James

We brought in Shea Charles for relatively big money, in advance of expected departures and at a time when centre mid wasn't really a position of need so hopefully a replacement striker is being worked up on the same basis. The more I think about it, the stranger the Charles signing is. We haven't spent much (anything) other than the fee we paid for him. Given we've signed Downes and seem a bit reluctant to spend money elsewhere I wonder why we prioritized it so much. He looks good so far but just a bit odd in context of our other dealings.

Could see that. West Ham overpay for Solanke and suddenly Che looks like a bargain for Bournemouth.

Especially if a club other than Everton (I'm assuming they are broke) puts down what we want for Adams at the 11th hour. What do we do then? Continue until January one injury away from having to start Mara or Big Paul? It would kill our season unlike any other departure. You can see why fans are nervous. If we lost KWP, Tella or Alcaraz last minute and without a replacement then it would be annoying but wouldn't kill our chances. If we lose Che last minute without a replacement then IMO we can kiss goodbye to going up this year.

Didn't one of the genuine ITKs say that he had heard Piroe was our top target? Thought he posted that as recently as this morning but happy to be corrected.

We also assumed Rasmus and co. weren't that daft whilst they continued to tout Che around up to deadline day whilst briefing Blackmore that Gakpo signing was imminent.

Agreed but it's a big if. Surely if our targets are moving on to other clubs we just need to draw a line and say no (especially to Che) but this is Saints and we know they won't do that. After the multiple mentions on the club website of how the fees received would support our rebuild its a bit odd to go into the last week of the window having only gotten a loan in.

Hopefully we have this situation under control but, given last season's striker shambles, ill admit I'm getting twitchy. All that cash in for Tino, JWP and Lavia and we've signed one player on loan since. Leaving it until the last week again...some things never change.

Nixon reporting so heavy pinch of salt needed but Patrick Roberts is the kind of signing we should be making. Known quality in this league and has previously been thought of as having potential at a higher level - maybe we can unlock that. If we are talking Sunderland players would love us to take a look at Jack Clarke too.

Credit where credit is due. I thought he looked much better today.

If we had Solanke we'd have inevitably sold him at the first sign of interest so is a moot point really

I mean Che was pretty shit last year and clubs still want him. I'm sure PL clubs were interested in Mitro and Fulham resisted whereas we are gambling.

In 2014 we had almost an entirely new team in place before the start of the season. We didn't continue to sell the first team once the season had started and then attempt to rebuild it in two weeks whilst still playing games. Surely we have to draw the line somewhere? I'm sure every time a team comes down players want out but teams that have successfully returned quickly have drawn the line and kept players who can get them out of the league.

Unfortunately we still have to play games over the next two weeks. We are now significantly thinner on quality and given our reserves got spanked by Gillingham and we conceded 4 at home with our so called best available XI it strikes me as though we could do with some recruits now rather than in two weeks followed by another few weeks whilst they bed in.

Got to give them the benefit of the doubt and Wilcox does seem like he knows what he is doing. That said, seems we've left ourselves a hell of a lot to do in the last two weeks of the window. We must have known that the deals for Tino, JWP and Lavia would get done eventually and roughly how much would be brought in so its a bit odd to see us moving so slowly and that the players we are linked with are either loans (Downes, Holgate) or swaps (Paintsil). Given how slow we've been it makes even less sense that we spent big money on Shea Charles. Don't get me wrong, he might be very good for us, but if he's the major signing of the window it will definitely have been an underwhelming one.

Something just feels a bit off about this one. Hopefully Wilcox/Martin's confidence isn't misplaced.

Great...

Also says we are prepared to wait until January or next summer to sign him. If that's the case then let's hope he's not the sole target to replace KWP when he leaves.

Agree. The squad, even with our better players left in it, had become a bit stale and we know most of them aren't good enough for PL football. My concern, and Gillingham showed it, is that whilst we haven't been good enough in recent seasons it can get A LOT worse. Better to keep Che and be competitive in the league this year than to lose him for relative peanuts and have SR foul up getting a replacement. Would all be a bit more reassuring if the momentum of inbound replacements matched the pace of good players going out the door. With the caveat that I haven't watched his press conference, sounds like Martin starting to get a bit frustrated and, if so, that's a concern given he will have been expecting the departures. If all we get between now and the end of the window is a few loans, having pocketed this amount of cash, then I think fans right to be concerned.

Even giving Lyanco away at this point would be a bonus. We need to create room for another CB as if he is required for any meaningful length of time our season will be over.

Wilcox said we didn’t need to panic so I’m inclined to believe this will get sorted. Can’t shake the feeling that he doesn’t really want to make this move though.

Got to say - and appreciate there are still two weeks left - I’d have liked to have seen us linked with a few more permanent players given we’re the best part of the way through selling our best players for massive fees. All well and good getting players on loan but just kicks the can down the road for another massive overhaul next summer. Had hoped there’d be a few more “hanging on to join us” as was alluded to earlier in the summer.

Happened a few times in pre-season and he parried a pretty tame free kick straight back into the danger area. Was extremely lucky Barnes was offside. Having seen the goals back I was too harsh on him for the Norwich performance but he hasn't looked solid so far. If we are serious about promotion he isn't really good enough at the moment.

Would like to think we will have too much for them but we look a mile off a clean sheet at the moment. Can see another high scoring draw - 2-2.

Will be interesting to see how we spend the money we've got now as clubs will know we have the cash. Slightly odd that the two players linked as closest to joining are loans (Downes and Holgate). Could be a busy two weeks...

The CBs are just shocking. Fortunately we’ve just made Jack S captain so no chance he’s going anywhere..fucking hell.