saintwbu

Yeah exactly. I felt when he said it that it wouldn’t be true, and as you say it’s already been the case. Maybe that really will be us done, but we seem to have a bit of a habit of a deadline day signing so I wouldn’t rule it out.

So Small in, Lyanco nearly done. Do we reckon that’s us done and dusted for the window? I still feel like we might have one more incoming, despite what Ralph’s said. No idea why, just a feeling. Cannot believe that Long, Valery and Obafemi won’t be leaving though.

Ah that would make sense, was just about to say I wonder if that was our choice or his, as 3 years isn’t a long time in the modern game.

Yeah i’m sure they decided to keep him because he did so well for us, but within a season he was gone (Sheffield Wednesday maybe?) - He’s had a long and winding road to the top, but seems like a top bloke and is a bloody good player. Will always hold a soft spot for him after that season for us, he was great, and his goal at Wembley was absolutely superb.

Agreed, loved his flick for Adams’ goal, and also the run he made for the chance that he should’ve scored was perfect as was the weight of pass from Adams. Add that to their combination for the goal last week too, they seem to have struck up an instant connection. Let’s hope it continues!

He basically has a goal and assist in his first two Premier League games, away to Everton and home to United. Not bad going for a Championship player.

He was also really good from Villa away at the end of 2019, until the end of that season where he cemented his place ahead of Vestergaard. The first two games of last season he was off it, Vestergaard came in and did well and kept his place, only because Stephens had been poor. Without Stephens’ poor games, we probably wouldn’t have got £15mil for Vest. When Jack came back in upon Vest’s injury, i’m pretty sure we kept 6 clean sheets on the bounce or something like that? He’s really not bad.

I don’t see him going anywhere, people outside the club don’t seem to rate him as much as we do, so I can’t see any big money being on the table. Likewise, can’t see us selling for anything other than big money. Would be one of our weirdest sales for a while if we did, so i’m sure the injury is true.

Really pleased Ralph made good, effective subs today at the right times. I’m Ralph in, always have been, but very happy to point out his substitutions are poor, so it was good that today he used them well. It was a great result, with some great individual performances. Livramento, wow, what a player. Stephens great, and for all the suggestions we lack leaders and aggression, he brings both - I get why he polarises the fanbase, but I do think I prefer him to Bednarek a lot of the time, I think he is capable of being good.

Isn’t there a stat that we haven’t conceded from a single one of these free kicks ever? Seems a bit unfair to say we’ve got lucky, it does seem to work, even if it feels a bit wrong.

We had a lot of unsuccessful signings in a short period, but we also made all of these signings in a pretty terrible time for the club. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg scenario. Were we shit because the signings failed, or did the signings fail because they came into a shit team on a downward trajectory and never really recovered. Probably a bit of both, between all of the different signings.

Not sure why we’d sign him up to a bumper new deal to put a release clause in it that could be activated next summer. Would be better to save the wages if we intend to sell him next year, given he’d still have 3 years left at the point.

Fulham fans rate Tosin quite highly - I personally found him to switch off a bit when I watched him, a bit like we have already. I like some of the descriptions of Worrall, out of the two.

I’ve seen a few Forest fans mentioning being worried about losing one of their defenders, so i’m guessing it’s him.

Safe to say we won’t be getting Tanganga from Spurs, another great performance today keeping Grealish quiet. With the ability to have 9 players on the bench now, I can see the benefit of bringing in Cahill alongside whoever we buy, to be on the bench when needed to bring a calm head to the pitch.

Exactly. Drinkwater at Leicester was brilliant, because the system suited him perfectly as well as playing alongside a world class CM partner. He’s been terrible ever since. But i’m sure someone on here would say how on earth could we turn our noses up at a player like that because he’s played 5 games for Chelsea so he must be better than all our players.

I’m not saying it’s not, but it doesn’t mean if we sign Nat Phillips we’re going to suddenly become Burnley defensively. It means more likely he’ll end up looking like Jan Bednarek, whilst maybe Jan Bednarek in Burnley’s defence would look more like James Tarkowski? Get the players who suit the system, otherwise they’ll just look shit, whether they are or aren’t.

Danny Rose was off the back of an unsuccessful loan to Sunderland, and was about to be let go by Spurs before Poch gave him the chance to stay and prove himself. Poch’s system which relied heavily on the physical attributes to press and movement was able to cover up a lot of the technical deficiencies of players like Rose. His career has nosedived since Pochettino left Spurs, and it wasn’t up to much before him. Systems can make players, Klopp’s Liverpool are another great example - many of the players he has signed, other big clubs would’ve turned their nose up at, but they fit his system perfectly. In the same way that I don’t think Nat Phillips would fit ours, he may suit Burnley, Newcastle, even maybe Brighton.

I think people have forgotten how many players Poch’s system has made look better than they are. Almost all of Eric Dier’s ‘good’ period in his career was under Pochettino. He’s always looked well out of his depth for England. Ryan Mason, Danny Rose, both looked good for Poch when they weren’t.

It’s amazing how many people think because a player has played for a so called ‘big’ club, they must be good. This must be why Liverpool are able to sell all their shite at ridiculous prices whilst we can’t give our flops away.

I agree it’ll be nice to have a defender who can properly defend - but the problem is if you have a defender who can defend but isn’t great on the ball, and you then ask him to focus heavily on using the ball, it tends to end pretty badly. See Bednarek, for example.

To me Phillips is just a head it and kick it defender. No other outstanding attributes. I’d be very disappointed if he’s the one we are trying for, personally.

We had Yan, Jan and Yannick making up 3 of our back 4 not long ago - maybe Ralph is bad with names!

Can’t say I get too upset with the idea of developing other clubs players, it’s the current season that matters more than any other. But yeah we’d be best cutting a couple of attackers before bringing in a new one.

Amad Diallo supposedly available on loan from United. Touted as a bit of a wonderkid, would be able to add something in one of the wing positions but doubt we’d go for him.