Not Actually that Crucial a Summer as of August 2023...beginning to now think everything isnt fine!

I actually don’t mind the 2 signings in central defence, Starfelt obviously wanted to leave and replaced him with 2 promising players, just been unlucky with injuries !! What gets me is just filling the rest of the squad with projects. We sell our left winger for £25 million, surely that’s an opportunity to spend a bit of money on that position, surely we could have got someone in for £6 - £8 million who would have been first team ready. Also known we needed a left back and goalkeeper, criminal we ain’t got them in

 

That's rewriting history a bit mate, we can question if Rodgers wasn't properly backed towards the end of his time here, and we can riot if he's not backed more going forward, but when he first arrived him and Congerton gutted our recruitment to do things their way, and most of us have agreed since that wasn't a good thing, Rodgers having too much control over potential transfers and doing things "his way" again rather than working within our existing recruitment was one of the biggest concerns expressed on here when his name resurfaced.

 

Some cracking posts on the last page. There's no debate to be had - it was an abysmal transfer window and it's already fairly plain to see. 9 signings and yet we haven't improved at all.

Weaker in the attacking areas as, unless there's a miracle, none of the wingers are going to be nearly as good as Jota. And weaker in defence because as promising as Nawrocki and Lagerbielke may be, neither are as good as Starfelt right now and one of them is crocked for another couple of months.

We made two signings to go into the first team (Palma to replace Jota, Nawrocki to replace Starfelt). Replacements. Not signings made to strengthen a team already needing improved, just simply replacements for outgoing players.

I know it's been said a million times already but going into yet another European campaign with Taylor and Hart starting, and no proper CDM is * insanity and shows zero ambition from the club. Happy to get the CL money but absolutely no interest in actually making us somewhat competitive.

We may sneak 3rd in this group, albeit no doubt still get knocked out in the first round of the EL. But this is a group where we should be targeting 2nd place if the board had anything about them and actually spent some money on proper players.

The fact we struggle to name even 5 players who we think are good enough at this level says it all. Shambles.

 

In terms of signings Rodgers will have been involved, ideally for a recruitment department to work a head coach/ manager would need to highlight what they feel they need for the team on the park.

For example when Jota left, Rodgers would outline what he wants in a left winger and then the recruitment team would utilise their tools to get a long list and analyse the long list to get to a shortlist of targets that would be put to Rodgers and the likes of Mark Lawwell probably Nicholson too from a financial point of view.

Decide who to target and on they go.

By the end of the window there we weren’t following that sort of process it seemed.

 

The thing is, with the money that comes along with even just winning a group game in the CL, it’s just baffling as to why our board seem to have no ambition to try and progress us in Europe. It was the same when it came to qualifiers. Year after year we went into these games brutally unprepared. Tens of millions at stake, yet we simply refused to give ourselves the best chance of qualifying by spending half decent money on improving the team. Ultimately it has cost us an absolute fortune over the years due to the number of CL failures.

I can’t get my head round the number of fans that defend the board, and there is plenty that do. There is always one reason or another as to why it’s not their fault. * me, there was a poster on here using the weather as a reason as to why we can’t sign better players. The * weather!

 

Recruitment has killed any chance in this competition. I hate folk saying pish about 'you could spend x amount and still not do anything in the CL' when it's clear to see that with an extra bit of quality, we win games like tonight instead of losing in that fashion.

 

What a shock. Come out of the window weaker than when we went in. Still pathetic in Europe.

Our summer recruitment was scandalous and it’s * crazy that some people can’t admit it. We’ve signed 3 wingers - 2 of them not a patch on Jota. The other has been crocked for months.

How is that possible?

 

Tonight and the two games v Shaktar were winnable games. We were leading in all of them.

Still think an outstanding GK like Forster is crucial in these type of games.

What can you do though... we're actually worse than last season. I'll be pleased if we manag to get at least 1 point on the board.

 

I'll keep saying this our recruitment this summer has * the champions league chances.

Lazio tonight were bang average and even Feyenoord last game were there for the taking. By investing in just a little more quality I think you see some points being won.

We have * all ambition. It's so frustrating as we are close to competing but it doesn't seem to be a priority to the board.

 

A LB that actually suits Rodgers system and an actual, non project LW to replace Jota and we win at least one of these games.

We all knew this window would bite us in the *, we should be fine domestically but I don't think we'll get an easier CL group again.

Another missed opportunity.

 

Mark Lawwell get to *

 

Scandalous window shown up again tonight. Whatever you think of Rodgers - and I'm still far from convinced - nights like tonight show how badly he's been * over.

 

We really could've been contenders for this group with serious investment..

 

100%

 

I think the idea that Rodgers was heavily involved in the signings is spurious. Half of them came from the other side of the world, clearly guys that had been scouted whilst Ange was in. If you think he was happy with that window, you're out your mind.

I'd personally be pointing the finger at the board that made 40m profit and are sitting on 70m in the bank and are obsessed with wee punts on umpteen £1m players aged 21 from Timbuktu that have no hope of making it into the first team and never go out on loan. That's the issue, it's a longstanding trend, not something that started when the manager came in the door.

 

Even without the injuries our squad is a joke.

Oh is a massive downgrade on Kyogo

Bernardo just in the door but doesn't strike me as a game changer

Holm is young with potential but not sure if he's ready either.

Palma is technically decent but is absolutely miles off Jota

Our other options include a past it Forrest and Mikey Johnston, ffs.

In terms of the starting eleven, Taylor and Maeda aren't good for the level we need to aspire to. Yang is nowhere near the standard required. Hart needs replaced..

Who can we realistically turn to if we need to change the game? The Summer completely killed us, with a bit of investment we'd be sitting on top of our CL group with 6 points, I have no doubt about that whatsoever.

 

It’s a joke we never bought a proper left back

 

I'm not even convinced about us domestically either.

The Huns being absolutely rotten is being allowed, once again, to mask how average we've been.

 

Yang pish
Taylor pish
The lack of a physical midfielder pish

 

The current squad are good enough to win the league but to progress in Europe it needs a rebuild and by someone who knows football. Whoever was in charge of this season’s recruitment isn’t that person.