Upthemags

irrelevant that a relegation side just nicked a draw against the same side that beat us at home last week?

Wolves nick the draw away when we couldn't at home

For 30m pound, we need whoever it is to perform. Tino's price tag suggests that we thought he could step in immediately and make an impact. If he were 20m pound cheaper that's a different story.

I get easily whipped up man lol. Could we win the FA Cup or snag Europa? I suppose - seems almost impossibly unlikely, but sure, I guess who knows. If we keep this up though it'll be a long long season and summer.

The team has looked shite since the first minute against southampton. Nicked the results despite it for the first few games. Now regressing to our mean. Begs the question, is 50 games not a big enough sample size for you? ManU dealt with major injuries last season, and Chelsea were an absolute disaster for 6 months, and one got Europa League, and the other won an FA Cup. Excuses are weak.

Your argument is that we're now almost a quarter through the season, having the advanced metrics of a bottom table club, with one of the easiest starts to the season as well? (After being bang average nearly all last season?) Interesting.

Agree to disagree - Tino's been a total non-factor this season. Shocking at times, even.

It's not controversial in the slightest. And if Isak moves, guaranteed the club will be mulling a rebuild.

haha? have you not seen the league table the last year and a half mate?

Unfortunately, few other teams are in such a strange position as ours - we have multiple world class talents on the pitch (or at least that is their reputation), and yet they belong to a club wallowing in midtable. The media are always, always, going to pick up on those situations as ripe for coverage because, like it or not, world class talents typically don't stick around long with clubs that perform averagely, and without European competition.

You're right as much as it might frustrate others.

"None of our signings were a mistake" is frankly the wrong way of analyzing transfer business. The question we should be asking is, did we conduct intelligent transfer business? Did we invest smartly? Did we set ourselves up for success? Did we find bargains? The answer to all of those is, uniformly, no. Did we need 100m worth two left wingers? Has Tino been a productive member of the side? Has Tonali lived up to his price tag? Has Osula contributed anything at all? The only piece of business that I think reflects kindly on our strategy is Lewis Hall. Where is our CDM? Our RW? Our cover for Isak? Our replacement for Longstaff? The list goes on. Looking at a player in a vacuum, eg, Barnes, and thinking yea hes a nice player, simply doesn't cut the mustard when it comes to appraising our success. As compared to our peers, the Brightons and Villas of the world, we've be roundly outclassed as far as incomings and outgoings. Hell, the club and fanbase nearly imploded when it received an offer for Trippier, and that's not even mentioning our selling of Elliot and Minteh to cover our asses when it became clear we had royally fucked up strategically. Does no one any good when we pat each other on the back because Harvey Barnes scores a few screamers every season. We need a drastic facelift in the winter, or we'll have to start thinking about a rebuild come the summer when Isak dips out, and potentially others follow.

see "effectively"

Osula is years away from contributing mate.... Eddie's effectively said as much himself

To say "not just another brighton" is so funny. You mean the team that just beat us at home and atop us on the table? The smugness of some in here, as we've been a bang average midtable side for about 16 months now, is honestly embarrassing. Brighton are run like a well-oiled machine. They are literally a model club for our tier. They invest intelligently, buying almost solely appreciating assets. With our resources, if we were run like Brighton the past two years we'd be in a position comically better than our current state.

A guy who can go slot into to the starting squad of any club save maybe one or two doesnt want to play midtable football.... shocker? Sell, reinvest, move on. Villa did it masterfully so can we.

Luiz, who was central to their squad, just a few months ago, which in turn funded a ton of new business for them.

I fear the power structure behind the scenes is all fucked up with Eddie in the mix. I know it bothers people when that gets said, but I think having two alphas vying for power with different strategic visions is a recipe for disaster. January very well may prove me wrong and Eddie and Mitchell may prove a formidable team if they can put their egos aside and make some real progress

Spot on - just a smarter club and manager than what we have. Hoping Mitchell will change our fortunes but I'm not exactly holding out hope.

Eddie didn't want them mate. Wanted a single bloke who had a nice Euros and has looked miles off it this season, and we almost spent a record fee on him at that.

Hall was off for Osula

running riot means fuck all when you cant capitalize mate

When Isak isn't slotting his chances away we're simply toothless

this is just silly. Eddie spoke much more glowingly of minteh yesterday than he needed to, and more than he usually does regarding opposition. He said he'd be an integral piece for us were he still around, which pretty much throttled the theory of many on here that he wouldn't have even been featuring in matches for us. Eddie also dispelled the myth that he was brought in to be sold. They clearly loved his talent and thought he could join the side, but alas, FFP exists.

Could he get in a side that's going to be relegated next season, playing in the PL this season? Maybe. Curious what sides outside the bottom 3 people genuinely think he gets into