RobM

I'm not sure anyone was having a pop, in fact it was a decent conversation until you got upset. I do see your point about the other clubs that have come up, but don't forget Wigan spent over £11m in their promotion season, which was a lot of money for a newly promoted club in 2005 (2006???) - £11m wouldn't go anywhere near as far today. Stoke too have spent a lot of money to secure their place and they continue to do so. And for every Norwich, who you're right, didn't come up with a better squad than us and didn't spend millions, there are two, three, four other clubs who tried the same and went down. It's not the case that every newly promoted club sticks largely with what they have got, many spend big to survive... some bigger than others.

To be fair, we did try in the summer, it just didn't work out. We were linked to CB's and full-backs (just look at Buttner who went to Man UTD), we just couldn't land them unfortunately. We did manage it with GK's - we signed an International GK with experience at big clubs and we signed a highly rated younger 'keeper who clearly has a good future ahead. Everything about those two signings suggested it was job done - unfortunately the experienced one has seemingly lost it, putting more reliance on the younger one who isn't yet ready. In CM we signed a player with International and Prem experience which the vast majority of fans thought was a great signing. Again though, it hasn't quite worked out as well as we hoped. I think most clubs in the bottom half of the Prem are looking for solid and experience defenders, there just isn't many around that are realistically available to sign. Attacking players are everywhere though...

I'm not going to sneer at that, it didn't answer my question but it's a valid opinion. I agree that our starting lineup, plus cover in some areas is good enough to stay up. I think the way we have competed against some of the best teams in existence has shown that. But my concern - and the question I asked your opinion on - was whether our cover in all positions is good enough. In goal we're OK, IMO At LB we have Fox only, who has looked poor defensively but OK going forward. At RB we have Richardson, who I think is OK, but the club doesn't seem to so we're playing CB's or DM's there as cover. At CB we have Jos, who has cost us points and scored more goals than some of our forwards... just in the wrong net. At CM I think we're OK - Davis and JWP are good enough IMO. On the wings we have Guly and SDR... Guly is good enough cover and puts in a shift, SDR not so much. Up front we have more than enough. We lost Lallana and it weakened us as we didn't have quality cover. We lost Clyne and it weakened us as we didn't have quality cover, but worse we had to move one of our best performers out of position, weakening two positions. We've not lost Fonte and we're now reliant on Jos. We know it's a squad game, it's not about 11... IMO, out squad isn't strong enough, our starting 11 is.

We will of course have positions that are a priority, but that doesn't mean we should turn down opportunities to add quality. Not signing somebody like this just because we're weak defensively (as a squad) is stupid, unless we're in a financial position where it is one or the other. There is no sign that this is the case.

What's your opinion then - do we have enough quality in depth to maintain our position beyond this season, or do we need quality cover in every position?

The only three changes in that team are a much improved CB (Astori), a new and highly rated GK (Butland) who is at least no worse than what we have and Puncheon replaced by Coutinho... so unless you think Puncheon is the answer to our defensive problems or our current GK's are saving us from losing points, how can your comment possibly be true?

We can't and won't survive in this league without quality cover in every position.

In recent times our lack of true quality in depth has been shown up, so we do need to add to RB but also all other positions. If we don't have a Prem-ready player sat ready to go, we aren't strong enough. As Fonte has shown, injuries can happen at anytime... Imagine Yoshida getting injured in training this week, or Cork! Where I disagree with other posters is how we do it. IMO we buy better than we have now, we should never buy cover, buy to improve the starting lineup and let players fight and prove their worth.

Would you line your defenders up tactically and physically (team selection) exactly the same for Lambert starting and for Mayuka starting? They offer different strengths and weaknesses and our selection of them gives a huge clue as to our likely tactics and style for that game. Same for players all over the pitch. As we showed against Arsenal and Stoke, we don't just play one way. We vary our approach and style depending on the opposition.

All the real fans are sat at home, bashing advice into this forum.

But if the opposition doesn't know he isn't available, they don't know who will be in the starting 11. If they know Fonte isn't available, they know it'll be Jos and know how to attack him. If we keep it quiet, it could be either of them and the opposition won't be able to be specific in their preparation. For all we know he'll be back for Villa... or could be out for the season, Villa don't need to know either way. As a fan is f'ing annoying I agree, I want to know what's-what. But it does make sense from a tactical perspective.

Excellent, lets hope they win it. Villa staying in the gup is good news too.

Does that make it the right thing to do?

Agreed. One capable of stepping into the first team quickly and who is better than we have

The same as their blackout on talking about team selection prior to each game. Give the opposition nothing to go on, rather than give them a head start on countering or attacking your tactics and lineup.

For the comedy value.

If our coaching and management team do their job properly, this won't be confidence shattering but motivation to set things right against Villa. It's a very negative attitude to lose a game and all your confidence for the next game at the same time.

It shows (obviously) how important good quality cover is in every position. We need to buy players that are good enough to start every week, not for cover as some have suggested for this and other positions. Never buy for cover, IMO, buy to improve the team. My mistake entirely...

Is there a reason? You're right, clubs often do speak openly about this, other clubs don't, doesn't mean we should or have to hear about it. All that matters is Fonte is OK and recovers ASAP.

I agree, it's the movement off the ball that we would benefit from, plus decent ball control.

A combination of pretty good and f'ing awful. Some very solid moments of control, some stupid mistakes that could have cost a goal, plus not going enough for two of the goals (at least). If he was young you'd say he had potential and will improve with games...

TDD = The New Alpine.

You can see Lee getting into some great positions, crying out for the ball and being ignored far too often.

He should have done better for at least two of the goals and in the first half he couldn't keep hold of the ball and very nearly cost us a goal.

They are online now, the English one is showing some sort of Premier League review from years gone by.