Dandy Man

Clark, Lewis and Hendrick were Pete's three names then?

No idea what to expect beforehand but happy overall. We were never going to fix all that is wrong with squad in one window. I like that they seem to be relatively considered with valuations of players and we are not loading up on the obvious mercenary types 7.5/10

Think we've made a very clear sign of intent and made significant progress in first step of "the project". Not sure what needed to be done to "guarantee safety" or if that is even possible in reality. The fundamental issues with the squad were never going to be fixed in one January transfer window and we were never going to buy a whole new starting eleven of world class players, anyone thinking that would be the case is setting themselves up for disappointment.

I do agree we need more goals but we also had a lot of positions that needed strengthening and have addressed most/all of those to some extent. Getting a top goalscorer in January was always going to be hard and for better or worse we have got Chris Wood, not overly glamorous but he can still contribute. In my opinion we have strengthened as much as could be realistically expected and would have taken the current state of affairs if had been offered it at start of January.

Dread to think what this place would be like if we hadn't spent 100 million in January to be honest

Unlikely to be significantly more expensive in summer and also not sure how much of an impact he would make between now and end of season anyway. Would be an exciting signing and he looks a talent but he's only had limited playing time in a bad Reims team as it stands and probably not the right time for him to make the move.

Jonny Otto at Wolves another one?

Exciting to be spending this sort of fee on this sort of player but is definitely a long term project for me, looks promising but very very raw and he's only played a few months worth of first team football in Ligue 1

Was around 5.5 before Leeds, down to around 3.5 now

Still coming to terms with the fact that this actually seems to be happening

Just get this cunt over the line please

As percentage probability to get relegated it would be: Norwich 80% Watford 75% Burnley 65% Newcastle 38% So currently the odds imply we are more likely to stay up then get relegated

He got a lot more right than wrong today. Generally think he has tried to address our tactical failings from one match to next and it's slowly moving in right direction. Looked to be very clear about keeping compact in midfield and not getting pushed back too deep late on. Also liked that we looked to slow game down whenever possible which helped break up Leeds momentum.

Get the fuck in

Unbearable this

Thought we've done well enough and tactically got it spot on, still got the same glaring problems in most positions and Big Joe getting injured a disaster but more confident of getting something out of this now than beforehand

Shelvey's good points are rendered irrelevant by his bad points but there is still nobody else to play instead of him, think we might actually need a new CM

If we lose this then I'm driving to Dundee in my bare feet

Think the Dean Smith comparisons are misleading given we have had a significantly harder run of matches than they have - and they would have lost one more and we won one more if not for Ciaran Clark

If we did go down think I'd prefer him to stay (depending on how badly rest of season goes obvs) but I think he will almost certainly be gone - first press conference he was very clear his remit was to keep team in PL and if he fails at that then doubt he will be afforded any patience - could even go before end of season if situation is looking perilous and owners fancy trying a new manager to bounce us out of it

Somewhere between 5 and 6 seems about right for me currently, could increase a good bit depending on what happens on and off pitch in next few weeks though

Pretty hard to spin that small snippet any other way than he is not leaving, he is literally saying "I will stay here a long time"

Caught the last 15 minutes or so and thought he looked very impressive all round from what little I saw, I'm sold, get him in

We won't get anyone in before Leeds and we will most likely lose that match, seems highly likely we will (eventually) get several new players in before end of month and at worst we are probably 50/50 to go down. Whatever happens we will be in a better position than if Ashley and Bruce were still here and the world will keep turning.

That betting activity on Xhaka to get booked is a humongous red flag, that sort of volume at that stage of game in that sort of market at a price below prematch odds (and way below expected price) is very unusual to say least. Sure the way he was behaving might have artificially lowered price but nowhere near that extent. If investigators can link any of the accounts that placed those bets back to anyone connected to Xhaka then he'd be in massive bother.