What a fantastic Transfer Window

[Keen Blade]

Given the way he'd started the season I'd like to see another centre back brought in to cover Egan. The defence was the one area where I thought we looked alright until we kicked a football against Palace. Clearly we need another striker but Egan worries me more than any other player. He was error prone in our relegation season, he was error prone in the FA Cup semi final and he's been error prone in two out of three matches so far.

I'm not bouncing off the walls with our new signings, but we've brought in more than I was expecting. Now Hecky needs to figure out what he's doing in training to keep injuring our players all the time.

Souza, Archer and Hamer have all been exciting signings compared to the others and if we land McAtee then we should have a decent midfield at last.

Egan's standards have slipped and we still have no real competition for his shirt

 

[Greenblades]

Thank you Prince & Hecky & backroom team

Despite losing Berge & illy, this group of players look great.
We are much stronger whatever the end of season brings.
But I do think that this squad will stay up & will be a great foundation for the future

Not acceptable ….. Prince is Big Roll…. Hecky clueless and we will sign nobody …. You’re ruining things for people !!

 

[Sean Thornton]

Thank you Prince & Hecky & backroom team

Despite losing Berge & illy, this group of players look great.
We are much stronger whatever the end of season brings.
But I do think that this squad will stay up & will be a great foundation for the future

It’s been very good. I remember when “we’ll spend nowt, Princes took Munneh” was the rallying cry of those in the know. Wherever the are now……..

 

[Sheffsteel]

Not acceptable ….. Prince is Big Roll…. Hecky clueless and we will sign nobody …. You’re ruining things for people !!

I read loads of comments about "we lack ambition and never spend"
and here's me thinking "has these people forgotten we recently spent 110 million over 2 seasons in the PL"

Then I read comments "we always sell our best players and sell for peanuts"
and here's me thinking "when we were relegated we kept N'Diaye and kept Berge....we received bids but rejected them as being too low"
The Prince made it clear over and over again.....we will only sell players if it's a deal we can't refuse and it strengthens the squad.

Then I read comments "waste of time going for anyone like McAtee but no one with ambition will come to Sheff Utd"
and here's me thinking "we've always been able to attract some top targets and hot prospects like Brewster, Berge and Archer" and now we have McAtee back.

Then I read comments, "the owner is charletan, the worse owner we've ever had and he wants us to be relegated"
Kept thinking surely these are pig fans or wind up merchants. The facts show the club in the last 5 years has massively improved both on and off the pitch.

Obviously everything isn't rosey, the preparation for this season was a farce really. Really think that starting 11 against Palace was probably our weakest team for 6 years.
The Prince doesn't have enough money to take us to the next level but he's done an OK job so far....no complaints.

 

[Nick Jansky]

Would Championship Leicester be offloading prime Stevens on loan?

If they had changed their formation from that used by the previous manager so there was no longer a starting place that was a fit for him, then yes, they would.

Which is what Leicester have done with Thomas.

 

[Keen Blade]

Backup for Wes is still Davies
Furious & Bogle ok
Anel & Egan ok
Trusty added at LCB good
Thomas & Larouci ok
Souza for Doyle ?
McAtee returns ok
Hamer for Berge good
Slimane ?
Tom Davies ?
Archer for Illy ?
Traore ?
Where's the big strong striker ?
(hopefully arrives this evening)
Who apart from McAtee can attack down the left ?
Still only Bash covering Anel & Egan
Should Osborn & Fleck have stayed ?
Accept unlucky with injuries

Don't think it's been fantastic but we are marginally better than at the end of last season.

 

[Nick Jansky]

I read loads of comments about "we lack ambition and never spend"
and here's me thinking "has these people forgotten we recently spent 110 million over 2 seasons in the PL"

Then I read comments "we always sell our best players and sell for peanuts"
and here's me thinking "when we were relegated we kept N'Diaye and kept Berge....we received bids but rejected them as being too low"
The Prince made it clear over and over again.....we will only sell players if it's a deal we can't refuse and it strengthens the squad.

Then I read comments "waste of time going for anyone like McAtee but no one with ambition will come to Sheff Utd"
and here's me thinking "we've always been able to attract some top targets and hot prospects like Brewster, Berge and Archer" and now we have McAtee back.

Then I read comments, "the owner is charletan, the worse owner we've ever had and he wants us to be relegated"
Kept thinking surely these are pig fans or wind up merchants. The facts show the club in the last 5 years has massively improved both on and off the pitch.

We’ve also had someone calling one of the newcomers “dogshit” and someone else hoping one of our players gets injured during the last week. Sadly, these mouth breathers move amongst us.

 

[Norwood's 6 iron]

The facts show the club in the last 5 years has massively improved both on and off the pitch.

Unfortunately we have some fans that just won't accept that Iliman was going to go no matter what we offered him, just like Salah at Liverpool and Kane at Spurs.
What we should accept is that overall the team is stronger than it was last season.
Note that Man U have also struggled defensively down the left now that they have picked up a couple of injuries. It shows how difficult it is to replace the likes of Joc and Enda.
Exciting times ahead, starting tomorrow.

 

[DronnieBlade]

All about opinions.

Not at all sure we are stronger than last season.

In fact, I’m sure we are not !!

UTB

 

[Pollingtonblade]

The devil will be in the detail on the pitch. If we stay up its been good

 

[Pintor75]

Credit the manager & board for these signings, we've brought in players not just for now ,but for the immediate future, McAtee is the icing on the plate imo, we need back up permanently in the centre half & a new lwb thats obvious, but lets get behind these lads now and onwards and upwards

 

[VictoryBlade]

At the end of the day it's 3 players who performed well in the Championship, and 4 relatively cheap unknown signings from Europe. Plus Thomas and Davies who were available due to being surplus to requirements at their respective clubs, so have been brought in to cover injuries.

I'd have expected that as a bare minimum when we got promoted. I also expected to keep Berge and Ndiaye and was hopeful with Doyle.

So all in all I'd say that's not great, but maybe my expectations were too high.

Thomas aint here to warn the bench he's a good player

 

[BiggerBladeThanThou]

Agree...whats quite funny and that a club might receive criticism of a lack of communication

but after the N'Diaye sale and terrible planning for the start of the season....the Prince volunteered to explain the situation on Sheffield United way.

He specifically explained that he would add the money from the Berge and N'diaye sales into the general transfer kitty.
He made it very clear that we have a decent budget for transfers but it's in our interest to say we're skint (helps negotiate a smaller fee).
He also made it very clear that we would bring in plenty of players, strengthen areas that Hecky has highlighted.
He also said we are still ambitious and intend to have a squad competitive enough to stay up...so that means better than last season.

So I expected (knew based on what we were told) at least a 7 out of 10 transfer window
........and that's what we got (good/ acceptable window not brilliant) but a brilliant window getting all our first choice targets was always going to be almost impossible.

Kept shaking my head at the comments at few weeks ago "The Prince is a liar", "he wants us to be relegated", "we never make ambitious signings" blah blah
When past events showed he's been reasonably ambitious.
Accept he took his eye off the ball for a few months......but that's natural...when you've sold something....you don't make major decisions regards it's future.

I don’t understand why some fans NEED to know exactly what’s going on in a key negotiation period?! Why would the club show their hand? Just sit back, relax and be patient. If the business is bad after august then have a moan.

Social media and the thirst for breaking news is to blame entirely for that. Seen it on here increasingly over the years and it’s a big ick of mine.

 

[Working Class Hero]

Thomas aint here to warn the bench he's a good player

He wouldn't be here if Osborn, Lowe and RND were fit though.

 

[Lord Eddard Muir]

Which probably means that in the real world its a solid 7.5-8.

It's never getting above an 8 when it includes Ndiaye leaving, but on the other hand in Hamer, Archer and McAtee we now have 3 players I really wanted us to sign but was convinced would end up at more fashionable clubs.

 

[Antonb]

Don't know how anyone can think its been a great transfer window. We needed these players along with Berge and Ndiaye ! Strike force is painfully light on goals. Now if we were still in the championship, it would have been a great window, but were not!

 

[AnstonBlade1]

Still needed another striker, but “we’ll go with what we’ve got”

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

Fantastic is overstating it somewhat. We’ve just about managed to pick the turd up and shove it in the shit bin rather than merely trying to polish it. Which in the circumstances deserves a modicum of credit I suppose.

We’re stronger in the midfield with McAtee. We’re probably just about on a par elsewhere in the team. Playing catch up has already had an affect on performances.

How is the defence on par with last season?
Trusty, Thomas, and Larouci have replaced Enda and Clarke. How is that not stronger?

 

[Champagneblade]

For a club that isn’t and hasn’t been historically well off, it’s a worthy side note that we’ve also managed, not without some pain, to avoid around 30-35m worth of cash walking out the door for zilch in a year.

Diverting away from that iceberg, albeit it opening up a few weeks of tantrums, I’d say that Hamer is a potentially more productive player than Berge and whilst Ndiaye will be missed and is pleasing on the eye, Archer was about the highest we could have aimed for in terms of replacement, though his attributes differ.

 

[b1ade4life]

I'd say it was a solid 8/10 we have to play the long and short game and the signings we have made (net spend of £2m) have done just that

 

[moody1889]

Need a new owner before January hopefully we are still in with a chance of staying up and get a fresh ownership and move forward instead of backwards.

 

[CrookesBlade]

I’m not in the business of rating windows but I think we’ve signed some players with real potential between July and today. We’ve mitigated the loss of Berge.

We’ve also signed a decent replacement for Ndiaye although you can argue a player that can do what he could can ever properly be replaced. We’ll never know what he could do at this level though as he chose the brasserie league.

 

[Loco Blade]

I kind of hope McAtee takes over the Illy role . Defo got goals in him and if he can link the midfield with the boys up front it should pay off . Got to take points off those teams who will be in the shit with us !

 

[Millhousesblade1889]

It’s the best transfer window we could have wished for when we sold Berge & NDiaye. If you’re greedy we could have brought another attacker in but we have Jebbo, Brewster, Osula, Troare, McBurnie, Archer in our squad & on the wage bill. The hard part is keeping 4/5 of them fit!

I actually think you’ll see us play 1 up top for most the season with Hamer & McAtee just off the lone striker.

 

[BalticBlade]

If we hadn't have landed McAtee today this window would have been a monumental failure.

Even taking into account getting McAtee, it's still been a poor window.

When all are fit, we have a decent(ish) first XI at least, but there's very little depth to the squad and this will be our downfall.

Also worth remembering that not all the new additions will be fully up to speed for another few weeks, due to the poor way our business has been conducted.

 

[Jan Age]

My opinion is that we’ve raised the overall standard of quality across the pitch whilst lowering it in certain areas.

For me it’s a 50/50 window could have been a lot worse could have been a lot better.

Still painfully light up top which will catch up with us.

Forced to do our business late which will mean it will 7 games in until the starting 11 are settled.

 

[MagnifiqueShorehamStreet]

There’s always hope, and I live in hope, that we somehow, have managed to unearth some gems, but anyone who claims this window has been anything but chaotic, is deluded.
Be interesting to read Hecky’s book when it comes out down the line.
Hamer, the pick of the crop, obviously, and hopefully our saviour.Shudder to think, where we’d be, if we hadn’t nipped in for him, when Illy went.But without that deal, pretty uninspiring.

 

[Stretch]

GK - many wanted us to strengthen, but personally I think Wes is a class act and if he stays fit, come the end of the season will have some of the best individual stats in the division. Yes it would have been nice to get a more reliable backup than Davies, but funds are tight and it was right that we focussed on other areas imo.

Defence - we've strengthened the left side, but it still feels like we maybe are a quality CB light overall.

Midfield - definitely stronger than what we had at the end of last season, with more energy and dynamism.

Attack - without Ndiaye it is always going to be hard to suggest that we aren't weaker, but we have upgraded Sharp with Archer and I think Traore will become a really good player as the season progresses. We are one short though, and now a lot will rest on the shoulders of Osula.

So whilst it wasn't perfect, and I still have some niggling doubts in some areas of the field, overall I think it has been a decent window.

7/10.

 

[BettingBlade]

How is the defence on par with last season?
Trusty, Thomas, and Larouci have replaced Enda and Clarke. How is that not stronger?

Maybe stronger in terms of depth. In terms of quality the jury is very much still out.

Trusty is very much untested at Premier League level. Yet to see that Larouci is much of an upgrade on Osborn or Lowe, if at all.

Is Thomas any better than RND? Who knows.

Not sure anyone can say with any certainty that the defence is any stronger in terms of quality.

 

[1066blade]

spent 110 million over 2 seasons in the PL"
Most of it on shite. THANKS Wilder