S-Clarke

We'll hear about it late tomorrow I'd have thought, if that includes any other additions that's anyone's guess. Time is still tight for others though, imo.

The talk of keeping Boufal is like the talk you have to yourself about your own hoarding cupboards. ''Hmm, I might keep this box....it's got some bits in that may come in use, they might not...but they may finally help with something'. Fast forward another 2 years and that box is still sat there.

Just to add a bit of flavour to this, he was linked with us back in Feb as a potential 'summer' addition. https://readsouthampton.com/2020/02/20/southampton-fans-react-to-milot-rashica-links/#:~:text=Southampton have been linked with,release clause of €38m. feels incredibly far fetched though.

'Fake penalty' - no way in any world was that a penalty. The Tottenham players didn't contribute to that penalty, it was given away by the officials. Not a fan of Hoj myself, but you can't put that on him. Sort of like clinging to something to throw at him for no real reason.

Cheerio Austin, he even struggled in the Champ last season though. His career is only going one way now.

In the couple of videos I've watched, he always seems to be in the 'right place' to either win the ball or cover for his teammates, so like you said I think that shows that he has a good understanding of the game and good awareness. He doesn't look like a 'Lemina - stand back, it's all about me' type of player. Yet he looks as good running with the ball as Lemina.

11 years ago, holy jesus. I remember that game like it was just yesterday, 4-1 i think, lallana with a couple. Where has that time gone.

He's a decent talent, but not a £26-27m decent talent. I thought 'wtf' at the fee when Bournemouth signed Ibe too, he's a similar, yet less experienced player. It's probably a headline fee though, due to his age a lot of that will be spread over the contract and based on all sorts of career driven bonuses imo.

Diallo sounds really good, if you were picking the sort of midfielder to replace Hoj he'd be there (looking at his attributes and videos, which granted don't show the whole story!) If....he's as his videos and the reviews suggest, we've got ourselves a player better suited to how we play than Hoj ever was. Bit of energy through the middle is much needed.

My hunch is that we still need Hoedt and Boufal out of the club before we can do anything, including a loan. That's poss why we're missing out on everything as players don't want to sit and wait for us to get our shit in order.

Being good with the ball is just a must for any CDM anyway, but you need a lot more than that - strength, awareness, positional sense, ability to tackle, react to breaks, pace etc. He has none of those at all. That's why he's a really limited CB too, and why our defending has been so poor since he's been in the side. He's improved so much, don't get me wrong, but he's still incredibly average and is such a huge downgrade on what we had before (VVD/Fonte)

What is with the craze to play Stephens as a CDM! Just, no! He's a defender, a very average one at that.

We're keen on every single player someone else signs. But then it transpires the selling club actually want money, and not magic beans, we have no further involvement.

I'm slightly worried that there are no credible links/rumours for us, but plenty for our 'rivals'. The Veerman one has gone quiet as well. There are literally 2 working days left, what an absolute shower we are. Still. Still, time to prove us all wrong...!

They're managing this as well as the transfer market, by the looks of it. Feel sorry for all those who renewed, I honestly think the club should refund all the money back and then sell individual tickets if we're allowed to attend games by the spring. No clubs should have offered season tickets this season imo.

Interesting piece on RLC https://theprideoflondon.com/2020/09/17/chelsea-just-might-ruben-loftus-cheek-now/

Are you ITK? To be fair, he would be a good start. A very mobile midfielder, goal threat, good physique etc. Think he'd be perfect alongside JWP. The only concerns I'd have over him is how long-term is it? Are we simply borrowing him for a season and then he'll go back to Chelsea or get sold for a large sum after a good year with us?

TBF Given how hamstrung we are financially, you probably have to give credit to us for managing to get KWP and Salisu over the line. I'm sure there was some element of swap in the KWP/Hoj deal to make it financially viable to us.

We need an additional wide player, not an Armstrong type. We are relying on Tella to provide that pace/directness, but we do need someone else to provide that as well. If one of Moussa or Redmond is injured, our only bench alternative is Tella.

We've had another predicable transfer window nightmare. 3 working days left!

That's a strange one, more so because we've missed out. This is someone Ralph pursued massively when he was at RB, we were also linked with him heavily when Ralph first arrived if I recall correctly. It's clearly a position we need to sort, he'd add depth to both wide area's, and he's only a loan. It seems a bit odd that we've not even gone in for this one? (or tried?)

Monday.

Fulham sound like a bit of a disconnected team, from the board down to the first team. Their transfer strategy last time was to invest a lot of money, you cannot blame the owner for that imo - he really backed them. The issue was the scouting (they chose the wrong players, generally) and the coaching. Scott is still very young, still quite raw and with his tactical changes (they went to 3 at the back last night) you can see he has a lot to learn. They have some good players though and they will pickup, but they will be in and around that bottom lot for the season.

Not sure what you're on about. The whole model of selling multiple players for profit and then using that to continuously evolve the team generally isn't sustainable. What helps sustainable success is when you have an owner who is engaged and willing to help the club grow, allows you to keep the core of the team, and allows you to add to it without having to sell anyone who can breathe. The model of sell, sell, sell before we can buy will immediately fail when you have nothing to sell, that will eventually lead to regression and eventually relegation. Unless we have an owner willing to put some money in to turn the tide, we are stuck.

This is where your owner steps up to the plate and provides that injection, so it doesn't deter/harm the club he owns. I totally agree with supporting the lower leagues, but that outlay without help from the owner is going to harm what we can do as a club.