it's not difficult to understand, we improve the bench but not the first XII fully expected that by the end of this season Biss & Spence would would be first team regulars alongside Perisic..... Esp. Biss...... No way he just came here to pick up the slack created by Winks going out on loan; he was already a top PL MF.
Irony here is that Perisic (of all the new guys; the player who has Conte's name on him the most) has probably been the worst signing of the lot.
Worse because of Hugo & Son's performances, but no-one came into this season expecting anything other than plenty of goals from Son.
...And yet the guy you're routinely defending didn't see fit to make the most of said bench and swap them out.
Pardon me for underlining this, but you already said in the same post that a) we did improve the squad and b) that we didn't improve the squad. Doesn't give the impression you're being entirely on the level.....
(See top of post.)
I've said before, but our trf business pointed towards a shift to the 352 that Conte more commonly used, but he never came close to pulling the trigger on it.
Biss at CM
Peri/Spence - 2 WBs with an emphasis on attack.
Richy making for 4 really good options to rotate in the front 2
....And it would have put our trf window in a different light.
Porro having a few extra game sunder his belt doesn't save that cup tie for us. That 2nd tie was a joke and wasn't about any one individual player. Conte himself however was the over arching story.
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it's not difficult to understand, we improve the bench but not the first XI
Perhaps your argument isn't as concise and well formed as you think.
Free signing with 2x More g/a than the striker we signed for 60 million btw.
Rich: You were keen on us signing him in the summer.
Perisic: In a diff convo you'll be saying if it wasn't for set pieces, he's done jack shit.
Not for 60 million I wasn’t. I said for a cut price if Everton went down (so around 40) he’d have been worth a go. For 60 I raised concerns we were overpaying the second the fees were mentioned.
Perisic hasn’t been good, but he’s been far better than Richarlison. At least he’s influenced our season and been fit more often than not. Richarlison cost a king’s ransom and has done nothing other than a couple of goals vs 10 man Marseille.
He’s the flop of the season. For any club, probably.
I never wanted and defo not for that price. Guy is “overrated” by some has done nothing in the minutes has had played to justify the signing. Keep saying berg offered more and had better pace to beat a man. The £60M spent on rich should have all been lumped on Maddison. We could have prbly found a good up and coming striker from anywhere in the world for a lot less money who would a) be better footballers and b) better goal scoring record than rich. Ffs isak is better than him! Whoever wanted and whoever didn’t want Maddison needs a red card. Gross imcompitence all round. We needed creativity but we bought a fucking player who either runs around like a headless chicken (which his stopped doing that as well) or spends his time feigning injury. Also bloody offside as well!
the same first XI of last year + an improved bench
ok?
So this part isn't true then?
So to summarise; we have a BETTER squad that last year and you think that:
......Yet the manager ought to escape criticism and accountability over why we have measurably regressed this season?
I won't repeat the same things forever
Honestly, in the 18 months he’s been here we have bought well over a team of players of which he has said one was a club signing. So the other 13 were with his approval / instruction.
it’s not like he’s inherited a bunch of shite, he’s bought most of them. He needs to look inward for the reason for our malaise.
And if he’s still here next year, no doubt our first signing will be Kalvin Phillips, because we need another DM / box to box type to go with our other 6.
I’m over it.
it’s not like he’s inherited a bunch of shite, he’s bought most of them. He needs to look inward for the reason for our malaise.
And if he’s still here next year, no doubt our first signing will be Kalvin Phillips, because we need another DM / box to box type to go with our other 6.
I’m over it.
Good.
How about we agree that both Perisic and Richarlison have been disappointing.
We should be improving the bench by improving the first 11. Not buying better bench players than we had. The overall squad might improve but the 11 remains unchanged and unchallenged.
This was Poch point all those years ago.
The result was a British record for windows without a transfer because players good enough to improve the 11 were too expensive and wanted wages outside the structure.
Yeh, I don't think that's air criticism in Richarlison's case. To a large extent he was signed to be back up for Kane (ST) and Son (LW)....... Which "better than" Kane Striker was on the horizon in the summer (Ditto Son for that matter)? .......He was in a viable position to challenge Son and yet was never granted it as Conte kept picking him regardless.
- Then there's Sarr / Bissouma (& Skipp); whom many here would contest are actually better than PEH.
- We spent the first half of the season with people here screaming that Royal & Doh are shit and we should be starting Emerson.....
- Perisic arrived expected to supplant Sess & Reg with ease.
As I already put to the resident Conte defense council:
Hugo
Romero / Dier / Davies
Biss / Skipp / Bentancur
Spence ------------------------- Perisic
Kane / Richy
.........Could easily have been our starting XI as the season began to wear on. 4 new players in the starting XI. We simply did not merely seek to boost up the beef a bit last summer. It's also funny how the mamy people here were parroting the idea that "There's no such thing as a best or starting XI anymore" seem to have well and truly dried up.Romero / Dier / Davies
Biss / Skipp / Bentancur
Spence ------------------------- Perisic
Kane / Richy
Not so much about Richy but doesn't your sentence there "Which "better than" Kane Striker was on the horizon in the summer (Ditto Son for that matter)? " perfectly highlight the glass ceiling the club has reached and - if we are brutally honest - had already reached under Poch?
We have very good players, anything better or even on a level is (usually) outside the budget the club has set for transfer fees and wages. Even if the budget for both has increased since the stadium started to increase the revenues.
So unless we can scout (and coach) a miracle like Napoli seemed to have done or like Leicester did, then we are where we can ever get to under the current model.
I don't know the odds/probabilities on either Leicester or Napoli but I'd guess comfortably both are over 1000 to 1. So basically we are ok with the glass ceiling unless we hit a 1000 to 1 shot.
