journeyman
Well-Known Member
- Jul 26, 2005
- 931
- 3,657
I couldn't believe the negativity on here this evening.
I think it's been an excellent window.
(1) We managed to keep all our best players: Modric, Bale and Van der Vaart. This was despite not having Champions League football to offer and in the face of intense interest - and general expectation we would sell - in relation to Modric. Great credit to Levy here for not giving in.
(2) With a strong team that managed to finish fourth and fifth in the last two seasons, we still managed to improve our first eleven considerably with the addition of three key players in Friedel, Parker and Adebayor. A more consistent, reliable goalkeeper; a tough Footballer of the Year midfielder, who will drive the team on in key matches; and the kind of complete striker we've been crying out for. Great signings.
(3) We managed to get great money for some players who wouldn't have featured in our first eleven this year - Palacios, Crouch, Hutton, O'Hara, Keane - and to temporarily offload others on expensive wages - Jenas, Bentley. We made a significant profit in doing this, which can only be good for the club.
It wasn't a perfect window of course - it never is - I would have liked if we could have signed Cahill and would have preferred to offload Pav rather than Crouch. But it was a damn good window overall. Particularly when you consider Arsenal are massively weakened - anyone thinking Arteta and Benayoun are adequate replacements for Fabregas and Nasri are kidding themselves - and when so many of Liverpool's signings (Henderson, Adam, an aging Bellamy) are of questionable value. And when you consider these two latter sides will be our main rivals for a fourth place finish, I'm fairly optimistic anyway.
I think it's been an excellent window.
(1) We managed to keep all our best players: Modric, Bale and Van der Vaart. This was despite not having Champions League football to offer and in the face of intense interest - and general expectation we would sell - in relation to Modric. Great credit to Levy here for not giving in.
(2) With a strong team that managed to finish fourth and fifth in the last two seasons, we still managed to improve our first eleven considerably with the addition of three key players in Friedel, Parker and Adebayor. A more consistent, reliable goalkeeper; a tough Footballer of the Year midfielder, who will drive the team on in key matches; and the kind of complete striker we've been crying out for. Great signings.
(3) We managed to get great money for some players who wouldn't have featured in our first eleven this year - Palacios, Crouch, Hutton, O'Hara, Keane - and to temporarily offload others on expensive wages - Jenas, Bentley. We made a significant profit in doing this, which can only be good for the club.
It wasn't a perfect window of course - it never is - I would have liked if we could have signed Cahill and would have preferred to offload Pav rather than Crouch. But it was a damn good window overall. Particularly when you consider Arsenal are massively weakened - anyone thinking Arteta and Benayoun are adequate replacements for Fabregas and Nasri are kidding themselves - and when so many of Liverpool's signings (Henderson, Adam, an aging Bellamy) are of questionable value. And when you consider these two latter sides will be our main rivals for a fourth place finish, I'm fairly optimistic anyway.
