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Our summer signings

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They all looked good on paper but to a man they have been a massive flop,quite how much of this is down to Hughton god only knows but when you spend over 20 million you would expect much more than what we have got in return.The only recent signing to make an impression imo has been Olsson who has been excellent.Hopefully we can at least recoup some of the massive outlay and go again

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I think it is pretty much all down to Hughton.I think we have a squad capable of a comfortable mid-table finish.A better question is what players should we fight to keep here next season, and actually only Olsson, Redmond and Hooper for me.I think this would be a good time to get rid of the Dutch pair, and I never want to see Elmander in yellow again, will forever be remembered as Hughton''s idea of a Grant Holt replacement.

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Fer looked good at the beginning but faded big time.

RVW has been awful, not sure its all his fault.

Redmond & Hooper have been ok.

Elmander has been awful, had 1 good half vs Sunderland (H).

Olsson has been good and consistant.

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I hope we can get a decent fee for Fer, and whatever we can get for RVW.We might have to loan RVW out for the season and then sell him at the end of next year.

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Interesting point, any mileage in loaning out any of our higher profile players (eg. RVW, Fer) in the hope that we could use them the following season if we got promoted?

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Well that is what QPR have done with Remy, although there was also the small issue of his rape accusation making him unemployable. Perhaps Leroy Fer is the only one who it may be worth doing that for. High risk though, what if he comes back with a cruciate ligament injury with us still in the Championship?RVW we may not have any choice but to loan him out, hope he scores some goals in a weaker division, and then get a few million back for him in a year. Who is going to come and offer us even half what we paid for him at this point?

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If RVW would be prepared to play his trade in the Championship I think he''ll be great. Rather see him scoring for us in the Prem next year though!

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why? He didn''t come from a great club, didn''t cost that much money, has shown a desire to win games, scored our best goal of the season, and is a better tackler and passer than johnson (which i admit isn''t saying much). Although, he doesn''t score too many and is naive at times, going in too much, he did really well in that combination of him, fee and howson; that seemed to work well, but like Fer, he still needs to do better if we just play two in the middle

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I only class RVW as a flop when considering the overall situation. Fer is no way a flop, sure he hasnt been churning out MoM performances, but when he hasnt been in the side we have missed him, he is still young, this is his first EPL, so a lot more to come from him. Hooper, for his first season whilst not setting the world alight has been OK, not as bad as some say on here and clearly worth holding on to. As for Redmond, he was clearly one for the future and is a young player with fantastic potential and was never going to be a consistent hit, but seen enough to know he will be a big player. Olsson has been terrific, very professional throughout the season, a class act. As for the loans, Yobo has been impressive, Guiterrez has had no time to settle or impress and Elmander...again not as bad as some make out, but certainly hasnt lived up to expectations other than a couple of very good performances, but not enough to warrant keeping him.  Its a tough league, we actually didnt spend that much cash on these players and as mentioned other than RVW I dont think they have been such bad signings individually.

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Olsson has improved. Earlier on, - I saw him at the Hawthorns, he stood off attackers and was trying to shepherd them. It now seems possible that this was manager''s orders. Latterly his tackling and blocking has been very good.

He is very good going forward and makes superb crosses, and is just about the complete fullback. Add to this a mature consistency and we obviously made a very shrewd signing but... other clubs will have noticed!

I am not very convinced by either main striker, and I can''t see either scoring a mountain of goals at this level. With hindsight, we were always going to struggle to score goals.

Redmond has been something of a disappointment. He is young, of course, but I had expected to see some improvement, and there seems little. The comparison with Sterling showed how far Redmond has to go to become a top player. He dazzles with pace and dribbling, but there is little end product. I still hope that he will become a very good player for us, but so far has made little progress. (This may be due to being played out of position on the left.)

I really don''t know what to make of Fer. He seems to have everything to be a great player. Perhaps his failure to dominate for us is partly due to the defensive role he has had to play, or has he been less convinced by the tactics and general policy of the previous manager? Whatever the cause, there are (too) many times when it looks as if he would rather be elsewhere. He seemed to provide everything we have lacked for some years, and in flashes did so, but lacked consistency.

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Get rid of Fer? Are you all mental?

He''s the only centre mid we have with any class.

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Fer - Alright 5/10

Redmond - Alright, but a young man in a struggling and low confidence team. He will be a hell of a player 6/10

RVW - useless and low on confidence

Hooper - largely useless bar one decent spell. 1/10

Elmander - 90% rubbish. Poor attitude like his Bolton days, only starts trying when it''s too late. Probs thinking of his next payday 1/10

Olsson - consistently class, deserves better from his teammates 8/10

Yobo - started well but has been found wanting recently even before his injury, verdict, send back regardless 5/10

Jonas - useless and pointless purchase 2/10

Overall - 28/70 - 4/10 must do better.

have I missed anyone?

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We did not get all the signings we were after at all;

"The intention is that the club in the coming months will also capture an attacking midfielder and two wide players."

If we had things may have well been quite different.

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[quote user="Joanna Grey"]We did not get all the signings we were after at all; "The intention is that the club in the coming months will also capture an attacking midfielder and two wide players." If we had things may have well been quite different.[/quote]

Wanted to go on a touring holiday last summer.

Looked at these classy streamlined caravans and decided to splash out and get, what looked like the wasps nipples.

Bought a seperate awning, the lot.

Got it home, marvelous.

Then went to buy a car to pull it, couldn''t get the model I was after, as I had spent so much on the caravan ,so didn''t buy one at all.

Still went touring with my sleek streamlined caravan, just didn''t go so far as it was hard work and ponderous pulling it with my bike.

May have to get rid of the caravan , buy a cheaper one, so I can get a car, but wont need the car if I haven''t got........[:D]

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Personally I feel we have signed some great players. Hughtons signings were lauded as the best business this season in the summer by pundits across the board. This was the feeling based on their careers before they played here. I am still of the belief that we signed some excellent players, and that their ''excellentness'' is still in there somewhere. When players flop across the board is it not because they are all a bunch of turkeys, it is because they have not been used properly.

If you buy a prize-winning orchid variety then dont water it, when it dies, do you blame the breed or the gardener?

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[quote user="The Great Mass Debater"]

Personally I feel we have signed some great players. Hughtons signings were lauded as the best business this season in the summer by pundits across the board. This was the feeling based on their careers before they played here. I am still of the belief that we signed some excellent players, and that their ''excellentness'' is still in there somewhere. When players flop across the board is it not because they are all a bunch of turkeys, it is because they have not been used properly.

If you buy a prize-winning orchid variety then dont water it, when it dies, do you blame the breed or the gardener?

[/quote]

Very good point GMD. Whilst obviously we do look down on these players and think they''re flops, it''s just based (quite rightly) on their time with us. But it''s also true that they were all lauded as great signings by one and all before we signed them, and all had many suitors before we snapped them up. We''re not in a position to sign proven premiership players, so it makes sense to take the risk on proven players from other leagues.

Sadly it hasn''t turned out well, but as GMD points out, this season has seen a dip in performance of many players who were already at the club - so we can''t really be sure whether the new signings really are that poor or not.

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All the strikers Hughton brought in were/are rubbish!

Are they really?

Hughton brought in Bechio, Kamara, Kane, van Wolfswinkel, Hooper and Elmander. All of them had scored goals before they came here.

The six strikers Hughton brought in scored eight goals between them for him.

Yes, The Great Debater - blame the gardener.

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I think we have just bought individuals without much strategic thought as to how to get them playing as a unit and they have been constricted as a result. After nearly 2 seasons I didn''t know where Hughton was trying to go with his formations and tactics and this has not helped any of the new signings get much confidence.

Fer reminds me of Damian Francis and Dickson Etuhu- long legged and a bit languid but very capable and should be able to dominate a game...but doesn''t. Should be very good in the Champ assuming we are there. He and Tettey should on paper be a great combo.

Redmond hasn''t come on much if at all, looks the same pacey and exciting but uncontrolled winger. Not sure why we have him rather than the Murphys who could have done the same job.

RVW- looked completely out of his depth and a better striker could have buried chances in the last two matches to have got us a couple of points. I think he''ll struggle even more in the Champ with the greater physicality there. Needs to go.

Hooper- I like him and think he could do very well in either division but still needs better service and not wondering whether he or RVW are first choice.

Elmander- has received unfair flack, was very good against Sunderland but I am not sure which position he was bought for and not a natural partner for Hooper.

Only genuine flop for me has been RVW, while the team has struggled to create chances he really hasn''t helped much and not scoring the goals looks likely to send us down.

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Additionally, I don''t think it''s much of surprise that we perceive RVW, Hooper and Elmander to be the biggest flops, when not one forward has set the world alight under Hughton.

Under Lambert, our attackers shone, and both scored and created lots. Under Hughton, perhaps it could be said our defence shone a bit, in that 10 game run? But looking at our forwards...

Holty turned from a 15 goal poacher into a poor man''s Emile Heskey overnight.

Morison barely played under Hughton, and was hurriedly traded in for Becchio..

Becchio barely got a chance to prove himself but didn''t look like scoring when he did.

Jackson played a bit at the start but to be fair was never going to be a goalscorer in the Prem.

Arguably the same story for Martin.

Elmander came with a pretty decent reputation if an underwhelming record. But even he has disappointed.

And then we have RVW, fresh from scoring 28 odd goals, and Hooper with 30 odd goals for Celtic. Even taking into account the relative weakness of their 2 previous leagues, you would expect 10 goals each from those guys if they were playing well and playing in a team creating enough chances.

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Tumbleweed - yes the thought of Ricky in the championship is interesting. On the one hand, he could be outmuscled, but on the other, if we keep players like Redmond, Fer, Howson and Tettey, we may be the best team in the championship and we may be able to feed RVW much more easily, and he should get twice as many chances. He may miss them all though! ;)

Hooper would destroy the championship, for sure. So if it came down to keeping one or the other for financial reasons, It''d have to be Hooper despite the bigger outlay on Ricky.

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Tumbleweed - I also agree about the apparent lack of strategic thinking re: signings.

Remember when Ricky let it slip that City had told him they were after 2 more attacking players though? I think Hughton and co were left with only half the signings they wanted.

However I think it was a mistake to sign Hooper when we already had RVW - they should''ve gone for someone who would complement Ricky, not be a rival for his place.

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I agree it was bizarre to sign them both when they appear so similar. I suppose Elmander was supposed to be the "hold up" guy, not the traditional meathead type of English centre forward, a little more cultured than that, but the one to produce the flick ons, through balls and short passes to get the No 9 in on goal. As others have said on another thread, maybe Chris Martin was as viable in this role!

I take your point about Ricky in he Champ, but I personally think it will be awful for him and if he looks dispirited now, then Griffin Park on the proverbial wet Tuesday in November will not appeal to him! I reckon it would be best for both parties to move him on: one season under Hughton may be put down as a mistake, two and we''ll struggle to get anything meaningful at all. I''d use the money to buy another good CB, moving Seb on as well.

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Very true. Can''t imagine him on those nights! However, he''s got a big heart and he''s never given up whilst on the pitch.. and he''ll know that he''s now got to rebuild his career and re-prove himself, so perhaps he''ll embrace the challenge? But I do think the best place for him to do that is back in Holland or elsewhere on the continent, not the English championship.

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