Just watched that Rio-Stevie interview and the thing that stood out is that Stevie said during our title race the thing we lacked was experience. He's so right and that's why I keep banging the door down saying we need players that have achieved success at the very top level. Not Clyne, not Benteke etc.
A couple of seasons ago we made some very good signings mid season. Signing players that haven't quite made an impact in their current side that are playing for top level teams. Teams who have won the CL and their respective league recently.
These players were Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge. We then went and did the same last season with a very raw player that's played for Bayern Munich with massive potential. These are the type of players we should be targeting to make a difference and bring in that experience. Not necessarily just the kids but the players in these TOP clubs that aren't getting desired game time.
At the start of this window I said I wanted 4-5 sigings but those signings being top players with experience winning big prizes. We needed a keeper to challenge Mignolet, I would have loved Mat Ryan (Australian bias) but Casillas would have been perfect. We need a DM still, Javi Martinez barely gets a game at Bayern. We needed an attacking midfielder and got Firmino. My first choice would have been either Jese or Isco from Madrid. With Reus looking likely to join them I doubt either will see as much of the pitch as they'd like. We needed a striker, Lacazette made sense despite not winning things, he plays a lot like Sturridge. Higuain is another I feel would be attainable.
If we really needed a RB then Arbeloa is now behind Danilo and Dani Carvajal and is a much better defender than Clyne in my opinion. I would have liked to keep Manquillo as well but that's a different story.
