MarkSFC

Emmanuel Dennis?

Does anyone intelligent actually pay any attention to what he says?!!!

You conveniently forget that professional sports people and in particular footballers have egos...you may judge differences but in the main I bet most players at PL clubs think they deserve as much as the next one. Hwat the club paid for them won't count for squat in their opinion.

That's was addressed by RM today. We can't at the moment as it will damage the wage structure. But he also said it was a choice to do it this way. We will see come May whether this way was good enough. Even if it proves it wasn't it doesn't mean that buying 3 or 4 at 30m+ would of worked either. Ultimately it's the combination that matters.

Hard to score without the ball.

We clearly miss a corner and free kick specialist but I cant see where JWP would fit in. Get a striker and maybe Fraser in (plus this Dutch GK) and that'll do.

Happy with this signing even of not quite the level yet of ORiley but to be honest I hadn't heard of either before this summer😂 So just 3 signings to make - in order of importance GK Striker Winger

Because most football fans thinks this is how it works...first eleven then next eleven, whereas in reality and in good squads (our size club) you need 16-18 players all of whom can be 'first eleven".

One in a lower standard league

6m plus wages is clearly a hefty amount for one season loan. But even at that price I'd say it's worth it, versus not.

So our line up in a couple of weeks or so might be... Ramsdale Suga Bed THB KWP Downes Lesley Fernandes AA BBD Archer Subs Fraser Clarke Stephens Edwards SAA Dibling Smallbone AMcC Edozie Stewart I've probably missed a couple but that would be much healthier!!!

I reckon you're on to something there....perhaps let the club know too...

Let's hope so. Ramsdale or Johnstone would be decent. Hopefully sorted this week.

Nothing new there. We've needed a top keeper for years.

Ramsdale would be bigger

I doubt they "forsee it" but having it in mind during player purchases is a sensible thing first season up. On the basis we get Ramsdale or Johnstone (or a similar standard GK) and a quality AM (MOR seems more hopeful now) then I think we will survive. It won't be pretty at times but we may just have enough eoththose players added to a good group already.

Correct

Aaron Ramsdale is a decent keeper for sure, but clearly Arteta saw something he didn't like and brought in Reya. What could that be? Is it ARs ability with his feet or his speed of thought or something else. When you play a system that involves the keeper using their feet alot, they need goo skills and speedy thought processes to handle the press and this is not something most keeper will have grown up experiencing. He only played 11 games last season, 6 in the PL, so is that a problem? I would be very happy if we get him permanently or on loan but he might not hit the ground running. If not him, we sure need someone else and having listened to RM last night I believe we are actively pursuing a GK (and others) but he said it at least twice, that we want players we want, not just anyone. My guess is AR is number GK choice but we will obviously have one or two options, so we will play the waiting game like it always happens.

I suspect they will have a far bigger impact than most predict.

Genuinely I think BBD is better!!! I've never thought Solanke was any good. One good season and Spurs have gone mad!!!!

Correct

Imagine Downes gets injured for 3 months. We need another decent CM regardless.

I'm not one who trusts Alfie House information. My impression is that he is happy to believe the negative and conservative approach around Saints and despite his working connection to the club doesn't "really" know much. If you compare his reporting to Adam Blackmores, there is a difference of general opinion. Clearly we haven't got 100s of millions to spend but I also do not believe it's as date as he is trying to make out. He's a fan I believe and our fan base in large parts is extremely negative and pessimistic and I do not think it's helps. He is in that mindset I believe. And that's fine but I take most of what he says with a big pinch of salt, not because I don't want to hear it, but because I think he makes assumptions based on his general feeling. There is no sense in gambling on stating up by not spending / buying 2-3 more definite improvements to the squad on top of what I think has been a good window overall so far. The cost of relegation will almost certainly be more than the say 70-80m outlay still required (less sales don't forget) to get more quality to have a much better chance of survival. Dragon is quoted (I believe) as saying they wish to make us a top 8 competitive team. This needs clever investment over 3 or 4 seasons. Not spending now puts that massively at risk.

Well we have with some but THB and FD were more than that. If we have any chance of staying up we need to sign 2 or 3 more in the 20-25m bracket to get a certain quality that will more likely help us now rather than a year or two down the line. It feels to me like we might have 3 or 4 deals lined up but just waiting for 2 or 3 to go out too, so it's just getting all the pieces aligned and hopefully that will happen over the next week. I'm not worried yet but if no more come in this window I will be.

It might be that Stewart has a big injury set back which necessitates (even more so) the need for another one. If it was public knowledge then perhaps teams we approach will know this and assume we are more desperate meaning we end up paying more. So by keeping it quiet we be better placed in negotiations.