thunderball

But Kodjia isn't interested, we can't get a tune out of him, Smith could play him but he would just mope around wasting a position.

The Championship can't touch us now we are in the PL, its different rules. If we go down though not sure where we stand, unsure if the slate is wiped clean or not?

Looking forward to watching him play in the same team as Wes too, think they would make a good pair. I know Smith doesn't favour that formation but Wes is used to playing as second striker, and Samatta seems to have that energy up front that we desperately miss.

I was referring to spending €40m this window, I thought it might be Piatek and a loan but not two purchased strikers. As you say though, who knows....

@HanoiVillan I also think maybe a deal is agreed (with Forrest) for Kodjia which will proceed when we secure a replacement, so maybe he's wrapped up in cotton wool until then so as not to jeopardise any deal - he walks away for nothing in June.

Ironically its FFP that f*cks it up, you can't have a cash injection nowadays. The game has gone mad, and actually, whilst it remains to be seen, we haven't paid big money for anyone, nor do we seem to be paying incentive style wages and feel we are better placed to whether the storm if we go down (but we might have to sell Jack or Mings).

I think if we end up paying for Samatta we won't spend anything like the money discussed for Piatek. It may have been €30m for Piatek plus another loan striker. I don't think a loan and buy in the summer for Piatek makes us attractive to Milan, they need the cash.

Drinkwater, Nzonzi, Samatta, Slimani, Vida and Pereiro or Callejon would be more than we had hoped for.

Theres a Joe Dolce song there somewhere surely....

Decent player, right sort of age, great scoring record, good price in this market. Fingers crossed. But if we do go down he looks like he would stay and would score loads down there too.

The usual YouTube showreel is clutching at straws, when they usually make Tonevs look like Agueros this is not a good sign. Could be another AEG which is not really what we want. Might suit the championship, hopefully someone isn’t being too clever here.

Cut price Bowen?

If you are looking at perspective on expectation, and why fans ire is unfair and misdirected, imagine a big name premier league club with the very very wealthy and ambitious owners solely pinning the hopes of their season and premier league survival on a single 22 year old player from another league and country, who wasn’t known for his prolific goal record. Oh, and backed up by another 22 y.o. not deemed good enough for the championship and an over the hill has been who wants out of the club. Smacks of poor management and strategy doesn’t it, and what pressure it’s subsequently put on him and the team generally. Wesley’s played because he’s had to. I also don’t think that he would be playing if he couldn’t follow instruction or persisted in ignoring instruction i.e. he is doing what the management want. From what I’ve seen, the team are not playing to him not him failing to play to the,. He is actually pretty sharp on the turn and has put away some clinical finishes, the problem seems to be supply. With Benteke, the whole philosophy was to get the ball to him and we successfully exploited that, this isn’t happening with Wesley.

This wasn’t the point I was making. But to address your post, perhaps one lesson from Southgates England is recognising the importance of set pieces and drilling the arse out of it to great effect.

Or maybe we are rubbish, or the coaching/set up is rubbish, or it’s too much at once, all just as it was in 14/15. Look at those ‘rubbish’ players now? McGinn hasn’t set the world on fire this season despite a good start to the prem, and we all think he is OK. I find it strange that we are so terrible at set pieces, and also attacking and defending corners, maybe even taking penalties. You just sometimes wonder if the coaching isn’t all that we imagine that it is? For example, Southgate identifies this area and drilled the Euro squad for just this, to great success, and with very little time with a group of strangers.