Bailey

Nothing more than conjecture...

Course, forgot about him but again that was done a week ago or something like that? Im not assuming that the club sat on their hands at all. Dunc said that we shouldn't blame the negotiators for not getting a deal over the line whereas I am saying that they should take some stick.

Finally! Keeper should have saved it though!

Dele Alli has been decent since he came on. Walcott on the other hand...

Thank you for your pity Romey! And fuck you Matt!

Witsel has been a no go for months. There has been no confirmation of an actual carvalho bid albeit that was also dead in the water months ago. We signed Gana but then Besic got injured til the new year. That was at least a month ago and you are telling me that the only name on that list was Sissoko who has made it pretty clear that he wanted CL footy? Same applied to the other players you mentioned. They were either reporter bullshit or no goers for a long time. Gabbiadini must have also only been the only striker on our list and we knew for a long time that his deal also depending on other transfers so what is the excuse there?

Not according to Sissoko or Mohsiri.

I have got to the stage where I would quite like Slovakia to score

Deli Ali needs to come on for Henderson.

They need to approach this game like Koeman did against West Brom (after the subs). Central striker, two wide men playing high up the pitch and not cutting inside until late and then Rooney playing the Barkley role with Henderson supporting and Dier stopping any counters. At the moment we have no width in the final third as Lallana perennially cuts inside, Rooney is too deep, Henderson just runs forward without thinking about the space he is running into and running from and basically marking himself and Cahill, Stones and Dier are seeing most of the ball. Let's hope the 2nd half is an improvement.

As in we must have had a list of players that we were after in each position. If the first one isn't working out then you need to start working on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc. I'm not expecting us to buy for buying sake but we have money and we have serious depth issues in certain positions. We are an injury to Gana and Lukaku away from having big problems!

But we didn't pursue another Sissoko type midfielder on TDD.

Allardyce said Rooney would play as a number 10 and yet he is playing a deep midfield role, albeit one that allows him to break forward. Quite literally nothing has changed.

That's an incredible statement to make! It will be interesting to see the fall out.

Good post and I would completely agree. I work down your way and one of the Saints fans there said exactly the same thing. I think the difference with us is that if Keoman had really wanted to keep Stones he probably could have but given the money and that he wasn't looking the best last year or in pre season, it probably made sense to do the deal and bring in proven quality which we have done with Williams (especially as we liked physicality and leadership). Barkley, Mirallas, Lukaku have all stayed whereas if the former and latter had been with Saints, there is a good chance that they would have moved on by now. It will be interesting to see how you do under Puel as by all accounts you have been a little underwhelming, even though you have largely dictated games without putting the ball in the back of the net. I think you have had a solid window, as you always do, and our games will be a good contest as usual!

I wouldn't necessarily blame them for not getting in their main "statement" targets but they should have also been working on viable back ups as well which is the problem I have with this window. Judging by Sissoko's comments it also sounds as though they were given the run around. A good negotiator doesn't get mugged off!

Kevin Reeves I believe... I'm sure that Martinez said that they had scouted him for some time too!

Traitor!

Exactly that. It's a weird ole interview, he might just be psychologically trying to protect himself by blaming others rather than just looking in the mirror and accepting responsibility. I'm not having the bullshit of pep taught me row z either. Makes him sound like an idiot.

I am naively still hopeful that Allardyce will bring more success to England than previous managers. I think we will play with an "identity" rather strolling about like an under 12s game.

In fairness to Sam it wasn't necessarily the personnel that was the main problem. Hodgson, a bit like Martinez, completely lost his marbles as the pressure ramped up.

That's my point... I don't know when the matches are schedule for in truth but McCarthy will be out for at least 2 months I would have thought and Besic is out until the new year. At a guess I would say we will have 4 weeks of midweek games? (Actually I have just checked and it's only the EFL cup that is being played midweek until the 14th Dec)

Who else would you put in? I would switch Cahill for Jags and I would have avoided starting Kane seeing as he looks out of form (probably for Vardy). Henderson is probably the only awkward one because I don't see who else can play that box to box role, other than maybe Delli Ali?

I'd have Kone every day of the week!

Thats a fair point. I have probably seen him in a dozen games in total albeit probably not watching the full 90 minutes in at least a couple of these but when he has been playing he has been largely anonymous and that is my concern. He seems to be a cross between a winger and a striker but not good enough to stand out in either position. Interestingly Whoscored have a page on him and list his positives and negatives: https://www.whoscored.com/Players/83895 That pretty much sums up what I have seen from him but he did look good in the WC.