Chez

agreed. Its like he has a mental block, sight issues or maybe colour blindness...who knows, but he's a chocolate fireguard unless he can stop passing to opponents. There is still room for an upgrade in central midfielder IMO

I don't subscribe to the lack of a fair crack. These guys play so much football that we never see. The managers know what they offer and clearly he wasn't offering enough in training and then in games to justify a long run in the team. Almost every time he played he was bang average, or worse. He was a passenger with the game going on around him. What do you do, keep playing him in the hope something changes? He's 26, not 22. I've seen less of Hojbjerg than Clasie, but his biggest problem is the complete opposite of Clasie in that he gives the ball away time after time after time. You can't do that at this level. Passes need to go to fellow players. I missed the first couple of games of last season when Hoj apparently looked good, so don't even subscribe to thought that he started well and faded badly. In all the games I saw, I saw someone that looked very comfortable on the ball, but then passed straight to an opponent. Stop doing that and there might be a player there... Pointing to other player failings isn't a reason to retain his services. I'll pass on the JWP and Davis discussion. I've gone off thread enough as it is.

its a risky business criticising goal-scoring strikers - they score, you look a plumb. You do need players that put the ball in the back of the net, its just that we want them to do that, AND terrorise opponents with pace or ability in the air. I used to dislike Stern John. Plenty of goals, but with his zero work-rate, at what cost to the effectiveness of the side as a whole? Seeing as we were almost relegated with him in the team, perhaps not AS effective as we could have been. Can we afford to have Austin in the side jogging around waiting to gobble up the chance that comes his way? Maybe we can. Do we create enough proper chances that we could sacrifice a few (assuming less would be created if he played) knowing that his conversion rate is higher than others like Long? Tough one. Off the bench when we are chasing a game he seems like the ideal man to thrown up front to me. But lead the attack from the off? Not so sure.

He is a really average player (relatively speaking) who was given plenty of chances since he joined. In all those opportunities, he didn't do enough for me. He was slow, didn't cover nearly enough ground or put pressure on opponents, get goal side enough even, he was lightweight, didn't win any headers, dominate the centre in any way or indeed do a great deal with the ball. He has the first touch to play at a decent level, no doubt about that, but the game went on around him far too much. He scored a couple of times, but I feel that he would never be a key player, so good news that we are parting ways. Hopefully whoever gets his squad place is better. No certainties of course. I do have a heart, but if we are simply evaluating the player on his performance, this is my assessment.

but about five times slower and a hundred times less effective. Poor signing and although it will sound harsh, I am bloody pleased we have finally seen that and attempted to upgrade. It's far better that than just keeping him here and waiting for his contract to run out before bringing someone new in.

it certainly does. Maybe the whole thing was base don him managing to keep the grade 2 in check throughout the entire contract period?

snakes on a plane gag anyone?

brilliant post. Love ideas like that.

Just to add to the shoegazing theme I saw Is Bliss last night. Best band I've heard live in yonks. A bit of Adorable oand some Verve storm in heaven in there too.

mostly the same players, with some similar coaches...radical change would be unexpected...

Nice post. Like your thinking. Might work, might not but good logic behind it...

aye men

can we get a Bale-esq talent back the other way too then?

if true, then I wonder what promises we have made him?

very nicely worded statement. Kudos to his PR team. Would that name work Batman?

Is it just me that thinks Barca have really dropped a bollock here? I know £198m seemed like a huge fee, but personally I thought he was worth that money at the time, even in the market prior to his sale, as he is a genuine top five player in the world. Every percentage improvement over your rival at that top end costs you a bloody fortune. But now, in the market post Neymar sale, Neymar looks almost a bargain if you are having to pay £120m for Couhtinho, who although excellent, really isn't as good or ever will be a good as Neymar.

we said that about Classie. Still, it beats signing them based on an agents recommendation.

Palace linked with Oliver Burke.

I listened to Bagpuss on the radio yesterday and he mentioned that clubs wanted £1m and £1.5m as a loan fee plus penalties is the player didn't get selected. He was referring to young players from the Prem. I have no idea who he was referring to specifically, but I know Brum have been looking for a striker.

It's been a while since I saw him, but would he offer something different to Austin right now?

After the Glazier buyout, using loans, did the Premier League not adjust their FPP rules? Probably not something they could ever police or perhaps want to, but thought I'd ask.

your posts are very interesting and you seem very knowledgeable on this subject. Feel free to ignore, but would you mind telling me your background?

SFC is debt free at the moment. What I am suggesting is that once the dust settles I would be surprised if the security for the loan doesn't change to SFC rather than other Gao assets. I might be wrong, but that's what I'd do if I was him.

zero hour contracts? Could work.

No one knows how much he really has. That figure is an estimate, but note that it relates to $1.4B of assets, but how much debt do those assets have attached to them? Maybe none, but seeing how he has bought our club, an asset he owns worth £210m of, but there is now £210m of debt connected to that asset, has his `fortune now risen to $1.61b? I am getting out of my depth here, as I don't know big business/finance, but the arguments for why this is a great move for the club feel wafer thin to me.