Matt Tiger

Not a great effort overall but a point on the road vs City is obviously a good result. We need to be stronger tactically and need to find a creative midfield presence in a hurry.

Can't just put it on Holgate theyve been dominating possession on our side for the last 20 minutes

Don't think there's much to this one.

Well, I don't mean to be a downer, but we're nowhere near as skilled as either City or Barca, and I don't want to model ourselves after Liverpool because I think they'll fall off quite a bit without coutinho and we frankly don't have a player like him... It's not that we always need a target man. I'm in favor of pinging the ball around when we're able to, but I'm also realistic. I think that we at least need a target man available to us in the event that we need to switch things up. We need versatility.

To me we don't necessarily need to spend big on a striker - we just need someone who can be a target and be formidable in the air. Problem for me isn't the lack of options or scoring ability but a lack of versatility.

Massive yes.

Can't see much in this one. Not at all what we need.

I still maintain that the market is the market. A team will take what a team can get. There are better times to make a statement and strike a bargain than 2 days before the start of the season.

Yup. Still unclear to me why everyone is in favor of haggling over 5m when the season starts now.

Yes because it's important for everyone to get players training and into the squad. Everyone thinks that overpaying once means teams will force us to overpay forever. The market is the market. Strike a hard bargain in January. We have an incredibly tough stretch coming now. Get your players in, get your squad ready, and don't ruin European football in the first three weeks of the season,

We paid 30m for pickford (as well as the fee for klaasen) knowing full well that the Lukaku sale would cover all of it. Koeman took a shot at the money for a reason - I don't think we're ready to splash the cash the way that we've postured.

Either you misunderstood my point or I did a terrible job of making it.. I'm very much in favor of us holding the line at 40m. I like Siggy a lot, and I think he'd help solidify what is currently an unproven group of options going forward, but 40m is already a hell of a fee for him. My point about the lack of spending stands though. We haven't splurged any cash whatsoever, and we have three glaring holes that we need filled. Either this saga is about far more than 5m, or we're legitimately dragging this out over 5m. I'm leaning towards the former, but if it's the latter then I don't think it makes mumch of a case for us being big spenders.

Sorry, didn't mean that's what the article says.. I was inferring that if Swansea is feeling pressure to move him they may give in to the lower offer.

Agreed, understatement. That said, if this article is accurate, and Swansea gives in to the 40m offer, was the ordeal worth it? We get our guy, and can use the 10m to up our offer on a striker or to continue to bolster the youth squad. The thing that gets at me is the way this has been drawn out signals that we aren't ready to spend nearly as large as was previous indicated. If we were, we'd have gotten him in and training with the squad sooner rather than later.

Seems obvious since we've sold our best attacker for 75m and haven't yet replaced him... I think we have lots of potential but also a good deal of risk in our attack right now.. We need proven class in the event that our riskier options don't pan out. This is why Siggy and Giroud are necessary additions imo

Just added to the squad, let's not write him off after 3 halves of play.

Everyone of that quality wants CL football, which we can't yet offer. Hence why we need to piece together our attack with multiple options rather than sign a world beater.

Only seen him play once, seemed like quite the presence. Don't remember him doing much outside of winning balls in the air though. At 23 this could end up being a nice piece of business.

Reportedly signed a new deal. Just claims "sources": https://royalbluemersey.sbnation.com/2017/7/31/16070324/gylfi-sigurdsson-transfer-exclusive-news-latest-rumours-everton-swansea-new-contract

Unless we're planning on playing with 4 central midfielders, this one doesn't make sense to me. Money would be better spent elsewhere.

Yikes Oviedo has had a brutal half. No one really stood out (excluding stek), though Williams looked solid in the back.

Brilliant!!!!! Wonderful stuff from bolasie.

I think that we're asking a bit much if we're hoping he can provide the creativity we need in the final third.. I think he's expecting Barkley / mirallas to do the thinking up there.

Gueye looking fantastic yet again.

It's easy for a team like United to get their business done early because everyone wants to go there. Mourihno essentially found his pick of the litter and got what he wanted. Done and dusted. It takes us longer because it takes time to negotiate and we're not always going to get our first choice, or even our second or third choices. We're linked with everyone because we have gaps we need to fill and run through multiple options looking for a. someone we rate b. someone who will leave their current club c. someone the club will allow to move, and d. someone who either buys into our ambition or doesn't require immediate european play.