TRon

I think he started really well, then has been less evident the longer this half has gone on.

We actually look far more control with this 11

Don't want to keep banging this drum, but the two goals down the right with interchanges between Miggy and Trippier are exactly the sort of thing you don't get on the left with the solo dribbling efforts of St Max. Granted Targett isn't Trippier, but we have to work out a way to get some more collective play going on down Maxi's side.

Has looked fantastic pre-season tbf. Some cracking goals against Burnley, and again tonight.

Pretty happy to be level tbh, I thought we struggled a little bit with their movement and pressing, but we did pop it around nicely in parts. Bruno was a bit off the pace.

All those teams you mentioned there as having missed out on their targets still have fairly balanced squads though. They are much further down the road than us, if they don't get the striker or midfielder they want, they can afford to wait it out. We desperately need goals to make this campaign an exciting one.

Nice. Almiron for Murphy would have been better but no doubt he'll be on in the second half.

I wouldn't call it despondent to judge the team as it is. Currently this is the squad we've got, we can only judge what's in front of us. I would still think we will bring in at least one forward if I was putting money on it, but I'm also preparing myself for the prospect of going into the season with our current attacking options. It might be that we don't get a deal that we like.

Yep, not going to blame the club at all for chasing Ekiteke, I liked him right from the off. Would have been a landmark addition.

Well Howe has suggested we can use Joelinton or ASM as alternatives if push comes to shove, so that would suggest a slight lack.

I think it's just clear he's already better than some of our squad players like Murphy and maybe even Almiron and Fraser.

I am just surprised we spent so much effort chasing Ekiteke over two windows, then when it fell through, we don't appear to have any solid alternatives.

I wonder if there'll ever be any scenario where Almiron might get played as a number 10 again rather than out wide? Just taking into account many fans seem to think he's not been given much of a crack in his favourite position, and also a nod to his two goals in the friendly against Burnley.

Well it might affect our style a bit, but it's not going to be game changing stuff until we find players who can convert the football into goals at the other end.

I think what makes it seem worse is that while all of the signings are very solid, none of them are going to make much of a noticeable difference to the side which finished last season. Botman is obviously a class addition, but our defending was on point even without him. Pope is an England goalkeeper, but Dubravka is a good keeper as well. Targett was here since January so is already part of the furniture. A couple of good forwards is what we need to complete the team and take us on to the next level.

I think there's too much being made of the 300k wages. If he wants game time, he'll have to leave Chelsea, and there just aren't many clubs who can pay those sort of wages. I think a deal could be struck where Chelsea would subsidise those.

Even this thread seems to be pretty dead. The rumours are all a bit random since Ekiteke, we seem to be getting different names chucked in every other day, but without much conviction. Like Julian Draxler for instance. I do think we'll sign at least one forward, but get the feeling it will be closer to the end of the window when the prices might come down and some options open up.

I just pick up on what's been written by other journalists, there tends to be a theme on what Howe wants from his players and generally there seems to be this idea that ASM doesn't really buy into Howe's methods 100%. That could be wrong of course, maybe Howe loves it when he goes charging off on solo runs ignoring team mates until he's had a good crack at scoring a wonder goal himself. I don't want to pass myself off as some sort of sage who taps into Howe's deeper inner mindset, apologies if it comes across that way.

Agree, he's one of those players who seem to have locked in for life here, I think Jacob Murphy's another one who scored for a 6 year contract or something like that. Tbf, Shelvey's not a bad player, I can definitely see him being used quite a lot for the next season or so before we upgrade across all areas of the pitch. He's a decent squad player.

If the rumours of Chelsea being interested actually turn out to be true....I'll be very surprised.

That's just my opinion, I think Howe being a good manager likes players who are a bit more intelligent and release the ball earlier rather than take on 2 players then lose the ball trying to beat the 3rd. He's not part of the French international set up because of those failings as well. He's got loads of talent but he wastes it a lot of the time.

Not if you want the sale to go through. No is going to pay £50m for ASM.

I'm pretty sure Howe would sell him if there was any genuine interest from somewhere. I wonder what sort of money it would take for us to let him go? I reckon around £25-30m.

We're planning on selling him for £40m to Spurs or Chelsea last I heard.

I can't even be arsed to get excited about any of these names, there seems to have been dozens flying about in the last few weeks with no indication that we are after any of them.