SNSUN

We've spent the summer strengthening the spine - 2 keepers, a CB, a DM, an AM and a Striker. We basically still need another CB, FB, AM and at least one striker if not two. Going well this transfer window. 😁 (It is, I'm being deliberately specious. Of course we'll bring in one more striker.)

Lis, Valery, Stephens, Simeu, Small, Smallbone, Watts, Tella, Djenepo, Armstrong, Mara... or something like that once all the jewels are sold off. Yippee! (Ok I'm being extreme but the point stands.)

This season just gets better and better and like a lingering fart in a lift, it's still fresh and new. What other delights do we have in store... kidnapping of JWP perhaps? Arse fallout for Aribo? (I don't know if that's a medical thing but it sounded like something that would keep a player off football) Losing KWP is like losing two players. Oh wait, we have Valery to slot in there. Yay.

I remember thinking (and think people on here were saying it) that £1 million is a lot of money for League One. How little were we to know he'd become a club legend and be one of those lower league players that kept adapting to the higher leagues. The Vardy of his time, only not a twat.

Meanwhile a team that was probably going to be a direct rival in a relegation battle, Everton, have signed Coady and Tarkowski, either of whom would instantly improve our defence, for the grand sum of nothing, just wages. Our defence has been crap for months and we’ve signed one CB that didn’t even get a game on Saturday. If don’t care how many CBs we have, we need another and we need one with match experience.

One swallow does not make a summer. It wouldn't excuse the last six months of crap. But it would be a step in the right direction... though our fixtures after look rough.

As a CB? Be better than Valery. 😁

He'd probably make us tougher to beat but he's like the English Puel, a bit boring. I'd support him if we got him but I don't think that's the route the club would take.

Got more chance of signing Gok Wan than Gakpo. I'm clinging the the hope the Mara is the next Thierry Henry and not the next Emmanuel Mayuka.

Bearing in mind their financial troubles, they're finally doing some good work there. I thought defence would be their let down but Coady and Tarkowski is a decent experienced pair of CBs. Onana to come in to, if they can sort their attack out then they might not be the relegation fodder I had them down as.

I'm actually hoping for a United equaliser here. Crap though they've been we could do with the likes of Brighton dropping points.

That is literally our best side at present IMO. Granted even Salisu effed up yesterday but he's still probably one of our two best CBs. Why Ralph can't see it I'll never know. I don't have an issue with Djenepo at LWB who seems to be doing Ok there but playing Valery at RCB is borderline criminal over other, better players. I'd like to see us with a new striker in the next couple of days that can start against Leeds but I'm not holding my breath. Same 3 at the back, same lame attack, same shite.

Blimey United are awful. I can see a busy last 3 weeks of the transfer window for them.

Someone that can come in and realise what our best first XI is in the best formation would be a marked improvement. Ralph has been here 4 years and still hasn't got a clue what it is. Even the 4-2-2-2 or 4-1-4-1 would be better than what we're trying to play now. Pick the formation to suit the players at your disposal, not the other way around where you're shoehorning the likes of Valery in over much better players. Unless something drastic happens and we sign a CB and striker that instantly improve the team, I can't see Ralph lasting the season. Thomas Frank would definitely be a good appointment but I doubt he'd want to leave Brentford right now.

Blimey United look shyte. Even we might have a chance against them if they play like this! Gross goal. (EDIT: Scored by Gross, it wasn't disgusting. 😋)

Everyone knows the CB we deserve is Umtiti. Barcelona want him gone, we need an experienced CB, it's a no brainer! 😜

This

Sesko has decided to stay at Salzburg this season rather than join United. I wonder if we're still interested in his strike partner Junior Adamu whom we were linked with earlier in the summer. May make it easier to get him if Sesko stays put.

Wait, we have to play more games? Damn. We really need something from this bearing in mind our next few fixtures after but Leeds won today coming from behind so won't be pushovers. It's games like this we HAVE to win if we want to stay up - but I can't see it. Hopefully we bring a player or two in midweek but this may come too soon for them to play. I think Ralph will stick to the 3 CBs in which case I'd rather see ABK, Stephens and Salisu. I think this will be, at best, a draw. 1-1.

Top choices for CHO there. Saints or Leicester. Would be a decent signing for us though. CHO and Aribo behind a decent new striker - we might actually beat some teams with that.

It does seem strange that he was left out for a striker that was largely unfavoured for all of last season. We'll miss Adams if he goes but as has been said, maybe we see selling him as a way to add funds to the bank account for new players. I think it'll be another wrong move by the club but I don't run it.

Ha, just said 4-3-3 on the formations thread.

Right now I'd take anything but the 3-5-1-1 or whatever bollocks Ralph is playing that we clearly do not have the players for. Some kind of 4-3-3 would do me with JWP, Romeu and Lavia doing the donkey work in midfield protecting the shite defence, and a fluid front three that concentrate on the attacking side of things. (Armstrong, Aribo and Adams currently). If Lavia IS a true DM, then having him in that role should negate the need for a 3rd CB.

Agree, We don't have an attack but at least start by having a good defence and hoping to nick a goal for a 1-0 or something. The Sean Dyche playbook. We conceded 67 league goals last season and were in dire need to sign defenders in the summer - we signed 1, ABK, and he didn't even get a game today so we were using the same lot we have during the terrible run at the end of last season. Until we can bring another CB and full back in, we should not be playing this 3 at the back nonsense and go back to Ralph's tried and tested 4-2-2-2. The problem with THAT formation is we don't have the strikers. It's Catch-22.

Well this result can only spur the club on to bring in the players we keep saying we need. That's 2 strikers, another 10, a full back and probably another CB. So nearly half the team still needs to be improved. That's just great. We are relegation fodder as it stands. Yes it's a long season but it's blatently obvious we aren't good enough, or ready enough, yet. Granted today was Spurs though, who will most likely finish 3rd if not higher, but we didn't help ourselves. We did stop Kane and Son scoring though... Leeds next week will be the acid test. Win that and we can restore some dignity, and hope, for the season ahead. Lose or draw and we then have Leicester, United and Chelsea.