woodsaint1

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/olivier-ntchams-marseille-nightmare-continues-23765524 No thanks. Hes like a scottish Lemina. Plenty of talent but stinking attitude. So good hes landed a huge move to.....AEK Athens. His value has plummeted but its not worth the pain. Kent is very good, so is David Turnbull at Celtic

Think that article is a bit out of date. Looking like Perraud is done and theres no chance we're bringing in Firpo at LB aswell. We need the money for other positions. Think Crook got one right for once, Firpo was our second choice option if we didnt get Perraud done.

Great signing for Leicester. Was hoping we would make a move for him, not that we would have been an realiatic option with the other teams interested. They now have Vardy, Iheancho, Daka and Perez - with the likes of Maddison, Tielemans and Barnes feeding them. Theres bound to be another player we could steal from RB Salzburg. They bring through some great talent

How do you work that out? The same fixtures last season we won 3, drew 1 and lost 3. Plus our record against promoted sides has been decent in recent years.

A very expensive south american. It certainly hasnt worked for us in the past. They will almost certainly be moving on Bissouma, and possibly also Lamptey

Last two seasons at Blackburn, Armstrong has 46 goals in 91 games - just over 0.50 goals per game Che Adams had 31 goals in 81 games in his last two seasons at Brum - 0.38 goals per game Obviously better goals output for Armstrong and surprisingly he also has more assists in the same period (12 compared to Adams 7). Although Che has improved considerably in his hold up/support play since stepping up to the PL. If we can talk Blackburn down from their 15 million asking price to something around 10-12 million, it would be a steal. Considering we paid around 15 million for Che

Outside of our obvious need for two LBs and another RB, signing another striking option would be next on the list imo. Even if Ings stays for another year, he will get the inevitable niggling injuries which will take him out for 8-10 games a season. That leaves with just Adams as our only other striker who we could rely on for goals (although hes better for his support/hold up play). Not convinced with either Walcott or Redmond playing up top and I'm afraid that Long, N'Lundulu and Obafemi just arent good enough options for the PL at present (the latter two could do with a season loan to a Championship club). From what I've seen of Armstrong, he looks to be of the Ings mould. Smart movement, good finisher and can create something out of nothing. He'll also be brimming with confidence with the season hes had. Also quite frankly we need to start exploring replacement options for Ings because if he doesnt go this summer, or January, he will definitely be gone next summer. Why not bring somebody in this window, at least we'll have 6-12 months to see if they can cut it before Ings does move on

Wonder if Brighton will begin to experience what we did and start to lose some of their better players. For us it was a result of our success and top 6/7/8 finishes. For Brighton its a result of playing a real good brand of football. Can see serious interest in White, Bissouma (both linked to Arsenal) and maybe even Trossard this window. Lamptey possibly next window after he gets over his injury

Not sure about that. Looked like a rabbit in headlights at times in the heart of that Fulham defence. If we went from Vestergaard to him we may aswell start packing for Championship football

Oh and dont forget that our yet to be confirmed, may not even sign, new signing....has already been written off by some because hes 5 foot 8 and doesnt meet the "SWF you must be this tall" requirement to ride the left back position

Those two inches must really matter to you 👀

Its not. Most top full backs in the league are quite short - likes of TAA, Chilwell, Robertson, Walker and Tierney are all 5'10 (178cm) and below. As long as hes got a good leap

Take Grealish out of that team and they're bang average, as their form when he was injured showed last season. They may have a bit of money to throw around but would take significant investment to see them break into the top 6. They could just as easy regress to a 13-17th place side again

So we now should be focusing on distribution when it comes to targeting keepers as opposed to the basics of what they're supposed to do - shot stopping, commanding their area, taking crosses, instructing the defence? They could ping passes like Beckham but wont be much use to us if they cant keep the ball out 🤷🏽‍♂️

Be very surprised if Dragowski lands with us. Dortmund were reportedly interested last week before opting for Gregor Kopel instead. Some Dortmund fans were not best pleased. Can imagine Dragowski having much bigger clubs interested in him.

Has a Cedric feel about him. Same height and defensive qualities. Does seem to offer alot more going forward than Cedric though based on his highlights and stats. Could be a very good signing

Maybe Crook was right and Firpo isnt our number 1 target after all

Ajer is shite. A Norwegian Hoedt

https://twitter.com/alex_crook/status/1400365392640552961?s=19 Crook claiming that Firpo is not our number one LB target. Though to be honest I'm not sure hes even in the loop with Saints info anymore. Gets more wrong than right

Whats the chances Eddie Howe was hanging on for a PL job and then when a few come available he gets none of them 😂. Everton talking to NES and Lage all but confirmed for Wolves. Would Palace take a chance on him, looking less likely

Indeed. I did suggest Willi Orban before but think he signed a new deal at Leipzig recently. They dont even have to be overly experienced as long as they have good leadership qualities. Look at Dias for example, yes quality defender but for a kid hes directing players around him and very vocal. Leads by example. Our defenders dont look as if they would say boo to a goose, very timid. Communication from a CB is massive to the players around them

Strongly disagree. If Vestergaard does leave we need to sign a quality CB to replace him imo. Its a crucial position. You need to improve your starting 11, not buy back ups. An injury to either Salisu/Bednarek and we're relying on Stephens again. An injury to two and we're screwed

Yes theres the lure of european football, but if he goes there he wont start ahead of Cresswell and will also face competition for backup from Ben Johnson who can play both sides. He walks straight into our starting lineup however

Remember the lack of enthusiasm about Armstrong from some Celtic fans (and our fans) at the time. Christie is one of only three players you would take from Celtic right now (Edouard and Turnbull the others). Would definitely take him at cut price if his contract runs out in Jan. His creativity would be welcome

Many thanks for this, some excellent research. There is really no hiding place for many of our players when you see the raw statistics. Hopefully Ralph has this all laid out in front of him. Some shocking numbers in there particularly at GK and CB. No wonder we conceded so many. Redmond flatters to deceive as we all expected and Adams demonstrating how much value he adds to the team. Impressed with Diallo's numbers. You could see his quality at times, particularly in the Liverpool game where he barely gave Thiago a kick. There was alot of pressure placed on him filling in for Romeu (arguably our second most important player after Ings), but he performed admirably imo. Interesting to see how he kicks on next season with the experience hes gained and a full pre season training with the team. I see Jankewitz gets a mention despite only playing about 6 PL minutes in total lol