In all the cuffuffle

[donaldstott 0]

It would have been quite easy to miss this from lil Al at the Chron

 

"And still on the good news front, I understand that United have made a breakthrough in their bid to sign another striker apart from Owen, and this will happen in the next 24 hours.

 

Certainly, United have not given up hope of still bringing in Albert Luque from Deportivo La Coruna after offering the Spanish club e12m - £8.5m - for the 27-year-old striker"

 

If I hold my breath, how long will it be until I die...

[Kid Dynamite 7167]

£18mil plus £8.5mil sitting in the bank! and we keep haggling over luque and boa morte. and need a new LB, CB, LW, RW, CF. only at the toon!

[sweetleftpeg 0]

Donny, you're going to kick yourself.

[donaldstott 0]

Have I missed something?

 

Am I about to have my first topic start in AGES callously deleted

[Dr Gloom 22142]

if we chalk up owen and luque, we're only a quality left backaway from having a pretty tidy sqaud imo

Edited August 24, 2005 by Dan

[Renton 21979]

if we chalk up owen and luque, we're only a quality left backaway from having a pretty sqaud imo

17201[/snapback]

 

Don't agree. Our squad would still be weak, our first team would be OK.

[Papa Lazaru 0]

if we chalk up owen and luque, we're only a quality left backaway from having a pretty sqaud imo

17201[/snapback]

 

If we got Owen and Luque (which is highly unlikely) we'd have a good team, but no way would we have a good squad.

 

To have a good squad we need:

 

Another LB

Another proven RB not playing Taylor or Ramage there

Another attacking left footer

A right winger arguably

Another striker

 

Then i would say the squad was looking good!

[Dr Gloom 22142]

if we chalk up owen and luque, we're only a quality left backaway from having a pretty sqaud imo

17201[/snapback]

 

Don't agree. Our squad would still be weak, our first team would be OK.

17202[/snapback]

 

i think two players covering for each position is ideal. below is a 22 man squad (assuming we sign owen, luque and a left back), with the positions they can all play and cover. maybe still a little light on numbers but at least two players competing for every position.

 

gk

 

given

harper

 

rb

carr

ramage

taylor

 

lb

new left back ie coco?

babbayaro

taylor

elliot

 

cb

boumsong

taylor

bramble

moore

elliot

 

rm

dyer

milner

bowyer

 

cm

jenas

emre

parker

bowyer

dyer

n'zogbia

milner

 

lm

luque

emre

n'zogbia

 

cf

shearer

owen

luque

dyer

amobie

chopra

[Optimistic Nut 187]

if we chalk up owen and luque, we're only a quality left backaway from having a pretty sqaud imo

17201[/snapback]

 

Don't agree. Our squad would still be weak, our first team would be OK.

17202[/snapback]

 

Given, Harper

Carr, Ramage

LB, Babayaro

Boumsong, Bramble

Taylor, Moore

Jenas, Milner

Luque, N'Zogbia

Parker, Faye

Emre, Bowyer

Shearer, Ameobi

Owen, Dyer.

 

I'd say 3/4s of the Premier League would take that squad.

[Tooj 17]

if we chalk up owen and luque, we're only a quality left backaway from having a pretty sqaud imo

17201[/snapback]

 

Don't agree. Our squad would still be weak, our first team would be OK.

17202[/snapback]

 

Given, Harper

Carr, Ramage

LB, Babayaro

Boumsong, Bramble

Taylor, Moore

Jenas, Milner

Luque, N'Zogbia

Parker, Faye

Emre, Bowyer

Shearer, Ameobi

Owen, Dyer.

 

I'd say 3/4s of the Premier League would take that squad.

17210[/snapback]

i don't like to bring up the past but that's a better squad than we had in 2001/02 season i believe

[Rob W 0]

What we need is them playing with confidence - and I don't see that under our Graham.....................

[Tooj 17]

What we need is them playing with confidence - and I don't see that under our Graham.....................

17217[/snapback]

aye what's a good squad without a good manager

[Something Special 0]

£18mil plus £8.5mil sitting in the bank! and we keep haggling over luque and boa morte. and need a new LB, CB, LW, RW, CF. only at the toon!

17194[/snapback]

 

Theres no way the £18m is part of the clubs transfer money. Im pretty sure it will be coming from northern rock, simiar to the 'Rooney' situation.

[Renton 21979]

if we chalk up owen and luque, we're only a quality left backaway from having a pretty sqaud imo

17201[/snapback]

 

Don't agree. Our squad would still be weak, our first team would be OK.

17202[/snapback]

 

Given, Harper

Carr, Ramage

LB, Babayaro

Boumsong, Bramble

Taylor, Moore

Jenas, Milner

Luque, N'Zogbia

Parker, Faye

Emre, Bowyer

Shearer, Ameobi

Owen, Dyer.

 

I'd say 3/4s of the Premier League would take that squad.

17210[/snapback]

 

You've actually managed to list Dyer as a striker there.

 

But yeah, it looks considerably better, but still huge areas of weakness and completely inadequate cover.

[Guest alex]

Robson never addressed some of these problems to be fair - adequate cover down the left-hand side, cover at right-back (or a decent right-back full stop) and he had a lot longer than Souness.

[donaldstott 0]

I'd love to bring in a left-back, but can't see it happening.

 

I do though feel that neither Stevie Taylor or Peter Ramage have let us down when played out wide.

 

Lets put it this way I wouldn't want daft money being spent on that position.

[Optimistic Nut 187]

if we chalk up owen and luque, we're only a quality left backaway from having a pretty sqaud imo

17201[/snapback]

 

Don't agree. Our squad would still be weak, our first team would be OK.

17202[/snapback]

 

Given, Harper

Carr, Ramage

LB, Babayaro

Boumsong, Bramble

Taylor, Moore

Jenas, Milner

Luque, N'Zogbia

Parker, Faye

Emre, Bowyer

Shearer, Ameobi

Owen, Dyer.

 

I'd say 3/4s of the Premier League would take that squad.

17210[/snapback]

 

You've actually managed to list Dyer as a striker there.

 

But yeah, it looks considerably better, but still huge areas of weakness and completely inadequate cover.

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Not denying that, but it's far superior to anything outside the "big 4" and maybe Spurs at a push.

[Papa Lazaru 0]

Given, Harper

Carr, Ramage

LB, Babayaro

Boumsong, Bramble

Taylor, Moore

Jenas, Milner

Luque, N'Zogbia

Parker, Faye

Emre, Bowyer

Shearer, Ameobi

Owen, Dyer.

 

Keepers - fine

RB - You're counting on Carr (injuriy prone) and an unproven kid who is a CB

LB - Injury prone and then no decent cover

CB - fine

RM - Dyer gets injuries and could be up front, Millner is still unproven, none of the others are effective there

LM - Zog and Emre are both better in the centre of 4-4-2 and yet to show if they are good on the left in Souness other "formation"

CM - Fine, though Faye is not a good enough footballer

CF - Owen if we had him fine, Shearer nearly past it, Shola not good enough, Dyer injury prone and unproven up front

[Isegrim 9896]

Robson never addressed some of these problems to be fair - adequate cover down the left-hand side, cover at right-back (or a decent right-back full stop) and he had a lot longer than Souness.

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I think the first time when Robson really looked to address the problems was when he signed Butt and Carr. He also tried to sign other players like Seitaridis before but wasn't given the thump by the fat controller. Robson also thought to have solved the centre half problem with signing Woodgate, who was sold against his wish (a deal the only in hindsight seemed to work out).