Mick

We've got as many fit defenders today as we had at the end of the last transfer window. Williamson has returned to fitness while Taylor has dropped out. What we do know now is that we have 1 forward who is scoring goals regularly and he's going off on holiday soon. Not only that, but he's going to be out of our control. If he gets injured training or playing for us, then that's one thing. But we're basically going to be crossing our fingers and hoping not only do the Senegal coaching/medical staff take the same care we have done over things, but also that no amateur from Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Zambia or others (no offence intended) crocks him. Will it really be such a surprise if he comes back injured? Our next top scorer in the league is Leon Best with three. Then it's Ryan Taylor with two, and nobody else has more than one. How anyone can say we don't need to sign another goalscorer is beyond me. I agree with all of that, I also agree that we need a defender but we know for a fact that our top goal scorer is leaving the club very soon for an unknown number of games even if he returns fit, we don't know that we're going to lose a defender.

Beyond Williamson we do have something, we just have a manager who'll not use them. Williamson has missed almost half of a season and he may or may not do a job, the same could have been said about Taylor at the start of the season regarding how he would cope.

This is going on in 2 threads so I'll leave this one for now.

We've got as many fit defenders today as we had at the end of the last transfer window. Williamson has returned to fitness while Taylor has dropped out. What we do know now is that we have 1 forward who is scoring goals regularly and he's going off on holiday soon.

What would be your priority?

None yet.

In January we wouldn't have had any prize money from the Premiership so that income will have gone some way to covering additions wages which will have also been partially covered by losing the wages of Carroll, Routledge, Enrique, Nolan and Barton. As for checking out players, how long does that take and can we only do one player at a time?

We were close to breaking even before selling Carroll, why shouldn't we spend it on incoming transfers?

How many of our summer transfers are very good players? I would say 2 have worked out as being very good, 3 have a lot to do before even being classed as good.

15 days ago Maiga had a medical with us, 12 days ago it was announced that the transfer was off because of a failed medical. Best was the non-scoring portion of the partnership that got us to 3rd.

That's possible, are we going to get a cheap defender or will we face the same scenario?

Jayson said it was, ask him.

The one that has gone from us wanting a forward 12 days ago to not wanting one now because Ba is now proven in the league and we don't want to waste money on a player who will fight Ben Arfa for a place on the bench.

Excellent, our transfer policy is decided on knee-jerk reactions, I feel so much better knowing that.

What has Ba done since 16th December that is different to what he did before then that has caused a change of mind? If anything, he has carried on scoring and we're still as reliant on one player getting us goals. If anything, he’s just proven that we might struggle without him and we are going to be without him, even if he avoids injuries.

So you think 1 player failing a medical has totally changed the way that we are now planning to play. We either needed a new forward or we didn't and the form of the players already at the club couldn't have made us feel any more comfortable with what we already have, could it?

Why would that have changed since our last target failed a medical?

The partner is still a forward and we've still been looking for that player for over a year. Does it make any difference if it's a replacement or partner?

I thought that we were looking for a forward before selling Carroll?

I would have agreed with you before it became known that we no longer want a forward and have now switched our attentions to a defender.

So we've been looking for a forward for years and we could only identify one to go after during this window, pathetic.

Cassius

It serves you right for going to see puss in boots.

Was he poor in both games?

Best was poor in both games.