SKD

Whilst I agree he is overrated, he is exactly the sort of player we need IMO and would be (a player of that type) a perfect replacement for Davis.

Yep. The way Liverpool have conducted their business is nothing short of a disgrace, to the point that we've made them apologise. What is the point of making them apologise, if we just cave in and give them what they want? It's more than money, it's down to principle.

If we sell him to Liverpool, then that will be me offically done with Les Reed and the rest of the board.

We need an AM. A quick direct winger would be nice, but we could get by with what we have. IMO we desperately need a Davis replacement

I think people probably laughed at you because 95% of everything that comes out of your month is ****, mush. Tend to agree with you on this one though, a non goal scoring is exactly what we need. Its the only thing our side is currently missing.

How many times have you seen him play?

I wonder who West Ham will be looking at as a replacement for Bilic? I reckon they'll got for Benitez. Can they go one better than us and tempt Tuchel (I reckon he'll hold out for Arsenal, personally)?

Given that, according to a few (Always) on here, Silva is a terrible manager because Hull went down, this should be an easy win... Shouldn't it? Out with Tadic, time to give Boufal a run and show some faith in him. Forster Cedric Yoshida Hoedt Bertrand Lemina Romeu Redmond (we literally have no one better atm) Davis Boufal Gabbi 0-0

sell him to Arsenal or Chelsea in Jan when they are desperate and prices are inflated.

Come on Duckhunter, I thought you were more intelligent than this. Firstly, what I said was that a number of players wanted out and that they didn't get on with Puel (this was true). Secondly, he's wanted to leave since about December last year, so his Agent would have been touting him about finding out what he can earn elsewhere and where he can go. He's been told that he can earn more, probably double (the amount is speculation on my behalf), and play CL football so yeah he......wants to leave. What's your point? Finally, as I've said, had Puel stayed, he and a number of others would have been much more vocal in their desire to leave (similar to VvD). As it happens, MP managed to convince them to stay, which of course doesn't mean they don't want to leave.

Puel didn't help. Had we had a good season last year, maybe it would have been different. I'm almost certain that had Puel stayed, Bertrand would have left 100% So yes, it was because of Puel.

I've been saying he wants to leave for a while, of course shot down by the usual lot. He's just more professional than VVD. Be interesting to see how he acts if an offer comes in though.

We need someone to replace Davis. A box to box AM who has a bit of creativity. Someone in the mould of Barkley/Wilshere. JWP not quick enough to play there and slows us down to much.

Pickford, Keane, Schneiderlin, Sigurdsson, Gueye, Koeman, arguably Williams and dare I say it Rooney (Not that he would have singed for us anyway) all cost a fair amount but would have significantly improved us. We were in a much better position than Everton, we had the chance to really push on a cement our place in the top 7 (in which case we could have signed all of those mentioned above), but something changed, we lost ambition and are not willing to invest (before anyone says we spent this year, we also received a massive amount of TV money) to improve the team / push on. Fair enough if the club want to be a business and make a profit each year, but i'd rather they just admit that this is the ambition. How much extra would it have cost to keep Koeman? I bet the amount we spent on recruiting Puel and MP and sacking Puel, it wouldn't have been much more than we've actually spent.

In all honesty, I'd rather take the Everton approach and cherry pick the best of the rest players / manager. There's a huge difference between getting players that are past it and paying huge wages (west ham & Sunderland) and getting young talent, that cost a premium, but will instantly improve your squad and are tried and tested in the PL (Everton) We are always looking for a bargain which we can improve and sell on, which is fine when it pays off, but 2 or 3 bad windows and you're left with a bang average side (as we currently are)

I agree but are we then cutting off our nose to spite our face? We clearly need to add quality to our squad, especially in the forward area's and £50/£60m would help us do that. Let's be honest, it's very likely that key players (I'm thinking Bertrand and Cedric in particular) will both leave next season anyhow, is it worth keeping VvD with the u23's for a season just to prove a point? After all, any player could just do the same and refuse to play next year, regardless if we sell VvD or not. For me, as long as we don't sell to Liverpool (for the pure fact that they are, simply put a bunch of c*nts [fans and staff]), I think it is best just to admit defeat (we will take the moral victory in that he's not going to preferred destination i.e he goes on our terms to where we want) and take a lot of money for a player that is either not going to play, or play and not be arsed.

Of course he signed duds, I never said he didn't, did I? Lets be clear though, Osvaldo (pretty sure he was a Poch recommendation rather than black box) was clearly a very talented player, but he was just a bit of a headcase. Forren, Juanmi & Gazzaniga whilst not cut out for the PL were all very low risk given the fee's involved. Gaston was disappointing, there's no hiding that.

They would have been identified by Mitchell, but were brought under Wilson.

It's been a concern of the club for a while that there is little to no talent coming through, hence why we have brought youngsters in from other clubs. Reed needs to get this dream of a team made up of 50% academy graduates as it just will not happen, if we want to be a successful team. 100% agree - not so much at youth level, but certainly first team level.

Unfortunately this is true. We got very very lucky with Koeman in the fact he's a very good manager and had very good players (Mane, Wanyama, Toby, Morgan, Pelle). I've always maintained that ours is a very high risk strategy and it only takes a few bad windows to fall dramatically (look at Swansea, who were in a similar position to us a few years back).

Spot on - unfortunately I don't think we will. We'll end up buying another small / skillful winger.

Fair play to Koeman and Everton, building a very decent, young side there who IMO will push the top 4 and go a long way in the EL. Can anyone blame him for jumping ship when he did? Given the benefit of hindsight, I think I would have done the same.

:lol:

Who would you have in ahead of him? He's a natural goal scorer with a proven record.

It wouldn't go down well, he's not that sort of person.