afar

This is a good move, we are going to get a motivated (lets face it the main reason he wants to come is to make the England squad for the euros) who has the experience in this league and can get something we've lacked all season, goals. Above all else , seems like the manager choice and someone he'll pick as opposed to the previous options.

I still think our fate lies in what we do business wise before the window "slams shut". Get that striker (that puts the in the back of the net) and a winger (you are actually going to give a chance to and play) them we'll be alright, we still have enough quality to get out of this mess without those new recruits but in order to do that the form and attitude shown in the last couple of games needs to carry on for a sustained period, that's been our problem a lot this season, in patches we've looked good but not been consistent enough.

If we stay up this season, and referencing this 3 transfer window plan they stated. I think the focus needs to be on improving the LB position and finding that long term replacement for Colo, I don't think Dummett is the answer to either.

Been a strange season for us, some games like Palace away and Leicester at home, we've looked every inch the relegation fooder, the league table tells us we are but other games like Liverpool, Spuds, the last two and even in defeats at Arsenal, we've looked in a false position. I am convinced there are far worse teams than us in the division, with much weaker "on paper" squads, so surely we have enough to not drop, if we sign Townsend and Berahino, I am convinced we won't. I was playing Fifa 16 last night against Stoke and that got me thinking, look at their team, look at some of the players that play regularly for them, Bardsley, Whelan, Walters, Ireland and Wilson, players we wouldn't want near our first team, and they are managed by a manager this forum has concluded to be craptastic on many occasions, as was their previous manager, yet year on year, they are comfortable, never have relegation worries and even have some moderate success, semi final of the league cup this year, not long ago were in an FA cup final. How can they do this while we have been caught in relegation battles 3 of the last 4 years !!

The defender they got from Bayern. He had a shocker. He was truly awful. Got to say,the penalty he gave away was stupid, but the thing the mackems need to worry about most is his body language in deflecting the eriksen shot. Watch him closely, it's like he doesn't give a shit, so lazy,not sure why he bothered to sign for the club, it's obvious from that he doesn't want to play for them.

He was excellent today, just got to keep it. Amdy Faye was excellent on debut too.If this is indicative of how he'll play and how we use him, then 12 million will be an absolute steal.

Exactly, it's crazy how people continue to spout this he's not suited for the league when he's played so few minutes in half of a season.

Is option 3 there really a choice. If that is there thought process, can understand shipping off Thauvin to regain a little confidence, but with our club I doubt they are thinking in this joined up way. Spuds we were told wanted too much for Townsend and after seeing us willing to part with 12 million for Shelvey, it's hardly likely that they'll ask less now. If Thauvin goes, like always I expect them to have no plans in place to fill the void.

Totally agree and some of our fans are part of the problem here, sickened me where I heard of the abuse he got at Watford. For Perez the pressure was off, he wasn't even expected to be a first team player initially, he came in for a very low fee. This lad has had a weight of expectation put on him early on and simply not been given the chance to even try to live up to that.

Not many clubs outside of the top 4 or 5 spend that much on 4 different players within 6 months like. Most clubs in this league might get one or two then the usual £5-8m bracket. And that's an excellent point your are bringing up, all those teams around us don't have 10 - 15 million players that we do, we've spent a lot of money indivually on Mbema, Colo, Thauvin, Gini, Mitro, Cabella, Cisse, Anita and Riv, not to mention paying 5million for two forest players that can't get a game. Yet we are still in a relegation fight ! Where's this so called value, the only ones who we got a a rate under their current value to the team are Gini and Perez, ffs Free was too much to pay for Colback !!

Yes it does, should be or instead of and because clearly there has either been some kind of disconnect between the type of player we brought in and the needs of the coach or McClaren is simply not getting what should be expect out of the players at his disposal.

Obviously the "you can't play for more than 2 clubs in one season" thing is a big play here, hence the only options are to persist with him here or send him back to OM in the hope that he'll regain form and knowing our club the thought process is he becomes an asset again that we can sell.

If the bottom three stayed like that come the end of the season, that's three big clubs with huge histories in the game that are dropping, how many titles have we got between each other, how many FA cup wins ? Also when was the last time all three promoted teams stayed up ? The likelihood is at least one of the three will get out of it, Sunderland and Villa both with huge wins have the momentum I guess, we keep putting in decent performances against the bigger names in the division but not getting enough points everywhere else. That has to change if we want to stay up. West Ham are in great form at the moment so it doesn't get any easier for us this weekend. If you look at our squad on paper and compare it with clubs like Bornemouth (where Dan Gosling is a bloody regular ffs) then we really shouldn't be down there, just shows what a crap job McClaren and Carr in terms of recruitment have done.

I never liked the fat sam appointment for them because he's exactly the type of manager that will keep teams up, despite the fact that we love to hate the bloke and his football is atrocious, he's not going to get a team relegated easily. Our manager on the other hand, I have a lot less confidence in. The only hope I have for them staying in the drop zone is that really their squad is abysmal. That was a massive result for them yesterday and could easily be the start of them pulling out of the danger zone and pushing us further down.

I don't know what to make of this if true. I thought we pulled the trigger too fast on Cabella and seems like they are doing the same with Thauvin, both are undoubtedly talented both however are either not suited to the PL, not being coached and used right or just not being given enough time to adapt. The happy clappers that cheer Colback's every move are probably the same that are quick to jump on players like Thavin's back, pisses me off really.

Not that its a huge problem, but I'd love another new option other than Perez for wide left, hes been awful lately, offering very little. This. Not sure why we always want to shoe horn him into a role. i like Perez, but in order to start he's got to be the option for the position, he's not our best wide left midfielder, I'm sorry. He's a support striker, but we only play with one up front so where exactly does he fit in ?

Very true actually. But if we've got that kind of money to spend, then I'm not entirely sure spending it on Jonjo Shelvy is a great idea, maybe he will surprise us but not sure he's the type of player that will get us out of this mess we are in.

Seems we're exempt from any rule regarding winning penalties. we haven't had one all season and got very few if any last year, seems strange

Nee b****** knows anything about his skills as a manager. Welsh bloke with proper creepy eyes as opposed to Bielsa so relegated. Still much rather them employ a 61 year old who has never managed at this level before, whose won 1 game in 6 as the caretaker over a proven commodity they could have brought in that probably would have gotten them enough new manager bounce to pull away from us.

That is excellent news for us, I don't see the point in them sacking Monk if they were just going to replace him with this guy.

If you look at the game on Sunday and assess each player's contribution, you've got to say Colback's is poor. Not many other players on the team, even his partner there is midfield who has been as woeful as he has this season, can be labeled as simply not contributing to the cause. Would be fine if this was an isolated incident but is almost every game he plays, he's just not of the required level, don't care how much running the stats say he does, my own eyes tell me, the bloke is crap. Central midfield needs to be the focus of January, we need two PL quality CMs to replace the current incumbents, if that's all we do in the window I wouldn't be overly happy but it needs to be the focus.

It was obvious from early on in the match that he was up for this one, he has just great technique. of course will be gone in the summer to one of the better teams no matter which division we are playing in.

I've been saying for a while, why I don't think this guy deserves the "free pass" he gets on here. His part played in the hiring of McClaren was a huge issue along with the lackluster recruitment. The whole "trifecta" plus Moncur need to be kicked into touch if we want to be playing PL football next season, it's not that the structure is wrong, it's the people they've put into the positions of power that are woefully under performing. A Manager that can't mange players or form tactics, a chief scout that misses more than he hits on targets and an MD who consistently makes the wrong decisions. Only one person can fix this and if he wants his big pay day next season,then he has to act and act now.

It's amazing we are not cast adrift already, the shitness of the teams below us is a huge relief for McClaren. We have to make a change though to survive, no way we can expect 3 teams to be worse than we are currently playing. it's just so depressing being a fan of this club right now, they want to fill the stadium again, it's a so simple solution, give the fans something worth spending their money on, worth turning up for. This club right now doesn't deserve the support, doesn't deserve blind faith and certainly doesn't deserve people being so invested in them, that their mood is constantly effected by their lack of effort and performance they continually subject us to. Most fans with half a brain could see that firstly Pardew was taking us nowhere, then replacing him with Carver was a disaster waiting to happen and that appointing McClaren would take us nowhere but further down to the levels of nothingness that this club has become. If even half witted supporters could see this then why couldn't people who we are paying millions to, to look after the best interests of the club foresee this. It's shocking that a team like Leicester, with the little investment they have made just in their 2nd PL season, can come to SJP and play us off the park the way they did, it wasn't even close and utterly embarrassing.

It is just too hard for us to get anything right now, whether is it's bad luck, poor refereeing, running into a keeper playing on fire or whatever, we can't get the results. It's a big relegation sign and a huge indication that this is not going to end well this season.