saintant

This has always been my bugbear - if you are never going to mix it up you become very predictable which is never a good thing.

My understanding is that the pitch is re-seeded every year. If that's the case you'd think any previous disease would not affect it this season. As others have said we always prided ourselves in the quality of our playing surface so not sure what has gone wrong.

This is my concern. It is like this every year and we always end up disappointed.

He wouldn't have needed to.

It tied up a big salary that would have been better used elsewhere. Madness.

Maybe they could loan us Lavia. Not sure he'll start many games in that squad.

Could be a useful addition to the squad. Would probably work well alongside Downes to tighten our midfield and help protect the defence.

He looks to be close to being ready to start a game.

Then we'd better get someone in who is capable and be quick about it.

Well we wasted money on a clearly crocked Stewart - no need for answers on a postcard on that one. Mara was another waste of money as was Tall Paul. Add together what we've chucked down the drain on those three players and it amounts to a fair sum. Seems the problem is with those who scout and recruit these players because they don't appear to have a Scooby. At some stage we have to address the problem of striker or our struggles to score goals at the highest level will continue. Surely there is someone at the club capable of identifying a goalscorer who is fit and available within our budget.

Yes we were promised all that Moneyball stuff but it's all proved to have been largely bullshit. Then Wilcox came along and was going to fix things but has left and not been replaced. SR have been a big disappointment and I was hoping for better.

Unlikely, I understand he's been starring in their pre-season tour.

I like Dibling but surely we need to sign a quality number 9 to play up front - we have failed in this quest season after season.

Good business model that - give a player a long contract and he over doubles in valuation. We should try it.

Unless they want to free up some wages permanently.

Perhaps they appointed poor scouts. Ultimately the buck will always rest with the owners of the club because they call the shots and set the budget.

Yet under RM we constantly put crosses into the box even though the side has nobody up front who can head the ball - seems a little pointless.

Not a bad shout. I see he's valued at 20m Euros on Transfermarket website but Chelsea only paid 9m as recently as 10 months ago so not sure how he's over doubled in value especially if they're looking at other keepers.

Yeah, 14 other clubs not minted but we are bottom of the nett spend league over the last 10 years and that is the problem.

Even Man City regularly throw crosses into the box with Haaland up front. I'm not suggesting Tall Pall is as good but at least he's an option we have and has scored plenty of goals albeit at lower levels.

Would be bonkers to even contemplate this.

I tend to agree.

A look at the nett spend of all Premier League clubs over the last 10 years reveals that we are the lowest and even below Brentford. Whilst in some ways a thrifty approach is to be commended clearly it makes it very hard to produce a competitive team. Unless this changes we will continue to scrap at the bottom. Our most recent success was when Markus Liebher arrived on the scene 15 years ago and was prepared to spend money. SR have been a bit of a disappointment so far and I don't see them upping the ante any time soon..

Maybe not but if we are lucky enough to get him I think we still need that Romeu type alongside him,someone who combines a bit of brawn with footballing ability too. We've never replaced him in my opinion.

I wouldn't want O'Riley and Carvalho because that would still leave us with mainly lightweights in midfield.We need another Romeu type player who is physical but can also play a bit.