mrfahaji

Hmmmm I dunno... that bench has JWP, who wasn't much different then to how he is now, Cork & Puncheon who still compete for first team PL places, Yoshida who is currently our best centre back and Chambers who was directly competing with Clyne that season and would probably be in our matchday squad now if he hadn't moved to Arsenal. I agree that our squad is stronger now, but when you look at the team from SKD, it's not significantly weaker. You have to take into account how strong the best players were as well as how weak the poor ones were.

He was also in the pictures training with the first team recently. Wasn't he only on the bench for the FL Trophy vs Peterborough though?

Who from other teams in the league fits the description of the sort of player you would want us to buy? Exclude the top 6, and also Everton as we all agree that Gylfi Sigurdsson would walk into our team, just not at £45m. Lanzini, Matt Phillips, Joe Allen? I like the look of Roberto Pereyra at Watford but he's been injured most of the time he's been on these shores. I'm not saying to suggest a signing, more to identify a player that meets the description of what we need. This post isn't meant to be flippant or argumentative in case it sounds that way!

Like Boufal?

When they were linked with a Costa loan, I was a bit worried... hopefully that has gone away.

What's a cop out? Saying not many players exist with all those attributes? I'm sure the club have many 'in that mould', but they will be unproven in some areas, most likely goalscoring. Soufiane Boufal was undoubtedly on that list, so maybe we should give him more of a chance? I'm not saying that we don't need an AM, but rather that the CM was more important, and also a lot easier to unearth for less money.

It's all very well saying we need an AM who scores goals, links the play, creates chances and puts a shift in, but not many of those exist. Even Dele Alli is pretty average when it comes to all round performance, but he clearly makes up for that with his goal threat. If they DO exist, they are either prohibitively expensive, and/or on everyone's radar because they have scored/set up loads of goals so appear on all the relevant and easy to find lists. I have long thought that finding an accomplished central midfielder to play alongside Romeu should be the priority, because at the very least it could give more freedom to the player in AM, whether that's encouraging Davis or JWP to be more focused on attacking, or whether it allows us to put Boufal there without leaving us completely exposed. Therefore, I have to be happy that we have signed Lemina and then Hoedt as well. Plus I think there's more to our attacking struggles than just individuals underperforming.

I'd be disappointed to see Sims go out on loan, more than any other young player. Feel he could fight for a place and make a difference in games. But I suppose it's inevitable when the rest of your wingers are in such scintillating form.

If that is the case we should put out a statement saying that we were going to have to sell VVD for the money, but thanks to Liverpool's purchase of Ox-C we no longer need to.

I don't recall Imbula playing for Inter? Didn't Stoke sign him from Porto?

Haha ok I'll bear that in mind...!

A fair analysis. I would argue that while his movement isn't very good in general, he does have decent movement in the box, and is actually likely to get on the end of a few crosses. Gabbiadini has a much better all round game and should be first choice, but he has been playing lately and against Huddersfield can we really say his contribution was significant? I saw Austin have several excellent games for us last season, where he showed a good touch, determined harrying of defenders etc. I think it's frankly ridiculous to write him off as a pointless member of our team. Although I share the concern about our forward line with some of those above, the difference from last year is that our 3 forward options include a clear first choice (Gabbiadini), with 2 backups with obvious strengths (Austin - finishing, Long - pace). Last year, the limited (but still good) Austin was our first choice, and neither of our two backups (Long & Rodriguez) had demonstrated they could be relied on to regularly lead the line. We might still only have 3 strikers, but we have essentially replaced our 3rd choice with a new 1st choice. Sign another, and you have a scenario where Austin or Long don't even make the bench.

I could be wrong but I thought in some of the Lounge discussions, sadoldgit tended to argue against those with more xenophobic views.

We've just signed a central defender who is reportedly excellent in the air. Did you miss that?

But how? If the problem is not getting the ball to the forwards, on that logic if we play 2 up top then that will be 2 players instead of 1 that don't get the ball...!

Yes, it's tricky to draw the line at what is acceptable and what isn't. I'd also prefer us not to sell to Liverpool at any price, but my main point was that we'd hardly be seen as a joke if we 'crumbled to the pressure' and eventually sold for £200m. Or £100m. The opposite would actually be true - our stance would have forced Liverpool to cough up an extra £20m+ on what they may have been able to pay at the start of the summer.

Seriously?! He has had more than a handful of poor games, but crucially he has quite a lot of games where he is just 'ok'. You're not really helping the cause here LeG, a few posts ago I said that no-one really claims Davis is anything more than average nowadays, and here you are saying he's on par with VVD and Bertrand! You're right that I can't imagine Davis downing tools or not putting in the effort, which makes him a good captain, reliable squad player or decent first teamer, but that alone doesn't make him a top player that we can't improve on.

Steven Davis, or the discussion about him?

Statistically? Or in your opinion?

Did you watch the Huddersfield game? That should/would have given you your answer. Also he's not a direct runner, he cuts inside and usually makes a simple 5 yard pass. Not always, but most of the time.

Money, presumably.

Isn't SaintRichmond an obvious troll? SaintRobbie needs company on my ignore list, might add SaintRichmond is others confirm my suspicion. larry12 is still good for amusement though.

This bit is key for me. I also agree with the sentiment of not to Liverpool at any price, because they are looking pretty good right now and if VVD goes there, their defence will suddenly be a lot better, and I would hate for them to actually win something. Although I wouldn't go as far as Benji, who earlier says "not even for £200m". Would be hard to say we're a joke if Liverpool had essentially paid us the value of our entire club (?) for one player...!

There was a time Davis was held up as an "unsung hero" and "very underrated", but not sure many have labelled him that in the past couple of seasons. Feels like, in the face of what you may reasonably have thought was unjustified hype, you went overboard in the other direction to compensate (I think many are guilty of this, myself included!) but you've continued with this extreme rhetoric even though people are no longer claiming Davis to be anything more than "best of our average options".

Oh! Could've sworn the impression the media reports gave off were that he was a CB, maybe the similarity of the situation meant I assumed the same position... in which case, largely irrelevant news!