Howay

Aye it seems it's another case of refusing to spend when in a position of strength, we look likely to go up so that's good enough for him. We should have been looking at strengthening not only for the promotion push but looking ahead and preparing for the PL. I understand that in the end Everton were reluctant to sell McCarthy and Palace were asking for more than was originally thought however well run clubs aren't tunnel visioned in their targets as NUFC seems to be. Players that would have improved us moved around, Villa getting a couple of them. I know Hogan and Hourihane wouldn't be most peoples first choices but the fact is they would improve upon players like Colback (and probably the AMC position which honestly we don't have anyone that can play it properly), if we carry on ignoring players because (the club assumes) they wont be class in the PL we're going to end up with Jack fucking Colback getting 20+ PL games (if we make it back of course). I still think we have enough to scrape through and gain automatic promotion, especially once Gayle is back. The issues are that the club has yet again ignored a chance to buy from a less desperate position, which means buying more in the summer and having possible settling in issues at a riskier time, which all have potentially helped force at least one foot out the door of the best manager the club has had since Robson. Despite being in a similar position, table and points wise, to the 09/10 season I think it's fair to say it's a little shakier, so again while I think we'll go up I don't see peoples fears as unwarranted. We had improved a lot in the Jan window (as Alex and AH mentioned in another thread), we had more ability all over the field and weren't so reliant on 1 or 2 players being available, and we also had a far stronger looking defence.

What a fucking mess this seems to be. It would be one thing if the bloke was fucking up by listening to a new bloke coming along. But he is seemingly listening to the blokes that should have been fired for prior fuck ups.

Off at the end of the season type of bad interview? It's clear the squad is seriously lacking, it was before the window as we really have Shelvey and Gayle carrying the team (perhaps harsh on Ritchie but he hasn't been doing loads in recent months).

I hope we start giving Mbemba a chance. That Lascelles is a fucking wreck at the back, his concentration is shocking. I was hoping the Championship would see him find his feet and grow into a competent defender but it doesn't seem to be happening. The keeper pulled off some good saves against Shelvey and Gouff but Perez and Diame missed fucking sitters. I'm still in shock over Perez not giving that one on one a go, I think Rafa was too mind and he was hauled off shortly after.

Fucking crap performance that. Perez wants a slap for totally bottling that one on one ffs, his head was on a pivot from the start trying to see if there was anyone he could pass too rather than just having a go. Nervous the FA might pull Shelvey over that kick out.

Jonjo with a brilliant strike! 1-0 already

Colback isn't even on the bench tonight! Diame on the bench. Darlow Yedlin, lascelles, Clark, Paul Ritchie, Shelvey, Hayden, the Gouff Perez Murphy. Bench: Sels, Lazaar, Hanley, Gamez, Sammy, Diame and Mitro

But aye if we aren't in the lead at the 60th minute mark I think it'll be a canny tense atmosphere. Especially if Shelvey limps off at some point.

Aye, that's the main reason I'm disappointed we haven't bought anyone. We are fine in this league but this squad is a long way off being ok in the PL, it would have been better to get 1 or 2 in that are PL quality and have them in the side for 6 months rather than leaving it all until the summer. The fact that utter bilge like Colback, Anita, and Dummett are still playing regularly 4 years after everyone realized they are shit is a joke. You can say McCarthy and Townsend had inflated fees but I'm not all that convinced they'll be much cheaper in the summer, the price of players is just going up with the rising PL money and we'll once again be in a position of relative weakness as everyone will know we have to improve a lot of the players to be safe.

True enough, as I say maybe I'm being harsh it just seems to have been a shite negotiation. Or as you imply we were never really in for him or McCarthy. I think Rafa probably knows he has enough to go up so wont fuss too much. I just think it would have been better to prepare the squad for going up next season rather than wait until the summer, if we'd have signed Townsend and McCarthy we would have a PL CM pairing and wings. Again though Ashley is probably happy to roll the dice and save himself 6 months of wages etc.

I might be being a bit harsh here but it's worrying that Charnley is so bad at negotiating. Our primary target was a bloke that was a bench warmer on a side threatened with relegation that seemingly were happy to sell as they could spend the cash, while we're heading for promotion and in a position where we're not really desperate. Somehow we're now in a position where we've signed no one and they're trying to negotiate signing him on the last day of the window where Palace are less likely to want to sell as they'll not have time to bring someone in. So from a position of relative strength we've ended up with Palace demanding more than they paid last window for a bloke that doesn't really start for them. Chuffed this bloke still has a job for us. Of course I could be being harsh and they really wanted to sign nobody, in which case he has done his job.

Seems he was actually without club, left Anzhi by mutual consent recently.

Obertan has signed for Wigan from Anzhi

Hogan going to Villa for 12m, so they got him and Hourihane. Still think we have enough to go up regardless but it would still be nice to get Townsend or McCarthy in.

Aye, Trumps actions lend credence to what the bloke was saying.

There was a bloke on the radio here the other day (on NPR) that has wrote a biography about Trump. His main point was that Trump sees his own view on matters as fact, he ignored everything to the contrary. He said this is why the crowd size thing was an issue to him, he saw what he perceived to be a large crowd from his vantage point and when pictures showed otherwise he didn't believe it. The bloke reckons he has always been this way, often he would remark that a building he owns was 68 floors when in fact it was 58 and even if corrected he would be adamant that it was 68 floors. Of course the bloke was no doubt on howking his book (I missed the start of the discussion) but it would be quite troubling if true, a President that takes his own gut feeling and first impressions over fact.

Absolutely, I just think he'd act a bit more predictably than this nutter.

Hopefully he does something that can get him impeached asap.

No point selling him tbh. We have even less reason to sell him if we are considering the Townsend Mbemba swap.

Bad dudes ffs.

Very specific computer outage that mind.

He is exactly the type of bloke that would do that. Colbacks screamer count nose dived when he started playing for us compared to when he was against us.

Possibly but it's a fair whack to spend on a safety net for what was probably our strongest in depth position. We spent more on him than we did on improving CM, a position people have been pointing to for years. I hope you're right and the lad is shifted on as anytime he starts we're even shakier at the back.

Possibly but I'd have preferred Elliott to get game time. If we were weak in that position I think playing him to try and improve him would be a gamble we'd need to take but as it is we're fine in that spot so there's no point in putting a dodgy keeper in. I always thought he was an odd purchase anyway, we had Krul, Elliott, and Darlow who are all fine so I think the 6.5m could have been better spent, aye he could have proven to be better than all 3 but it wasn't a position we were in pressing need of improving.