Saint Matty 76

Looks like a brief has been given to Sky and talkSPORT to say that Ramsdale is nowhere near and we're looking at other options now.

He was also Bournemouth and Sheffield United's POTY in their relegation campaigns. Followed by the PFA Premier League TOTY in 22/23.

Really didn't see us being able to pull that off, and it's a pretty incredible signing on the face of it. If we manage to bring in a quality attacker, anywhere across the board for me (AM, LW/RW, ST) then I really think we could have a chance of staying up.

Wow, Fabrizio says Ramsdale looks to be happening!

Would assume there isn't much in this one due to his public history with homophobia and sexism.

Would only be interested in Cornet on a prove-it loan deal which we cannot do alongside Ramsdale.

A report from a decent Arsenal source saying we're in for Ramsdale this morning. Can't help but read into RM's comments about wage structure yesterday though and refuse to believe in this one.

Fully agree, that's why I said we shouldn't! After him doing it on Saturday however, I fear we're in that for the long haul.

Confirmed 11 changes on the Echo. Lumley Bree - Edwards - Wood - Taylor - Manning Fernandes - Ugochukwu Dibling - Archer - Edozie My guess at it, although I'd rather Dibling in midfield and SAA in for Manning at RW.

"Southampton, recently relegated from the Premier League, are looking to strengthen their team for an immediate return to the top flight. Kostic’s experience and quality could be a valuable asset in their promotion push." Hope he helps us do it!

John Percy @JPercyTelegraph #wba have rejected a bid of around £10m from Southampton for winger Tom Fellows. Offer regarded as well below his market value. Other Premier League clubs monitoring situation but WBA will demand a big fee

I'm pretty sure it was Fellows, yeah. I thought he looked really dangerous in that first leg.

Pray to be proven wrong but I don’t think we’re capable of the finances required for Ramsdale. Especially when you realise we still need attacking help on top of that deal which would likely spread us very thin, can’t see it.

Shame, but hopefully means the club know they have to pay the Ramsdale money now. Linked with a £10m move for Tom Fellows too, quite liked him when I saw him play last year.

Of everything going at the minute, how have you come to that conclusion?

Doesn't look particularly exciting but I guess we were always going to have to gamble on somebody from abroad. Stats look shite. Once moved to Russia for £20m.

Alcaraz too unpredictable for RM’s tactics. However, that unpredictability is exactly what this team looks devoid of and desperately needs. Oh well, if it helps us survive this year through reinvestment then it’ll be a necessary sacrifice. God knows who we look at now though to do that.

Haha fair enough, not wrong when you put it that way.

Mentioned Ferguson on loan a little while ago as a bit of a pipe dream. If it's actually an option we have to be all over it. Would assume it'd be a preferable move for Brighton as well due to the similarity in playstyles.

Yep. He was clearly at his end physically but Stu Armstrong was the only one capable of doing that for us last year, and I felt like we really missed that whenever he wasn't playing. The only capable players in this current squad are either A) 18 with about 40 professional minutes or B) about to be sold. It's why playing Smallbone & Aribo together is utterly pointless, as neither of them excel defensively or offensively. They're both just alright at shielding a ball and playing short passes. It has to be one of them and somebody more attacking, or maybe even neither.

A day on and I still just cannot get over the tactics of the first hour. If you're not going to attack Forest at home as a winnable fixture, which game are you? I'm praying it's just a case of not having the options ready to set-up differently, but if he intends for us to look like that with two wingers (strikers) who cannot beat a man, and Smallbone and Aribo lumbering 10 seconds too late into the box... christ.

Really need a strong Dibling performance here. For now there is nobody else in the squad who can do what he does on the turn, and as a result he should be starting over Aribo.

So clear for 5/10 minutes before their goal that the game was there and we needed to make a change. Doesn’t react until they score. Happened plenty last year too. Too scared to attack Forest at home, what hope do we have outside of that?

Tactics in the first half nothing short of embarrassing. Smallbone and Aribo pointless footballers with no creativity/urgency. One of them or neither, never both. Ridiculous. Dibling our only footballer capable of turning and driving with the ball.

Literally neither of us have ever heard of/watched this player and that's your conclusion? Fair play.