Two HUGE positives.......

[Torrix1889]

OK we missed out on some Spanish kid who may or may not have wanted to come in the first place and may or may not have been a success.....we will probably never know but there are 2 huge positives to come out of our transfer dealings for me;

1) We have got a very good goalkeeper and the nightmare scenario of going until at least January with the Chuckle Brothers net-minding is thankfully not going to happen.

2) We should never see the combination of Berge, Norwood & Fleck in a flat midfield three ever again. Say what you will about our misfiring strikers that midfield has been our achilles heel for at least the last 18 months, poor defensively but with absolutely zero service to the front men who have collectively fed off scraps. In MGW we have a creative number 10 and in Hourihane we have someone who doesn't spend 90 minutes pointing and can actually beat the first man more often than not from a free kick or a corner.

OK, we wanted a pacey wide-man or two, we know Slav likes to play this way but with a much improved midfield who knows, maybe Burke will improve into a better wide player, (at least until Jan). And if he's as good as everyone says, get Illiam Ndiaye's contract sorted and get him involved..

 

[Migster]

Well said, a bit of positivity is what's needed to counteract the drama queen's. I for one think it's a 6.5 to 7 out of 10 window. Not mind blowing, but decent and at least mixes up the dire midfield 3.

 

[ancientblade]

agree especially on ndiaye and norwood and fleck having competition at last and surely we will see a better berge with hourihane and gibbs- white added to the midfield options

 

[Rudders]

I'm positive about it, without refreshing the squad and getting new bodies in we would be looking down the barrels of relegation fairly and squarely. Ok it wasnt ultra gob smackingly good window but the new recruits will hopefully give us some positive results to arrest the slide and get us moving back up the table.

 

[DronnieBlade]

Time for our misfiring strikers to step up you say ??

UTB

 

[Bladeinleeds]

Refreshed midfield options, new CB and a competent keeper were all priority areas for me. All got addressed in the end

V. annoying about the winger - but Necessity is the mother of invention and there are opportunities for people to stake a claim for a wide place.

Freeman, bogle, n’daiye, Moose, Burke, Brewster - none are ideal but there are still possibilities to play wide. But hopefully a new and improved livelier midfield will paper over some of the cracks.

we’ve kept berge also - which I didn’t see happening. So hopefully he can show his quality with some fresh blood beside him.

 

[Houso]

Agree with all of that.

If someone had offered me those three signings a week ago and nothing else, I'd have snatched their hand off.

It's definitely disappointing that we didn't sign the wide positions out, but we're simply going to have to go with some combination of Ndiaye, Burke, Bogle and Brewster I think. Also, Freeman played pretty much all his time at QPR wide left, so as there's no place for him in the centre, he really should get a chance as a wide forward.

 

[ChemEngBlade]

Agree on those points.
If we'd brought in a tricky, pacy winger then it'd have been an almost-perfect window, but it wasn't to be. The fresh blood in midfield might just give our current crop of strikers enough of a kick to get them firing in the goals

 

[Booker4]

Sorry I can't be positive yet since obtaining wingers is almost certainly one, if not the key, issues we needed resolving this summer. Again on the number ten role you mention, Slav hasn't used it yet despite having the ideal player already to do so in Luke Freeman, so it's by no means guaranteed that he'll play MGW there either although MGW should drive forward a lot more than Fleck and Norwood have of late.

 

[Davalon]

All our loans are good solid acquisitions and hopefully should show that.

Olsen and MGW, with CH, concludes a better week than many were expecting.

I've tried to keep positive and couldn't believe we wouldn't bring anyone in but tbf I was getting a bit twitchy by Monday.

Like others say, the only negative is the lack of pace and width which has been a feature of the manager's style previously.

Plenty of free agents I don't know enough about and a few I cringe at.

Hopefully MGW and CH provide a spark and different balance and Ndiaye steps up.

I've always felt the play offs were our best hope this season so if we can be in touching distance come the end of the year, hopefully January gives us an opportunity to complete the jigsaw.

 

[Houso]

Sorry I can't be positive yet since obtaining wingers is almost certainly one, if not the key, issues we needed resolving this summer. Again on the number ten role you mention, Slav hasn't used it yet despite having the ideal player already to do so in Luke Freeman, so it's by no means guaranteed that he'll play MGW there either although MGW should drive forward a lot more than Fleck and Norwood have of late.

Is Luke Freeman the ideal player for that position though? On the opportunities he's had since signing, he's barely ever put in a good shift there. Meanwhile, QPR supporters swear by him as a wide midfielder.

It's definitely frustrating we didn't sort out the winger situation, but if it forces us to sort out the Ndiaye situation, then great.

 

[Stegosaurus]

Hi Stegosaurus here

Getting a goalie was key. Verrips and Wes are very wank.

 

[Bobby b]

A lot of people are moaning about the lack of wingers with pace, and I have to admit I got excited about this Spanish lad but from what I hear, although both clubs agreed it was the player who decided to move the goalposts and considering its clear he didn't want to come in the first place I'm completely over him, but is pacey wide men a priority when you consider that when we got out of this division the last time we didn't have them, what we had was players getting into decent positions and midfielders who could pick them out, I hope we now have said midfielders so I'm a lot happier now than I was when I watched the Luton game

 

[boss hog]

At least Hourahan will shoot and maybe get some of em on target ,which seems to be a really tough skill for the modern day footballer.

 

[RedandWhite]

So the turmoil is over?

 

[Peaktrade]

Totally agree.. we need more positive support like this.. I am not sure why we have so many drama queens on here ready to pounce on the owners. Please don't let this forum turn into bladesmad.

 

[MJM]

Not a complete failure of a transfer window, but unfortunately for me, still not good enough.

Yes, a good keeper, a defender, and a couple of midfielders have come in, but signing zero wingers when we all know that's how Slav wants to play, is bonkers. People might argue that it wasn't our fault and there was extenuating circumstances, but this transfer window has been open for two months. We need to be doing better. Stop dragging our heels and start work earlier on to give us the best chance of getting our preferred targets.

Fortunately for us, we can still dip into the free agent market. You never know, there may be a gem of a player out there. I'd be really tempted to have a look at Yannick Bolasie. Might command a wage, but we somehow managed to find 15k a week to pay that carthorse of a left back so stranger things have happened!

I suppose the silver lining is we hopefully won't have to see Berge struggle with Fleck and Norwood in midfield anymore anymore.

 

[Houso]

Not a complete failure of a transfer window, but unfortunately for me, still not good enough.

Yes, a good keeper, a defender, and a couple of midfielders have come in, but signing zero wingers when we all know that's how Slav wants to play, is bonkers. People might argue that it wasn't our fault and there was extenuating circumstances, but this transfer window has been open for two months. We need to be doing better. Stop dragging our heels and start work earlier on to give us the best chance of getting our preferred targets.

Fortunately for us, we can still dip into the free agent market. You never know, there may be a gem of a player out there. I'd be really tempted to have a look at Yannick Bolasie. Might command a wage, but we somehow managed to find 15k a week to pay that carthorse of a left back so stranger things have happened!

I suppose the silver lining is we hopefully won't have to see Berge struggle with Fleck and Norwood in midfield anymore anymore.

re. Bolasie, he signed for some Turkish side a few days ago.

 

[Aston max]

The trouble now will be fitting them into 18 now ,Bash may even find himself getting pushed out if we don'tplay a 3 at the back ,if we had managed to sign the 2 wingers what a headache Slav would have had, I think by the end of January the match day squad will be unrecognisable from the first game of this season

 

[MJM]

re. Bolasie, he signed for some Turkish side a few days ago.

Dammit!

His Wiki page hasn't been updated

 

[Need4speed]

For me my main disappointment is not moving on some players and I guess that is because we wanted some in first and then had no time left. Luke freeman isn't going to play for us. I would have preferred to ship Burke out on loan and keep Jebbison. I hope some players realise that they are now on their last chance to impress. I don't think it is necessarily good to freeze players out But some need telling that their agents need to find them clubs for January or the summer.

 

[Vass Borbokis]

In reality we've missed out on one winger.

We've got 4 loans in. You can only have 5 in your match day squad so I believe.
If we got both Collado and Karamoh it means we would have had to leave one of these expensive loans we've just brought in, out of the squad each matchday if all are fit.

I honestly believe Collado was the preferred option, who knows the actual reason why it fell through.

It is frustrating that we left it right up to the wire, but it wouldn't be United if things weren't dealt with in a bizarre fashion. We like to make life hard for ourselves.

The fact that Ndiaye came on against Derby and featured for the U23s (and bagged two), is hopefully a sign that we're giving this lad a chance.
That can be like a new signing right there.

Is it a perfect window? No.
Have we addressed the main concerns (replacing two passengers in midfield, replacing rammers, good quality centre back in)? Yes

 

[Bladesman]

At least Hourahan will shoot and maybe get some of em on target ,which seems to be a really tough skill for the modern day footballer.

Exactly, if he is given the freedom to play his game we should see some goals coming from midfield again.

 

[SouthportBlade]

Whilst it feels a bit shoehorned, quite like the look of a 4231

Berge
Hourihane

Freeman / Brewster?
MGW
Bogle / N'Diyae / Burke

McB / Sharp / Mousset

It at least feels like there's attacking intent, much better than current 352 where your 'creators' are Berge, Baldock, Fleck, Norwood, Osborn/RND

 

[Black Cloud]

The main positive is that the 'chuckle brothers' have been replaced with someone who appears half decent we can now look forward to mid-table mediocrity rather than a relegation dogfight - what were we ever doing offloading Moore whilst those two were on the books. MGW should be deemed a shrewd acquisition albeit a temporary one. I don't really get the Hourihane one though - looking at Roy's Swansea comments then you wouldn't touch him with a shitty stick...hope I'm wrong though and he MUST be better than Ollie...
Still no pace in the team though.....other than Burke sprinting down blind alleys without the ball....

 

[RMBlade]

Would have been nice to get a couple of wingers. Looking at what we did bring in all 4 signings drastically improve the starting 11.

3-5-2

----Brewster-----McBurnie----
------------MGW--------------
RND-Hourihane-Berge-Bogle
-----Davies--Egan--Bash-----
-------------Olsen-------------

4-3-3

Freeman---Brewster---N'Diaye
Houriahane-Guedioura-Berge
RND--Davies--Egan--Baldock
-------------Olsen-------------

Both look like solid teams (I prefer 3-5-2) and both are consideribly stronger than they at the start of the season.

 

[Nick Jansky]

So the turmoil is over?

No. There will be weeks of hand wringing over the failure to get wingers before the last grains of sand are wearily shaken from the last vagina.

 

[BrisBlade]

Everyone seems to be obsessing about the lack of wingers. Is it just me that feels a defensive midfielder who can actually tackle (a la Vieira) is the more important gap in our squad?

 

[metalblade]

In reality we've missed out on one winger.

We've got 4 loans in. You can only have 5 in your match day squad so I believe.
If we got both Collado and Karamoh it means we would have had to leave one of these expensive loans we've just brought in, out of the squad each matchday if all are fit.

I honestly believe Collado was the preferred option, who knows the actual reason why it fell through.

It is frustrating that we left it right up to the wire, but it wouldn't be United if things weren't dealt with in a bizarre fashion. We like to make life hard for ourselves.

The fact that Ndiaye came on against Derby and featured for the U23s (and bagged two), is hopefully a sign that we're giving this lad a chance.
That can be like a new signing right there.

Is it a perfect window? No.
Have we addressed the main concerns (replacing two passengers in midfield, replacing rammers, good quality centre back in)? Yes

Isn't Olsen an international loan which still leaves 5 spots for domestic loans? Same with the two wingers we went for? Didn't Fulham and Watford have more than five loan players in recent seasons due to them being from Europe.

Just looked and the limit is is now 5 from 8 in a match squad thanks to Watford who had 10 on loan a few seasons back.

 

[RedandWhite]

No. There will be weeks of hand wringing over the failure to get wingers before the last grains of sand are wearily shaken from the last vagina.

You're a poet