hypochondriac

Last week we still had some faint hope of signing Ramsdale, O'riley and Clarke. Now we aren't signing any of them. I'm not saying that any of them were realistically going to sign for us but those are the level of signings we need to stay up. We've gone for a level below that and so it's not a surprise to see us really struggle.

And yet all of them were more successful prem players than these are.

I'd love to stay up with Martin playing this way but I'd be just as happy playing shite football and keeping us up which would allow us to spend a lot more and increase our chances of survival in future. Sticking to this method of playing with less money to buy players compared to almost every other team in the league just means we can't really compete.

The other point is that losing Alcaraz means we simply must sign an attacking player who will get us some goals this year. What is our plan B? It doesn't seem like we've employed any different tactics and we haven't had much of any goal threat over two games now. We need a difference maker. What we'd give for a Tadic, Mane, Pelle, Lambert, Jay Rod. Even the likes of a Boufal might shake things up a bit.

I think it's fair to say we've gone for the cheap options where possible with most of our signing this summer. Some of that is due to necessity granted but others it has been a choice. Could we have signed less and gone for a bit more quality? Maybe the team will prove me wrong but we simply don't look a threat up front at all and I'm not confident we have the quality to score enough goals. Fernandes really needs to be absolute top quality given the money we've shelled out on him. One of Archer or Bereton Diaz needs to hit the ground running and be productive. The keeper we sign has to play the vast majority of games and be prem quality immediately. Kwp needs to stay and play all year and finally we need to work out a midfield combination with the players we have to be successful which probably means dropping Smallbone and Aribo. Even then it's unlikely to be enough without another signing or two for our attack. The fact we are playing Edozie in the premier league is outrageous, as is the fact we have woods and Lumley on our bench and a bunch of attacking players with no history of success in this league.

That's a lie. Woke DEI hiring means giving preferential treatment to minorities regardless of if they are the best person for the job. That's why it's equity rather than equality.

If you look at our signings with prem experience we've bought a Burnley defender who got relegated, two attackers from one of the worst attacks in the history of the league abd Lallana whose injured and will play a bit part role for the rest of the season. It doesn't bode well when we have people deriding Ipswich for their lack of prem experience.

I'm not sure even the likes of BBD and Archer are proven prem players. We need a ruthless attitude if we want to stay up. I'm not sure we've signed the required quality to be honest. Maybe they will surprise me in the next week.

Keeping the nucleus means keeping kwp, THB, Bednarek, Downes and Armstrong. That's half a team who are possibly up to it. The rest of them are squad players at best (maybe even Armstrong if he can't prove himself at this level.)

Basically we aren't a premier league team at the moment. Either we bring in the goalie, a couple of new players in attack, play the new players and hope they are good enough - Fernandes and lesley - or we go down. Crucially we need a focal point in attack and we need to not play five at the back at home. We need to actually attack and cause team problems. Forest will be one of the weaker teams we play this year and worryingly they didn't look overly troubled by us. If we lose to Ipswich then I'm not sure where our first points or even our first goal is going to come from.

He's not good enough for the prem. You have to be ruthless if you want to stay up. He can be a squad player but he shouldn't be starting games for us.

Where are all the posters dismissing me for saying we needed to replace Smallbone in the starting lineup

Dibling looked great. I'd play him from the start to be honest. Smallbone can fuck off to the bench.

Why play five at the back at home? We have to act like we belong in this league rather than trying not to lose.

How are we in a position where we are still bringing on someone like Edozie in the prem? This could be a very long season.

The longer we go without scoring the more difficult this season is going to be. We've needed a proper striker for ages.

Linekers contract ends in 2025. Suppose it depends if it is renewed or not.

I think that Lineker is a bit of a bellend in his personal life but as the main presenter on MOTD he is very good. I hope whoever they choose will be similarly good and then their personality, race, sex etc will be irrelevant.

Hard to know for sure but if we do go down and Ipswich stay up that would probably be a major criticism at the end of the year. I'm not entirely sold on our transfer business at the moment - accept we have another week.

Can't disagree. We've also put a heck of a lot of pressure on Fernandes. He better be something special to use that much of our budget on him. We'll be expecting a lot of assists and chances created.

Pretty sure I'd already said similar. I accept we can't afford to spend that amount in our current situation. Still a shame though.

I know it's not really sensible for us to spend that much on o'riley but it's still a bit of a blow that many of the more 'exciting' signings have gone elsewhere. Ramsdale would be a coup undeniably but I would still like us to get an exciting attacking signing to give me more confidence that we will score enough to stay in this division.

I very much doubt that. Given His pedigree I don't think anyone else in the squad could argue that he deserves his money.

Interesting stat. Let's hope that changes soon!

Indeed. I have had a look around and I can't see many promising domestic strikers available for loan.