your first sentence proved my point Walter, Marquis proved to be a flop in the ned, but you dont blame him you blame the manager and systemBlue Walter wrote: ↑Thu Jun 22, 2023 1:53 pmThanks for giving me those two players but I am not sure what point you are trying to are. Marquis was a flop in the end, I grant you, but I don't necessarily put the whole blame on him. I think the managers here failed to get the best out of him by the way they stuck rigidly to the way they wanted to play, but not how to get the best out of the players at their disposal. Not playing to strengths. Plus the fact wasn't really that good anyway, but did you already know that? Or was you like me, excited when we brought him in? You mentioned Rafferty but I was aware of him and I was very keen to know we had signed him and he did live up to what I thought he can do.Portchesterblue2 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 22, 2023 1:24 pmBlue Walter wrote: ↑Thu Jun 22, 2023 1:18 pmPompey1984+1 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 22, 2023 12:46 pmWho should we have been singing?Blue Walter wrote: ↑Thu Jun 22, 2023 11:58 amA bit over the top response, if I may say. I am sure all the players that have been signed are competent, which doesn't turn us into relegation fodder. As I have said before this present regime have come up with some good signings and, from all accounts, the signing of Devlin in the face of opposition seems to be a bit of a coup. Conversely just because we have suddenly come up with a mass of signings doesn't make us world beaters either. It is the quality of the signings that make the difference. Judgement on the transfer activity can only really be judged when the window has closed and the performance of the new players. What am questioning is that the pedigree of some of the signings are not that exciting at the moment. That's not to say they are bad signings because I don't know much about them but they don't appear very inspiring just yet for a team that has an increased transfer budget with promotion in mind.Portchesterblue2 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 22, 2023 11:01 am we are going down this season, I mean signing 6 absolutely useless players within a week of the window opening, what were the board and manager thinking.
Now I havent seen these players in action, either for their old teams, or as part of a pompey team being coached by the mouse, however if their stats say they are sh!te well then they must be, after all stats dont lie do they
I think one of the important points that gets swept under the carpet here is the fact they they are all on 2 or 3 year deals, mostly with club options. That means that for future years while sale changes become less, equally if these players kick on, we will see a return on them. Small but important details.
How many of the Plymouth players were / are names? Same for Barnsley, Peterborough and other teams that finished above us. Very few.
Before we signed Linvoy on a free he had made 90 ish appearances for Reading over 3 years - hardly inspiring... But look what happened there.
Of course you may well be right and I am not saying that they are going to fail. Some could well turn out to be great signings whereas, quite possibly, some won't. I still say that the signings of Stevenson and Shaughnessy are not the most inspiring. They have come from clubs who didn't do very well last season and they don't have a pedigree that would suggest they should be good. Mousinho obviously sees something in them that moved him to sign them and I do hope it's not the cheapness that was the attraction. Scully looks like he can operate in League One but, perhaps, not the Championship. I can see the attraction in the other three but I haven't seen anything yet that gives me confidence we are going to give it a real go just yet. You say we have them on 2 or three years contracts but I can't quite see why that should boost confidence in these players. There are still 3 or 4 places for players to come in yet so maybe the 'marquee' signings are still to come. However, I am pretty certain a place or two will be taken up by loans so there can't be too many permanent signings to come. I am sorry to say I am underwhelmed a little with the business so far.
I give you John Marquis, a name people knew, a proven player, look what happened there
I also give you Rafferty, hardly known when he signed, didnt play at first, turned into a top top player for us last year
Are you saying that you think all the players we have signed have got 'let's have a real crack at promotion' about them? Are you excited by the signings we have made? Do you think these are statement of intent signings or are you a little deflated by the business so far, especially after all the rhetoric about promotion before the season started?
I am quite excited by how Devlin and Saydee shapes up and to see if Scully is as good as Curtis on the left wing. However, as things stand, I don't think the match day eleven is an improvement on last seasons one just yet, do you? Hopefully it will turn out to be a master stroke with these signings, if so I will say well done and I got it wrong to be so doubting.
Thats my point, you can take a name and if mous doesnt play him the right way he will be a flop, equally if a "nobody" comes along and mous gets the best out of him he isnt a nobody any more.
of course i am not saying they are all league winners, but I am equally saying they arent relegation fodder.
What i am excited about is that the management team have identified players that they think they can make a team out of, and have gone out and got those players very early in the window, and not only that they have been signed permanently and on 2/3 year deals.
you say you dont think they are an improvement, but thats an on paper improvement, not an on pitch, because that is as yet unkown.
How many arsenal fans said WTF when wenger signed a skinny french winger and played him as a centre forward?