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Branston Pickle

Reasonable transfer window

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It does seem rather de rigeur to moan and whinge about everything, but IMO we didn''t have a bad transfer window, Wes''s antics apart. It could have been better had we managed to get in that elusive number 10 (I like Elmander but he isn''t quite ''it''), but it could also have been worse.

- we haven''t lost any players, despite some seemingly strong links (and daft behaviour from Wes). If the right noises can be made I can''t see why Wes shouldn''t make up with the club/fans and have a future here (if only short term) ; if he can''t bring himself to do the right thing then he can be put on gardening leave/loaned

- we have a number of players on the way back from injury

- we have signed two guys, ok on loan, but if you look at the activity this window it was predominantly loans. Rather than slag them we should see what they can do - Jonas had a reasonable first game, Yobo has a lot to play for.

I would have liked to see a ''number 10'' come in, but think we should have enough in reserve to see us through.

The thing I can''t understand is those saying we''ve done nothing at all while others have done loads - we have +2 players vs the squad we had before, so much the same as everyone around us barring Palace. There is also a strong argument not to do too much in the window, we all saw what changing everything did for Sunderland.

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Agreed Branston and the squad is greatly strengthened both by the signings and by the returns from injury.

Too many of our poorer performances came at least in part from better players being out and our squad being too thin. We are over dependent on Tettey and Howson at the moment but Tettey is now back as is Pilkington.

A fuller squad where players can be rested and rotated will see us home. The two Incomings will add to that and bring considerable experience.

This is not the best or most exciting outcome but it is good enough. The main growth in the squad will take place in the summer.

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I do wonder if the only way to get us out of the present malaise is to buy one or two top quality midfielders and pay higher wages rather than 7 players of a lower standard.

I do think we have potential in the strike force, get some quality in behind them.

You can''t blame Hughton for a wage ceiling which restricts his targets.

H

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[quote user="CambridgeCanary"]Agreed Branston and the squad is greatly strengthened both by the signings and by the returns from injury.

Too many of our poorer performances came at least in part from better players being out and our squad being too thin. We are over dependent on Tettey and Howson at the moment but Tettey is now back as is Pilkington.

A fuller squad where players can be rested and rotated will see us home. The two Incomings will add to that and bring considerable experience.

This is not the best or most exciting outcome but it is good enough. The main growth in the squad will take place in the summer.[/quote]

Also agree.  With Gutierrez and Yobo  and players returning, we have a much stronger squad than a month ago.  It will improve our prospects considerably over the next few weeks.

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I don''t think we strengthened at all. We brought in Yobo because Turner got injured and Ayala was sold. We bought in Gutierrez to help ease Pilkington back in, and to cover for Bennett.

We haven''t strengthened, but merely covered the injuries. To strengthen we needed that No.10 or someone better than a first teamer.

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Gutierrez was an excellent signing. A type of player that we don''t have. No one plays 35 games a  season in the Premier League for 5 years ( under different managers) without doing quite a lot right.All teams are about balance and that means you have to have some players doing the dirty work for the benefit of others.I do wish we had signed a ''Sigurddson'' type player but perhaps that will come in the summer.

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It wansn''t great, let''s be honest a player who hasn''t featured much at Newcastle, who''s stats are all about being solid rather than creating or scoring and a 33 year old defender who is not good enough for a Turkish side. We are not a championship side, we are a third season Premeirship side!

 

That aside once Howson and Tettay are back with Fer we do have a far more attacking midfield, with Snodders and Redmond and Hooper up top it would be a good set up for the run in.

 

Can''t say it''s been reasonable, reasonable would have been adding a good midfielder in his mid 20''s, but not as bad as some make out!

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We have done ok we are 4 points better than our rivals.

But have our rivals added the players which will bridge that gap?

I guess today will answer one part of this question.

There seemed to be a massive number 10 sized hole in the squad either for a creative deep forward, fast dribbling forward etc

We have not filled that hole so I am not comforted I am not saying we will go down as we only need a burst of a few wins but I am not as reassured as i would have been.

Hopefully JG and the players coming back make the required difference.

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After our failure to get the most out of our expensive signings last summer, I didn''t expect any significant signing in January. Whether it was the Board withholding money, or Hughton''s known aversion to deal in January, or both, I have no idea.

The club evidently has decided to take the risk on continuing with Hughton and the present squad, and to pin their faith on the present squad in the belief they can somehow realise their abilities. At the same time they have strengthened two areas where we are especially weak - centre back (It seems that Turner''s injury may be worse than the usual hamstring, and Hughton is talking of him being weeks away), and central midfield (Howson out for weeks yet, no real substitute for Tettey, and Johnson not the real total package).

So I see Yobo a good temporary signing for CB, and the versatile and steely Gutierrez a gain in midfield.

I do not see Gutierrez as a left wing solution, - he played there earlier in his career, but clearly has slowed down now, and I am relieved that we have not bought another winger, despite apparent enquiries over past weeks. We already have the established players Snodgrass, Pilks and Redmond, with Murphy able to play and Olsson has the pace to play wide left. Benno should be back before not too long.

So all in all, it seems a little disappointing not to have signed a significant player, when most of our bottom table competitors have, but we have plugged the two most significant gaps, so I must agree that we have put a holding plan in place.

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Having spent heavily in the summer, I wasn''t expecting much.  Plugging the gaps seems to have been the order of the day.  Yobo and Gutierrez should be able to do a job when asked. I don''t know much about their character, but you would hope they can also provide a couple of calm, experienced heads in the dressing room.Of course, this doesn''t solve the main problem of getting the strikers scoring.  Creativity and service to the front men should have been addressed last summer, but wasn''t. This may come back to haunt us, unless Hughton has some kind of tactical epiphany.

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