by bigmick » Thu Feb 05, 2009 9:48 pm
Well I've no idea who he should have bought to be perfectly honest. My issue isn't generally about an individual player here or there, it's about the overall policy. The question quite simply is are we building a team which is capable of winning the title, and a squad which is capable of supporting that push? My opinion is that we aren't, particularly in the second phase. There has to be for me a coherent policy, not a scatter gun approach of chuck em all together and we'll see what happens which is how it appears sometimes.
We've just played three matches against Everton and their two central defenders I thought were excellent. Phil Jagielka (who is maturing into a proper centre half) and Jolean Lescott. Jagielka was Sheffield Uniteds best player by a country mile when they played in the Premiership for a season, so it is not that surprising that he's managing to turn himself into a footballer. Lescott was watched by all and sundry when playing in the Championship, like Cahill before him and Ashley Young more recently. I'd like to see us at least have a look locally, (by that I mean English) before we go off to the four corners of the earth.
Of the two lads Everton brought on as subs, I really liked the black lad who played in front of the back four (can't remember his name). I don't think the kid who scored the goal will make it, but he will. I'd like to see us look at some local kids and sort out this ridiculous and petulant power struggle which currently blocks their progression.
As for buys for the first team, we really do have to look at the way we play football and address the fact that we don't make enough goalscoring opportunites. It really is a ssimple as that, and those who go off on one each time anyone discussed the manager and his policy must be wtching a different game to me. We don't play with sufficient fluency, imagination and guile to consistently break teams down. Nine times out of ten it's a Torres Gerrard combo, or a moment from one or the other. Quite simply we have to buy some offensive players who are good at being offensive.
Rather than look back, it might be better to look sideways. He hasn't played a game for them yet, so it doesn't get much earlier than this, but I'm happy to open myself up for ridicule and predict that Arshavin will be a good signing for Arsenal. I think he'll be a good player over here, and I think he'll be well worth the money they've paid for him. He is precisely the kind of player we should ne going in for IMHO. He may not run around all day, but we do have a bit of cover in that department it seems to me. Quote me when he flops, but Arshavin at 15 million quid a pop is the sort of player we should be in for.
"se e in una bottigla ed e bianco, e latte".