Hopper

It’s been said before but Sugawara’s delivery is excellent Getafe players really being petty in this first half.

Loved the challenge from Yuki

Arma not controlling anything today

Are we stronger than we finished last season... no. But I also think it's a bit of a stretch to say it's not looking hopeful when we have 20 odd days left of the window. We've been pretty active. THB and Downes skew the perception a bit because they were here last season but we still needed to get pen put to paper on them. They are now both assets to the club both for now and the future. Outside of them we've added: Ronnie Edwards - Looks like a gem for £6M and will provide good competition at CB Yuki Sugawara - £5M for a player that has looked to give genuine competition to KWP as opposed to the level of Bree Ben Brereton-Diaz - £6.5M for a player that is at minimum of an equal standard to Adams but looks far more promising Nathan Wood - £3M for a player Martin clearly feels he can develop (Jury is well and truly out but we're not breaking the bank there) Adam Lallana - Free - Added experience in bags, will likely provide more value to SAA and Dibling than the first team but still a shrewd signing Charlie Taylor - Free - Bit of battle tested cover for minimal outlay again pretty shrewd to bolster depth A few other fringe signings for the future/Goztepe We clearly need additional cover a 9,10,6 and GK and I'm sure those are deals that are being worked on. But I think we've had a pretty pragmatic window to this point and with time to spare I think we'll see a few more exciting deals in when the likes of ABK et al. are moved along to free up cash. We also have a lot of headroom to bring in loan deals, which typically happen late in the window. When you consider that most of the depth and quality we've lost are from loan signings you'd be hard pressed to say we're not a more attractive loan destination this year than last. So not a particularly exciting window yet but plenty of solid deals and gems had so far and plenty of time to add.

The Eze and Olise point is an interesting one in as much as prior to that break out season they were mearly seen as great high potential youngsters. Now if only we had a couple of high potential youngsters within our ranks… a winger and an attacking midfielder would be ideal 🤔😂

65M for a player with 29 Premier League goals in 134 Premier League appearances is madness.

We must protect him at all costs.

If we're going to stay up we're going to need to grind some results... slay a couple of giants and rely on our fair share of luck. Even with some additional business done between now and the end of the month it's going to be a challenge, but I do think we will see more fight and togetherness from this group than we've had for 5-6 seasons previous. That's all we can ask from the players. Play for eathother not for themselves and and will lose or draw I think we can be proud. If the worst happens, we regroup and go again. Given how poor we were 22/23 it's remarkable we even made it back at all. 😅

The thing to bear in mind is that a LOT of business is done at the last minute. It's why deadline is so engrossing to watch. I think we will get bits done but it might be last minute...

Full context for anyone not wanting to brave the shitshow that is X. (I don't blame you)

Need to kick the tires on Johnstone now right? Feels like we could wrap that up for 7-8M plus add-ons.

Edwards has impressed. He already looks miles ahead of Wood.

Dibbling getting close to earning a starting position surely. He's been so consistently good this pre-season.

Kit too...

Poor Ronnie is getting 10 barrels kicked out of him.

Like what I’ve seen of BBD positioning is solid keeps the ball well and isn’t afraid to take it on the turn. Macca… woeful.

I don't think we as fans are qualified to judge the players personallity at all. That's the manager's job and it's plainly obvious he's not figured into Russ' plans. We know it's not down to his playing ability so it's logical to draw those conclusions. Even more so when that's amplified by a reputable reporter that is closer to the club than any of us. Baffling take.

I literally linked back to the source above mate. 😂

Reported by Adam Blackmore. here's the summary on this thread: H

Reportedly his attitude stinks and both the gaffer and team aren't having it. Shame as he's got all the tools but if he doesn't want to play and he dissrupts the group then best to turf him out.

Move back to Germany feels like the right one for ABK. As long as they aren't offering peanuts I'd expect him to go. Good news for the club that there is still good interest there.

With Mara it feels like an issue of Skill vs Will. Im of the belief he’s a skillful player but if he doesn’t have the will to apply himself in the right way, that is much harder to coach out of someone than to upskill someone with the right attitude.

This is completely counter to his whole playing philosophy. We played a half committed counter attacking style when we were last in the league and it didn’t exactly work out for us. The man knows his systems and needs players to fit them. Charlie has some nice attributes but he doesn’t fit the way we play.

The issue is we're somewhat tied up until we can move on some of the deadwood. Between ABK, Sulemana and Tall Paul you have 50M in expenditure unaccounted for. Sadly that's not Monopoly money for a club like us. I'm hopeful we can do some smart busniess in the last few weeks of the window. I think we've been pretty good in the loan market and I'd expect us to dip back in to add depth if we don't have the funds the splash on top talent. The benefit on RM's philosophy as opposed to our past few managers is that the whole is far more important than the individual. I feel confident that even when things get tough this season (as they will) the players won't be looking at each other with the same level of apathy they did the last time we were in the prem.

I like Antonio too but realistically he's barely an upgrade on Che in terms of goal return and at 34 he's well on the decline.