S-Clarke

I've always thought he was inept to be honest. When he just defends and looses all his stupid emotion, he can pass as a decent player, but you can't coach that shitty OTT emotion out of him and he just dives in, jumps in, gets caught up field. Just terrible, an uncoacable player really.

He agreed it was a red card to be fair, didn't really listen to much of that reaction I was more worried about Edozie at that point. But Lavia got in Bruno's head, gave him more of a game 2nd half and you could tell he was boiling up due to all the fouls before that. Not sure if it was totally intentional, just miss timed and very frustrated.

Frustrating because we didn't give ourselves a chance. The starting formation simply didn't work, it was obvious Newcastle were going to go hard at the start of the game so we throw in a totally weak midfield. Absolutely dumb.

Yeah he's incredible, the best co-comm. Love the guy, adds real drama and emotion to any game he's part of.

It couldn't have got any worse than that first 20mins, but to be fair to them they did rally. But the biggest improvement came from, guess what? A switch to a back 4 and a proper CM in CM. The first half I felt Bree looked totally unsure of where he was meant to be, caught in two minds, Lyanco being a wally as usual. But second half in a settled back 4, he was comfortable on and off the ball. Lavia changed the game though, as soon as he came on we actually gained some control over the midfield which was such a huge issue in that first half. Attack wasteful though, but we knew that. Didn't really create anything clearcut (I don't class Armstrong being clean through as a chance tbh) and Newcastle were happy to retreat and play a low block, as we couldn't really play through them. Armstrong being Armstrong, simply not good enough and never will be. Didn't hold out much hope after last week, and my overriding emotion from tonight is that at least it didn't get too messy and we came out with a bit of dignity in that 2nd half. Massive questions as to why we keep starting with the wrong players in the wrong shape though, we keep scoring own goals before a ball is kicked.

Exactly, why do we have to go through this routine with the starting 11 every time. It was inevitable to me that the midfield would be gobbled up and spat out, and that's exactly what happened. How can a coach paid more than I could ever dream of not seeing that? I miss Ralph.

Armstrong has been terrible this half, the experiment of playing him in his supposed position through the middle has run it's course. What a waste of £15m he was. Wouldn't even want him in the Championship.

Really demoralising for anyone having to sit through that 20 mins, as worst as I've ever seen. The biggest problem in this half has been that diabolical midfield. Diallo being Diallo, not good enough. JWP trying to play high up, but getting caught. Alcaraz terrible on the ball, looks just like you'd expect a 20 year old kid to look in a game like this. Lyanco though, holy jesus. How can he still get picked? The guy is beyond bad. Bednarek being Bednarek as well, ball watching, getting done by pace and turned. Terrible player as we all knew. Bree, hmm - wtf? Anyway....2nd half, keep the score down?

Everton apparently.

Let's not count our chickens just yet, plenty of work to do. Still very difficult to stay up.

This guy is someone I remember having my eye on in the summer, along with Sesko. (that ship sailed). He is a massive lump of a CF, cracking goal record, experienced (not a kid). Exactly bang on what we need in a number 9 position. Someone else on here was flogging his name around as well in that he'd be a great shout for us. 17 in 22 this year, 23 in 43 last year. Guy knows where the goal is. I'd say this ticks more boxes that Vitinha in the sense he's more proven, costs less and has much better physicality.

Do you know what this transfer is missing? Sydney to provide us some insight from his Rennes supporting friends.

Good move for him to get some game time at least, I have no real opinion on him as I've never seen him. He could be a superstar, or he could be another Vokins. Let's see how he does.

Awkward! I doubt that's really how it played out though, so much nonseense gets spouted today - makes for entertainment though!

So based on that alone they seem to have a very good eye for wide attackers.

Watford have been quoted as wanting £40m upwards for Sarr, and the main concern around him is his injury proneess for that figure.

I think they were overseeing it, but to me it looks like most of what we did was influenced by Joe Shields. 4 Man City kids and Joe Aribo, pretty much personally done by Shields. DCC and AMN were club signings and had been on our list for some time.

Seems like we're all in agreement in that this isn't a bad signing on it's own, we need pace and unpredictability across the front 3. I know it looks like a lot of money (which it is to the normal world!) but in football terms it's a pretty average fee, which is crazy to say. But.....it would feel incredibly frustrating if we don't get a number 9 in conjunction with this, because it would almost make it null and void. I'd have personally put all effort and finance into securing a number 9, and leave the winger as a nice to have, but there we go.

Yeah, I think the Vitinha one can be firmly put in the Gakpo realm now. Not happening, shows what nonsense comes up on twitter in days like this. Ojogo are a very solid source in Portugal, they had an article up earlier this morning saying he'd chosen Marseille - then took it down quickly, obviously not confirmed at that point, but it's back up there now. He's going there, on a plane now. Vitinha in Marseille in a transfer that goes into the history of Braga (ojogo.pt)

Absolutley, very strange if that comes to fruition. But even though we did spend a good chunk, I don't think we have executed it right. Lots of unproven kids who are wilting at the pressure, which was always the risk. Would have been good to see some more seasoned players signed in the summer with more than youth football as their background, in addition to a striker as we never replaced Broja - can't underestimate how important a forward is for any team, no matter how much you spend elsewhere. So spending alone isn't the problem, it's how it was spent and the positions we have (so far) neglected to fix. That's why we are where we are.

Sulemna at the WC, but no more that. But it's obvious to see that he's quick, and attribute wise we lack quick players in that final third - so straight away it would be a win on pace alone. I have seen Vitinha for Braga a couple of times, proper number 9 type, good runner with the ball. Not overally glamerous or technically amazing, I wouldn't say, but he's a bit of a presence - which we lack at the mo.

Nah, I'm fully primed for the ''We tried so hard, but couldn't do it in time'' article from the Athletic tomorrow. This does all feel a bit Gakpo-esqe if I'm honest, but something to follow for the day at least.

I'm not getting my hopes up at all....but...Sulemana and Vitinha is EXACTLY what we need, more pace and ability on the flanks and across the front, and a proper number 9 with a physical presence in the Broja mould. That would likely be a £50m+ outlay, which would be unheard of for us and it would take our total season spend to well over £100m. It would be a very unusual day if we do this, part of me thinks it’s 1 or the other though. – and if I had a choice, it would be Vitinha as that’s what we need more of.

This is very true, so much nonsense gets spouted in the next 24 hrs. It's on, off, on, off. It was never on, but it's off anyway. etc. No point getting worked up over every single random tweet development there is, just see where we are come this time tomorrow.