Hodgey

Wasn’t writing him off - he’s got something and has lost his way (he may actually be a better winger), May well improve in a few years but equally may drop down the leagues. point is - we thought he was an immediate replacement for Cedric - he wasn’t and we almost got badly burned....

Fantastic signing at a good price. We’ve got away with this as we clearly thought Valery was the next big thing, but that hasn’t worked out leaving us horribly exposed at right back. If KWP hadn’t worked out we would be in panic buying mode now and other clubs would know it. All that aside, he looks like exactly the sort of player who can fit into our team, with clear quality going fwd. People worried about him being beaten on the far post in the air - well Clyne was the same (we used to do it against Palace) it’s part and parcel. Really pleased with this - not often you buy someone knowing they will walk into the 1st team - especially at that price...

Spurs will look like they have a good deal - but selling is just one half of it - who you buy is another. VVD at £75m looked a decent deal - until we effectively replaced the best CB in the world with a load of dirge still out on loan now without troubling our 1st team and on treble VVDs wages. if it’s KWP plus a few million so be it - better than £25m to be pissed up the wall again, let’s just get it done, if KWP ends up at West Ham etc we’ve got a massive issue at right back

Our best player today isn’t our player!. We have to sort out full back positions - I’d sign KWP using whatever cash Everton give us for Hojbjerg. We have no squad depth and the youngsters are a marked step down (someone mentioned you can get away with one of them filling in, but any more and it is a big issue). Of course to get a better squad we’re going to have to get rid of some of our £100m flops Forster / Carrillo / Moi/ Lemina / Boufal / Hoet / Vestigaard. Sadly cant see any buyers so can only do the essentials of Right back (KWP) and centre back. Yes we need a powerful cm as a critical buy too but for me we try Reed. tired of getting little at home against poor but well organised teams. their goal was an utter joke btw. I played park football and we’d be having a word with ourselves conceeding like that. Astonishingly Stephens is fast becoming our best centre back - and for me he should be 3rd choice behind two new cbs - I’m unconvinced about Bednerak. good second half showing, but concerning that it took a player we don’t even own to inspire us.

Was a poor kick - he got underneath it, unusual for a technical player. Given Ings form I think handing him pens is fair - that said everyone was missing pens for us before JWP steadied the ship so I get why he took it. I actually thought JWP had a solid game today but there were a few poor passes - wonder if he’s fatigued

I’m shocked at how little some rate him. He’s good for 4-5 goals a season and is everywhere, him and Ings are our best players by a mile. Whilst I agree he isn’t top 4 material - he’d get in Spurs / Arsenal / Everton / Wolves / Leicester teams - and be a regular in most. He’s picked up the captaincy with ease and looks to be doing a better job. I’ll tell you this - I don’t see us finding anyone better if he does leave.

Interesting comments on the athletic on this. In essence the journalist says there is absolutely no point in playing Long with that set up as even if he wins balls nobody is anticipating or running past him. IMO Long is worth a 1 or 2 yr contract but only at vastly reduced wages and to be used where relevant - not as a first choice. We’re in Stephens territory here - both players commendable for attitude and application but neither should be first choice for any ambitious prem side (by that I’m not saying they shouldn’t be first choice in our current squad, I’m saying our current squad is nowhere near up to the mark in these positions + right back and maybe gk)

Ross Wilson wasn’t behind Van Dijk (or Romeu) - although it’s part of his ludicrous self promotion that clearly a lot of bright people have fallen for, he’d barely arrived. Don’t forget he was also in charge of our now awful youth set up. And there are a fair few articles pointing out he made the Carrillo decision against his scouts advice. Overall an utter Charlatan who ****ed the best part of £200m up the wall and has set this club back a long way (and we are still literally paying for a load of his mistakes). I’ll give him Ings though - fair play on that gamble.

Matt LeGod - are you agreeing with me or are you suggesting that loaning Young reserves for your reserve team only and sending 3 20 yr olds to play in amateur non league set ups is the norm for Premier League teams ?. If so if you could let me know why you think our youth teams are in fine shape I’d love to hear ?

I think the issue is that the teams fighting relegation will throw everything at us as they need the points more. I think we’ll draw to Burnley, Norwich and Villa, beat Newcastle and lose to West Ham. 6 points and needing one more win for safety

Just sets further alarm bells ringing on the state of our youngsters and total lack of overall strategy. Between this and loaning youth players out to the likes of Eastleigh, Woking and Gosport you really do have to worry.

Being in London the standard claim it’s £1m loan fee and c £2m to cover his £65k pw wage. Not sure of any of those facts but I’d have thought £3m overall for a player who wants out and will be a free agent in the summer sounds about right. Would have thought our loan fee for KWP would be similar but saving on wages. Risk of course is come summer we’ll still only have one contracted right back (who Ralph clearly has concerns with)

Not keen on this one, Tosun will be an added danger, Zaha will get round the back, and their cbs are very dangerous from set pieces (especially if we have as small a backline as I fear). Alternative is to play Vestergaard but we do that then Wiley old Woy will immediately get Ayew on his lumbering shoulder. Draw would be good - we’ll see if he fancies the cup if he rests Ings tonight or Sat....

Not sure Ben would be too keen on returning to the club that rejected him !. But that point shows our weakness in CB - he’d be a first choice candidate for us but is behind 4 others with Brighton’s much better CBs.

Not sure why we can’t do both !. Let’s face it there are few clubs with as little silverware as us. Football is about winning leagues and cups or at the least trying as hard as you can to do so. I’ll take a cup over £8m cash for better league placing. 44 years and counting since our last major trophy. Thankfully I think Ralf thinks the same (he hasn’t done a Poch so far in the cups).

I get the impression Che can be similar to Long - a pest who can help other players but won’t really trouble the scoresheet at this level consistently - a 6 goals a year player (may have a couple of purple patches over his career to push that to 10). The Ings thing is unrealistic - it’s how many years since we had a striker in double figures in Jan ?, if he gets injured the goals will need to be shared by others (same as if VARdy gets injured). For me he just doesn’t quite have that killer instinct at this level - you get a bit less time with Prem defences which means a Championship level chance is gone. Think £15m is par for the course - ie that is what you get so not a bad signing. Like others I still think he’ll be useful so rumours of sending him on loan don’t add up (and we won’t be buying another striker in Jan)

He’s got something, but he’s not a first choice prem cb. I think he’ll get better and would be a good player to fill in for a few games at cb / rb and even possibly dm. It’s an odd one as he can pick a pass, can carry the ball fwd comfortably and isn’t bad in last ditch tackles. His positioning, defensive awareness, heading and marking can be shocking though - and sadly he doesn’t have the speed or energy to be a serious dm or full back (which is probably more suited to his game). The fact he is currently first choice, and did ok when Virgil left, shows he can do it (but only for a few games, and only as a reserve)

Absolutely this. Pointless buying another youngster for £15m who may improve and we can make a profit - we don’t need another Hoet or Vest. We need an experienced cb leader nearing the end of his career with game management who can dole out the odd Bollicking to team mates and be given the captaincy. Cahill would have been ideal but that ship has sailed, there will be others though not getting a game currently. Problem is - this isn’t in the strict strategy of under 25s c £10-15m on a second contract.

The fact a lot of people (rightly or wrongly) want Stephens in as a def mid speaks volumes about how poor we have been in that area. Personally I don’t see that working but do think we need to play a settled back line and keep with it - half our problem is the constant chopping and changing of personnel and tactics. I’d go McCarthy, Cedric, Bednerak, Yoshida, Bertrand - Rom and Hoijberg def mid, Djenepo/Armstrong/Redmond att mid and Ings upfront with Adams, Valery, Danso, Boufal, Gunn, Jwp and slattery pushing for places. All that said I’m unconvinced they could stay up but think it’s our best shot - need a new centre back leader Jan which is not going to be easy.

He’s not the best owner, but not sure we can be overly critical. He’s made available cash we generate and tried to overhaul a failing management team. If you want to be critical then he has made someone endemic in transfer and contract failures the only person left who knows anything about football - with the rest of the new board marketers. That and as far as I can see Ralf has far too much on his plate with no quality advisors and he is losing the plot as a result.

Don’t forget they actually promoted Ross ! Hopefully with a new recruitment team they can make better signings, but they have wasted an awful lot of money (add wages to those fees and it’s more like £100m). Can see Gao reluctance to give them more until they start showing success.

Thanks Cabbage face for your, as usual, very direct question. Rather than slag off the poster - why not counter argue. Osvaldo was a total nutcase who behaviourally couldn’t cut it in the Prem (or anywhere). Cedric was able to cut it in the Prem - then couldn’t and was promptly replaced by an untried 19 yr old. Boufal so far hasn’t been able to cut it in the Prem - failing to get into a team battling relegation. Be good if you could explain why my statement was a mess. Glad we agree on the difficulties on signing a cb though - I wouldn’t want to be a mess on that as well..,.

I don’t see why Saints would be surprised by lack of interest - Osvaldo, Ramirez, Claise, Hoet, Cedric, Carrillo, Boufal, Mayuka - that’s c £100m spent with maybe £10m returned in loan fees etc over recent seasons. Selling players who can’t cut it in the Prem on big wages is very very difficult, you can’t even give them away. I can’t see us signing a CB - we’ve been very consistent on outgoings £50-60m per season last 5 years and we’re already £50m this (net £30m), getting a half decent CB is going to be £20m min so unless number goes in next year (loan) I can’t see it happening. That might not be the worst thing - it’ll be extremely hard finding a cb better than what we have for less than £20m, we could easily have another flawed cb on our books draining more wages.

Has it all in his locker - but he clearly isn’t interested. Can’t see the top clubs touching him due to that, although if cheap enough they may use him as bench filler. Like to see the stats but I can’t believe results wise we are any worse on his frequent visits to the physio. He clearly wants out so we might as well get rid if we can recoup original budget.

Err thanks for that utterly bizarre selection of unproven prem players CF - you seem to have missed about another 50 if you are going back as far as Fonte. That complete list would just confirm my point that getting a player proven in a different league is extremely hit and miss - hence congratulating ourselves seems a little premature. I do however agree on the strategy, we’re not going to be able to afford proven Prem players anyway.