Stating the obvious but without goals you can’t win games and points so we’re now likely to end up in a situation where a CL place becomes a battle to hold onto with 0-0 looking like best case scenario for the foreseeable future. Although if the extra money earned won’t be spent on addressing the weakness in the team again, is there even much point in making it?

Admit I switched it off in disgust when Sterling was brought on. Genuinely what was the point? This season's "thanks for your interest in our affairs."

    invisibleman18 the assumption here is that the 4 teams below us will punish us. I’d happily take that bet.

      • Tam

      • Post #148

      Watched the first half. Wife wanted to watch something on tv. Didn't feel invested enough to either argue for control of the tv or go upstairs to watch it. Had a more pleasant evening as a result.

      I'm just sickened by all this now. There's no reason to accept this. The warning signs that were there last season had turned into giant flashing klaxons by January.

      Arteta still gets the benefit of the doubt with me because of what he has done, but even his stated desire for someone to come in January wears thin because it's his poor squad building that put us in that position.

      March will be a more enjoyable month with only two games.

        • Daz

        • Post #149

        Claudius to be honest, I've become increasingly dissolutoned and bored by football. I'd rather spend my leisure time doing other things these days.

            Daz I'd rather spend my leisure time doing other things these days.

            Is that just when we're out of a title race or all the time? 😆

            • Daz replied to this.

                BloodOnTheTracks

                There's no justification for not taking the Watkins deal. The only way the club can come away from that January window with any credibility is if they land Isak (which they won't) which would then have justified keeping the powder dry. Keeping it dry for Sesko is just not good enough.

                    • Qwiss

                    • Post #152

                    RocktheCasbah I'm no true believer when it comes to Arteta but suggestions of sacking him this summer are mental.

                    Its getting to crunch time next season though. If goes another season with no trophies I think the pressure will mount. A big exit would add to it. We are so close but we need to do whats necessary to get over the line and stop self sabotaging.

                      daredevil There's no justification for not taking the Watkins deal. The only way the club can come away from that January window with any credibility is if they land Isak (which they won't) which would then have justified keeping the powder dry. Keeping it dry for Sesko is just not good enough.

                      I think it is absolutely correct to say that it is a fuck up that the team did not secure additional attacking resources in the last two seasons.
                      However, in an individual situation like Watkins, I think it is very harsh to say "there is no justification for not taking the deal", given that allegedly we found out about the potential for the deal while the Dhuran deal was ongoing, and within 48 hours of being alerted of Watkins' potential availability, Dhuran had been sold. Villa were most likely hedging to ensure that they had a fallback in case Dhuran didn't happen.

                      The biggest fuck up has been Sterling. Because not only has he been crap, he has stalled our ability to get other players.

                          Claudius

                          You could be right, it's hard to say conclusively without knowing what went down,

                          Sterling as a loan signing at the end of the summer has been truly disastrous. He's way worse than anyone could have imagined. He's worse than Willian and Luiz which takes some doing.

                              daredevil the frustrating thing with sterling is it was obvious just from having watched him last season he was finished. What were Arteta and our scouts or whoever does that work for us not able to see that this was a poor use of resources.

                                  awooga83 absolutely. There was never any other outcome than what we've seen with him. It was a disgusting signing and an admission from the club that we weren't serious this season. As I said earlier, the modern day "thanks for your interest in our affairs." Forget Luiz and Willian. He makes me look back at Stepanovs and Squillaci fondly. Even Kallstrom, a similarly pointless loan, came on in a FA Cup semi final and scored in the shootout.

                                    Yeah, he's been pretty much exactly as poor as I imagined.

                                    • JazzG

                                    • Post #159

                                    Missed the match but from the sounds of it didn't miss much!

                                    Claudius However, in an individual situation like Watkins, I think it is very harsh to say "there is no justification for not taking the deal", given that allegedly we found out about the potential for the deal while the Dhuran deal was ongoing, and within 48 hours of being alerted of Watkins' potential availability, Dhuran had been sold.

                                    There was no "Watkins deal" ... bear this in mind because it'll be talked about as if Olly Watkins was all lined up for £50m and a bunch of flowers over the gruelling strikerless months to come.

                                      daredevil absolutely catastrophic signing. Would much prefer to have kept Nelson, ESR or Vieira. Our squad is worse this season than last season and he's a big part of that.

                                        • Tam

                                        • Post #162
                                        • Edited

                                        Claudius However, in an individual situation like Watkins, I think it is very harsh to say "there is no justification for not taking the deal", given that allegedly we found out about the potential for the deal while the Dhuran deal was ongoing, and within 48 hours of being alerted of Watkins' potential availability, Dhuran had been sold. Villa were most likely hedging to ensure that they had a fallback in case Dhuran didn't happen.

                                        I don't think that is true. I'm I read we found out about his potential availability when we played Villa on 18th January. Duran was sold on 31st. That's almost 2 weeks where we could have influenced the outcome if we had the desire and killer instinct. I'm sure Villa would rather have had £40-50m for a 29 year old than £70m for a promising 21 year old.

                                        There were already rumours of other bids for Duran from the likes of West Ham, and he apparently wanted out because of lack of playing time, so he may have already made his mind up that he was gone.

                                        But I fully believe that if we were serious about winning the title then we would have pursued Watkins, and Villa could have 'promoted' Duran within the first team and assured more minutes, and everyone ends up happy. It's also possible Duran was just money hungry and playing time assurances wouldn't have changed things at that point. But the point is Arteta and the club didn't have conviction or desire to do what winners would do.

                                            awooga83 -- my bet is they saw it, and that's why he wasn't an initial consideration. They then failed to land other targets (Sesko and co.) and cowardly walked back to Sterling knowing it would be an "easy" signing.