egg

It does, but this wasn't public money, it was real money belonging to the owner. The changes made to that development, and the wasted money, was outrageous. That amount, and the money spent on Osvaldo alone (his wages, that we paid up, were eye watering) justified anyone getting moved on and did the club harm for a long time in terms of a) the actual amount having to be paid but b) the wages paid to Osvaldo, and Ramirez, have meant that we've had to row backwards from unsustainable salaries to a more sustainable salary ceiling.

He was paid to spend about £15m on Staplewood and ended up spending nearly £40m. That's not brilliant on my book.

I can't believe some of the comments on here. The first team are doing badly, can't find the net and got battered by a wolves reserve team and outclassed at home by Watford. The u23's are even worse and the nippers struggling too. I'm struggling to understand what is wrong with pointing about the obvious and questioning what is going on.

Changes are needed otherwise we're in for a long season at the wrong end of the table. That's said, I can't believe people are calling for Stephens to be replaced, he was our best player my a mile in yesterday's debacle. I'd play 3 at the back and work on it all week. Wolves can't happen again. I wouldn't start VVD yet, unless he's able to give a full 90, physically and mentally. If he is I'd start him in the middle of the 3. If not I'd start Yoshida. Either way I'd drop Forster, and go with 3421 in the Chelsea style, ie 1 up top supported by an inside left and inside right. That way we can give Gabbi proper support whilst hopefully getting more service to him. Lemina has to start to give more presence in the middle, we looked like the under 18 team vs the big boys yesterday. You've got to earn the right to play and Palace would batter yesterday's 11. My team : Mccarthy Stephens VVD/Yoshida (depends if vvd ready) Hoedt Cedric Romeo Lemina Bertrand Boufal Redmond Gabbi Bench. Whoever but I'm not persuaded by Boufal and I'd be looking to get Long on early if Boufal or Redmond don't get involved enough.

Quite. I think he's acted stupidly but I won't boo him and can't see that doing so would achieve anything, and certainly nothing positive.

All this 'it's the agents fault' is utter boll0cks. He's a 26 year old man with his own mind. Do people really think that he's incapable of deciding for himself that he could play for a bigger club and could earn loads more money. He and he alone must take responsibility for his actions.

Cheers, I knew he'd put pen to paper! Perov Balls though ?

Yep, I was sure he would leave and some time soon he will. Whether we get a committed player who doesn't disrupt the dressing room in the meantime, let's wait and see. See post above re Hoedt. You don't have to watch a player in your own team to assess a player. Martina was bang average for us and will be bang average for Everton, for example. He won't suddenly go up there and become the world's best right back will he.

I've commented on how he's played when I've seen him play, most recently against France where he was slow, ponderous, positional wise weak (at times) and poor in the air. I wish I could say that moved across the ground like a whippet, was commanding in the air and in the right position all the time, but he wasn't. Sure, when he plays for us the positioning may improve, but I doubt he'll suddenly be able to move quicker or jump higher.

First point noted. Second point, unless you've been asleep you will have noticed that we didn't sell VvD.

Not at all but I'm not a 'we've signed him so he'll be great' person, instead I judge all players on their merits. From what I've seen he'll take a lot of improvement to be better than Stephens and Yoshida on current form. However, he looks a better 3rd pick than Bednarek.

Have you seen Hoedt play? We've had 2 clean sheets in 3 games this season. I'd stick with Stephens and Yoshida based on what I've seen.

I agree with most of this. His positioning wasn't great and he was far from dominant in the air. What worried me most though was his lack of pace. Yes his midfield exposed him, and yes there was a lot of pace in that French team, but you're either slow or your not and he looked slow.

I agree. Play often breaks down when the ball gets to the undroppable Tadic, and to a lesser extent, Redmond. JWP is purportedly a dead ball King but in open play isn't very effective. Boufal has all sorts of ability and will hopefully fulfil his potential, but needs to play to have a chance of that. Beyond that it's hard to see who'll put goals on a plate for our strikers who aren't the sort to create anything for themselves.

It's a big issue. If we give him a squad place at the expense of another cb we've got to be convinced he'll knuckle down and play to his potential. If we're not convinced, for me it's a case of no squad number, sit in the stands and evaluate things in Jan. I remain to be convinced that his staying is a good thing but let's see how things go.

Yep, but the supply to whoever is up front concerns me more. We have nobody to play incisive balls and create proper chances. A proper no 10 would be ideal imo.

That one was clever to be fair.

Meltdown?! Behave. It seemed obvious to me that he'd go and I expressed that view. This is a forum where views are expressed. If he doesn't go let's see how he integrates back into the team and how he plays. If we have a fully committed VVD then the club have done well, until then the juries out.

If he does that's a bonus. Sort of!

Let's assume you're right and bednarek and Gardos don't make the 25. Let's also assume that vvd continuous strop which is a real possibility if he stays. Let's also assume one of the others gets suspended or injured. We're then fecked. And you say I'm talking b0ll0cks.

Let's see what happens today.

What a well considered reply. Feel free to explain why, for example, we're not better placed to get a better deal with arsenal now than before they sat just above the bottom 3 and look utterly sh:te in defence.

Hoedt arguably being better than yoshi and Stephens is not the point. It's about replacements and the squad. We didn't buy Hoedt to have him, Stephens, yoshi, Gardos, Bednarek, VVD (or yet another replacement) in a 25 man squad. That's 6 Cb's on the payroll. Put them and 3 keepers in the squad and we've only got 16 places for fullbacks, midfielders and attackers. Hoedt has come in to replace VVD who will leave today.

Disagree. 1. Supply and demand. 2. If we say that we're open for business we'll never get as good a deal as we could if desperate buyers come to us. 3. If any club wanted him they'll come to us expressing interest. The way you put suggests that clubs only make offers when a player is being actively marketed. That's ridiculous. 4. Certain clubs will have become more desperate as the window opened up. Arsenal will be desperate for reinforcements at the back. Do you not think that they'll be willing to pay more now for a CB than they were before the season? We're putty in their hands and that buyer competition is to out advantage. This is business, not fantasy football.

Holding out for the best deal is not 'caving' in. It's obvious he was/is going (who really wants a player worth £70m+ sat in the stands until the next window? Who replaces a player [Hoedt] but doesn't actually sell the player being replaced!?) All the club have done is hold firm to get the deal that they're happy with.