Jas10

I don’t understand those that are immediately writing him off/want him to fail/don’t want him to play... He’s been brought in to provide cover and competition in the CF department (where we are really light) on a free transfer... he has a lot of motivating factors to work hard and try to succeed, such as an initial short term contract (if he proves himself he can earn a new/extended one) and massive opportunity at such a prestigious club in the Premier League. He has every reason to bust a gut to get into the side and perform to the best of his ability. He’s a good age (27) and should be decent technically. He should be fit and ready to go and able to integrate quite quickly. Reina, Jota and probably Luiz should help him settle too. Why wouldn’t anyone want him to do well??? Are people seriously going to be annoyed and disappointed if it “clicks” and he actually does well, earning a place in the side and scoring goals? Maybe he actually has a decent, successful time here? What if he grabs an important goal/winner? (Wembley??!) If he doesn’t do well we haven’t really lost anything. He’s not another Hogan or McCormack!!!! No massive and wasted outlay here guys... It’s a low cost, low risk signing and everyone is well aware that FFP is such a restriction so it was always unlikely that we were going to get a major signing in (although many of us, including me, held hope simply because we do not know the full situation or workings at the club). On Davis, he has showed some promise but is so injury prone and simply hasn’t yet proved that he can score goals (pretty essential for a CF). There’s every chance that if Bastón does well in training that he will be competing directly with Samatta (who we really need to perform, a lot of pressure on him really but maybe that load has been lightened or shared. He is the main man now). I would have been disappointed if we failed to sign anyone so why not just try and be optimistic about this transfer and player?

Right, on with the actual football now then! Time for big performances & results. Lets do this! UTV

No complaints from me, Borja may well be 2nd choice and may have a “career revival” here... Davis doesn’t appear to be a goalscorer. Low cost, low risk signing by the looks of it. At least we will have another option. We really need Samatta to get up to speed ASAP though and fire in the goals, he will be heavily relied upon. One of our strikers needs to be able to consistently bury chances and deliveries provided by the likes of Grealish & Targett (e.g. Leicester game). Hopefully Samatta will be be that man once he gets his fitness up...Borja may be capable too. Can we get a winger in now please?

Jota gone yet? Haven’t seen any confirmation. If we’re not getting anyone else in, we should keep squad players like him around as we don’t have a lot of options or that many players with an attacking threat imo. We may yet get a loan in, I would have liked to see a CF and winger...there is still time... I wonder if we have a deal or two on hold until we get our outgoings finalised? It’s easy to get caught up in the rush/excitement of deadline day (and don’t get me wrong, I do want a signing or two to be completed) but it’s not all doom & gloom if we don’t manage to get any more business done. McGinn will be like a new signing when he recovers from injury, I’m looking forward to his return! A lot depends on Samatta hitting form though... and I don’t have faith that Davis can stay fit....

Yeah, we really can’t rely on Davis. He seems to be injured more often than not! Let’s see what happens, can never rule out any last minute drama/activity on blasted deadline day!

I’ll be disappointed if we don’t make any further signings and we will be in trouble if we get any further injuries - we really need options and cover to give ourselves the best chance but... how about we wait until the end of the day before being too reactionary? Entirely possible we end up completing a deal or two, who knows what’s going on at the club or behind the scenes? Fingers crossed anyway.

Confident we’ll make at least one signing tomorrow and I’m hoping for a surprise or two. Majority of deals are completed on the final day and even (beyond!) last minute... there’s always at least a couple transfers that are “pushed through” at the end and scrambling to get paperwork submitted.... I wonder what we have up our sleeve...

It was really entertaining, tense toward the end though. Have to admit, I did not expect us to score but I’m overjoyed that we did! Hopefully our last two wins will breed confidence & belief and we get some big performances & victories in the league.

That’s the main thought I have right now. Hope we can really kick on and get some big results to keep us up.

Wow, I can’t quite believe it! A lot of credit has to go to Nyland, he pulled off some excellent saves. Thought we played quite well generally, Jack & Targett were having fun down that left hand side So glad that miss didn’t cost us, I was so worried after that & Leicester’s goal. Well done lads! UTV

Oh man... Laursen was incredible!

It has, I don’t think anything further is likely to happen until deadline day. Not much point speculating ahead of time I guess, fairly happy with the signings we have made so far but we definitely need more...

Got to admit, I do too. For so long his demeanour has been so low or almost despondent. Always seems to have his head down and look especially sad or even depressed... Remember him being hopeless against Fulham in the playoff final and he just can’t ever seem to get going whenever he does get a game... It was a poor signing but he doesn’t seem to have a bad character or seem disruptive etc. He does seem to make an effort but lacks the quality and awareness. I would like to see him go somewhere and have some sort of success. Celtic would be a great move for him imo and he should get some goals over there... I recall Wyness’ excitement and surprise that he was available (was interviewed about it on TV) as West Ham were heavily linked with him at the time (when Bilic was manager) and the signing was viewed as somewhat of a coup, apparently we jumped ahead of them to sign him. Unfortunately, it was another disaster. If only he had gone to West Ham instead, for our sakes... I asked the question before, who was the worst signing between Hogan and McCormack (mainly because I believe both were signed for a similar fee, 12m?), mainly in terms of performance/contribution. There’s no doubt McCormack was much worse in terms of personality and disruptive behaviour but he actually looked decent in his first few games. Hogan got us a few goals and never kicked up a fuss or caused any trouble so he probably hasn’t been as bad but, ultimately, both were terrible signings and have cost us dearly.... we have wasted so much money over the years... I thought the later days of MON were bad enough with handing out expensive and lengthy contracts to useless bench warmers like Beye & Sidwell (and poor signings like Heskey) but we continued to outdo ourselves....Nzogbia was another bad one for what he cost us... I really hope we have learned from our mistakes.

He does try hard but you need more from a winger or forward. If he was a RB and good defensively then maybe he’d be good enough but he’s well short of being a PL quality forward. Not a bad option off the bench but he seems to lack genuine technical skill and coordination, he doesn’t seem naturally talented and comes across as a headless chicken. I’m not criticising his personality or anything just his ability. I can see how some fans hold sentiment for many of our players (even Taylor!!!!) but we need the right quality in our side or we are just going to struggle. We have had a lot of players who have just not been good enough yet they still get affection for “trying” or “putting a shift in“ e.g. Gabby & Hutton, but at this level and to remain competitive you have to have quality and ability too. Endeavour alone is not enough, especially when you are limited, but it’s also a prerequisite (and visible) in top quality players. Just look how much of a handicap playing Taylor is, for instance. So what if he’s been with us for a while and not kicked up a fuss etc? He just hasn’t contributed enough and been more of a liability than anything. We need more than players who call fill a gap. It’s good to have younger options too. Trezeguet is nowhere near “that” bad and is a good option to have in the squad, he will only improve (how much is debatable) and is still quite young but he shouldn’t be a regular starter by any means. We need a lot better.

Is the Callejon & Llorente link still a thing? Hard to know what to believe online and who/what the credible sources are. Maybe Reina (what a signing) can have some influence on targets from Serie A... Apparently we are going “all out” for Giroud, according to some French news outlet/paper and tweets. Nzonzi would be a good signing for us to add some physicality, Vida links have gone quiet too... I know it’s highly unlikely but I’m holding out hope for a deadline day surprise signing like a Piatek, Bowen or Benrahma I would be delighted if we got a new LB in and offloaded Taylor (just not good enough, a handicap to our side, nothing personal). A decent rotation option (maybe a youngster) with Targett is what we need, 2 good options in every position is required. We also really need a winger or wide forward because Trezeguet isn’t at the required level (despite his endeavour, tires too easily too). We do have the funds but I don’t know the state of play with FFP (such a pain).

Taylor off to Stoke? Seen a couple of tweets online...could it be???

Colossus

Fine, we’ll take Lautaro then How many forwards do they need???