Verbal Kint

Why spend 8 million on him to get him in in January when he's on a bosman in the summer? We aren't going down, we aren't getting into Europe, so it seems unnecessary to pay big money when we don't really need to...?

I can see us selling/releasing 7 or 8 first team squad players and needing to replace nearly all of them

Because he was playing as a wing back, not a left back.... Koeman thought the best way of countering the Palace wingers was to get them one v one against less mobile centre halves and allow them to run them ragged, like Bolasie did for the goal, rather than have some trust in one of the best left backs in the league to deal with the threat. Genius

We created 2 or 3 decent chances in the game, they had about 6 or 7. They fully deserved to win

Whoever gets mentioned now though would be written off instantly. Bournemouth got Josh King on a free last summer. Is Shane Long really that much better than him? Or a Callum Wilson who cost them 2.5 million a couple of seasons ago. Watford got Ighalo on a free. Their wages combined are probably less than Long's. It seems strange to think there is no talent around in the lower leagues or abroad. That's why we have a scouting team, it's not very hard to take the top scorers from European leagues for millions, surely they should be judged on identifying these cheaper lower league players who we aren't watching week in week out

I don't think his wages are that big nor is he asking for mega money. He didn't want to join relegation strugglers last year and there weren't many other clubs interested at 15 million. Even now I can't see a club he'd want to join paying the 7-8 million when he's free in 6 months

Completely agree with this. Koeman this season gets a 2/10 and it's been pretty abysmal on the whole. I didn't think we could field a more defensive team than away to City, but he managed to do it yesterday. A back 5 and 3 defensive minded midfielders and it's no surprise we struggle to score goals when this is the attitude of the manager. We were playing against a team whose primary threat is down the wings. They have two very good wingers and Koeman's solution to that was to allow them to get one on one against our centre halves by playing wingbacks. It's suicidal stuff and cost us a goal as a direct result. And he then has the nerve to say afterwards that changing the system was a good idea. I won't be sorry to see him go when he eventually leaves, as frankly even when we are getting results the style will not change. Defensive, long ball, boring rubbish played with no tempo whatsoever. It could put you to sleep

Spend somebody else's money and crank up the debt

Ambition for what? We will finish midtable regardless. I'd expect to be more prudent and wait until the summer, at which point I expect 7 or 8 to leave and I'd want 7 or 8 to come in

I genuinely don't think he's that good. He can't pass, his first touch is consistently abysmal and he doesn't score goals. He's a beast in one v one battles but that's his only strength as a player, and his dreadful performances this season are probably a combination of him not being arsed and also not having one of the best defensive midfielders in the league next to him anymore. You can forgive the lack of goals for a defensive midfielder, but passing ability and first touch are prerequisites for being a good player and he doesn't have them. I'd be very surprised if there is any possible move for him in the summer. Not good enough for the big boys and Spurs will have realised now that they have better midfielders than him already, so where is he going to go? We don't know for sure if the rumoured 16 million bid last summer was true (I highly doubt it personally), but if it was then it's another poor decision to reject it and we'll be lucky to get 8-10 million for him next summer with only a year left on his contract.

Cedric is a good signing. Not the finished product but loads of potential to work with. We needed to buy two right backs, and most people are complaining about the signing of Martina not the signing of Cedric. I'm not saying we need two players to cover Shane Long. I'm saying we could have found a striker out there offering us just as much as Long does for a fraction of the cost (both in fee and wages) and still have had room to get another right back in, or another attacking midfielder etc etc. long and Gaston: more than 100k a week being spent on two players giving us absolutely nothing, either because they aren't good enough or because the manager won't use them. It's a shocking waste of money, but at least when we bought Gaston it was with the intention of him being a main player for us

Not cheap squad filler, more "younger talented players that don't demand very big wages". Clasie was reported as signing a contract for half of that amount with us, young players in the Championship earn even less than that. We can buy some of the best players in foreign leagues and pay them significantly less than we pay Long. We have been told we are limited in what we can do with our squad by FFP as we can only raise our wage bill by so much every season, and yet 3 of our biggest earners over the last couple of seasons have been Osvaldo, Gaston and Long, with none of them having much opportunity to contribute on the pitch. It's a colossal waste of money

Bojan, with Affelay behind him

But we don't use him as an option do we? He's been here for almost 18 months now and you can probably count on one hand the number of games he's started up front. We've spent a small fortune in a transfer fee and given a massive wage to a player and then not played him in his proper position. For 50k a week we could have 2 players from abroad or the lower leagues. If Long started 10-15 games a season as our centre forward, being rotated with Pelle depending on tactics etc, I could understand it. But he doesn't. He's a bench player who comes on for 10 minutes at the end and when he does he's played out of position. Just think how much better that money could be spent

Walcott was picked ahead of Giroud this season before his injury and Arnautovic plays out wide. I'm not sure I care much either way but the trend to me suggests that those that go for pace and performing better so far

Of the current top 10 in the PL, 7 of them don't play with a target man as their first choice striker. Leicester - Vardy Arsenal - Walcott City - Aguero Utd - Rooney/Martial West Ham - Sakho Liverpool - Sturridge Stoke - Walters/Diouf Only Spurs (Kane), Watford (Deeney) and Palace (Wickham) do. Take out Leicester and Watford if you wish, as both really play with 2 up front

Which is clearly a fault of the manager

I think he's done pretty well when starting as a striker. it's a shame we spent so much money on him and have failed to play him regularly in his position

It would be absolutely hilarious to see Wanyama playing for Arsenal. Hilarious how out of place he'd look

Why would Long want to join them when he's on wages here he'll never get offered elsewhere?

He's on close to 50k a week. That's an insane amount of money to be paying someone to sit on the bench most weeks

Like his attitude and think he has something to offer when played up front but 12 million was far too much and unfortunately the money he's on won't be matched elsewhere anytime soon. Very much doubt he would be interested in moving when he's on good money. it seems madness to me that we paid so much money for a squad player and actually made him one of the bigger earners at the club

Wanyama, Clasie, Romeu, Davis, Ward-prowse. FIVE midfielders ahead of him in Koeman's pecking order. We'd need 4 of them to get injured at the same time for him to get a game and the odds of that are huge Not much point in having a forum then if we aren't allowed to disagree with the manager. They do get things wrong occasionally you know? I think young players who have already had a season or two playing for the u21s will improve a lot more playing competitive games week in week out in the Championship than he will having a few more training sessions with the first team. Why have we sent Gallagher out on loan if you think young players are better off training with the first team?

The Gaston thing is very simple. We're paying him a lot of money and we have few attacking options at the moment to change things. He would be one of them, which he did at Liverpool in his only chance. I'd have him on the bench just to give a different option. You may well be right about the academy players in general, but I'm pretty sure if MP had been here we'd have seen a lot more of Reed who showed promise in games he featured in last season. Targett got his chance early on and showed he's not up to it yet and I wouldn't expect many others to have got a chance, although with Rodriguez unavailable for so much I think it would be nice to see what Seager has to offer. My main disappointment though is it's a wasted season for so many of these players now. If Koeman doesn't rate them then that's fine, but at least get them out on loan to the Championship because Reed, Targett, Seager are not learning anything by playing for the U21s every week

I'm slightly bemused at the criticism to be honest. He had very little chance with any of the goals against Liverpool, he had the Moreno shot covered until a deflection a couple of yards in front of him, the others were very clinical finishes. To blame him for the goal yesterday is just bizarre. His distribution is very good, he comes off his line well and he doesn't make mistakes. He probably doesn't make as many "wow" saves as Forster did but once Forster is back in the team people will appreciate just how solid Stekelenburg is as a rounded keeper. Forster's kicking was often terrible and he is rooted to his line always. I doubt Stekelenburg will be interested in signing long term as number 2 and his wages are probably too much to justify him sitting on the bench, but he's been a very good loan in the circumstances