thejoker

Unless there is a release clause in his contract then I can’t see this one happening. Signed a new 5 year deal last year, would cost £50m I think. Can’t see it happening.

It’s actually Kerr Smith. Someone for the academy I guess.

It’s just not happening...Smith should be under big pressure now. But if we were going to replace Smith it would have been when we finished 17th, not 11th or 12th. 

Just now, turvontour said:

We've got no urgency, whether we are winning, losing or drawing.

This is one thing that really bugs me. We always seem happy to accept defeat, we’re far too easy to play against.

This is so sloppy again today. You really have to start questioning what we are doing in training all week. We look like a bunch of strangers. 

3 hours ago, ROTTERDAM1982 said:

IF Traore is available from Wolves for £30m as suggested in this mornings papers, would it be worth a go?

32 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

Even if we lose all our remaining 8 games (which we won’t) we’ll still have improved on last season.

I don’t buy into the idea of sacking managers who have delivered on the target that was set for them at the start of the season.

What’s happened is he’s overachieved early in the season and given some people unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved with this squad once injuries, fatigue and suspensions start kicking in.

He’s had a big Covid outbreak and a lengthy injury to his star player to deal with.

Give him another summer to build and another season to show improvement. If we haven’t kicked on then we can start saying he isn’t delivering.

But at the moment any claim that he’s “hit a ceiling” or “the project has stalled” is just factually wrong, since we’re ahead of where we were last season.

All teams have runs of bad form. Our last two games are a 3-1 win and a narrow last minute loss against one of the best sides in the world. That’s not even particularly bad form is it?

I agree with this. Purely on the basis that some of the football and results were incredible in the first half of the season, I’d give Smith next season with another 2/3 new signings to see what he can do. I think everyone would have been more than satisfied with 10th at the start of the season. Squad depth is a real issue, but we’ll get there.
 

Lange will have had a full 12 months when the summer window opens, and we’ve been safe since around Christmas time. So there are no excuses for a lack of planning time. Let’s see what the summer brings. 

Seems like we might be coming to a crossroads as a club. Is a bottom half finish good enough after a) such a good start, b) the amount of money we’ve spent since promotion? We keep hearing about how ambitious the owners are. Will they be happy with this? Ultimately we are still a one man team. Would Smith have even got us promoted without Grealish? I think the answer is no. 

If this is the best that he can serve up without Grealish, then if the owners have genuine top 6 ambitions then I doubt he’ll be here long term. 
 

He offers us nothing at the moment, I’d rather give game time to one of our youngsters.

Why he keeps bringing Barkley on I will never know. So poor again all round. We’ve spent the best part of £200m since promotion and we’re still awful without Grealish. We’ve made big strides since last season, but the last month has been nowhere near good enough. 

14 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

There's also the argument Ollie is a better striker than Tammy, so why would you do what you suggest?

If we want to progress we need more than one decent striker. Putting Watkins on the wing is a way of getting them both into the team. I didn’t say I would do it, it is maybe what Smith might do (if we’re even interested in Tammy in the first place).

Don't forget that Watkins played on the wing up until 18 months ago. I'm sure we could fit Watkins and Abraham into the team together.

I’m quite surprised that we’ve never heard from him. No sit-down interview, nothing (unless I completely missed it). I guess actions speak louder than words. 

We’re in a great position this window. We don’t actually need anybody in January - so we can’t be held to ransom. If one of the targets becomes available then we do it, if not we wait until the summer.

Close the thread!

Waiting for John Percy to tweet like...

I guess we’ll hear something from the British reporters soon if it’s true. 

This was tweeted not long ago from someone I follow on Twitter who has been a pretty reliable ITK in the past. They have a private account so I can’t share the tweet.

When you plant a seed. 

Ignore it for months.

Come back and it’s a huge tree.

Yeah kinda like that. 

Time to re-open the Rashica thread? Max Bielefeld (Supposedly a SSN reporter from Germany - with almost 10k followers) has tweeted this:

Sky Info: Bremen's Milot Rashica is in advanced negotiations with Aston Villa. There are still a few details to be clarified. It is very likely that the transfer will go through until the deadline tomorrow #TransferUpdate#SkyTransfer@Sky_SvenT