With less than 24 hours remaining until the transfer deadline, I'm just going to say that no one new is coming and no one is leaving until proven otherwise. We've been linked with many players, but thanks to the Mascherano fiasco we've not had the time to properly approach the right people. Personally I'd love to see either Turan or Mata at the club, but unless something dramatic happens we are going to start the season proper without them.
So where does that leave us? We have no real width: Kuyt and Jovanovic are not true wide players in the 'crossing from the byline' sense. They are more suited to cutting inside and letting wingbacks do their work out wide, but even Johnson doesn't really qualify for that. Babel is, well, Babel. Good runner, does provide width, but loses the ball too easily. This leaves us needing to play the ball through the middle, and unless we have a stellar year in terms of avoiding injury we will play 2xDM one of whom will be Lucas for a fair part of the season, drying up clean ball through the center. Which leaves us with hoofing it up, and we don't have a target man; Torres is great running onto the ball, but in most instances he is forced wide and therefore has to do it all himself.
This leaves me with only one conclusion; we need to play the youth guys a lot more. We are short at the back and frankly Kelly has already proven himself enough to start any particular game. I would hope that Roy gives Pacheco much more game time than he has so far; he really should have been on the pitch vs WBA. He has quick feet and a quicker brain, and those are assets in short supply in the squad. Wilson, Suso, and Amoo must find their way onto the field as well, even if only in random cap games.
The point I'm making is that we are going to struggle to create a lot of chances at least until the January transfer window, so why not give the youngsters more than a chance to show their stuff in the first half of the season? If we are desperate to finish in the Top 4 (we certainly should be, and I believe that's not going to be easy even with a stronger squad) then we need to gamble now while the results can be contained.
Torres will be one step closer to leaving if we win nothing this season, and something as weak as finishing 4th in the league should never be considered to be "winning". We need a trophy, and despite all those people who say the Europa Cup is beneath us, well, it's still a winner's medal around the neck of Torres, and if that's enough for him then I say we should pursue it will all urgency. We were one game away from winning it last year despite all our issues; surely we can go all the way this time.
