Verbal Kint

It will be a long and boring second half of the season anyway once we get beaten by Liverpool. Not going down, nowhere near the top 8, seriously dull football. I'd rather the money was spent on a genuine long term target than waste it on somebody overpriced now

If a long term target is available then make a move, if not take the Fonte money and wait for the summer to replace him. A great opportunity for Gardos/Stephens to show if they're good enough

But it isn't. No part of his game has improved since Puel came in, he's just playing more

He should be one of the first players on the out list this summer as we might get a decent fee for him. But Reed is more likely to make him captain than sell him. Why we gave him a 6 year deal I really don't know

Out: Forster Martina Targett Fonte Clasie JWP In: A goalkeeper capable of kicking and coming off his line occasionally A Fonte replacement A central midfielder who recognises that scoring goals is actually quite important in football A wide player who can score goals If we did that over the next two windows and built the team around Boufal I think we'd be a much stronger team, even if we didn't buy another striker and went with the current 3. Absolutely no chance of this happening though

Austin has previously scored a lot of goals for QPR in this league and was doing ok until his injury (having been messed about with the diamond at the start of the season). Rodriguez has shown signs of getting back to where he was before his injury (he scored 15 goals in the season before his injury). Shane Long got 10 goals last season in basically half a season when we actually played to his strengths. They have all shown they can score goals at this level when giving the chance (although I'm not sure Long can do it consistently) The biggest problem is that Puel is not giving either Rodriguez or Long a sustained run with the team playing to their respective strengths. If he had done so then the goalscoring problem would not be as big as it is now. I also think getting goals from the rest of the team is a bigger problem than the striker itself. Redmond and Tadic are absolutely woeful in front of goal and none of our midfielders ever look like scoring. The squad needs a massive overhaul if we have aspirations of regularly competing for the top 8

Until we sell him, maybe Puel could just not pick him? Rodriguez played 80 mins midweek, why couldn't he play today? Switching our strikers every game is not helping anyone, we should give Rodriguez 4 or 5 games on the bounce, even if it's within 2 weeks, to try and get some rhythm and confidence

Will buying a striker improve Redmond's finishing? Or Tadic's? Or Davis'? JWP's? Cedric's?

It was a great performance and you can't criticise anyone too much but it's clear it ISN"T just a striker problem. I don't remember chances falling to Rodriguez, Redmond had 4 sitters and only converted 1 and Cedric also missed a great chance. Collectively, right through the side, the finishing is terrible. Not just bad, but abysmal. Unfortunately for that reason we are still underdogs to get to Wembley

Dreadful finishing from Redmond. 3 absolute sitters and we only convert 1. There can't be a worse team at finshing than us in the league

Short sideways nothing passes and the occasional cross field diagonal is my definition of useless. You should hear the adjectives United fans use for him. "Coward" get used very often. I loved him when he was here but he's been a huge failure since going and it's pretty telling that none of the big boys have come in for him now that he's available again. He simply isn't good enough for that level and for 24 million I'd want a lot more than he offers

Cross field diagonals - sure. But incisive, creative, first time passes? I don't remember much of that. That's why he failed at a big club and it's why I don't believe he's worth 24 million. I think he'll do Ok at Everton as they will play more on the back foot which suits him, but he isn't worth that sort of money.

Great without the ball, useless with it. Not worth 24 million IMO

How surprising that he wasn't available for 13 million

LR: "Earlier in the season we were playing some exhilarating stuff and winning games and fans were stopping me in the street and saying they really loved the football" Deluded

LR: "We picked Claude for a reason, and the main reason being his experience, because he has had a lot of experience in European football and that is where we hope to be heading on a regular basis". That European experience counted for **** all when it mattered LR: "James Ward-Prowse has become a better player this season". Utter nonsense I agree with LR on most of what he says about the transfer window, but what he has said about Puel is ridiculous

My guess is he was offered a pay rise in the summer but no extension. They've probably also offered him a 1 year extension without the pay rise. It would be utter madness to offer him a massive contract at this stage of his career. Let him go

I'm by no means a Puel fan and I haven't liked the rotation throughout the season so far but he had to rotate this week I think. Maybe not quite as much as he has but we couldn't have played the same team when we had 3 games in 6 days, and particular the WBA and Everton games just being 2 days apart. If Man Utd or any other big club had been the only team facing 3 games in 6 days (Chelsea had 3 in 10 days by comparison) then they would have made a big deal about it. For some reason we as a club did not

That's garbage. There's actually nothing right with his game. He doesn't come for crosses, he doesn't dominate his box, his distribution is beyond abysmal and he isn't making saves. The goal conceded at Crystal Palace summed him up. He just isn't a natural footballer. To go to kick the ball and allow your standing foot to make contact first is the sort of thing you see at Sunday league football, but here is FF doing it in the PL. and he got away with it again against Spurs when a similar thing happened. The reason he always looks so awkward kicking the ball is because it actually IS awkward for him to kick the ball. It's embarassing

If they're giving JWP 6 year contracts then isn't a genuine aspiration. He should never discuss the CL as most fans hold it against him when we end up with a midtable squad

I'd love to see exactly what the keepers do in training every day. Not a single one has improved under Watson

Common sense tells you we aren't paying anyone 100k a week. Numerous articles recently have stated we offered Fonte near 70k and top wage at the club. One of the principle reasons players want to leave us is because we can't pay the bug wages that they can get at the top clubs. It's just common sense

He's a very average keeper and always has been. Makes some incredible saves very occasionally (none this season) but is awful at every other aspect of goalkeeping. I'd hoped he'd improve these things under such a "brilliant goalkeeping coach" (none of our keepers have improved under him so not sure where his reputation has come from) but he hasn't. I'd sell him next summer for anything over what we paid for him

Has the law been changed so that it isn't a red card if outside the area? That wasn't my interpretation of the rule change, simply that if there was a genuine attempt to play the ball (clearly not the case with Redmond pulling him back) then it should only be a yellow. A free kick and red card would have been correct if I have the right interpretation

I don't think anyone is denying he would improve us, but is he worth over 20 million and smashing our pay structure for? I don't think he is