STM

See what his release clause is.

Our problem is that we have a shite squad to begin with, not that we haven't signed 4/5 players. In that respect we are on par with every other club. We will sign 4/5 players BTW, of that I'm certain. The issue is how quickly we can get them in and how long we have to wait. When other clubs start moving for players in the last week, it will get easier.

Journalists are being sold false stories by agents and we are being sold false stories by journalists. The fog of war this January is terrible. There's only two things I'm fairly confident in; we signed Trippier, we tried to sign Botman. I'd question any other stories validity.

A few media transfer things which do my head in: 1. "Learning the hard way", in reference to January. Didn't Jamie Reuben help run Fulham? Therefore I suspect he knows more than the dickhead journalist making this statement. 2. "X team has been offered x player", when was the last time a player was openly offered to a club and signed off the back of it? 3. "Preparing, considering, mulling over"... in the bin.

Can't see this happening TBH.

That Romano bloke is a gobshite.

Genuinely tired of the transfer links now. It's hard to sort facts from fiction. I will wait until there is something concrete before getting excited.

No Manquillo is a massive blow. Anything but Ritchie as left back.

Norwich we had 10 men. Burnley is disappointing, I grant you, but we won. The rest are entirely expected. Let's see our possesion against Watford.

Without any signings and assuming Gayle and Lascelles are back from illness: Dubravka Schar Lascelles Trippier Manquillo Shelvey Almiron Joelinton Fraser ASM Gayle

Disagree entirely in DM being priority this window. Our deficiencies aren't creating chances, nor are they conceding bundles of chances. So with that I'd say we have a pretty decent control of games, in terms of possession and attacking territory. Which is light years from where we were under Bruce. Our problems are at either end of the pitch. When we do concede chances they are normally fatal because they arise from defenders making howlers. When do get the ball into decent areas up front we have to rely in Wilson (who was woefully our of form) or ASM who borders between genius and greediness. We NEED a defender and a striker. Another defender, a left back and a centre midfielder should follow that.

I think you are making things up mate. I don't think there are any rules, structures, limitations, it's about being sensible and not panicking or caving in to the demands of players who aren't worth what they are asking. If Trippier is on 100k, why in gods earth should we cave in to Dignes demands of 150k+? Especially if he's just fallen out with his current manager. Even if you have an oil well, you have to draw the line somewhere. There is a fine line between speculating to accumulate and just causing yourself problems further down the line. Imagine if we spent 25m on Digne (example) and gave him 150k a week and a week later, 2 other targets become available for half the price and half the wages. Ultimately, on Feb 1st we can judge these guys decision making, with the caveat that we need 1 more in before Watford.

I read it as Howe not wanting mercenaries who aren't willing to buy into the club and squad.

I don't think they have moved the goalposts whatsoever. They said he wasn't for sale unless they received x amount. We haven't reached that price yet, so we haven't bought him. It's not a criticism of our owners either. It'd fully expected that we try and get the best deal for him. The question is how much do we think he is worth? How much do we want him? If we can agree a fee for 1 of Carlos/Botman, we can buy ourselves time with the other target.

That will stop a few cryarsing. Unless we sign no striker, then the cryarsing will resume.

Just read that Woods record in the PL is comparable to Wilson, which is surprising.

Transfer update in 5 4 3 2....1....

Don't think he was referring to you ManDoon.

Have seen enough to suggest Howe likes his sides to get the ball wide and get crosses in, to a degree. It wouldn't harm to have someone more threatening from set plays too.

To accommodate Wood? We had like 20 crosses yesterday.

Move on.

What a helmet.

Edwards has been pretty accurate recently IMO. It's all very quiet today but I suppose they have to have a day off. Things will go wild next week.

Yes you are reading it wrong. I mean have the edge over them in the relegation fight, not in individual games against other clubs.

Again, some are struggling massively with the concept of long term and short term. We need a few players who are going to give us the edge over Burnley and Watford, not over Spurs and Arsenal, not over Palace and Brighton, just Burnley and Watford In an ideal world, every signing would either be a world class player who could give us 2/3 season or a potentially great young player who could give us 5/6 years but sadly we don't have that luxury. We might be able to attract some of the above players, but not necessarily all and the striker market in particular is an absolute nightmare. Look around the Premier league, you either have world class goalscorers who will cost you 40m+ or young players who are no guarantee. You can mention Martial, Aubameyang, Barbara etc but there's absolutely no saying these players are available to us or are financially feasible, even for us. Wood is a bean pole, a tank, the likes of which we have seen in the premiership year in, year out. Hes not great, hes not flash, he doesn't inspire me and he wouldn't be my choice but we need to review where we are in the league.... second bottom, without a fit striker. If Wood comes in, holds up the ball, feeds in ASM and a couple of others, maybe scores a couple of headers while Wilson is out AND we stay in the PL because of his contribution, he will be worth his weight in gold.