Looks like all our deals are heavily relying on hope, luck, old potential. They all basically come front shit situations, and nobody is in form.
That’s like throwing piles of mud on top of eachother hoping, eventually a house is built.
We didn’t get ourselves a new variety of weapons either. Just more of the same.
They seem to forget for a player to regain form it can easily take months. And now we got 4 of those on top of a team that’s already struggling by itself. Not sure what they have been sniffing up, but I’m not feeling it.
Sold: Diego Carlos and Kounde - replaced by Marcao and Nianzou. Technically DC has still not been replaced, we all know why.
Sold: Munir - replaced by Dolberg.
Sold: Ocampos - replaced by Januzaj, who also replaces the long-term injured Tecatito.
Loaned out Augustinsson to Aston Villa WITH a purchase option, loaned in Alex Telles WITHOUT a purchase option.
Signed the free agent Isco.
The following players have not participated in a pre-season with a professional football club: Isco, Dolberg, Marcao (only partially, hasn’t played but was on bench) and Januzaj.
Were these signings recommended by Football Manager 15/16?!
The last time I heard anything about Kasper Dolberg, was not long after he’d signed for Nice and a youth player nicked his watch from the dressing room!
I myself am not an elite athlete, nor have I played one on TV. However, I really am not that convinced by this thread you’ve been harping on for months of players being out of form because they were free agents or were sidelined from the team or whatever. At the end of the day, form certainly matters, as we saw with Marcão, but at the end of the day, it’s hard for me to imagine someone like RDT being “out of shape/form” because he didn’t play for a month or so at his club. Do you think he’s been at his house drinking beers all summer?
A player who has been without a club for a year… I’ll buy that argument. Otherwise, I think it’s a secondary factor at best…
In Dolberg’s case he hasn’t played in pre-season or any of the starting matches with Nice so can’t really judge the form, but if you’re not match fit and you haven’t played for a while - 3+ months not 1 btw - you’re also not in form as a result.
I know they don’t drink beer and sit around all day, but I have been involved in semi-pro football in youth ranks, and know many professional footballers, physical therapists and coaches in the region and beyond - so I know what I’m talking about in that sense, not just guessing.
It is totally different when you train at home, at the gym etc. (have a look at Januza’s interview, he mentioned that) compared to training with a club.
Pre-season training is the MOST important training of all season. That is why serious players always pay a lot of importance to pre-season with their clubs, because that is the only way to get optimal physical preparation for the whole season + that they will get used to the system, get to know how their teammates play in different scenarios etc. when training with the club.
Missing pre-season training with the club can lead to injuries, poor form and fitness, delayed or total lack of playing system comprehension and what not.
Pre-season training is totally focused on physical and fitness preparation for the season. Once the season begins, the training is focused on certain tactics against the opponent, rest and recovery and maintaining the physical preparation that the player acquired IN the pre-season.
That is only true in Sunday league levels of football where people like you and I would play - or recreational 5 a sides etc., not the top level 11 a side football.
You can ask any professional football coach or physical therapist and they’ll tell you the same.
Now of course - with that being said, I’m not disregarding the individual preparation completely. Players like Januzaj, Isco etc. have access to decent personal trainers who provide decent fitness programs to follow at home, at the gym etc. and they will also work with the player in the individual sessions.
However, the players who trained individually for the whole pre-season and who were not involved with the club prior to the start of the season, will always be behind in all the elements that I mentioned above compared to the other players in the team.
I read from my app that Dolberg has shoulder injury since july 8, expected return early sep, that’s why he hasn’t been trained in pre season.
Anyway, Dolberg just seems like a signing solely to fill up the empty space list & an excuse to shut Lope mouth up, he isn’t even starter for Nice after all.
Two thing i can conclude,
Monchi is having a hard time dealing with salary cap & finance,
And the management has already given up on this season. Dolberg is not a solution to offensive play, everyone knows.
This cannot be stated enough. I could only imagine how irate Lope must be with all these late signings when we had a whole summer to prepare.
You could tell with these last two signings (Januzaj & Dolberg) that we really don’t wanna spend any money. Even the funds from the Ocampos deal aren’t coming anymore except for a €4M loan fee. Wouldn’t surprise me if we signed the likes of Braithwaite tomorrow.
Since Munir’s contract was rescinded, i wonder if they’ll do the same with Gudelj, so we could have another spot for a midfield / defensive player. Maybe they move Delaney since he has suitors in Germany? There’s also the chance we do absolutely nothing considering how things have been going.
I suspect this announced news conference of Monchi means that the market is now over for us. Either that, or the news conference I read about actually never happens and was just another false rumor… I’ll see if I can dig it up from official sources
Not this time around I’m afraid - but it’s a great lesson for him too, hopefully he’ll learn from the mess that he largely contributed in and do better next time. What is done is done now and we can’t turn back time.
wow, Aubameyang to chelsea for 14m euros. obvi, its not like we could’ve gotten a similar deal since he probably wanted out of spain (or afforded his salary?) but damn that would’ve been exactly what we needed.
yeah, i really wish we could have a full understanding of what has gone so wrong this offseason for us. i really do still have faith and monchi and just feel like planning must have been disrupted by the board, perhaps with inconsistent or broken promises? but still, Monchi’s job should’ve been to have multiple options and scenarios in place from day zero and, as everyone has said, the loss of our CBs and pre-existing needs up front were basically known from the start, not surprises… and yet…
hopefully we survive this season and still find things to play for and he and the board learn from this and get their shit together going forward.
I am in agreement with Ryan. Professionals don’t have to be around a team to perform.
