[quote author=Judge Jules link=topic=48383.msg1468598#msg1468598 date=1327244172]
[quote author=peterhague link=topic=48383.msg1468431#msg1468431 date=1327224532]
dunno what to think, really.
after such staggering progress in his first 5 months, i really believe we've gone in the wrong direction, not just the signings, but the way the team's being set up as well.
personally i don't think it's fair to blame him or credit him with the suarez and carroll signings. that might be wrong, but until i know better i'm going to go with that. so, i'll judge him on:
henderson
adam
downing
enrique
coates
bellamy
overall i think that's a mediocre, at best, record. i'd expect both GH and RB to do better than that based on their previous signings; but worse than the players signed is the apparent focus on pretty average, overpriced, british players, which makes me worry we'd be doing the same again when he and comolli are given more money to spend. the only one there from the same category of signings (young, well-priced foreign potential) i liked so much about Rafa is Coates, and that's my biggest misgiving about Kenny: i can forgive transfer mistakes, but not a wrong-headed transfer policy - as i see it, of course.
but i do still think there's reason for optimism.
we're in poor form at the moment, no doubt, but let's be honest: a lot of our dropped points before xmas really did come in games we played very well in, playing good attacking football and creating numerous chances. part of me thinks so much would change with 2 quality attacking signings, and so it'd be a crying shame IF that's all we need and he isn't given a chance to find them, especially if Carroll wasn't particularly his choice.
Reina
Johnson
Skrtel
Agger
Enrique
Lucas
Henderson
Gerrard
*Creative type*
Suarez
*Striker*
looks a bloody good team to me, and potentially plenty of youth there.
Another thing i really like about what we're doing - and i guess Comolli deserves plenty of credit here, along with Kenny and Rafa - is the attempts to get in really good youth players. For the first time I can remember we really seem to be doing this right, and I do have some sympathy with Ross's view that we're building for a title challenge in 5 years or so. I know we've been saying this for a long time, and i know people are cynical and impatient with it, but I genuinely think the lads around 18 or so are miles ahead of their counterparts of previous years, and the younger lads seem more promising still (u16s beat Man City 5-0 yesterday, 2 goals each from Seyi Ojo and Alex O'Hanlon, both very highly regarded when we brought them in). Of course, to some extent this process is something of an arms race, with all top clubs having similar ideas, and there's a worry that we're running very hard just to stay still.... the list of promising young players is leagues ahead of anything I can ever remember being able to call on, however:
Sterling
Flanagan
Robinson
Coady
Wisdom
Teixeira
Ibe
Ojo
O'Hanlon
Sinclair
Pelosi
McLaughlin
Bueno (scored twice on his league debut recently - looked excellent)
Dunn
and these are just the most prodigious ones; plenty of others of the promise of players like Spearing and Warnock who might yet kick on and make useful players.
So, while I can't deny that I'm currently dispirited almost to the point of indifference, I do think things could improve quite suddenly if Kenny and Comolli can learn the lessons of last summer. I'm just going to try to wait and see how we end the season, and be thankful that I don't seem to care like I used to so at least I'm not having my weekends ruined anymore.
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Excellent post.
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Yep, very well balanced post.
