S-Clarke

Surely a part of any fee we receive will have to go towards servicing the debt? (not least the interest for year 1). Probably have around 10-15m to play with on a replacement. It won't get you much at all, but that's the world we live in now unfortunately. It'll be about developing a young player, not a straight Ings replacement. How that works out is anyone's guess! Hey, Ings may not even go yet.....although it does look very possible. Too much chatter for this to be progressing to a positive conclusion - we all know how this ends sadly

We all thought Koeman would leave us for a CL side, PEH said the same etc. The money will talk and the reality is that Everton and Leicester's owners have far more ambition and money than ours, so they are also in the equation for potential clubs - if he's available for £30m. A snip for those clubs

I share your fear and frustration. I think most of us knew that we'd struggle to sustain our form over an entire season. Whilst we had a good run for 40 or so games, that was actually spread across two separate seasons, so fatigue/fitness/injuries didn't come into it. Putting that form across 30 games in an actual season is impossible for us, it can't happen. With our current squad I'd say 10th-12th is about fair. It's frustrating because the core quality is probably top 8 plus, but we don't have the depth to cover for the inevitable loss of form/injuries over the course of a season, so our true position will always be 10-12th. It just felt like we were always an injury crisis away from slip sliding away from that top 7 area and unfortunately that seems to be happening. I will say that our recruitment over the last 4 years hasn't helped, it's been disastrous for a club of our size. Spending big fees on Hoedt, Lemina, Elyonoussi, Carillo, Boufal. That's upwards of £60m quid of players, 3 are out on loan and two of them left for free. That has killed us without question and I think it'll be years before we recover from that. Throwing 12m at Salisu doesn't exactly seem like a sound decision either, although still time there. It would be nice if we had an ownership who was engaged and interested in helping us progress in the here and now, rather than sat back and ensuring we make them money and run 'sustainably'. That's code for spending what you sell. It is a sad state of affairs and until we get a change of ownership which has some ambition (which looks further away than ever now) then we are hamstrung massively and relegation battling seasons will always be a possibility.

Second half we weren't at it, but I think we should have been at least 2-0 up in the first half. We were excellent then. We are just not scoring enough goals at the moment, Adams seems really off the boil to me - not sure if anyone else agrees? Theo is Theo, runs into blind alleys a lot and snatches at chances. That's pretty much Theo. Ings looked good, but he needs a run in the side to build some consistency again. Jan was my MOTM. Rock of a CB. Also a little note to Cedric - that's why most were glad to be shot of him. He's absolutely hopeless and today summed that up.

Is that one of the first ''He's not that good anyway, take the money' posts...? He's class in all elements of his game up front, he creates chances out of nothing and some of his close control in and around the box to bring others into play is second to none. He's struggled with a bit of consistency this season, but go back to last season and he was incredible in all areas of his game. Priceless to us.

I think he's absolutely class. He's so quick, so agile on the ball and surprisingly strong as well. On the ball his passing is pretty much spot on too. I really like him, I think he's a huge find. He will without doubt evolve into the starter in front of Romeu, but Romeu has earned his rep with us at the mo. Very nice conundrum to have though, as others have said.

David from Sweden is still around, he popped up with some posts the other day in the academy thread.

Liverpool dipped around feb last year and have never recovered. They are a long, long way off of that 'all conquering' side of 2019. This is not a 'blip', they have been throwing in performances like this for a year now. They've returned to their default level of averageness.

Smallbone and Tella are injured though, so Watts and Chauke are automatically promoted to their slots. Given we have no Moussa, Redmond, Tella etc then we are pretty stretched in the wide areas. I guess we could go for N'Lundulu and Adams up top, with Theo and Armstrong in the two 'wide' midfield slots.

Which is now much harder for clubs like us due to brexit. Basically, we're f***d.

Likely too expensive for us.

All footballers are the same. I'm sure we said the same about Wayne Bridge. $$$$ and that's the motivation. To be honest, most human beings are driven the same way.

I imagine we'll bring back the players who were on the bench tonight/got a rest tonight. The likes of Armstrong, Theo, Walker-Peters, Bertrand in from the start. I reckon Watts will get a start in the 4 alongside Diallo, JWP and Armstrong. Theo Adams up top. Back 4 - Bertrand - Jan - Jack - KWP Long left in the dressing room I hope.

Step forward Shane Long, this is your time.

There is self financing and then there is sitting back and not giving two hoots about your investment. Unfortunately Gao et co fall into the latter. Really need shot if we are to do anything long term. So frustrating.

Given the standard of our recruitment over the last 4/5 years, it is probably the most obvious explanation.

Good opening for a midfielder with Will out for a long time, so it's good to see him make a mark - albeit a short period

It would be nice if the 'owners' gave a shit about anything other than protecting their 'investment'. How about they put some money into the mix, just once....? maybe? Sorry, that's a silly idea.

He needs to find his form again first before he starts chatting 'Champions League' football. It's all rather depressing, but all rather inventible. Without owners who have any ability to progress the club this is the order of the world.

Looked good on the ball, picking up positions etc. Been wanting to see him for a while!

Did what was needed, game was never fully under control but we always had just about enough. Long is absolutely diabolical. He is finished as a top level player. I'd put N'Lundulu and my dog above him in the pecking order. Good around the place he may be, but a footballer he isn't.

The huge issue for us is that the fee will be nominal in the grand scheme of things (30m tops, surely), so there's no way we could go out and replace him with anyone close to his level. We'd have to delve into some obscure market for someone who may 'mature' into a Danny Ings, whilst in the meantime we persist with Long and Adams (I rate Adams, but he's not the same type of player who will hit Ings numbers). Big issue. Part of me is thinking we should just enjoy where we are at the mo, because we cannot sustain this without investment. Even more so now.

If he was going to sign he'd have done so by now.

I'd be surprised if we get anyone. This is the year to see some of the academy kids get more game time.

The last thing we need is an injury prone player.