Chez

Just spent a week on holiday talking football with a Birmingham ST holder who is from Sheffield. Poku is a player the bluenoses are looking at. The talk at Birmingham is having a budget to match the parachute clubs like us and of signing players this summer good enough for the Prem (and targeting CL in five years), so they are very very ambitious. I'd suggest we should be interested in anyone they are interested, Poku being one of them. If you have not seen him, he's a very left footed right winger. He is a good dribbler, likes cutting inside and shooting. He does go outside to keep the fullback honest, but I think we all know by now that that `third' of the pitch inside the fullback is the place where most goals come from, so maybe we get someone in that can actually score goals, like he does from that position. He's not lightning quick, but he is more robust than Edozie. I'd be surprised if we hadn't scouted him, Raki-Sakyi and a few others to play on that right side, especially if we are going to offload Armstrong. As for Wednesday, Charles won their player of the season, but many saw Gassama as the better talent. He's another winger, this time right footed (with a stronger `swinger' than Poku) who seemed comfortable on either side. He scored a few last season. He's not lightening quick either, but I thought he looked a little more dynamic than Poku, maybe a bit more acceleration? Like Poku, he has tricks and a nice drop of the shoulder. After him, Valery did OK for them, suiting their system, but not sure we want to go back there.

Can't see him dropping down a division. If no PL side wants him, he'll go abroad.

If they don't get that CL place they are going to have buttons to spend.

Sushi ain't gonna cook

Is Evan Ferguson totally unrealistic? Prem players don't drop down a division unless they absolutely have to, but is there a side in the Prem that wants him to play games next season? I guess all the promoted sides would take him.

Id of thought he'd gel well with the likes of Elanga, Gibbs-White and Hudson Odoi.

Some bollocks and grit in central midfield for sure. Yates from Forest type that is only too happy to kick someone and spoil opposing attacks. We could do with a couple of players that actually win headers in all three parts of the pitch.

We've got a few centre backs to shift before we can invest in a new one.

Three different managers have not rated him. Maybe he just isn't very good as a wingback.

Fraser was on loan in the championship, then signed on a permanent contract after we were promoted. He still had a year left on his Newcastle deal. I imagine we were offering a bit less than that deal, so there was probably some haggling by his agent to get Newcastle to pay the difference as a leaving 'present'. His wage won't be small, but there is a good chance there is going to be a reduction on relegation built in.

It's the Southampton way.

Is his cooking making em sick?

Not saying you are wrong, but you do need to consider the strength of hand they have had to work with. How good are the senior players, is their any flair in the squad, youth coming through, opportunities and money to address issues, injury problems. I am mindful of Poch's record being at Espanyol, finishing 11th, 8th and 14th. I seem to recall he he lost quite a few players prior to his last season and was sacked after a bad start. League position isn't everything. I realise some teams do punch well above their weight, and managers at those clubs should be looked at closely, but there a lot of factors. Working wonders on a shoestring budget is to be applauded, but doesn't mean you can handle a bigger club with different challenges. While we are at it. What was Cleverly's hand like? They sold their best player in Asprilla last summer and Kone was decent too. He got buttons to spend to replace them. Would he be an option for us perhaps?

I thought we were discussing the video analyst Anthony Sheldon.

Yes it is. Was that where Sheldon worked before joining Dorking?

Top noun 1. the highest or uppermost point, part, or surface of something. I'm just pulling your leg MLG. I'm sure he will do a great job and can be our very own Paul DePodesta.

Excellent.

When you want someone to identify football talent, what better place to look for it than the software engineering department of a bank? It's this kind of out of the box thinking that has er, kept the ball out of the box (and the net). Not ours, obviously.

Not looking for an argument, as I largely have agreed with you that existing players in the squad have shown they can do it at the lower division, so the drop down in division can see them be effective again. However, the pessimist in me has been concerned that goal scorers do often just stop scoring. Previous records do not a guarantee future performance. There are lots of factors and reasons for this, not least a change in the team's style of football/approach, a lack of chances and/or loss of confidence. Armstrong's failure to score goals at WBA is a concern. WBA don't create or score a lot of goals, but three in 16 games, one a pen, isn't great. Brereton has four goals in 17 games playing for the third best side in the league.

Sainz has one year left on his contract, so its now or never for Norwich to cash in. £11m figure has been bandied around. We need to add some individual attacking flair, guile and craft to compliment or replace Sulemana and Dibling.

Perhaps pointless to suggest a load of players when we have so many on our books that we will probably have to keep or will take all summer to offload, but what's the harm? I'm going to imagine the current lot have all fucked off. All of them. Every single last one...except Ramsdale. I don't have a clue about keepers, so will let someone else address that position. Anyho, in no particular order Omar Richards (Forrest) Tørborjn Heggem (WBA) Bindon (Forrest) Issa Kabor (Man City) Chakvetadze (Watford) Rak-Sakyi (Palace) Kofi Shaw (Bristol Rovers) Andrija Maksimovic (Red Star) Josh Murphy (Skates) Sainz (Norwich) Kasper Dolberg (Anderlecht) Simon Banza (Braga) Could maybe add Vardy and a couple of old school defenders like Ben Mee, but mostly I want to see some talented dribblers like Chakvetadze.

...and by 25 haven't got pretty much the finished article anyway? If you don't come off your line at 25 you never will.

you are right. I will rephrase. I don't want us to make a complete fresh start at keeper. Ramsdale is the best keeper we have had for donkeys...

Not down to him, but in his first three games we conceded 10 goals against Chelsea and Spurs and in between I thought he looked pretty poor against Villa. We were lucky to get away with a 1-0 win. They should have scored many times before doing so. My memory is not great, but I seem to recall he looked nervous, hesitant and a little clumsy. Bit of a baptism of fire. I really hope he finds his feet and thrives.

Was she responsible for signing Gunn from us?