Chez

Good point. I've not seen Smallbone do anything to justify his selection, but others suggest he is a talent, so maybe they both need more time. Not sure how much longer we can wait. We need one of those two to step up.

he has played bloody well for us at least back too. You could argue that he's now an England full side right back. They key for me is can Livramento raise his game a bit to justify his selection. I've not been impressed with his defending all season and he's not done much in attack since returning from injury. Perraud is not a world beater mind, its just that he was playing during that wonderful spell.

Likewise. Very difficult to know who to pick as we have been so poor. Hopefully this side has the right balance.

was the run of games at the start of the season not a run of games? He started 11 of 12 of those games, playing the full 90 in almost all of them. Perhaps he deserves another run.

I think you are right, a few flashes of brilliance that grab the eye, but a complete performance...not yet.

Managers are not magicians. It's up to the player to perform. He was given his chance. The manager backed him and stuck with him after quite a few average displays, but he got worse not better. He had to drop him.

Tella gets his chance. Hopefully he can take it. I think everyone expected him to make more of a impact this season. His pace and skills can excite. Time to shine lad. COYR.

He played him until his form was so bad that he had to drop him. He then tried to bring him back into the side, but his confidence looked shot and he simply did not deliver. Perhaps he could have been given two or three games in this run in, but not sure he has been totally mis-managed. For context, I think Armstrong has something about him and I have said on here repeatedly that he could still come good.

Has Livramento actually played well since the injury? Equally, has he played better than Perraud?

Increasingly looks like Long will get another deal to me. Ralph praises him a lot, uses him to see out games and is now even starting him.

managers directing traffic on the sideline is all a load of bollocks IMO. It just gives the TV directors something else to show during the increasing number of stoppages - and in turn has risen the profile of managers (or are they just head coaches these days?) allowing them to demand eye watering salaries. If Clough could allow his side to play (and win) a game whilst sat in the changing rooms, then I wonder what actual effect Tony Pulis shouting and demanding more from players all game actually has? Players win games. Tactics no doubt have a bearing, but managers waving arms on the sideline has no impact.

Just looking at Brighton's recent results, and they seem unusually similar to us. They were well beaten by City (as we were Chelsea), but beat Spurs 1-0 (as we did Arsenal). Lost to Newcastle 2-1, struggled with Norwich (not sure we struggled, but with a bit more luck they could have grabbed a draw against us) and tonked by Burnley and Villa. Maybe we are very similar sides?

Small looked a million miles off the pace in the cup game earlier in the season.

Villa linked with our friend Duje Caleta-Car, but unless Salisu or Bednarek depart will we be signing a CB?

without question.

Not easy to pick a side right now. We look devoid of confidence and rhythm. We have lost our way. Romeu has had a good season but in recent weeks has been well off the pace, but Diallo isn't pushing him for the spot. Salisu too, but Lyanco and Valery are nowhere near good enough IMO. It's not just individuals, its the team as a whole. Players like Ely are not world beaters, but when we are flowing they bring something to the mix. When we are struggling, they disappear. Players don't seem to know what they are doing. Moving to five at the back might ensure we have men behind the ball, but the balance between attack and defence has completely gone. When asked to flip the switch between men behind the ball/backs against the wall verses the big sides to a more attacking game against the lessor lights, we can't do it. The good news is that we have played pretty well against brighton in recent seasons (we murdered them at SMS in December despite the result), but its going to be a very tough game.

picked on the basis of his social media profile.

as was then, is now - some facets of the game just can't be seen in a stats sheet.

At the age of 20, Adams was scoring 7 goals in 40 league games for the bluenoses in the championship.

the deal was cheap because the business carried that sizeable £90m debt. If the debt was zero, the asking price could have been, say, £90m more. The new owners wont have paid it off. The business will pay it off over time. I guess the owners could loan the business the £90m needed to pay it off in full, but they have indicated the business will operate self-sufficiently, so that (a cash injection in the form or an owner loan) would seem unlikely. Going back to your original post - I don't think we will have a huge amount to play with this summer. We will all hope that funds will be made available from the sales of `unwanted' players like Djenepo and Redmond, but far more likely people enquire about KWP, JWP or Salisu. That's how it usually goes, sadly.

We currently pay £10m in interest and that's before we even start paying the debt down. Doesn't mean we wont have funds (players sales will dictate that), it just means we are minus £10m before we start each year and when we do start paying it off, available funds will be reduced further. It WILL effect transfers in that we have less to spend, but that will already be factored into their thoughts, allowing them to say stuff to the media like "it wont effect transfers".

they have been doing it for years. We were lucky Shaw didn't go there too - it was an option for him. Their scouting system is top notch, they get all the best talent and they attract them and keep them with massive contracts for nippers. They have blown us out the water.

We'll take him on loan for the next two years (zero loan fee) so long as they pay his inflated wage every time he's injured.

McNeil gets my vote. Not seen a lot of him though. Just looks a good footballer whenever I have seen him play. That long contract makes him too expensive for us.

we've given McCarthy a new contract. Is that not like previous seasons? The only other out of contract player is Long. What odds he gets another contract? Are the three dropped players being completely frozen out? Redmond and Walcott were both on the bench on Saturday. Even of they are, we would still need to find suitors. Realistically, who is going to sign Walcott? I can't see Djenepo having a big market. Redmond is a bigger brand. Have we said we will be more active? I thought the only difference now was that there will be cash flow available that allows us to spend first, then recoup that spend after. I don't recall there being any indication that the spend will be higher. Pretty sure the opposite has been suggested - no real change. £90m debt and a £10m a year cost of debt, rising each year, means we will have less to spend, although we are one position better off currently, so that ought to balance that out, plus the increase in match day income should help balance the books. Three year losses totalling £140m obviously can't continue and won't. Importantly, we sold Ings and Jan in the last summer window, helping to fund transfers. Is there money left over or if not, who is being sold this year to fund transfers?