hypochondriac

We looked fragile and bereft of confidence. For my money, the current tactics we are employing are much more basic and remind me of lower league teams in the Cup against prem teams.

I can't remember us looking more like a lower league team in the prem.

So not really the same as Antonio then.

Is Sulemana going to play up front then?

I really think we need something different up front. It's soul destroying seeing Adams squander chances in the manner he does every week.

Fair enough. I'd have liked to have seen us try.

Given where we are, what's your best case realistic scenario? For me it's Sulemana, Antonio and Hjulmand or whatever his name is would seriously improve us.

Yep. The only real issue will be if we get no one in and they continue that line. I'm fine with him keeping up a pretence for the media and morale but no one seriously believes that's the case.

That would be amazing if we'd done that. Accept relegation now and then absolutely smash the championship next year.

I don't think we can really be fussy now and it seems that the club are intent on not getting a striker for some reason that I don't understand. Under the circumstances I'd be happier that we'd at least got somebody in at this late stage but if we really had any sense we'd get Antonio in and Sulemana. I don't see how Sulemana is going to solve the problem of Che's woeful finishing but I accept that given our current position we really aren't going to be able to get much in now.

Obviously I want an attacker but there is a tiny part of me that would enjoy seeing us not get one just to see how the club try to spin it.

I haven't really seen any evidence thus far that Jones is a manager who suits us.

I can't see how his stock will rise if we get relegated. He could probably get himself another championship job.

I'd get him and maybe we could afford a winger we seem so desperate to get as well. Worst case scenario he would do a job in the championship next year.

I would have loved us to have got Bielsa as a manager. That would have been amazing.

I haven't warned to Jones, I'm not confident at all that it's going to work out with him here. Despite all that the club have shafted him by not getting in a striker. If we don't get someone adequate in then I will feel a bit sorry for him because he doesn't deserve that.

I was convinced we were getting someone in the summer judging by Ralph's comments. I was pretty confident we would get an attacker in early in the window. I was sure we would sort something prior to the Everton game. I still think we will get someone by the end of January but like you say, it's not like we don't know what to expect.

We obviously have been trying to get an attacker in (for some reason we want a winger who can play in multiple positions rather than a striker.) We have to be realistic now about what we can get in and who will come.

Which is why I'm suggesting we need to lower our sights. We aren't going to get in what we wanted at this stage, we need to get someone in who is better than Adams and Armstrong and maybe someone from the championship has a chance of being that person. I still think we might get a last minute loan of a winger from a bigger club but that's about it.

This is going to deadline day isn't it. I expect the club are getting quite nervous and a little desperate. Maybe the best option would be someone from the championship who would probably be happy to sign under the circumstances.

The club should have thought about that when they had the opportunity to bring someone in in the summer then. Once that didn't happen they had three months to prepare for getting someone in January even if it meant paying slightly over the odds. The club have basically failed and its entirely their own fault.

The expectation is a striker that is better than Adams, Armstrong and Mara. That's not unrealistic.

That is possible but you could have said similar things after we lost out on Delap and Gakpo in the summer and then we didn't sign anyone so the conclusion seemed clear.

Any striker better than Adams and Armstrong signed in the last year was the expectation. It's not unrealistic.

I don't think Jackson is the answer and certainly not for the money. The concern though is that he appears to be our first choice. If he goes elsewhere I dread go think who our second or third choices will be (or amusingly we don't get anyone.)