more, as he's even slower. We want to play the ball out from the back - I think we want that because we do spend a lot of time passing it around in our own half - but we signed a right-back who's a pressing team's wet dream. We signed a midfielder who excels at ball retention and off-the-ball movement - but we play him as the replacement of our direct, goalscoring attacking midfielder who is the heartbeat of our entire style of play, as vague and undefined as that tends to be at times.

At times, we have a right side of Wan-Bissaka and James, with McTominay covering that side of midfield. That triangle is where the ball goes to cry. You cannot expect any sort of meaningful ball retention with one side of the team being so monumentally bad at that aspect of the game. I keep harping on about this but a very basic requirement should be that every player we sign is very comfortable on the ball. If they aren't, they shouldn't be signed, no matter how good they are at sliding tackles or sprinting.

This is the most worrying thing about it all. It beggars belief that those within the club seemingly cannot identify our weaknesses and can’t seem to identify the right make up of players that we need to bring in.
The signing of van de Beek sums that all up.

The same summer we signed him, Hojgberg and Partey joined lesser clubs for similar money. It’s just completely astonishing.

 

[Lynty]

It's a joke mate, don't take it too seriously.

Obviously a grade above Aldi standard

Sorry I thought you were being serious.

I normally don't login a for a few days after a loss to avoid the morons.

 

[simonhch]

VDB was 30m, all the signings have been good. VDB needs time.

 

[SAFMUTD]

But also how are they performing
You’ve obviously went to an extreme end there

The perform is valued against the transfer fee and wages, I mean that the whole point making Alex Telles a succesfull transfer bought cheap and for average wages so its ok that he is a squad player, lets say he was signed for a premium fee and wages the expectation would be way higher and being a squad player would be seen as not good enough.

Same case with Maguire, paid a world record fee for him the transfer bar then is set for him to be a worldclass player, he is not, he is just a good player. That doesnt mean he is a failure as a player but it makes the transfer a failure.

 

[Rajma]

The perform is valued against the transfer fee and wages, I mean that the whole point making Alex Telles a succesfull transfer bought cheap and for average wages so its ok that he is a squad player, lets say he was signed for a premium fee and wages the expectation would be way higher and being a squad player would be seen as not good enough.

Same case with Maguire, paid a world record fee for him the transfer bar then is set for him to be a worldclass player, he is not, he is just a good player. That doesnt mean he is a failure as a player but it makes the transfer a failure.

Well put, same with AWB he’s just about OK, good 1x1 situations but bambi on the ice when on the ball and in attacking phases, how can anyone consider that a good return for 50M is beyond me, likely to be put aside by the manager that values footballing quality in players when Ole leaves. I think it’s telling that he’s not even getting England call ups.

 

[SAFMUTD]

Well put, same with AWB he’s just about OK, good 1x1 situations but bambi on the ice when on the ball and in attacking phases, how can anyone consider that a good return for 50M is beyond me, likely to be put aside by the manager that values footballing quality in players when Ole leaves. I think it’s telling that he’s not even getting England call ups.

Exactly my point, is AWB a failure as a player? no, of course not. He is an above average/good RB, but he is not a top RB which is what you expect for 50M.

 

[Rajma]

The problem with our recruitment isn't just that we're signing players who are individually not good enough. That happens a fair bit, too, but there's always a risk of that.

However, we don't seem to give much thought to how a new signing will fit into the team. We signed a centre-back who not only doesn't cover for Lindelöf's weaknesses - he actually exposes them even more, as he's even slower. We want to play the ball out from the back - I think we want that because we do spend a lot of time passing it around in our own half - but we signed a right-back who's a pressing team's wet dream. We signed a midfielder who excels at ball retention and off-the-ball movement - but we play him as the replacement of our direct, goalscoring attacking midfielder who is the heartbeat of our entire style of play, as vague and undefined as that tends to be at times.

At times, we have a right side of Wan-Bissaka and James, with McTominay covering that side of midfield. That triangle is where the ball goes to cry. You cannot expect any sort of meaningful ball retention with one side of the team being so monumentally bad at that aspect of the game. I keep harping on about this but a very basic requirement should be that every player we sign is very comfortable on the ball. If they aren't, they shouldn't be signed, no matter how good they are at sliding tackles or sprinting.

Good points, players shouldn’t be signed without having a good baseline ability on the ball as a first and foremost for a club like ours.

 

[SAFMUTD]

The problem with our recruitment isn't just that we're signing players who are individually not good enough. That happens a fair bit, too, but there's always a risk of that.

However, we don't seem to give much thought to how a new signing will fit into the team. We signed a centre-back who not only doesn't cover for Lindelöf's weaknesses - he actually exposes them even more, as he's even slower. We want to play the ball out from the back - I think we want that because we do spend a lot of time passing it around in our own half - but we signed a right-back who's a pressing team's wet dream. We signed a midfielder who excels at ball retention and off-the-ball movement - but we play him as the replacement of our direct, goalscoring attacking midfielder who is the heartbeat of our entire style of play, as vague and undefined as that tends to be at times.

At times, we have a right side of Wan-Bissaka and James, with McTominay covering that side of midfield. That triangle is where the ball goes to cry. You cannot expect any sort of meaningful ball retention with one side of the team being so monumentally bad at that aspect of the game. I keep harping on about this but a very basic requirement should be that every player we sign is very comfortable on the ball. If they aren't, they shouldn't be signed, no matter how good they are at sliding tackles or sprinting.

Agree with every word, it seems we dont have a specific plan on how we want to build our side. Players like Maguire and AWB work better under low block systems, where Maguire lack of pace isnt exposed and his superb aerial game shines, while AWB would just have to worry about defending 1 on 1, since the team would be a low block he wouldnt have to worry about being caught off position nor playing out from the back. Daniel James seems to be moulded for a low block counter attacking side as well since his main attributes are his stamina and pace, without actually the technical ability to win a 1 on 1 battle required when facing low blocks.

This players dont fit the system of ball retention nor high pressing playing out from the back that we seem to want to achieve sometimes. Now just like you said we need a CB that covers for our 80M CB weaknesses and a worldclass RW that compensates for AWB lack of offensive ability. We cover one hole while digging another one it seems.

 

[He'sRaldo]

I'm mostly Ole out, but I don't think his transfer market activity is a fair stick to beat him with. Maguire was laughably overpriced but that's not really his fault, and like him or not he is still a solid centre half who's improved us defensively

Problem is, Maguire has not improved us.

The only players who were improvements were AWB and Bruno. Everyone else was just big money and opportunity cost for just more of the same.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Problem is, Maguire has not improved us.

The only players who were improvements were AWB and Bruno. Everyone else was just big money and opportunity cost for just more of the same.

To be fair, Maguire is an improvement over Smalling simply by staying fit, something Chris is still struggling with over in Italy right now. It's just that the improvement is not 80m worthy.

 

[Amir]

Agree with every word, it seems we dont have a specific plan on how we want to build our side. Players like Maguire and AWB work better under low block systems, where Maguire lack of pace isnt exposed and his superb aerial game shines, while AWB would just have to worry about defending 1 on 1, since the team would be a low block he wouldnt have to worry about being caught off position nor playing out from the back.

I don't think there was every too much of a plan with those two. We were weak defensively, so we went and signed two players who will improve us in that department without thinking too deeply about the rest.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Should he be accountable for wasting an absolute fortune on a total dross?

Maguire - £ 80M
AWB - £ 50M
James - £ 15M
VDB - £ 45M

That’s around £ 200M on players that have either barely improved us or have done nothing at all, yet people are comfortable with giving him another summer of spending to mask his coaching inability?

£ 200M and none of those players would get into City's side. People keep saying "it's only £ 18M for James" as if that is pocket change. We would have done better to promote someone from the U23 side instead of buying James. Same goes for all 4 of those listed.

As mentioned, we were already also-rans in the title race last season. We are not catching City this one. £ 200M was spent and we are barely any closer to our goal.

 

[He'sRaldo]

To be fair, Maguire is an improvement over Smalling simply by staying fit, something Chris is still struggling with over in Italy right now. It's just that the improvement is not 80m worthy.

The other issue is that his weaknesses do not mesh very well with a big club playing on the front foot, and since Ole has a vested interest in hiding those weaknesses (seeing as he signed him for 80m and made him captain), our entire setup is often hindered because of him.

That said, if he cost 20m-30m less and was not given the armband (thus allowing space for a true leader in the defense) Maguire would most likely be viewed as a successful replacement to an ageing Smalling. Right now he's judged as Utd's answer to VVD, which he simply cannot be.

 

[0le]

Maguire and AWB have been okay. They have weaknesses sure, but they have not been disastrous signings like Sanchez and Schweinsteiger etc. Only VdB has really been poor so far and I say so far because it is his first season - he can still very easily turn it around. James was just a punt and has shown in recent weeks that he can do a job. Sometimes you need those players.

 

[SirScholes]

The perform is valued against the transfer fee and wages, I mean that the whole point making Alex Telles a succesfull transfer bought cheap and for average wages so its ok that he is a squad player, lets say he was signed for a premium fee and wages the expectation would be way higher and being a squad player would be seen as not good enough.

Same case with Maguire, paid a world record fee for him the transfer bar then is set for him to be a worldclass player, he is not, he is just a good player. That doesnt mean he is a failure as a player but it makes the transfer a failure.

I just don’t see it as black and white
There are a lot of other factors that go into signing a home based proven player in his peak years from a rival team, and one of their best as well.

he’s been a great addition to the squad, our board are shit at handling transfers and everyone knows it, if we only bought players for their face value worth we’d be starting the season with Jones bailly and lindloff.
I put little blame at Oles door for the prices being paid

 

[Lassitude42]

Ole's signings have mostly been good. I think people forget the absolute dross he inherited, and he's moving us in the right direction. The task is far from complete though, there's still far too little quality across the squad. We're 4-5 first teamers away from challenging still.

For me OGS's transfers aren't the issue, it's the coaching / tactical side of things where he is more at fault.

 

[Paddy B]

For very few games in the season. Majority of our games that season we played a 4-3-3 with Pogba, Herrera and one of Carrick/Fellaini including in the EL final. Go check our game by game stats on Transfermarkt of the 16/17 season


They dodged a bullet with Alexis but Maguire would have thrived in Pep`s system IMO he`d comfortably start ahead of Stones.

You are spot on about Alexis but totally disagree on Stones. He has been amazing this season both defensively and going forward. Very classy player but must do it over several seasons...we will have to wait and see whether he can continue to play at his present level. I also heard a rumour that City were interested in Fred at some point but this may not have been true.

 

[LovelyLittlePanda]

Judging Telles on his once a month cup appearance

He's a really good backup leftback and he got our main LB playing better, what's not to like? He's also content with his place in the squad, which is nice.

Cavani's done well considering he was on a free.

Maguire was massively overpriced but he is our best CB.

Bruno's the best signing in the post SAF era.

I don't rate James, but for the money it was an acceptable gamble if the scouts or Ole saw something in him. He's doing okay at being a squad player currently and we won't lose a lot of money if we sell him.

It's too soon to tell with both AWB and VDB. The former has been massively overplayed, while the latter has lost all confidence. I'll have a verdict ready at Xmas.

It's a pretty good transfer record, just like Mourinho's. What I like about Ole is that he got Amad and Pellistri for the future when we couldn't afford Sancho. Mourinho was all about short term, like the Matic signing.

Not every signing is succesful, even for the best managers. SAF had about 33% poor signings and another ~20% were debatable.

 

[bsCallout]

Maguire - Overpriced but a good player to get.

AWB - Overpriced but a good player to get.

Bruno - Top purchase

James - Decent punt. Should get 15m back if we want rid.

Telles - Decent back up option

Cavani - Nice little bit of experience for the youngsters

VDB - Not writing him off yet. Think he'd benefit from playing with a proper CDM.

Amad - Buy of the decade.

We've also got rid of players that we needed to and I'm sure this summer will be much of the same.

There are definite question marks over what he is actually getting out of this team and squad, but the purchases are good.

Some one have a word with Matt and Ed about the prices they're paying though. Seems like they negotiate and then offer more than the other club counters with.

'That'll be 50mil' 'Great, here's 80m'

 

[Smores]

The worse part is how bad of a fit most of our signings are. It's like we've seen them play well elsewhere and just decided to get them in without any reflection on fit.

It's not all on Ole of course but neither is he excused for the price tags. I'm sure the manager has a say in whether we blow a load on one player or spend on multiple positions instead. If Ole thought spending that much money wouldn't block other transfers he's a bit gullible.

He also must have a say on alternative options, which means AWB and Maguire were signed with their deficiencies known.

 

[youmeletsfly]

Maguire - Overpriced, I think everyone will acknowledge that, but he's been a good signing for the club.
Comfortable on the ball, great in the air, continually fit and seems a good character.
He's had a somewhat indifferent campaign though. He's had some real lows and some real highs. Still, I have few issues with him to continue performing in our back four.
Tactically its hard to play a high line with him though.
7/10

AWB - questions again regarding his price but he's still at a good age and will likely continue to be our mainstay RB for years to come.
Slightly awkward approach at times and he does need to continue in developing his off the ball movement, both defensively and offensively.
Like last seasons he's still hindered at the present considering we have no out-and-out right sided winger for him to build a proper connection with.
7/10

James - Speed merchant who has the knack of popping up with the occasional goal.
Tactically quite effective on the counter and works his rear end off but technical aspects are really lacking in his overall game.
Still 50/50 whether he'll have a long term future at the club. Has admirers around the country though.
5/10

Bruno - Best signing the club has made since RVP. Hugely influential figure.
9/10

Telles - Slightly underwhelming so far. He's had some good halfs and some rather uninspiring ones. Expected more quality with his delivery and set-pieces.
Still, I think he'll continue to grow more influential in time. But he'll always be a back-up for me.
6/10

Cavani - He's given the fans and management a real sense of being more appreciative towards the classic number 9 forward in our current set-up but his injury concerns continue to be an issue, as we knew before hand. Has produced some good moments this season with some classy finishes, while also producing some real odd-ball moments, though this seems synonymous with Cavani throughout his time in Europe.
7/10

Beek - Hugely disappointing so far. Looks mentally and physically unprepared for the English game at the present.
Still, I wouldn't write him off just yet.
And, if it comes down to it, he will always have his admirers abroad, if we were thinking of moving him on. Has the potential of being a makeweight in the summer.
(Can see him fitting in well at Dortmund or Barca for example.)
4/10

Pellestri and Diallo ? obviously far too early to come to a solid conclusion .

Let;s be honest for a bit:
Maguire :
-Decent on the ball, decent in the air
-It takes him 2 minutes to receive and pass the ball around
-Scores 1 in 10 clear headers
-His positioning is atrocious - the amount of times Lindelof covers for his ass is laughable (I never thought I'd ever say Lindelof would cover another CB)
-For 80 mil paid, there is no way he's more than a 6/10

AWB:
- I really hope you were taking the piss in your post
- How's AWB a player that will secure our right side for years to come? My god, the guy can barely hit a ball and his positioning is even worse than Maguire's.
- Bar VdB, he's our worst signing, especially considering the 55M paid for him
- At best a 4/10

James:
- Not going to bother, nothing player

Bruno:
- 8/10 when he's in form - brilliant player
- 6/10 when he isn't (at least he is pressing aggressively)
- 2/10 when out of form and he's not running (when he's shit he basically is 100% absent, like Martial's most games to be honest)
- our best signing by a country mile

Telles
- Good back-up for Luke, solid 6.5/10

Cavani:
- He is two levels above all our forwards and he's 33 - kind of sums it up
- 7/10

DvB:
- People are saying he'll come good but I don't think so
- There's a reason he came to us for 40M instead of going somewhere else
- 2/10

 

[He'sRaldo]

I reckon the fact that we've been in the dumps a bit is colouring the transfers positively.

A good way to think of it is, imagine Moyes had signed and played these players straight off the back of Rio, Vidic, Evra, Nani, Rooney, Carrick etc. and then not won any trophies. Most would not be viewed as more than a 5/10, maybe AWB would be a 6 and Bruno a 7.

But the fact that Moyes signed dross, LVG signed dross, and then Mourinho signed dross, has made us overrate average/above average signings.

 

[Acquire Me]

Another tedious thread totally knee jerked after a defeat in a tough game.
We have some of the worst fans out there.

Shit fans. It’s crazy how "supporters" support these days.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

Maguire was laughably overpriced but that's not really his fault, and like him or not he is still a solid centre half who's improved us defensively.

I’d say it is because we could have walked away from the deal.

At the point you’re spending £80mil on any player they have to be transformative in their impact; Maguires biggest weaknesses were/are clear to see - he was never worth the distribution of those funds at that time.

The notion he has improved is defensively isn’t exactly true. Yes we improved from the 18/19 debacle but our goals conceded were as follows. . .

15/16 - 35
16/17 - 29
17/18 - 28
18/19 - 54
19/20 - 36
20/21 - 32 [with games to play]

We are no better defensively than we were prior to the outlier. I can say definitely but is our improvement with a £80mil reinforcement any better than it would have been with a £30-£40mil alternative; how much did Soyoncu cost Leicester for example, we shouldn’t be spending £80mil on players when the squad is so deficient.

He was always the wrong signing.

 

[SER19]

Don't think this is an area you can criticise for him at all really. In 2 full seasons our squad is clearly stronger and has a net spend averaging 90m a season. Overall the balance of squad is far better but underperforming