Another Free(hopefully) lesson...

Mistakes will always happen, but the concerning thing for me is after one mistake we become too unnerved at times.

We should be more confident enough to stick to our plan.

 

It would take a monumental effort to overcome a team like Cluj - who have proved themselves to be a very decent side - with a backline assembled in the days and weeks prior to the first leg.

They got knocked out of the Europa at the same stage as us by Sevilla, on away goals. They would be likely to give us a very good game even with the more settled side we currently have, so why on earth you would think we wouldn’t be up against it with a makeshift backline I have no idea.

And me playing with myself is a completely separate issue.

 

Rome wasn’t built in a day. There’s no question that in an ideal world we would’ve been better equipped, probably both at centre back and centre forward, but we had a massive task on our hands this summer.

The recruitment team had been removed entirely (having taken over a shambolic operation), we lost our best defender, and we we were at one stage stuck with barely enough defenders to even cobble together a makeshift backline. I can’t really overestimate the size of the task we had.

There will always be transfers that don’t turn out as we’d hoped, but out of the dozen or so players we’ve signed since Lennon arrived, how many would you really, unequivocally write off? There’s a few that I have my doubts over, but many more that I’ve no doubt can do a job for us.

 

Maybe not, but surely your memory doesnt start at the beginning of the season. Im not making a judgement based on three signings..

Our recruitment has been flawed for seasons, in both our strategy and in some of our signings. Kouassi, Bayo, Hendry, Comper, Gamboa all signed for very good money and more than, until the last few seasons or so, any other team could afford to pay. Hammond was supposed to be a solution to the issues but im sceptical.

Of Lennons signings that we have bought, only Julien has proven to be a success so far. thats before we talk about our strategy and situations with Boyata, Mcginn, lack of a left back and centre back going into different qualifying campaigns. If Edoaurd leaves, we need to replace that quality. I want to believe we have moved on but i dont trust Lawell (or the board).

Iv not written off anyone yet. As i said it wouldnt surprise me if Boli left in the summer given how he has disappeared from contention. But regardless of my opinion, at the time when these players came in we needed them for both europe and the league (when we believed it would be more of a competition). They have not featured anywhere near of what would be reasonably expected. Thats fact. You shouldnt lose sight of that.

 

When there’s been a wholesale change in our transfer strategy - from Rodgers/Congerton to Lennon/Hammond - it’s makes sense to look at them as two separate entities, and judge them as such.

You won’t find me saying recruitment under Rodgers was good. My point is that the lack of successful recruitment and successful planning under Rodgers makes what we’re doing now more impressive. In terms of our transfer strategy we had to start from scratch, and in terms of our squad we needed a massive overhaul. The reality is, had this season not been about 9IAR, we would’ve fairly judged it as a bit of a ‘transition’ phase. The very fact we’re not doing that is testament to the excellent work Lennon/Hammond have done on the transfer front.

I think you would be in the minority when you say Julien is the only one who has been a success so far. Frimpong and Hatem both look excellent imo. Taylor looks capable, and the loan signings have been key to our success. It’s simply too early to judge Klimala or Soro at this stage, either.

Overall, they’ve done the business imo. If you had said to me when Tierney left that we could rebuild the entire backline for about half of the few received, I would’ve been delighted.

 

So when we beat Cluj at home in the europa league, was that realy a monumental effort?
Go back to playing with yourself

 

Not quite, as I’ve already explained. We had a significantly more settled side than the one that had been cobbled together in the CL qualifiers, particularly defensively.

You have an unhealthy obsession with my masturbation habits.

 

There has to be some explanation for your eye sight being so bad. I bet your sheets are like cardboard.
Anyway you see it your way and I see it my way. As I see it we're not learning

 

What a strange way to go about disagreeing with someone.

 

Rodgers ripped up the successfull scouting network we had and never rebuilt it, by the summer we had 4 scouts on our books.

As it was, I think the transfer window was pretty successful with the position Lenny was left in.

 

Perhaps. But the fact remains we need to learn from history, not repeat it.

 

Lennon's hesitancy to rotate the squad, and make substitutions is frustrating, but he clearly has no intention of changing in that regard.

The dip in performances seems to be down to a mix of questionable tactics, and individual mistakes though.

 

And players being tired ?

 

Perhaps.

 

I’ll extend you the courtesy of assuming you don’t solely think of performances in terms of results, as it would be incredibly silly to have such tunnel vision. You can play poorly and win, or play brilliantly and lose.

 

Wait, I thought the criticism of Lenny this week is that he was changing it?

 

Woop-woop! That's the sound of da police!

 

wholesale changes Maybe in recruitment staff, but not in strategy.. in which case whats the point it the same mistakes are going to be made? Thats about £7.5m on three players. Can you really tell me that you are content with the way that money has been spent? Thats some teams transfer budget for years. Bayo is now ahead of Klimala on the pecking order. Soro not looked close to starting. You say to early to judge, but atm they are both off the required level which is why they are not featuring.

Im happy that we have kicked on since coming back from Dubai and that we put in some really good performances in europe, which is progress, but looking at things in the domestic sense, if we are all being honest it hasnt been a strong league this season and the main competition has fallen by the way side. I thinks whats really “more impressive” is the mentality that lennon has managed to maintain and how we have bounced back from the defeat before the new year.

What would you say should be an appropriate level of time for a transition phase? I dont think any team is really given any allowance or grace period. At the top teams you have to hit the ground running. You have only really mentioned Forster and Frimpong who have impressed you, out of around 6 signings.

julien has had a lot more of a contribution in our success this season that taylor has, so not sure how ur quantifying that assertion.

 

Theres been two windows since. I trust that Lennon will build a good squad, but theres no getting away from the fact that theres been a significant amount of money pretty poorly spent.

For me the jury is still out on Hammond and our best recruitment was under John Park.

 

Think you’re being slightly harsh @G_portillo. In the market we can afford to operate in, we can’t often go out and buy something like a Sutton or a Thompson. Ready made players with experience and ability to improve our squad are usually too expensive for us now. We’ll find the odd gem, but more than ever, signings are a risk for us. There’s a reason we look for prospects. Edouard when we signed him was a big outlay, but we wouldn’t be able to afford him now, it we didn’t already have him. Sure, Klimala and Soro haven’t really featured, but just because they’re not ready now, doesn’t mean they will never be ready. Recruitment at a club like ours will never be perfect, especially with the huge expectation from the support, but overall I think the recruitment this season has been a success.