TRon

Wood's signing has made me a lot more confident tbh. He will occupy Watford's defenders, should open up some gaps for ASM and Fraser.

Was absolutely confident we were winning this one until I heard we might have both keepers out. Now I'm worried that might cost us. I still think we'll win, but there's a nagging doubt at the back of my mind now.

Looks like an absolute powerhouse. Put him in the same team as Botman, Carlos and Trippier, and forwards would putting the white flag up before they reached the halfway line.

I get it. You will sell, but only when it suits you, even if it means you might lose a few £million. Sensible really.

By that logic you would sell Carlos, congratulate yourselves on getting way too much money, then go out and buy three replacement players with the proceeds.

It's why it used to annoy me when people had a go at Tiote or Diame. Tbh, I used to even get fed up with criticism of Amdy Faye even though he wasn't really a footballer, only because he at least attempted to close the opposition down. Seems like forever we've been buying midfielders with no engine or bite. We get the wool pulled over our eyes with the odd fancy pass, while the rest of the time the opposition run rings round us.

I think you answered your own question there. Rafa tried to go 4-4-2 as well with these players, and we ended up pushing for goals, failing to score, then leaving ourselves open to getting countered. I I am all in favour of Howe's attacking philosophy in theory, but you need good players to make it work. Rafa's formation made our defenders look a lot better than they actually were IMO. We were really defending with a back 8 not a back 4. Also, until we have a proper left back available, I think it's risky to go with 4 at the back.

How many interceptions is Shelvey managing? 1.04 per season would be a rough guess.

Depends how good we think they are I guess. It would be a good indicator which other clubs are in for them.

In which case I think signing precocious young talent like Batman and Ekitike should be a priority even if we have to pay slightly more than we'd like. That doesn't stop us signing the ones we need for immediate survival, they go hand in hand.

Those three would absolutely do me, although I'd like to add the Ekitike lad to the mix as well, think he offers us something really unique as a prospect.

Then we should get this lad tied up sooner rather than later.

Yep. He's not really a proper CB, and he's a very limited LB. But as part of a back 3 he's pretty decent.

I would have thought we'd be more attractive to a 19yr old who has Mbappe in front of him for a starting spot. Are PSG looking to sell Mbappe like?

Willock can start on the bench then come on if we need a goal. With Longstaff, we don't need goals, just need him to do the basics, run, close down the opposition, and try to pass to our players instead of theirs.

Agree, said the same thing yesterday. But if it's a choice between Willock and Almiron for that number 10 position, for me it would be Willock every time. At least you know he's got that goal in him, with Almiron, if he was coming off the bench when you are behind, you already know it's game over.

Exactly what I was thinking. Granted the urgency for the Wood deal was more pressing as we were doomed without a striker, but with this deal, we would probably get our money back at least, assuming he's as good as our scouts seem to think he is. You have to back your judgement at the end of the day.

They are probably right tbh, for the amount they are asking for, we could probably land a younger version who is pretty decent. I am thinking we might now lean towards getting by with what we've got for the two games in January, and then bring someone in on loan if we can't get our preferred choices.

Bruce is still available as a manager, it's not carved in stone he can only be Newcastle manager. What was stopping Norwich, Villa or Spurs from signing him? I haven't even mentioned Man U where he actually put himself forward for the job, but they still decided they'd rather go with some disastrous foreign name who has no association with the club. Where is the outrage?

That says it all really, a guy we bought as a centre forward is better at it than any of our specialist midfielders.

So what's the point of insisting you won't sell? If we were prepared to pay the stupidly high release clause price they would have no choice.

Same. Especially considering Howe insists on playing a formation suited to pressing, but we don't actually have a single midfielder who does it well.

This Trensa guy himself told us Carlos has a release clause. Oops! I'm starting to think it's the Sevilla chairman himself posting on here, just trying to bump up the price as much as possible by telling us how nothing will make them sell.

Yeah he looks a real player tbh, not dissimilar to Botman, and Fiorentina are a selling club are they not?

Watching one of these youtube fan channels and there's talk that Almiron might have been offered up as part exchange for Carlos. I'd be well up for that tbh, and could work out well for them as well.