Hughesy

That would be amazing. Both out of work and available - kind of managers who might be capable of actually making a difference. There is absolutely no reason why we shouldn't be able to attract them - that's the kind of manager we should be aiming for.

Yeah - will be interested to listen to that one. I've listened to most of the other ones and I don't think there is a more annoying man than Hunter. His questions are just rambling and his tone is sycophantic.

Was a pretty bad miss - he looked genuinely confused as to whether to try and head it or volley it and ended up getting his body in the wrong position (which seems to be a failing of his). As other people have said though - it's hardly as if he is missing 5 or 6 chances each game. But with out struggles the chances he does miss are that much more important. I'd be interested to know what the PL average is for chances/goals.

He would be a much better player if he could actually control the ball and had a general awareness of what was going on around him.

Being a winger playing at LB might be stupid, but it doesn't mean you make fucking stupid tackles.

What a stupid tackle. Brainless.

Sissoko is so thick.

It's basically a completely useless phrase that means nothing. I suspect Chelsea thought that Torres was a proven PL goalscorer when they bought him and that Shevchenko was a proven goalscorer. Alternatively Arsenal probably hoped but had no real idea that Henry was going to be a prolific goalscorer. And agreed - when does a player become a proven PL goalscorer? If Vardy and Austin are proven PL goalscorers after one season, then so were players like Michael Ricketts, Marcus Stewart and DJ Campbell. It's just lazy.

James Horncastle (Guardian Italian correspondent and on BT Sport) seems to think he will be a good signing and that Roma didn't really give him a chance.

The use, overuse, or indeed, misuse of the word 'proven' when it comes to describing a footballer.

That Dutch journalist - Michael Jongsma - has queried Douglas on why we think we have a chance of getting Willems.

EUR 20 million offer for Slimani turned down? According to France Football anyway.

Yep - forgot him. just seems strange to end up looking at someone at Gomis. There must be other strikers around surely? That Ben Yedder guy at Toulouse seems worth a look or Niasse that Everton are interested in. It's hardly as if Gomis is a proven goal scorer in the PL. if anything - he has proved he isn't that good in the PL.

Just don't get how our striker shortlist is/was berahino, remy, gomis and doumbia. Admittedly I can't propose any names myself, but is that genuinely the best we could come up with?

yeah - but I don't suppose that tends to go down that well with the player and is essentially a waste of cash as you are paying players you can't use.

Are we going to offload some players to register all these guys or are we ok on that front?

Khazri to Sunderland - thought he was supposed to be quite good?

To lose HBA was ridiculous in itself, but to get rid of Cabella after one season just compounded the error. I can imagine Cabella fitting pretty well into a team with Wijnaldum.

People keep saying this. He wasn't released because he wasn't good enough. Nobody genuinely believes that. He was released because he fell out with the manager and influential members of the squad - like he did at previous clubs. This is no James Milner situation where people felt he genuinely wasn't good enough. The situation of his departure makes no difference to how monumentally stupid a decision it was - so no wonder people bring it up.

I still find it hugely depressing to think that some newspapers said that someone like Tuchel was actually interested in coming to us (not sure whether Dortmund had approached him at this stage). Could have thrown a load of cash at him and actually had a quality manager for the first time in over 10 years.

This basically. Will never get my head round Ashley's unwillingness to actually spend on a manager. it would actually suit the shitty blueprint to get a manager in who can get the most out of the players.

Just imagine if we'd spent this kind of cash when we had a team with Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Ba etc in it.

Can't make up my mind about this - I always thought he looked promising when he first started playing for Spurs, but have to say I hadn't realised that he had fallen out of favour to quite the degree that he has. Think he's got some natural talent and seems relatively quick so don't think it's the worst move in the world. Would rather we'd got a striker in though.

I assume this is a reference to Berahino and Pulis - http://www.thesecretfootballer.com/articles/the-secret-footballer/29898/strange-case-of-star-player-caught-in-middle-of-chairman-manager-transfer-standoff/

That West Brom game is an absolute must win now. Keep looking at our fixtures and trying to convince myself we'll be ok as we have West Brom, Bournemouth, Sunderland, Swansea and Palace at home..