The summer transfer window 2019 thread

[HammerMan2004]

So after our ins and outs we have spent around £25m? Did we really move to this stadium for such a pathetic transfer kitty?

Net spend £25m and don’t forget the absolutely huge savings in wages this coming year.

There’ll be loads of money to spend next summer. :arry:

[Marky]

Bang on Hammer83. It’s a disgrace and why they are so hated.

[Cuenca 'ammer]

so if Haller scores only 8 who on earth do you see picking up the slack ? Noble ? Wilshere ? Fornals ? Anderson (who had a great year last year) ?

I know what's required - I have been watching football for many many years now and if your F who you have just spent 45M on only scores 8 goals, then you've pissed the money away.........I don't care how many assists or goals he "creates" with his hold up play......

[My_Sobriquet]

If he only scores 8 (he scored 20 last season) but he assists 1 extra goal for each of our midfielders throughout the season with his superior hold up play and assist aptitude then that’s 13 goals net.

It really doesn’t matter who scores the goals. It’s a team game.

Replacing 1 mardy, 1 limited and 1 injured striker who only managed 13 goals between them last season with one of the best young strikers in Europe seems like a net gain to me.

[Georgee Paris]

This new chap Haller doesn’t seem like a bundle of laughs.

[hammer1975]

We're not going to spend like a top 6 side, if you expect that you're delusional. We average out in the 7-11 pack, some bigger years some smaller, we're currently around 10th in net spend over the last 5 seasons, we were 7th in last 5 seasons net spend before this window. If Pelle gets his one more player we'll probably be 8th or 9th. Not many clubs can sustain really high spending every year. We got almost 100M last summer so this summer will be less, as long as it is used well and it doesn't become 25M every year, that's a respectable spending pattern.

I don’t think anyone expects a spend like a top six side. However, we’ve spent less than Wolves, Leicester, Everton, Brighton and Bournemouth since the move to the bowl. £25m net to improve on two positions would improve our squad depth significantly. The concern is that last summer was the exception - not this one, is it driven by core financials or a lack of ambition? The fear is the latter given history prior to last summer. That’s before you chuck in all the nonsense about why we moved.

I’m surprised at such apathy. The owner threads this time last year were full of posts saying hey were happy with the 2018 window but the amount (less than £100m -c£80m net) had clearly been saved up over a few windows prior and we wanted to see another window of decent net spend to believe they’d turned the corner....and we’re now looking at £25m net spend with probably half of that saved on wages......and club sources saying no loans and we might scrape together enough for one cheap player....

[thejackhammer]

so if Haller scores only 8 who on earth do you see picking up the slack ? Noble ? Wilshere ? Fornals ? Anderson (who had a great year last year) ?

I know what's required - I have been watching football for many many years now and if your F who you have just spent 45M on only scores 8 goals, then you've pissed the money away.........I don't care how many assists or goals he "creates" with his hold up play......

So if we finish 7th due to Haller improving our play in forward areas he's still a failure unless he outscored Arnautovic?

How about 8 goals and 15 assists? Would that be good enough?

You also add the goals of Lanzini and Yarmolenko who we missed most of last season

[dodger]

We're not going to spend like a top 6 side, if you expect that you're delusional. We average out in the 7-11 pack, some bigger years some smaller, we're currently around 10th in net spend over the last 5 seasons, we were 7th in last 5 seasons net spend before this window. If Pelle gets his one more player we'll probably be 8th or 9th. Not many clubs can sustain really high spending every year. We got almost 100M last summer so this summer will be less, as long as it is used well and it doesn't become 25M every year, that's a respectable spending pattern.

Doesn’t explain why we have no money left.

We did not spend nearly 100 million last summer by the way, as several have pointed out, it was closer to 80 million.

We are likely to finish in the 10-15th bracket in spending this summer in the league. The question is how we are supposed to progress with this level of spending? And why is the budget so low?

The answer is of course our owners.

Just to be clear, it’s not so much how much we spend, it’s how much the owners allow us to spend which is really the problem. We heard we had a budget of 25 million at the beginning of the summer and lo and behold that’s how much we’ve spent. Why 25 million? There is no logical reason apart from the owners being tight or just treating the club they ‘love’ as a way of making money.

[Longaz]

So we're lacking cover in the DM position. Can someone remind me when was the last time we went into a season with 2 quality players in each position. And how many teams even have that now. We've certainly never had it that good. Since Pellegrini's been in the hot seat, progress has been obvious. Strongest 11 in my lifetime. One step at a time.

[hammer1975]

This debate about the mix of midfield. Thought I’d look into where League goals and assists come from across ourselves, Wolves, Leicester and Everton. Did this quickly so think it’s right - May be some allocation issues between Striker and Attacking mid given some players have played both positions for each club.

Striker (St), Attacking mid (AM), centre and defensive mid (Mid), full back/wingback (FB), centre back (CB)

West Ham goals - St 20, AM 20, Mid 7, FB 1, CB 2
Everton goals - St 22, AM 19, Mid 1, FB 6, CB 5
Wolves goals - St 22, AM 5, Mid 7, FB 5, CB 7
Leicester goals - St 19, AM 15, Mid 5, FB 2, CB 7

West Ham assists - St 5, AM 17, Mid 7, FB 3, CB 1
Everton assists - St 6, AM 13, Mid 4, FB 7, CB 5
Wolves assists - St 13, AM 5, Mid 11, FB 6, CB 0
Leicester assists - St 8, AM 12, Mid 4, FB 10, CB 0

Full/wing back and centre back for our three main competitors were worth a combined 23 goals and assists for Everton, 18 for Wolves, 19 for Leicester....7 for us.

Central/defensive midfield was 14 goals and assists for us (4 penalties for Nobes), 5 for Everton, 18 for Wolves (9 of which was one player - Moutinho) and 9 for Leicester.

So, despite only playing one ‘defensive midfielder we’re par for the course for goals and assists from centre mid - but massively underachieve versus peers from full back (and a bit behind on CB). With two defensive midfielders allowing Masuaku and Fredericks to attack rather than Cresswell and Zabaleta (whose attacking stats last year were poor). Would we expect an improved return on 1 goal and 3 assists from full back over a whole season? That’s a poor return on fullback - especially when everyone acknowledges that defending ain’t their strongest point.

With the debate about whether Haller will bring more goals to the team through midfield I thought worth digging this post out. We were par for the course for goals and assists from our attacking midfield and strikers last season. Full back and centre back being the underperforming areas as an attacking threat. Will that change given the same personnel? Can’t see Haller influencing/changing that.

[Danny's Dyer Acting]

Assume the good weather is back in the UK? Only excuse I can see for everyone's brains melting to the point they're getting edgy with each other over some playground kickabout maths.

"We only lost 3-0 against that lot last week and you lost 5-0, we're definitely better than you!"

[Rockhampton Hammer]

I don't give a flying F*** who scores the goals, 50 own goals would still make me happy if we pick up more wins and draws.

[Patito]

This new chap Haller doesn’t seem like a bundle of laughs.

As opposed to Arnie?

[Cuenca 'ammer]

If he only scores 8 (he scored 20 last season) but he assists 1 extra goal for each of our midfielders throughout the season with his superior hold up play and assist aptitude then that’s 13 goals net.

It really doesn’t matter who scores the goals. It’s a team game.

Replacing 1 mardy, 1 limited and 1 injured striker who only managed 13 goals between them last season with one of the best young strikers in Europe seems like a net gain to me.

I didn't suggest that he will score 8..I said I hope he scores 15 as we squandered loads of chances last season.

13 goals net isn't going to push us up the league table which is why I thought we had invested 45M in him and 24M on Fornals ?

13 goals net leaves us where we were last season because I don't see us conceding less.

and as I say, if he scores 8 that's equal to a team that's struggling. 8 goals from your forward is akin to relegation form.

Glenn Murray got 13
Luka Milivojevic got 12

Eden Hazard only got 15 assists

[steveyrockstar]

What I call our natural competitors, for example, Leicester and Everton have strengthened. And quite a lot. We have slashed the squad and bought two foreign players.

I'm afraid it ain't good enough. I predict improving on next season wont be anywhere near top 7. Best I'm thinking is 9th.

Well, we'll see, but way I see it we've made 2 potentially real quality additions and trimmed some of the deadwood/fringe players.

As for Leicester and Everton, far as I can see two of their big signings involved making loans permanent. I don't think our business is in any way inferior to those two sides, although I do feel we seriously need another striker (back-up). I actually wouldn't be adverse to taking a punt on Welbeck.

Obviously Ogbonna could be upgraded, but not essential, and there is maybe a concern of not having a mdfielder with a bit of pace and power who can also back-up Rice.

[Georgee Paris]

I thought we moved ground to become like a top six club. Apart from Man U who had bigger attendances. What’s the point of saying you should move because you’ll be able to attract the world class players for the world class stadium if you only aim to buy one or two a season? We are being massively short changed.

[traxop]

Contrary to other views I expect Everton and Leicester to do well this season. Wouldn’t surprise me to see a new mini league emerge in the middle of the PL - with a more noticeable gap to the bottom six and closer to the top six.

A good start is critical if we want to top that group - breeds confidence etc.

Leicester will flatter to deceive this season. The basis for their hype was their form at the end of the season, but do beating the likes of Fulham, Burnley, Bournemouth - as the visitors and Huddersfield in their run-in warrant it?

Their big win during that time came against a 10 man Arsenal that were playing away, and even that took them the better part of a hour to breach their defense after Arsenal's sending off.

When challenged by better teams in the same time frame(in their run-in), they still fall short. They were beaten by Newcastle and Man. City and we should have beaten them 3-1 had VAR been implemented.

[Crouchend_Hammer]

Spurs generally play a physically imposing midfield, much like Liverpool...and very similar to the recent title winning teams at Chelsea, Leicester and pre-Guardiola Man City.

.

I think Spurs will change that somewhat this season as WInks will play a lot more, and he is not particularly imposing
I think in some games they will play Winks, the new boy and Sissoko

[Crouchend_Hammer]

I thought we moved ground to become like a top six club. Apart from Man U who had bigger attendances. What’s the point of saying you should move because you’ll be able to attract the world class players for the world class stadium if you only aim to buy one or two a season? We are being massively short changed.

We didn't move stadium to crash the top six. Surely you know that now?

Whether the owners mistakenly believed the stadium would help us close the gap and were misguided, or they knew the move would have no impact and lied deliberately is not that relevant any more to the primary reason

We moved stadium because Sullivan wanted a big, glamorous, highly publicised stadium for nothing. For him, anything above that is a bonus

[Cuenca 'ammer]

We moved stadium because Sullivan wanted a big, glamorous, highly publicised stadium for nothing. For him, anything above that is a bonus