6 January signings

[Wolves Heathen]

I was begining to think we had almost done enough to think we were safe from relegation however during/after yesterdays game I'm thinking we are nowhere near safe from relegation and it's going to go to the wire, why did I start to think like this, well because of our 6 signings in January. Bentley was brought in as a back up to Sa and to allow Sarkic to go out on loan so obviously he is doing what he has been brought in to do, Dawson was brought in as an experienced defender that would steady the ship and add experience to an inexperienced defence which is what he is doing, Lemina another player brought in for his experience and again he is doing pretty well and doing what he has been brought in to do which also included allowing Moutinho to start from the bench, Sarabia brought in to add his experience and a goal threat to the team, well he does add experience and is a Jota type player however we need to see a lot more from him especially his goal involvements, then we have young Gomes who it seems Julen must think he is not ready to start indeed he has had minimal minutes on the pitch since he has been here, Cunha I believe I am right when I say he will be our record signing when he signs on the dotted line well to put it bluntly he was brought to add goals to our shot shy attack and to be polite he has so far been shall we say disappointing, when you add this to Nunes continuing to struggle to make an impact, RAN who it seems can't be ***** rather than fighting for his place, and Bouba (who I rate) taking forever to get back fit, I am starting to worry about our new signings actually improving what we already had, which was a Team that struggled to score goals.

 

[Foiled]

In fairness to Fosun, they have invested heavily over the past two transfer windows, but as you’ve pointed out, most of the new recruits have failed to live up to expectations, and some of them have been woeful.

If I was head of recruitment, I wouldn’t be feeling very secure in my job right now

 

[OLDGOLD]

The main problem, as the fans have known for 2 years, is for all the fancy show ponies we still do don't have a goalscorer.

 

[Wolf in Kenilworth]

We have too many similar central midfielders and not enough number 9’s.

 

[TheConcourse]

In all fairness to JL, the horse had already bolted. January was really about trying to salvage the embarrassment of the last few windows through either a combination of inactivity or poor recruitment.

The balance of the squad is as poor as it gets. It needs major surgery in the summer.

Recruitment is hard though. So many variables. Easy to try and correlate fees to performance, but it’s a pretty useless metric to measure the success of a player.

 

[JOSWolf]

Really clear that two have done well and the others still have a lot to prove for varying reasons. Lets hope the likes of Cunha, Gomes and Sarabia can really come to the party in the coming weeks.

 

[Minimalist]

I’m still happy enough with the January six.
The big disappointment for the season has been Guedes and Nunes from the summer recruitment.

 

[theweave]

You only have to look at our results to see that the signings have improved us. We now have a strong bench too which allows us to change things, sometimes it works like v spurs, sometimes it doesn't like yesterday but we have the options now.

 

[SuperGran]

Look at the strength of the bench we have now lemina and Dawson have improved us no end
Gomes got us 3 points against saints
3 of the newbies have scored goals. sa has improved since Bentley came in.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

I still think it's an excellent set of signings.
Bentley, hopefully irrelevant really but probably wise.
Dawson, experience we needed at the back.
Lemina, was a bit ropey yesterday against a high press, but generally has been an excellent CDM, freeing up Neves to use more of his skills.
Cunha, has done OK, not the goal scorer we so badly needed, but a decent start.
Sarabia, largely the victim of formation for me, needs to play more central, but can't help thinking we would have got something yesterday if we could have played him over Podence.
Gomes, looks a bit raw on brief sightings, but was always going to be a big ask for him to contribute a lot short term.

Remember Cunha was expensive, but the best were very good value. A brilliant transfer window for me in the circumstances.

 

[A3wolf]

Not sure how much attention should be paid to fees quoted but just don’t see the players we spend a lot of money on like Silva, Semedo, Nunes and Cunha are any better than those we don’t like Dawson, Lemina and Sarabia even taking account of future potential. Just comes across that our diligence is particularly poor on the high cost players who we think will develop further.

 

[WolfLing]

I still think it's an excellent set of signings.
Bentley, hopefully irrelevant really but probably wise.
Dawson, experience we needed at the back.
Lemina, was a bit ropey yesterday against a high press, but generally has been an excellent CDM, freeing up Neves to use more of his skills.
Cunha, has done OK, not the goal scorer we so badly needed, but a decent start.
Sarabia, largely the victim of formation for me, needs to play more central, but can't help thinking we would have got something yesterday if we could have played him over Podence.
Gomes, looks a bit raw on brief sightings, but was always going to be a big ask for him to contribute a lot short term.

Remember Cunha was expensive, but the best were very good value. A brilliant transfer window for me in the circumstances.

I think Cunha will come good. He seems to have more about him than someone like Guedes.

But yeah, taking the spending as a whole into account, around £80m total for that lot is actually very good value overall.

 

[so-called fan]

I don't understand the Gomes thing at all. Scores on debut, hardly used since.

 

[oldgolded]

I don't understand the Gomes thing at all. Scores on debut, hardly used since.

Possibly a replacement for Neves next season.

 

[Big Saft Kid]

I don't understand the Gomes thing at all. Scores on debut, hardly used since.

Nor me. He seems to have what this team needs above all else -- a bit of fire in his belly. Assuming Neves (and Nunes?) leave, I expect a regular midfield three of Boubakar, Lemina and Gomes. It would be a good idea if Boubakar and Gomes could get some minutes this season

 

[Alex Rae The Substitute]

Pretty good January signings. Certainly better than I’d hoped for going into the WC.

However, I suspect that the main issue is we have too many players unlikely to be here next season, either for contractual reasons or simply because they won’t be here in the championship. I know that’s all speculation, but I genuinely feel it’s the case.

Neves - certainly can’t be accused of not giving 100%, but surely in the back of his mind he knows he’s getting his big move this summer (and deservedly so).

Traore - walks on a free. Plus doesn’t get many starts. In his defence I think he tries hard, but it’s not like he’s playing for his Wolves future at the moment when he’s potentially talking to other clubs already (likely ‘bigger’ clubs than Wolves too)

Semedo/ Podence - I suspect are coming to the end of their Wolves cycle anyway, plus there is no way they stay in the side in the championship on their wages. They’ll be loaned out at the very least

Nunes/ Guedes - see above re: relegation, but I suspect they’ll both be off in the summer whatever league we’re in

Costa - likely leaving on a free relegation or not

Moutinho - consummate professional, but legs have caught up with him and he’s proving less effective over 90 mins. Relegation or not I think he’ll be off in the summer

For me, that’s a lot of core team members that aren’t likely to be at Wolves next season, and suspect that’s why we can motivate ourselves for the glory fixtures like Liverpool and Spurs, but struggle against Bournemouth, and I fear Leeds and Forest too, playing against teams that are fighting for their futures.

I hope I’m proved wrong of course. Starting Saturday against Leeds.

 

[reanswolf]

I was begining to think we had almost done enough to think we were safe from relegation however during/after yesterdays game I'm thinking we are nowhere near safe from relegation and it's going to go to the wire, why did I start to think like this, well because of our 6 signings in January. Bentley was brought in as a back up to Sa and to allow Sarkic to go out on loan so obviously he is doing what he has been brought in to do, Dawson was brought in as an experienced defender that would steady the ship and add experience to an inexperienced defence which is what he is doing, Lemina another player brought in for his experience and again he is doing pretty well and doing what he has been brought in to do which also included allowing Moutinho to start from the bench, Sarabia brought in to add his experience and a goal threat to the team, well he does add experience and is a Jota type player however we need to see a lot more from him especially his goal involvements, then we have young Gomes who it seems Julen must think he is not ready to start indeed he has had minimal minutes on the pitch since he has been here, Cunha I believe I am right when I say he will be our record signing when he signs on the dotted line well to put it bluntly he was brought to add goals to our shot shy attack and to be polite he has so far been shall we say disappointing, when you add this to Nunes continuing to struggle to make an impact, RAN who it seems can't be ***** rather than fighting for his place, and Bouba (who I rate) taking forever to get back fit, I am starting to worry about our new signings actually improving what we already had, which was a Team that struggled to score goals.

Bang on.

Our Recruitment Team have a lot to answer for.

 

[Black Country Wanderer]

I was begining to think we had almost done enough to think we were safe from relegation however during/after yesterdays game I'm thinking we are nowhere near safe from relegation and it's going to go to the wire, why did I start to think like this, well because of our 6 signings in January. Bentley was brought in as a back up to Sa and to allow Sarkic to go out on loan so obviously he is doing what he has been brought in to do, Dawson was brought in as an experienced defender that would steady the ship and add experience to an inexperienced defence which is what he is doing, Lemina another player brought in for his experience and again he is doing pretty well and doing what he has been brought in to do which also included allowing Moutinho to start from the bench, Sarabia brought in to add his experience and a goal threat to the team, well he does add experience and is a Jota type player however we need to see a lot more from him especially his goal involvements, then we have young Gomes who it seems Julen must think he is not ready to start indeed he has had minimal minutes on the pitch since he has been here, Cunha I believe I am right when I say he will be our record signing when he signs on the dotted line well to put it bluntly he was brought to add goals to our shot shy attack and to be polite he has so far been shall we say disappointing, when you add this to Nunes continuing to struggle to make an impact, RAN who it seems can't be ***** rather than fighting for his place, and Bouba (who I rate) taking forever to get back fit, I am starting to worry about our new signings actually improving what we already had, which was a Team that struggled to score goals.

Bit harsh on the new guys imo
Dawson and Lemina have been great up until yesterday
Cunha and Sarabia are obviously talented just need time to settle and be played correctly
Gomes is very young and not ready to play 90 every week but looks to have the fire we need
Bentley decent back up for Sa
Im more concerned about the players that were already here tbh
Nunes doesnt work hard enough RAN thinks he doesnt have to defend any more
Mouts cant do 90 minutes anymore
Raul, though better recently, is not the player he was
Pod is a luxury we cant afford at this time same for Traore
In short we have too many passengers in too many games to feel safe

 

[wwbug]

Cunha and Sarabia are absolutely crucial .

 

[Ian]

Cunha and Sarabia are absolutely crucial .

And yet neither of them played a minute yesterday.

I think Lemina & Dawson have made a difference and Gomes has obviously done well in his limited time on the pitch and is one for the future .... BUT I don't think Cunha & Sarabia are any better than what we already had, add in Nunes and Guedes and for the money spent are we really any stronger? Have they made us a better team?

"They'll be better once they adapt"!? Will they really.... or are they just not that good?

 

[Matt]

Dawson and Lemina have been good, Bentley is a solid backup keeper. Gomes is a puzzling one but I didn't really expect him to start many games this season. Cunha and Sarabia have both shown flashes but neither have done enough for me (yet). I think Cunha has 1 assist and Sarabia 1 goal? These are the guys we were pinning our hopes on to get us goals and so far they haven't done that. That's not to say they're bad players and there are a lot of games to go... but we need goals.

 

[WKFWolf]

We lost a game = this thread

 

[Flump]

Have they made us a better team?

Have a look at the points gained and goals per game before January and after January.

 

[Flump]

We lost a game = this thread

Next season I'm going to try to remember to make a list of the thread titles started the day after a loss vs the day after a win.

 

[wwbug]

And yet neither of them played a minute yesterday.

I think Lemina & Dawson have made a difference and Gomes has obviously done well in his limited time on the pitch and is one for the future .... BUT I don't think Cunha & Sarabia are any better than what we already had, add in Nunes and Guedes and for the money spent are we really any stronger? Have they made us a better team?

"They'll be better once they adapt"!? Will they really.... or are they just not that good?

I agree with this. But they are crucial and that means JL and his team HAVE to work on them.

Because I believe they have the ability to regularly hit the top notes needed in our attack , unlike Podence, Adama and Hwang who have never proved that ability consistently.

 

[YouGottaRaulWithIt]

We lost a game = this thread

No, I have seen the same comments made for weeks, months now. We were never set up to compete this year and we didn't fix the problem in January. No goals in this team.

 

[Black Country Wanderer]

Prior to JL 15 games 10pts 8 goals
After JL 13 games 17pts 12 goals

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

No, I have seen the same comments made for weeks, months now. We were never set up to compete this year and we didn't fix the problem in January. No goals in this team.

Honestly apart from what we'd all love, but the hardest thing to find, a no. 9 who would score us 10+ goals in the second half of the season, I don't see how we could have done much better.

 

[Krispy Kreme]

I don't understand the Gomes thing at all. Scores on debut, hardly used since.

Joined us at the end of Brazilian pre season, not match fit, needs to get up to the premier League speed, settle in the country etc.

Had Lemina/Neves two of our better performers in his position.

 

[Timberwolf]

In fairness to Fosun, they have invested heavily over the past two transfer windows, but as you’ve pointed out, most of the new recruits have failed to live up to expectations, and some of them have been woeful.

If I was head of recruitment, I wouldn’t be feeling very secure in my job right now

It’s not ‘most’ is it. WH stated Dawson, Bentley, Sarabia and Lemina have all been good signings one way or another. Think it’s unfair to include Gomes as he’s still young and getting up to speed but that’s still four out of six.
This issue is spunking millions and millions on Nunes and Cunha for the grand return of ****-all. It’s one thing for Recruitment to find potential or steady wise heads. However, identifying that player with star quality that would take the PL in their stride, is proving an impossible task.
Not for Brighton though who don’t even get mugged off in negotiations either.

 

[Oldgold Wolfcub]

In fairness to Fosun, they have invested heavily over the past two transfer windows, but as you’ve pointed out, most of the new recruits have failed to live up to expectations, and some of them have been woeful.

If I was head of recruitment, I wouldn’t be feeling very secure in my job right now

However as the owners of this club they should have a duty of care to ensure as much as possible the success of that investment. I would say that since they came here that investment has been very mixed.
The first thing they should have done is to have brought in the best they could get to run the cclub.
In all the time he has been here can anyone seriously hold up their hands and say that man is Jeff Shi. If he left our club would he get many offers to run any top clubs? I think not.

 

[YouGottaRaulWithIt]

Honestly apart from what we'd all love, but the hardest thing to find, a no. 9 who would score us 10+ goals in the second half of the season, I don't see how we could have done much better.

We spent a lot of money in the summer, especially on Guedes and Nunes, neither of which score many goals. We then spent big again in January, including lots for Cunha.

No central striker when it was blatantly obvious that that was what we needed. Of course we could have done better.

 

[steve vena]

It’s not ‘most’ is it. WH stated Dawson, Bentley, Sarabia and Lemina have all been good signings one way or another. Think it’s unfair to include Gomes as he’s still young and getting up to speed but that’s still four out of six.
This issue is spunking millions and millions on Nunes and Cunha for the grand return of ****-all. It’s one thing for Recruitment to find potential or steady wise heads. However, identifying that player with star quality that would take the PL in their stride, is proving an impossible task.
Not for Brighton though who don’t even get mugged off in negotiations either.

Brighton's scouting team is brilliant. Fair play to them.

 

[Perton Wolf]

However as the owners of this club they should have a duty of care to ensure as much as possible the success of that investment. I would say that since they came here that investment has been very mixed.
The first thing they should have done is to have brought in the best they could get to run the cclub.
In all the time he has been here can anyone seriously hold up their hands and say that man is Jeff Shi. If he left our club would he get many offers to run any top clubs? I think not.

Judging by how quiet Shi has been since the Lage/Sellars/Beale debacle, his time might be up soon.

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

We spent a lot of money in the summer, especially on Guedes and Nunes, neither of which score many goals. We then spent big again in January, including lots for Cunha.

No central striker when it was blatantly obvious that that was what we needed. Of course we could have done better.

Well granted, but most people were pretty happy at the end of the summer window, even though Sasa was a massive risk. As it turned out those of us predicting a good season (most of us) were wrong for a variety of reasons done to death.

This is about January, if on Dec 26th you'd tell me we'd have Cunha, Sarabia, Dawson, Lemina, Gomes and Bentley for £80m I'd have been delighted (after some research!). Like most of the teams in the bottom 8, were short of a goal scorer, that's not news or easily solved

 

[Black Country Wanderer]

We have lost 3 games recently
Liverpool away and Newcastle away both we arguably could have got something from and both at probably the hardest venues
The one game that really hurt was the Bournemouth home game and they have proved to be a much harder team to beat than expected recently

Ofc we arent scoring enough but we have become very hard to play against again and one or two goals a game usually gives us points
Its where we are right now,as far as im concerned we had a good January window far better than i thought,where we failed was in the summer, but even then Nunes was a major signing that so far hasnt worked out for whatever reason
Im sure we will get a profit on him if he goes and he will be world class in another team

JL has done well with a misfiring, low on confidence bunch of players and bought well imo
We are in a battle to the wire to stay up, ive never thought otherwise, and the games against Leeds Forest and Everton will be pivotal in that battle as they always were

I think we will just about do it but it needs everyone at the club playing at their best in most games left,the odd poor game can always happen we just need 4/5 good ones in between