verlaine1979

Luis at Benfica would seem to fit the bill for a Hoj replacement - his highlights suggest he covers the ground very well and has a decent passing range.

I was directly comparing him to an Argentine international who played for both Barcelona and Madrid. What makes you think I'm criticising his height? That said, if he really is 5'9, he must have short little legs for someone that tall...

I just can't see DaGrosa finding the investment he needs, not after his relationship with the majority shareholder he brought on board at Bordeaux soured so quickly. He just doesn't have the profile to attract the money required to buy into the PL. He's a small-time middle man who once sold a few fast food franchises twenty years ago - no one is trusting him with half a billion dollars or more.

Sims reminds me of Javier Saviola, insofar as he's so small that when he's running with the ball is looks like the top of it almost reaches his knee.

Lucky they don't have Lemina, Hoedt and Carrillo on their books, otherwise they'd be completely hamstrung.

Consistently hitting your shots close to the keeper isn't bad luck, it's bad finishing.

Have you perchance looked at how many goals per game we've conceded so far?

3/4 of his goals and the vast majority of the chances he's missed are just him smacking it as hard as he can. That's kicking, not finishing.

Agreed. Gunn was signed so we could play with a higher line. If McCarthy's shot stopping drops further, there's no reason not to go back to Gunn. At least he'd have snuffed out Son's first today.

Adams isn't unlucky, short on confidence or still adapting to the league. He's just a very poor finisher with below average anticipation in the box. Such a poor buy considering how broke we are.

That's insane - high line needs at least one genuinely quick CB and a nimble keeper comfortable with the ball at his feet. Our CBs are lumpen (even Salisu doesn't look that quick) and our first choice keeper is as old school as they come.

We weren't unlucky to lose to them. We had two decent chances to score, they had about five.

I think one of the reasons Redmond plays it safe is he knows he's not actually quick enough to beat most full backs over more than about two yards. He's got a good burst from standing and good balance, but he's not actually very quick. Hence why he's also usually a disappointment on the break - I think he's a player who tries to limit exposing his weaknesses by not attempting anything that won't work.

I was just thinking this - not the first time Ralph has said he needs/expects more incoming, only for them not to arrive with all the rationalising and excuse-making that usually entails. The Swiss Ramble thread on cash injected by owners is revealing. As others have pointed out, the likes of Palace, Brighton and Newcastle (and Bournemouth) all have expensive flops who hardly trouble their benches these days, but it hasn't stopped them investing in the first team.

Welcome. I guess you haven't heard about agents' fees and national insurance contributions over in Australia, huh?

Saints have been pedestrian through the middle for years now. Watching Hoj run through treacle wasn't much fun, but now he's gone, neither of our first choice CM pair have the stride to advance into space with the ball. We've missed Armstrong's more direct running the past two games, but are we seriously banking our season on him? Oh, and I still think Adams isn't good enough. Either his technique lets him down or his anticipation lets him down - there's just always some reason why the chance goes begging.

It's complete rubbish that Boufal doesn't do any defensive work. He's energetic and no better or worse at pressing than most of our attackers. What he does do more than the others is lose the ball while trying to be creative, but if the reason you've brought him on is to try and unlock a stubborn defense that you've had no luck against, then presumably you've decided that the risk of losing the ball in the attacking third is less important than the possibility of creating a chance and taking the points. He's not done much at the club, sure, but apparently his value is now peanuts. For that money I'd rather have someone capable of the assist he got for Redmond against Brighton last season on the bench. Otherwise we have a squad where if Djenepo isn't fit, our next best attacking midfield change is playing Shane Long on the wing.

Key would be to buy someone who was actually French (ideally having gone through Clairefontaine).

Argh, can we just find someone under the age of 24 who is tall enough to head the ball, athletic enough to run with it into space when it opens up and adventurous enough to play a forward pass when it's on? Stick a pin in any French Ligue 1 club and you'll probably have at least one central midfielder fitting the bill.

Swiss Ramble gives an interesting overview of the amount owners have injected into clubs over the past five years. The likes of Wolves and Brighton, Villa and Everton have had hundreds of millions in interest free loans and converted equity, while we've had nothing (well, 1m apparently, but no idea where that came from). Obviously some of that has been spent playing catch-up on newly promoted squads, but hard to argue now that the likes of Wolves aren't now operating a level or two above us in the transfer market now, with multiple signings well above our record. At least we haven't had money flowing out of the club to the owner yet, unlike United, Newcastle and Spurs.

He obviously didn't do brilliantly, as they got relegated, but how did Chalobah do at Watford last year?

Sounds like DaGrosa needed a bigger institutional investor to provide 85% of the money for Bordeaux. Since that relationship went sour within a year, I wonder how many other investment funds and HNIs will be willing to risk funding him?

Redmond has been absolute turd so far.

It would surprise me if Gao had agreed to buy 80% of the club without insisting on a drag along in the event that he wanted to sell.

Soccerex are so small that they're exempt from filing full accounts (they're also consistently loss-making).