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Worldies

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Markeh

Markeh

Part of the Furniture
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We had one in Suarez, we kept him long enough to get the best out of him and we nearly won the league. We probably had 2 in Gerrard and Torres, we nearly won the league. Now imo we have none, is it even possible to succeed in this league without them?

City have Aguero, then arguably below him Silva, Yaya and potentially Sterling and De Bruyne
Chelsea have Hazard then Costa / Fabregas
Arsenal have Sanchez then Ozil (I don't rate him that highly)
United have none imo

The highlighted players are certainly in the same top class Suarez was in and they're also in the sides that challenge for the title, it's no coincidence is it. Getting and keeping these players is down to 3 things - success and what has been spoken about in other threads - wages and transfer fees. There are probably secondary factors like the managers standing in the game and the location of the club.

Breaking that top 3 looks impossible without breaking the bank, we're operating in the second tier of the transfer market where it's luck to get one of these players and we're not showing the ability to keep hold of them if we do.

United are throwing money around trying to land these players at the moment but failing. At best we're just scrapping with them for fourth at this point. FFP has gone, are hopes of us getting in the top 4 now going to disappear along with it?
 
It depends on our realistic objectives. From where we started the season we couldn't realistically expect to challenge for the title so top four should have been the objective (and it probably was for most people in and out of the club). If that's the target we certainly have the personnel to achieve it but the manager, coaching staff and most of the players themselves need to up their games to a consistently higher level than where we're at. If they can do that, coupled with a bit of good fortune and discipline, then we can clinch that top four spot. Having then consolidated that, we can hopefully build on again for a title push.

No doubt about it though, a squad containing Coutinho, Henderson, Milner, Lallana, Firmino, Benteke and Sturridge, backed up by the prospects that are Clyne, Gomez, Can, Ings and Ibe can and should be challenging for top four.
 
City have world class and a mixture of VERY good players too, i.e Hart, zabaleta, kolarov etc, as do chelsea....
 
We are reliant on buying players on the way up and hoping we can make them world class. Its a risky strategy obviously but it can happen. Spurs did it with Bale, Utd did it with Ronaldo and we did it with Suarez, it might have happened with Sterling had we hung on to him who knows, but I think the days of us actually competing for the top players in the world are long gone, and unless we see a new TV deal where clubs sell the rights individually or we get bought out by a mega wealthy owner they arent coming back.

If you do unearth a player like that you really have about 3 years max to build a title winning side around them before they get picked off by a club with more money to spend, thats the nature of football now, if you cannot pay the top wages you are on borrowed time no matter how successful, Dortmund and Athletico are the prime examples of this.
 
leftpeg said:
It depends on our realistic objectives. From where we started the season we couldn't realistically expect to challenge for the title so top four should have been the objective (and it probably was for most people in and out of the club). If that's the target we certainly have the personnel to achieve it but the manager, coaching staff and most of the players themselves need to up their games to a consistently higher level than where we're at. If they can do that, coupled with a bit of good fortune and discipline, then we can clinch that top four spot. Having then consolidated that, we can hopefully build on again for a title push.

No doubt about it though, a squad containing Coutinho, Henderson, Milner, Lallana, Firmino, Benteke and Sturridge, backed up by the prospects that are Clyne, Gomez, Can, Ings and Ibe can and should be challenging for top four.
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The way things are I don't see us becoming a regular top four side, there's really only 1 seat left at the table and United are going all in to buy it. Our squad looks decent but if one or two step up and become real top level players then they'll probably leave because we aren't paying them a fortune or winning things.

We really need that fourth this season, followed up by losing no top players and a non-horror show in the champions league.
 
Markeh said:
United are throwing money around trying to land these players at the moment but failing. At best we're just scrapping with them for fourth at this point. FFP has gone, are hopes of us getting in the top 4 now going to disappear along with it?
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FFP was capitalism eating itself. It drew a line in the sand which invariably ensured that the rich would get richer and the poor, poorer. We have a far better chance of breaking into the top four without it. Possibly not in the short term, but in the medium to long term, we definitely do.
 
superchimp said:
City have world class and a mixture of VERY good players too, i.e Hart, zabaleta, kolarov etc, as do chelsea....
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That's true but it feels like those absolute top level forward players are worth a lot to a side, imo take Hazard out of last seasons Chelsea side and they'd lose a couple of places. Same for Aguero and Yaya in the past with City.
 
RedStar said:
We are reliant on buying players on the way up and hoping we can make them world class. Its a risky strategy obviously but it can happen. Spurs did it with Bale, Utd did it with Ronaldo and we did it with Suarez, it might have happened with Sterling had we hung on to him who knows, but I think the days of us actually competing for the top players in the world are long gone, and unless we see a new TV deal where clubs sell the rights individually or we get bought out by a mega wealthy owner they arent coming back.

If you do unearth a player like that you really have about 3 years max to build a title winning side around them before they get picked off by a club with more money to spend, thats the nature of football now, if you cannot pay the top wages you are on borrowed time no matter how successful, Dortmund and Athletico are the prime examples of this.
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Sad but true, that's hopefully a rule the club has learned the hard way
 
Oliver Twist said:
FFP was capitalism eating itself. It drew a line in the sand which invariably ensured that the rich would get richer and the poor, poorer. We have a far better chance of breaking into the top four without it. Possibly not in the short term, but in the medium to long term, we definitely do.
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Providing we keep our heads above water and don't get buried by lesser clubs with TV money in the short term
 
Our last 2 worldies didn't cost the earth when we bought them, and Suarez didn't straight away look like a goalscorer, maybe Benteke or Firmino is our new worldie.
 
Mors said:
Our last 2 worldies didn't cost the earth when we bought them, and Suarez didn't straight away look like a goalscorer, maybe Benteke or Firmino is our new worldie.
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hope so, we always seem to pull one from somewhere
 
It's obviously very early days but I've seen nothing (even taking into consideration that debacle on Saturday), to suggest we cannot push for 2nd, 3rd or 4th. We're all naturally cheesed off by what we saw on Saturday but seriously, Chelsea, Arsenal and the Mancs have their own problems and they may prove to be weightier than ours.
 
Dirkus_Circus said:
Suarez, Aguero, and Hazard are all Worldies.

Sterling, Costa, De Bruyne, Ozil? Lulz
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The bolded players were the world class ones and those following were a class below but still top players. Sterling and De Bruyne were stated as potentials based on their price. I think Ozil is massively overrated, which I said.
 
leftpeg said:
It's obviously very early days but I've seen nothing (even taking into consideration that debacle on Saturday), to suggest we cannot push for 2nd, 3rd or 4th. We're all naturally cheesed off by what we saw on Saturday but seriously, Chelsea, Arsenal and the Mancs have their own problems and they may prove to be weightier than ours.
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It'd be fantastic if one of those clubs had a trainwreck season.
 
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