andy_g wrote:aCe' wrote:We didnt even need to go out splashing 10s of millions to sign top quality fullbacks and CBs, many good players would have been available for cheap if we had expressed an interest in signing them... The likes of Warnock, Pantsil, Upson, Mexes, Ziegler...etc etc are all players who are either out of contract soon or are not wanted by their respective clubs... All would have been step ups on what we have or represented better backup..
i don't completely agree with this bit. one thing we have certainly complained about over the past years is buying quantity and not quality, and i don't see any of the names in that list as anything more than squad players.
we have 4 decent centre backs - carra, agger, skrtel, and soto - plus the very promising wilson as cover. so we'll be fine til the end of the season when we can buy better, unless disaster strikes.
full back is a little more tricky, but kelly seems to have nailed the right back slot and johnson is adapting quickly to left back. we also have aurelio who is an excellent player when fit. we're a little thin on cover but we have options and i'd prefer that to wasting a few million on filler before the summer.
i'm sure the owners and the manger want to do something about our defence but are firm in their strategy of buying young and promising, even if it means splashing out. the late bid for micah richards should set our minds a little more at rest about this.
Carra's injury spell aside, we've had the 4 CBs you mentioned the whole season. We've also had Johnson and Kelly in addition to Konchesky and Aurelio... None of the names above (bar Agger at times and the potential of Kelly) have proven to be indispensible members of the first team..
We've gotten rid of Konchesky and you have to say that players like Soto, Aurelio and even Skrtel are unlikely to be at the club past summer... Imo players like Pantsil and Warnock would atleast be regarded as good backup in the long term while being a step up on anything we have in the short term...
Mexes on the other hand is one of the best CBs in Europe and despite his age he'd be a good player for the club for the next 2-3 years at the very least...
Regardless, the names that i proposed are besides the point.. Only mentioned them because doubtless someone was going to pop in asking what players are available for cheap in January who are good enough to play for our club...
Point is, the players we have -while being big names in the business- are mostly not good enough and have cost us many points this season already.. You cant honestly expect the owners to go out and splash 20+million on 3 defenders in the summer while similarly forking out to strengthen other positions..
We had a chance given the funds available and the shortage in numbers and quality to add atleast 1 good defensive acquisition to the club in the Jan window and we failed to do so... Not the end of the world and hopefully Kenny has a way to deal with the whole thing, but to say that it's clueless to suggest we could have done better is just that...