James

I think hope of a f*ck you storming of the league with the same team is slowly evaporating based on how we've started the season. We were pretty naff at Colchester, lost to Watford, could easily have drawn on Saturday but for a late show and got humped tonight. Not particularly inspiring right now. I do think the Tonda charge is hampering our recruitment efforts, it would be a surprise if it wasn't.

We essentially didn't have a midfield tonight...

I don't think Mubama is an alternative option to Larin, he scored a nice goal on Saturday but if Cyle is out for any length of time we'd be pretty screwed.

This is guff. We will be lucky to make 8th without some signings.

We don't have anywhere near enough depth right now, we have to pray for limited injuries. Our first choice XI will be too strong for a lot of teams but we aren't close, on tonight's performance, to West Ham and probably not to Wolves either.

We do look pretty underpowered against a second/third string West Ham...

Last time he suggested a player it was Mubama, so maybe he knows more than he lets on…

I thought it was fairly widely known that we'd get the sanction during the September international break.

Great result. West Ham losing at home, Boro losing too. Lovely afternoon.

It’s important given we are on -4. These conversations wouldn’t be happening in a regular season where we’d just lost the first game. This season is unusual as we are on a penalty and also realistically need to go up before the parachute payments run out. It’s pretty understandable why fans are tetchy…

I refuse to believe the -4 isn’t putting some targets off joining us versus other promotion contenders. That and the uncertainty about Tonda. It’s choosing to join an unsettled environment. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we wanted that Anel guy and he just decided to join Burnley ahead of us. Adds to the importance of a win today to start wiping the minus out.

I think Dobbin is a decent player, he’s a good Championship player that stood out for an average team last year. Is he a worthy addition to the squad? Absolutely. Is he a replacement for someone like Scienza? Absolutely not. Was he a priority if we needed to sell to buy? Not for me.

If Dobbin is a Scienza replacement (if he goes) then I think many will be sorely disappointed. That’s not the level of replacement required for auto aspirations.

I’ll say it again, spending £9m on Dobbin as our only signing of the window looks extremely strange at this point given how short we are in other areas…

Actually not a bad suggestion. Would want him and another though. I think he’s a better option than Wood or Stephens next to a new THB replacement.

Kevin Danso?

Could have had him back for next to nothing…

A lot of fans put a lot of faith in what Solak said about having a team as strong or stronger. Coupled with the fact that we went most of the summer without any sales I think a lot started to believe we might be propelled to automatic contention off the back of a “f*ck you” attitude and the same team as last year. As it is, we are still selling players but are selling them late and, at least in the case of Charles, without an imminent replacement. It’s a concern as we are still on -4 with a weak looking team/squad. If THB is sold we need good quality replacements asap, really no excuse with £50m banked in the last few weeks.

Come on, be realistic. How many players would have done that? If you are asking players to self referee themselves to avoid retrospective bans then that's quite the shift in the way the game is played...

Completely insane. 2 match ban because the ref missed what should have been an obvious decision to disallow a goal. Definitely not clear that it was intentional.

Up to £25m is a ridiculous price, that’s barely more than we paid for him.

If THB is basically out the door then I suspect our interest in Anel was genuine which does raise the slightly worrying/annoying spectre that he just picked Burnley over us and we are now having to negotiate for a new target which will delay things.

It’s actually pretty imperative to get a win in the next couple of games minimum. The longer we stay on -4 the harder it’ll be to convince players we’ve got a credible chance of competing for promotion. No matter what we all think, if we are 8 points behind Burnley at the time, for example, Anel is deciding then that’s surely got to come into it.

And, frankly, the more difficult it will make to attract new signings. Use that Anel guy as an example, if we are still on -4 that’s got to influence a decision to sign for us or Burnley.

I dread to think of the meltdown if we don’t win this game.