Bodacious Benny wrote:

ALF wrote:
Well Lejeune was definitely on his number 1 targets list.

Our net spend might be -£14m but we sold 2 players for £55m in summer 2017. His net spend is completely irrelevant. He's still spent over £100m in 2 seasons and not got a team that lives up to that price.

£25m of that was on Gayle and Ritchie, without both of whom it could be argued that we'd have struggled to gain automatic promotion last season. Whatever you think of them, spending £100m to replace the likes of Townsend, Sissoko, Wijnaldum, Janmaat (all PL quality players) isn't going to get you very far. So net spend is completely relevant in my opinion, we can't build a PL team on the cheap.

Bodacious Benny wrote:

ALF wrote:
Well Lejeune was definitely on his number 1 targets list.

Our net spend might be -£14m but we sold 2 players for £55m in summer 2017. His net spend is completely irrelevant. He's still spent over £100m in 2 seasons and not got a team that lives up to that price.

£25m of that was on Gayle and Ritchie, without both of whom it could be argued that we'd have struggled to gain automatic promotion last season. Whatever you think of them, spending £100m to replace the likes of Townsend, Sissoko, Wijnaldum, Janmaat (all PL quality players) isn't going to get you very far. So net spend is completely relevant in my opinion, we can't build a PL team on the cheap.

Luque wrote:

ALF wrote:

Ashley could argue that exact thing...

Why am I having to give you £15m for a striker when you have a £13m one that you've barely used?

ALF wrote:

Bodacious Benny wrote:
Yes, but we didn't sign anyone from Rafa's number 1 targets list this summer, everyone we did sign was supposedly from the 'alternatives' list.

I'm not absolving Rafa of any blame as I'd rather we didn't sign anyone that sign someone like Manquillo, and Diame shouldn't be starting as many games as he does. But clearly Rafa hasn't been allowed to sign the calibre of player he wants (and we need), our transfer spend under Rafa is something like minus £14m which is ridiculous.

Well Lejeune was definitely on his number 1 targets list.

Our net spend might be -£14m but we sold 2 players for £55m in summer 2017. His net spend is completely irrelevant. He's still spent over £100m in 2 seasons and not got a team that lives up to that price.

ALF wrote:

Heisen wrote:It's obvious to everyone that if we simply added a striker who would get 10 goals between now and May we would survive pretty comfortably.

Unfortunately it's now clear we aren't signing anybody. A tiny, microscopic part of me would laugh so hard if we went down and Stavely took the deal off the table, and Ashley has essentially screwed himself by not buying a striker.

Heisen wrote:It's obvious to everyone that if we simply added a striker who would get 10 goals between now and May we would survive pretty comfortably.

Unfortunately it's now clear we aren't signing anybody. A tiny, microscopic part of me would laugh so hard if we went down and Stavely took the deal off the table, and Ashley has essentially screwed himself by not buying a striker.

Bodacious Benny wrote:

ALF wrote:
It's partly the players. It's worth remembering though that not a single summer signing started yesterday, even if Lejeune was fit he's no better than Clark. If by some miracle the cash is put forward this month, who's to say we'll sign the right players?

Also, hardly a way to convince somebody to invest when you're not using the players bought with the money invested in the summer.

Yes, but we didn't sign anyone from Rafa's number 1 targets list this summer, everyone we did sign was supposedly from the 'alternatives' list.

I'm not absolving Rafa of any blame as I'd rather we didn't sign anyone that sign someone like Manquillo, and Diame shouldn't be starting as many games as he does. But clearly Rafa hasn't been allowed to sign the calibre of player he wants (and we need), our transfer spend under Rafa is something like minus £14m which is ridiculous.

ALF wrote:

Bodacious Benny wrote:
'Pushing On' is what we should have done yesterday after beating Stoke away. Swansea are probably the worst side in the league on paper and we couldn't beat them at home. We also couldn't beat Brighton at home previously and yesterday WBA who can't hit a barn door either usually comfortably beat them 2-0. The amount of points we've dropped against the likes of Bournemouth, Brighton, Huddersfield, Watford etc. is ridiculous.

Yesterday I thought we set up right but wasteful finishing has yet again cost us. It's the players to blame for that. Whoever owns the club come the end of Jan, if we don't get a decent striker in to put away the easy chances that Gayle and Perez missed yesterday then we'll be lucky to stay up.

Hopefully Bournemouth and Stoke both get pummeled v Arsenal and Man U.

It's partly the players. It's worth remembering though that not a single summer signing started yesterday, even if Lejeune was fit he's no better than Clark. If by some miracle the cash is put forward this month, who's to say we'll sign the right players?

Also, hardly a way to convince somebody to invest when you're not using the players bought with the money invested in the summer.

Bodacious Benny wrote:

Deano wrote:Well it's not fantastic but If we can push on from that performance I think we will do fine I'm regards to staying up seasons going about well how I honestly thought our first season back would go

Just avoid relegation this season and push for anything above 15th next season and steady progression there after

Unless Amanda buys us and invests well then we will see where that takes us

'Pushing On' is what we should have done yesterday after beating Stoke away. Swansea are probably the worst side in the league on paper and we couldn't beat them at home. We also couldn't beat Brighton at home previously and yesterday WBA who can't hit a barn door either usually comfortably beat them 2-0. The amount of points we've dropped against the likes of Bournemouth, Brighton, Huddersfield, Watford etc. is ridiculous.

Yesterday I thought we set up right but wasteful finishing has yet again cost us. It's the players to blame for that. Whoever owns the club come the end of Jan, if we don't get a decent striker in to put away the easy chances that Gayle and Perez missed yesterday then we'll be lucky to stay up.

Hopefully Bournemouth and Stoke both get pummeled v Arsenal and Man U.

Deano wrote:Well it's not fantastic but If we can push on from that performance I think we will do fine I'm regards to staying up seasons going about well how I honestly thought our first season back would go

Just avoid relegation this season and push for anything above 15th next season and steady progression there after

Unless Amanda buys us and invests well then we will see where that takes us

Bodacious Benny wrote:Another reason why it most definitely wasn't an 'okay' result.

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The Deluded Pablo Diego Jose Francisco wrote:Seeing as Joselu scored, i'm guessing he's going to be starting again for the next month or so