Jayson

Awful decision

Definately been far better, did well last time to

Vuckic and Obertan goin for it

Simpsons crossing has been solid this season ya know

What a shot

Go on Obertan

Really sad for Raylor that did well to get the ball back

Raylor inj

We shouldve been in for him though as a 3rd striker, lack of ambition and that.

Its not even a negative viewpoint, its just realistic. Any side that has a singular very good season is going to be vunerable to the sides who have been established at the top for longer & have money to throw around on fees & wages. Those clubs are simply a safer bet for players for long term success because they have proven they can repeat the process & can give the player more to achieve it. We have what looks like the start of a strong project & are hoping to repeat what we achieved. To do that the players have to fully believe they & their teammates can reach the same levels of ability & produce a similar outcome. Ours do seem to, which says a lot about our team spirit & the belief they have in eachother. Otherwise you have agents touting them around & players looking to push on to see where else they can get. Instead ours recommend the club to their mates. Ofcourse its a positive keeping them together when you see the sides that finished next to us losing their best players.

Wenger has already been quoted if they were to get someone in midfield theyd have to be "completely defensive". Doesnt really sum up Cabaye.

Nobody has said that. It's strange how the biggest positive being thrown around about this window is that we've not sold anyone, even though we've had no bids. Funny how some people's mind works. Whether or not we've had bids, not selling anyone is a positive. It means we still have our best players. But it's not an "achievement" if we literally had no other option. It shouldn't factor into any appraisal of this window because of that. But it is clearly a positive that we've kept them, regardless of why. Which is what you're claiming is a strange thing for people to say. You're the one adding the context of it being used as a positive for the board. Outside of that we've no idea whether clubs have made enquirys over the status of our players, or our likelyhood in being open to recieving offers. I imagine there are clubs interested in our players, so you should ask yourself why theyve not bothered to bid also.

The reactions are not bizarre, they are quite understandable. Yes we had a great season, yes we have good players and management. But is that it? Do we just stand still and think well we've shown we've done it before, so let's do it again. No successful football clubs operate this way. It's imperative to strengthen when on the front foot and we've failed to do that. There's nothing bizarre in people being disappointed we're not having a go at improving ourselves. I know but this goes round in circles doesnt it. People have made the point that we have Barfa & Cisse from the start now, these are two huge players for us. This is a big difference from the start of last season & we've already beaten the side that came 4th due to the influence of the former in the very first game. We're all dissapointed not to sign more players, but we havent missed any opportunity yet. We dont know how the seasons going to go.

The reactions are utterly bizarre man. Everyone go back to August 2011 & review your posts. It may not go aswell as last season, but atleast entertain the idea that this isnt a complete disaster. You'd have thought Pards would have gained some trust by now.

According to sky, blackburn are looking to pay £8m for Rhodes. Wouldnt go near that fee for a 3rd choice striker unproven at anywhere near the highest level.

Everton 4-0 now, Anichebe goal after 38 mins. That Mirallas lad has two goals & two assists, decent start for him.

Pardew is the one actually being kept up to date with the reasons as to why we can or cant go for players. He could easily be dissapointed with our lack of signings whilst satisfied with the reasons we havent gone for them, no reason to believe he's pissed off with our strategy.

Again it really depends on the quality you're going for and what you're willing to invest for them in terms of being worth their money. We can improve those players, whether we'd be able to do it cost effectively is very debatable. Anita clearly had issues with joining & knowing he'd get gametime, so its hardly a madeup point being made.

Obertan perhaps, Gosling certainly isnt first call when we have a 1st team injury. Dont confuse him getting chances with being 1st choice backup, which is what we're talking about.

No ones happy over the Debuchy situation. In terms of squad signings, how easy is it to upgrade our squad at this point? Many who'd come in and be better than our current reserves will be first team players elsewhere. Would they want to join our bench? All this is ignored. We know Ashley is trying to run the club correctly financially. Does it make sense to shell out on players who may not see much gametime, when a club in our position may be able to get much better players in the future? Let alone show that we are willing to even pay above a players real value when pushed? I dont see how this will help us long term. We likely wouldnt have Cisse right now without that exact strategy.

Whats your basis for this Eric? You quoted pards before saying theres only 2-3 names on our list for each position. I can already think of 2 we've tried for RB for example. Your argument if anything should be that we dont scout enough replacements, not that we're not going for them of which theres no evidence atall.

We'd have spent more if we were wigan aswell

Obviously the majority of targets we've set up just havent ended up being viable options, dont see how we're not acting on Carr/Pards ideas. We can debate whether thats our fault or the other clubs, but its pointless discussion without knowing the exact details of why we arent tieing the deals up. Ive seen solid arguments on both sides of us perhaps trying our luck to much vs us sticking to the principles that have worked well for us so far. Id fall on the side of trusting the club atm. I believe Ashley is showing ambition signing someone like Cisse & a player like Anita myself & i believe he trusts our current setup much more. Tbh his principles in terms of making a stronger scouting network, signing younger players, looking for contract issues to get value, paying upfront, being harder to negotiate with etc have all worked for us. If we're not signing people there will be reasons why which likely make a lot of sense.

The post isnt even worthy of reply.

Id prefer we got another but im not massively fussed. I dont envisage a very likely situation where we lose both strikers before January, i dont think many clubs prepare strongly for that eventuality. If it came about id makedo with a scenario of using Shola & Marv/Barfa off him or one of those if again we assume randomly one of those are injured aswell. It depends how far you want to go preparing for everything to go wrong.