5 stars from me.

“better than players we already have"

This statement needs modifying whenever the club use
it by adding four, crucial words - “better than players we
already have AVAILABLE ON MATCH DAYS."

I firmly believe we need 2 to 4 additions this window.

And I keep repeating this because it's true: the club
decided a small squad was the right way to tackle
this season. I feel they were wrong. However, we can
only react now to the current situation created by that
approach. For me, we need additions.

But, I also feel if the club don't sign anyone, no use
crying about it. We just have to go with it and hope.

* I'm not suggesting you are crying about it, Rob.
I mean any of us.

Don’t think the club necessarily think it’s right bats. Think it’s straight up mb. He just likes a small squad of versatile players. No disenfranchised ‘squad’ players who won’t get a game. Just a workable unit he can mould to his satisfaction.

Radz kinnear orta agreed to cede control of all playing and training matters, to mb. They know he’s Dingbats but accept it as the price of genius… so they reorganise parking places, make sure the training cones are the right colour etc…. And accept he wants a small squad.

I’m sure radz is secretly delighted that he’s not expected to punt large amounts of cash fattening a squad up… but genuinely don’t think it’s his call.

Current situation is what you might consider a test of one of the fundamentals of bielsa philosophy.

Personally, I’d rather we splashed some cash and didn’t test the theory at its limits, but hey.

I have said over and over, the club are hoping to get everyone back fit as early as possible with the expectation that that will be sufficient to keep us up.
"Better than what we have" would cost a lot money that there is no indication that the club have.
Then what happens when KP, etc are back? We have a surfeit of players we wouldn't need.
Paying money we don't have for players in the long run that we don't need isn't shrewd. It may not keep us up and if we do get relegated we are then left with players we cannot afford in the championship.
By far the best scenario is that we stay up however second to that is that we get relegated with the squad we currently have.

True to a point Els. But, if we're to be an incumbent
prem team, we'll have to expand our squad beyond 18,
to compete eventually anyway. As in, the MB small
squad model isn't a viable long term model.

So adding quality now to improve our chances of
staying up is a smart move for the short and long
term. IMO. It's still a risk, yes. No doubt.

Not signing anyone, while waiting for everyone we
do have to come back from injury is a risk with no
safety net.

For me the club isn't run properly, which may sound a bit harsh, but just look at some of the decision making and then compare it to others.

* Going into the season with 1 Defensive Mid and 1 left back is ludicrous.

* Signing Mateo Joseph for 2-3 seasons time when Bamford, Roberts, Geldhart and Rodrigo are all out is just madness to me, whereas Newcastle lose Callum Wilson for 3 days and are already set to bid on a replacement.

* Why didn't Klaesson play in either cup game like Casilla did? Clearly he's not ready yet, so we're gambling on Meslier staying fit.

* Going into a season with a small squad during covid, injury prone players and merhods with half of the team being internationals is just bonkers.

For me the club are gambling season after season, we're gambling now on a 9 point gap being enough to outrun Watford, Burnley and Newcastle, I think we do have enough but our league 1 mentality/performance at the weekend still has 19 games (HALF A SEASON) to navigate yet.

Is this going to be the theme season after season? If so, we need a new regime from top to bottom unless you guys like the prospect of being 'The Yorkshire Burnley' clinging on to 17th season after season.

Don't like it but feel it's better to buy in the summer.
I've never liked moving players out of their best positions but the fact remains we can't afford better players than we have.
I feel when healthy we have a mid table squad in no danger of being relegated and will have time for the slow build to make us a solid pl team.

Greenwood is now injured and doubtful for West Ham. Ffs just bring in a striker on loan.

Some great points made already and why I wanted to start a thread on this.

Batty - no worries I knew you were talking generally.

Milky - I'd forgotten about the car parking spaces
A test of MB's theories to the limit indeed and maybe a test of a few other aspects too like the 'murderball sessions' at the same time as the worst injury crisis the club has ever had with players falling on each other (Geldhardt and Creswell from what we hear of how the injuries were sustained).

Els - I hear your points about what happens when payers come back but I am not seeing these injuries clearing up anytime soon and actually new additions to it. Also rather than spending money we don't have there could be the option of loans if such deals could be done. They come in help us in the short term. The players get back fit, we haven't laid out huge fees and we all move on.

Shaun - I was interested to see what you'd say on this and you haven't disappointed although 'regime change' is a bit of a stretch.One of the best points are a combination of the bits you said. It's a scary thought thinking about what happens of Meslier is out given just how well he's played (probably faced most shots in league I'd guess) and worth remembering he could get Covid and be missing that way as could other key players.

Mont - Totally agree when everyone is fit we have a mid table(maybe better) team and it is better to buy in the summer. The danger is though that all that being true, the club whether through luck or circumstances of their own creation get so consumed by an injury crisis and an inability or unwillingness to bend on certain dogmatic principles for bringing in players to get us through that, they don't get the chance to find out about that fully fit mid table team.

Els - I hear your points about what happens when payers come back but I am not seeing these injuries clearing up anytime soon and actually new additions to it. Also rather than spending money we don't have there could be the option of loans if such deals could be done. They come in help us in the short term. The players get back fit, we haven't laid out huge fees and we all move on.

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Somebody pointed out that you are very limited on the loans you can bring in, was it 2?

Yes I think it is a limit of 2.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say 2 incoming players should have been the target for the window (likely midfielders)and seeing how circumstances have changed with literally no fit strikers at the club we should push the boat out and use those two loans and up the incoming to 3 or 4 players. How very dare me

Not a snowflake in hell's chance of this happening but I'd be saying to young Mateo Joseph. Welcome to Leeds/Thorpe Arch etc, I hope you have brought your boots.

https://www.footballinsider247.com/sources-pivotal-leeds-january-signings-update-after-bielsa-holds-talks/

I actually agree with Shawn on the ‘gambles’ we’ve taken. I was livid in January 2019 when we only replaced an injured keeper. But had other loanees returning to parent clubs and saiz leaving etc, all unreplaced.

I felt the same about going into our first premier season with essentially no senior goalkeeping back up to a very young first choice keeeper.

Whether these things turn out ok. No and yes in the above examples, it doesn’t alter that they are risks.

Reality is we were skint in 2019, but there have been times where you would expect an experienced team to seize the day to either secure or protect their investment and they didn’t.

This year we’re light on midfielders and have gambled on forshaw being ‘the new signing’ so far so good on that front, but a hell of a risk based on the past.

That said they’ve quite clearly also got a lot right… and it’s easy to pick holes from the comfort of your arm chair without all the information to hand!

For me the squad is light on a midfielder and whilst I see the argument not to panic buy players to cover injuries who might be potential passengers when everyone is fit, a midfielder of substance is the bare minimum for the window for me.

Yes the club have taken risks. AR has taken huge risks.

Do you think you can achieve anything without taking risks?

Look where those risks have taken us after how many years not making the play-offs in the championship.

I assume that everyone here does understand that finances are limited.

The owner has put his hand in his pocket by covering shortfall to running costs of £1mill/month to get us promoted. Had it not worked out he would have lost a lot of money. It worked though and he's made a big profit but we also benefitted hugely in that it's been great for 3 years and we are a Premier League club. Some of the spoil babies screaming for more more more.

Our net spend on transfers since promotion has been huge. Some of it has not been value for money. Some of it has been incredible value for money.

Unfortunately the success of some of the players mean they need big pay increases to retain them. Raphinha & Phillips will be getting big contracts in the next month or so we hope.

So do we give them big contracts which will come at a cost of say £120k/week or do we bring 4 players in on free transfers at £30k/week each? Players who are likely to hardly play a game for us.

The first season with Orta was not good in the window. We spread the budget out way too thinly and bought too many players on cheap. After that there was a change of tactic to focus on spending more money on fewer players of higher quality. And surely I don't need to remind everyone of whats happened
since?

We were one player short this season, in the midfield because the deals fell through.

After that I would much prefer to focus on spending our money on fewer players because we can afford much more valuable players that way.

If it were up to some on here it's clear we wouldn't have signed Bamford on the big fee and the big wages, but instead signed 4 strikers on the cheap, but totaling the same cost and enjoyed another 10th place finish.

Some fair points there Faith, apart from the 'spoil babies' bit.

Putting it back to you and taking into account those financial factors you have laid out, the number of injuries we have and the 19 games still to play, what would your solutions be?

comment by RobLUFC Have you ever seen a better goal or one better timed? (U5692)
posted 2 minutes ago
Some fair points there Faith, apart from the 'spoil babies' bit.

Putting it back to you and taking into account those financial factors you have laid out, the number of injuries we have and the 19 games still to play, what would your solutions be?
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We know that the club will know who they think are the best players they could sign for each position in world football. Each position will have 3-5 players that are regularly monitored as the ones they want in given circumstances.

There will be thousands more that reports are made of to see if they should jump into the top 5 or so targets for each position.

It's quite easy to understand why these players are very very rarely available in January.

I would have inquired about those on the list as a 4, 8, & 10. If any were genuinely available I think I would move in and sign one of them. Depending on where they were on the list you sign 2 and look to offload Rodrigo in the summer. The club will take the hit on the over spend until then but reduces an already small risk of relegation further so worth it. Because ther players were high up on the list anyway it doesn't come as a negative in the Summer.

I do not see the point in signing a striker, as Bamford is very hard to replace and Gelhardt has shown he needs opportunities to play at this level and is a threat for us. On top of that we have Rodrigo & Roberts.

Wingers we have enough.

It looks like we will need to sign a full back in the summer now. Drameh has not proved he can cope with the step up currently and probably needs a loan away. I think this has come as a surprise to many given how good he has looked for the u23s. Obviously signing a midfielder frees up Dallas to cover both sides more often though. I would just get on with this for now.

Centre backs we have plenty.

Sub Keeper is someone I would sign. A more experienced on the cheap who we hopefully won't need to use.


I do not expect any of the midfielders to be available which brings the next question. how much do we spend on someone who we don't want but might need in the short term? It basically comes down to relegation doesn't it. I think 13-14 points will probably be enough from here. The chances of us having as many injuries in the second half of the season are slim. And even so we don't even need to do as well as we did in the first half to stay up. So I would look to spend up to £10m max on a midfielder not on the list just to give us that bit of extra comfort and accept that will reduce the budget we have for better players in the summer. And while this will hamper our ability to take the next step slightly it's a worthy price to pay given the costs of relegation.

In summary 1 CM & 1 sub keeper.

i agree with your assessment Faith. The only difference is I'd look at 1 CM permanent if possible in £10m range(Swift type players) if finances are tight as an advance on the summer budget. The 2 loans (1 an experienced back up keeper and a striker working on the basis that we don't want to be without a fit striker for a month with the games we have coming up.

Based on transfers out and in we have had the 5th biggest net spend in World football since we came up.

Arsenal
Chelsea
ManU
ManCity
Leeds United

https://twitter.com/j_lufc_3/status/1480788211467173891?s=21

comment by RobLUFC Have you ever seen a better goal or one better timed? (U5692)
posted 3 minutes ago
i agree with your assessment Faith. The only difference is I'd look at 1 CM permanent if possible in £10m range(Swift type players) if finances are tight as an advance on the summer budget. The 2 loans (1 an experienced back up keeper and a striker working on the basis that we don't want to be without a fit striker for a month with the games we have coming up.
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Loan option for a striker is a consideration as a short term gap but who are we going to find that's available and better than what we have?

All 5 of our injured strikers are expected back by the end of the month. even if only 3 of them make it then where's the loan going to fit in? If we were in the Championship still it would be a no brainer because there would be plenty of options but can't think where to even start to look for one.

comment by Stoopo (U4707)
posted 3 minutes ago
https://twitter.com/j_lufc_3/status/1480788211467173891?s=21
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Agree with this completely. And hence my spoiled baby comment. We finally have an owner that has risked losing money on the club and got us promoted and then has a very very high net spend and some fans, are calling for a regime change because it's not enough. It will never be enough.

On the strikers that is where Orta and his team on their money and use their database and contacts they have.

Going back to the premise of the 'better than what we have' even if they are not on a par with Bamford/Geldhardt but comparable with Roberts and the Leeds Rodrigo (rather than what he was at Valencia)it's hard to imagine that they wouldn't offer more to offer than playing debutant under 23s up front or on the bench.

Yes it might be they only feature on the next 4 to 5 league games and then have to fight it out after that,but if they make a contribution in that time that is the difference between staying up and getting edged out by Watford and Newcastle come May and all that would mean for us, it would be short term money well spent.

comment by RobLUFC Have you ever seen a better goal or one better timed? (U5692)
posted 3 minutes ago
On the strikers that is where Orta and his team on their money and use their database and contacts they have.

Going back to the premise of the 'better than what we have' even if they are not on a par with Bamford/Geldhardt but comparable with Roberts and the Leeds Rodrigo (rather than what he was at Valencia)it's hard to imagine that they wouldn't offer more to offer than playing debutant under 23s up front or on the bench.

Yes it might be they only feature on the next 4 to 5 league games and then have to fight it out after that,but if they make a contribution in that time that is the difference between staying up and getting edged out by Watford and Newcastle come May and all that would mean for us, it would be short term money well spent.
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https://twitter.com/marshyleeds/status/1480853015821275136?s=20

Great timing

comment by HaveFaithInLeeds (U8688)
posted 39 minutes ago
comment by RobLUFC Have you ever seen a better goal or one better timed? (U5692)
posted 3 minutes ago
i agree with your assessment Faith. The only difference is I'd look at 1 CM permanent if possible in £10m range(Swift type players) if finances are tight as an advance on the summer budget. The 2 loans (1 an experienced back up keeper and a striker working on the basis that we don't want to be without a fit striker for a month with the games we have coming up.
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All 5 of our injured strikers are expected back by the end of the month.
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You talk as if they aren't going to get injured again. Now that's optimism...