That's not entirely true about Jovetic though. Most of his absence has been caused by injuries, no? And after that there is the issue of leagues best strikeforce of Agüero + Negredo in front of him. He just made a poor choice going there. Had he been fit he would have racked shitloads of minutes for us so far, replacing Podolski, Walcott or subbing Giroud.

Burnwinter wrote:

Can't understand what Moyes has done to him. Fellaini isn't that bad a player and he's playing for the same manager - some potent voodoo mindfucking going on there.

Cleverley is shit. Can't believe we had a "Tom Cleverley" thread on here a year or two ago

Moved him back into midfield. He was always dodgy there, then he'd have a good high profile game and people would rave about him. Even as an attacking mid he'd just have the odd moment here or there. HE's never been a good passer or had a decent touch. Now he's under the spotlight every week and people are paying attention to his flaws.

The fact that Jovetic's constsntly injured is the main reason I consider him a poor signing.
There were always questions surrounding his physical readiness for the PL.
"Had he been fit he would have" is not something I consider in this.

He's got a lot of quality and I wouldn't call him a flop yet but with the quality City have up top and his injury record it wouldn't surprise me if he ends up a flop.

Soldado is the biggest flop by far so far. He's a goalscorer who doesn't score goals.

Felleini may come good eventually but he looks woeful at the moment. There's a good player there if you find the right role for him, which I would have thought would be easy for Moyes having spent years with the guy at Everton. But neither look like they have a clue what part Felleini is supposed to play in midfield.

Roberto Soldado's chance conversion rate in the Premier League now stands at just 16.6%

AVB claims he will unlock his potential though.

They've created 24 identifiable chances for him in 13 matches then. That's fucking low—and a testament that he's surrounded by one-dimensional ball hogs like Lennon, Chadli and Townsend a lot of the time.

Giroud's taken 48 shots in the PL …

You can add Sigurdsson to that list of hit-and-hope Bale wannabes. They don't play as a team, just a collection of greedy shits hoping to grab a few headlines to attract a bigger club.

On Fellaini, I thought when he signed that he'd be this year's Dempsey signing. When he was a big fish with an afro in a small pond, he was seen as some lovable scrote and he bundled his way into a few fantasy football teams. It's not going to end well.

I can't believe United went for Fellaini over someone like Cabaye. Well, I can, because he was one of Moyes' boys, but someone should have pointed out to him how stupid it was.

Burnwinter wrote:

They've created 24 identifiable chances for him in 13 matches then.

I got that figure by working back from his percentage 16.6% to his goals (4). But I guess it must be lower since he's only got one goal from open play? Either way he's not getting on the end of anything at all.

Klaus wrote:

I can't believe United went for Fellaini over someone like Cabaye. Well, I can, because he was one of Moyes' boys, but someone should have pointed out to him how stupid it was.

To be fair, Fellaini looked to be the very definition of a panic buy or at least someone way down the list of options.

I still think Fellaini is a good player but sometimes transfers just don't work for one reason or another.

I still don't understand why United didn't make a mega offer for Vidal. They would walk the league with Vidal and Juventus are incredibly cash poor.

Don't think Vidal was ever interested in moving. He's a big Juve fan and rejected Bayern before moving to Juve. He's signing a new contract soon.

What I don't understand is why we didn't go for Vidal when he was at Bayer.

Wenger was asked about him and he said we had Coquelin.

y va marquer wrote:

You'd be happy then if we'd spent £20m plus on a player who never played? I wouldn't.
As for spending that on a player who can't score - reckon Wenger would know how to get more out of Soldado than AVB who's surrounded him with players who don't pass to him when he's in the box and who are intent on taking shots from distance themselves.

If i was made of money like City was I would prefer it. But that's not realy what you're asking is it? Lets just say if we spent 20+ mill on someone who is doing as shit as Soldado is i'd rather see them on the sidelines than lining up every week.

Jovetic cost City 23 mill. Soldado set Spurs back 26 mill and so far about 5 or 6 points.

Burnwinter wrote:

They've created 24 identifiable chances for him in 13 matches then. That's fucking low—and a testament that he's surrounded by one-dimensional ball hogs like Lennon, Chadli and Townsend a lot of the time.

Giroud's taken 48 shots in the PL …

And that's one of the things with the Tottenham players, they seem to be out there playing for their personal glory. Their central midfielders such as Dembele want to take the whole team on rather than play the obvious simple 'boring' pass, this has been highlighted on MotD and the players are either incapable of getting the message or are choosing to still play for themselves.

Towsned was the talk of the country after that goal for England but his game is so selfish and he has done nothing of note since that England match.

Clrnc wrote:

What I don't understand is why we didn't go for Vidal when he was at Bayer.

Same reason Bayern and Dortmund didn't. He wasn't interested.

I think those quotes are from before Juventus made their interest known.

We don't 'need' Messi either, but Vidal would no doubt strengthen this team considerably.

Rex wrote:

We don't 'need' Messi either, but Vidal would no doubt strengthen this team considerably.

I don't think he would. He plays the same role as Ramsey and he's not better than Arteta in that role. Unless you want to switch to 433 and play Özil from the right. I'd rather stick with what we have.

Vidal would have been useful a season or two ago, not now. Would be a sin to start playing like Juventus when we have players like Özil and Wilshere at the club.

Klaus wrote:

Would be a sin to start playing like Juventus when we have players like Özil and Wilshere at the club.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels like this. Watching Juve is pretty fucking painful at times. Sure, they're a really good team and all their players know exactly how Conte wants to play, but it's really ugly at the best of times. Wouldn't watch them at all if Pirlo wasn't there.

Yeah, me too. Most of their game is centered around heavy work. Two box to box midfielders whose main function is to run and press like madmen. Most of the attacking play comes from runners on the flanks. Pirlo is the only one who gets room to shine individually because they would be absolutely fucked without his creativity. There's a nice symmetry to how the team is set up but it's so bloody boring.

Klaus wrote:

Most of the attacking play comes from runners on the flanks.

Exactly, Pogba/Vidal drift wide to link up with the wing back, Pirlo sprays the passes, then they cross or recycle.

Pirlo could be out for quite a while, interested to see how they do without him.

There's a Serie A thread for all this.

I'm sure there is.

Volante wrote:

Pirlo could be out for quite a while, interested to see how they do without him.

Asamoah would have been a great replacement a year back but Conte has ruined him a bit. I think they'll struggle against better opponents. Too bad Roma won't be able to capitalise.

Ok Klaus, Volante - so's I can avoid having to deal with complaints can you guys keep this to a discussion on "flops", please?
Thanks.
And yes I know threads go off topic all the time, I'm a prime culprit myself but seeing as the moderator reserve force has mentioned that this one is off-topic can we make an effort, please?

Reserve force?! :o

3 months later

Shocking Soldado miss 😆

Great clearance.

Good celebration as well:

Remember that time Spurs paid £30 million for him? 😆

Spurs really are the case study for how spending money doesn't ensure your team will improve.

jovetic is excellent, it's obvious. very quick, good finisher, strong, great technique. fellaini is a good box-to-box CM, not sure what is going on there. sigurdsson is also decent - great striker of the ball and still very young. soldado sucks. the spurs attack is just broken, even eriksen looks shit in that team.