Pre-Season Shouts

[Matt1878]

With the weekend being a total shitfest and the first signs of Moyes out creeping into the match-day thread, is it time for an amnesty of our pre-seasom shouts? What was your position early August... that you can quote if challenged? Persoanally..

Got it right...

Keane ... I was pro Keane, a no brainer to resign, best 4th choice CB available etc etc.

Alcaraz.. from day 1 I've been sold on him and he needs to be starting over KDH for me now.

Dibling.. I was of the opinion that, sure... he might be great....based on zero evidence... but for the money we were paying, its a mad gamble over more pressing needs elsewhere. Yet to be proven right but... well... we'll see.

DCL - I didn't want to see a new contract, because he wont score and he'll get injured. Early days and he is still making the 1st 11 at Leeds without breaking down, but he just doesnt score enough and never will.

Hold my hands up...

Grealish - I cant remember being particularly vocal about it but my immediate thoughts were no. When we signed him I thought fuck it yes I'm in but can't say I was sold on it until I saw him in the shirt.

Beto - I've been a vocal supporter of him through the summer, I felt he had earned his chance. But he's not good enough and he wont ever be and its now being amplified by how good our wingers are at putting goals on a plate for him each week, that he's shitting the bed over on a regular basis.

[Toddacelli]

Generally I was excited. Now, largely I am disappointed. I bought into the YouTube vids and now I want my money back.

Mostly I am disappointed in Moyes. Why is Garner or Coleman not playing RB? Why is O’Brien not playing CB? We have more midfielders than ever so why does every team stroll through our midfield at will? We figured out how to play Beto in for good quality chances last season so why have we abandoned it this season?

You know that meme where the dude slaps some tape onto a leaking container? Well Grealish is the tape and the water is no right back, no goalscorers and no system - only the tape isn’t stopping the leaks.

[AjaxAndy]

Grealish would be great
Buy Alcaraz as he's better than Moyes thinks
Beto's shit (but I've always l said that, it just took others longer to catch on)
Keane would be worth keeping as backup

So far my misses have probably been KDH having more of an impact and a top half finish looking a bit of a reach at present.

[TheRam]

Mostly right as per.

Promoted sides a lot more competitive, especially sunderland whose business i said was really good.

We didn’t wait late in the window to sign high quality players. Turns out we panic bought and left ourselves short because we left it too late. Called that

Said not to expect much from Barry because he’s very raw and did question why we were adding another raw striker to the books.

Said ndyiae would explode which he has.

Still think I was right about Keane as well. 14th in the league, defence underperforming. It’s the usual when he’s at the heart of the defence. Should have said bye and signed some actual defenders.

Oh and the south stand is a load of fucking shite as well.

[Blues Mahoney]

Probably got most things wrong tbh.

I might not have posted but I'll try and remember what I thought:

Keane: Was ok with him as 4th choice, didn't want him starting ️ (still worried though)

Myko: Thought he'd be pretty good in Moyes system ️

RB: We needed a new one. I think every single fan thought this - ️

Midfield: Was worried about the lack of Anchor Man (Sitter, what ever you want to call them. Still worried) ️

Grealish: Thought he'd actually be better than he has been, thought he'd be a number 10 and try to pull the team up with N'Diaye ️

KDH: Thought he'd be ok, decent squad player (he's been ok in parts) ️

Strikers: Thought we'd have enough between Beto and Barry, thought we'd see a fair amount of goals ️

Dibling: Thought it was too much money and they were having our pants down. Didn't think we were in a position yet to be making expensive risks given our recent money troubles. Would have preferred a pacey, first team ready winger for that money ️

Moyes: Thought he'd have us comfortable all season around 11th/10th. Thought after quarter of the games we'd be on about 15 points due to my belief that our start was quite favourable ️

Meh. 'Could do better' would be my report.

[AjaxAndy]

Mostly right as per.

Promoted sides a lot more competitive, especially sunderland whose business i said was really good.

We didn’t wait late in the window to sign high quality players. Turns out we panic bought and left ourselves short because we left it too late. Called that

Said not to expect much from Barry because he’s very raw and did question why we were adding another raw striker to the books.

Said ndyiae would explode which he has.

Still think I was right about Keane as well. 14th in the league, defence underperforming. It’s the usual when he’s at the heart of the defence. Should have said bye and signed some actual defenders.

Oh and the south stand is a load of fucking shite as well.

Think it's interesting that despite probably being in our top 3 players so far this season, and the defence under performing largely because of the other 3 incumbents your confirmation bias is still screaming 'yeah it's all because of Keane, knew I was right about not keeping him'.

Of the many issues we have Keane so far at least has not been one of them.

[TheRam]

Think it's interesting that despite probably being in our top 3 players so far this season, and the defence under performing largely because of the other 3 incumbents your confirmation bias is still screaming 'yeah it's all because of Keane, knew I was right about not keeping him'.

Of the many issues we have Keane so far at least has not been one of them.

It’s quite simple really.

We re-signed Keane, decided because of that we don’t need to sign a right back because obrien can play there and left ourselves really short in the defence, to the point where James garner has been our best full back.

Was it that big of a deal to sign Keane? No. But did it stop us properly strengthening the defence? Yes, and we are paying the price.

Rather he didn’t sign and we obrien was playing centre half and we had a proper right back.

[AjaxAndy]

It’s quite simple really.

We re-signed Keane, decided because of that we don’t need to sign a right back because obrien can play there and left ourselves really short in the defence, to the point where James garner has been our best full back.

Was it that big of a deal to sign Keane? No. But did it stop us properly strengthening the defence? Yes, and we are paying the price.

Rather he didn’t sign and we obrien was playing centre half and we had a proper right back.

Yes because not re-signing Keane for no outlay would have allowed us to spend £25m on a right back. Not sure the maths add up there.

A better argument would be we should have signed an RB instead of Dibling, that would add up financially.

[TheRam]

Yes because not re-signing Keane for no outlay would have allowed us to spend £25m on a right back. Not sure the maths add up there.

A better argument would be we should have signed an RB instead of Dibling, that would add up financially.

Who’s saying anything about signing a right back for £25m?

[AjaxAndy]

Who’s saying anything about signing a right back for £25m?

Your whole argument is we didn't sign an RB because we retained Keane, so unless we found a good RB for the same outlay the two things don't add up... Unless you're saying we should have signed an RB on a free?

We tried that, didn't come off... KWP wanted £125k a week which he got at West Ham so I'm not sure anyone would have advocated for that.

Not sure how you're working all this out financially but it doesn't look like it holds much water unless I'm missing something?

[brap2]

What do you know, the lot of us entirely correct year after year