--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "wedmore1960 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>" > Well you should be addressing those questions to Fergie and not me... > However, I think I can tell you the reasoning. I think Fergie wants > to buy players who are not "stop-gap" short term signings but players > who will add something to the squad and also ideally would be > available for Europe and would be yooung enough to be around for a > few years more. Finding someone of quality who would be eligible for > Europe clearly was not possible. Presumably also SAF judged that we > could manage with our present resources given that loads of players > in the team can score and that he has been playing Scholes and >Giggs as supporting strikers. >
Getting good players in sometime to strengthen the squad in the summer is fine, but not if it leaves us vulnerable in the short term. Seemingly every team is getting in loan players from abroad, so why couldn't we have gotten someone, just till the end of the season? It's not like money is an issue, and it just might have saved our season. A lot of our problem in the Bolton match was our only option on the bench to throw on near the end was Nicky Butt!! Hardly a player who's likely to snatch a goal. This has come to light because Forlan was injured, but what if it was van Nistelrooy out for 6-8 weeks? How would we manage then with no backup? > > > > > Ever heard the phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it?" > > > Because, I believe, in his view, the team was "broke" with regard to > Europe. We'd won three in a row at home, quite easily but been > relatively easily turned over in Europe. That's the reason for the > purchases of Veron, Ruud, Blanc and now Ferdinand. However in the > meantime Arsenal progressed domestically after offering relatively > weak challenges in previous years and we stuttered as Fergie tried >to experiment. Domestically the team wasn't broke, in Europe it was >>(is my interpretation of Fergie's view). When have we been turned over easily in Europe? We went out last year on away goals (as usual) and were very unlucky not to get to the final. The year before we lost to Real (the best team in Europe at the time) 3-2. Hardly being turned over easily. Perhaps we're better in Europe now, but I think we've lost a lot more than we've gained. > > First, I don't think the league was sacrificed. I don't think > anything was sacrificed. I keep repeating that we were still in the > hunt for the PL until the penultimate game of the season. It's hardly > a disaster. True, but in December we were 10th in the league, mainly through dropping points and failing to score with the new system. That's what cost us the title, not the end half of the season when we switched (mainly) back to two strikers. > Again, I think the answer is the same. Fergie doesn't want to sign a > stop-gap. We don't know what strikers he tried to pursue and failed > to sign. The transfer window is just that, a window. It's a very > short time, it's the first time it has happened and no one knew quite > how to approach it. Didn't Sam Allardyce say he basically signed > players like Ballesta sight unseen because he didn't have time ? > Maybe we came very close to signing someone, it didn't work out and > we were left with no time to have a replacement. Just because you're only allowed to sign players during the window doesn't mean they can't be selected. From when the window closed they had 3 months to scout players and decide who they would want. Offers could have been made on Jan 1st, which leaves plenty of time for haggling, or bidding for someone else. Anyone would have been better than no-one, just as loan backup. And do you really think we came close to signing someone without hearing about it? SAF can't read about someone in the paper without being linked with him!! LEB Subscription info WWW http://red11.org/list Reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] = subscribe to the list. [EMAIL PROTECTED] = unsubscribe from the list. Post message [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
