DutchRover

The happy clappers on the LT have turned looking at comments on Afolayan article, all very negative and attacking Gestede/Suhail/Venkys

Seems to be out-of-favour rather than injured, similar to Pickering/Ribeiro for us I guess

Had to score there, Gudjohnson buries that

Or keeping him fit enough to sell before the deadline...

Links to wingers like Dapo and Maswanhise make sense if/when we sell Alebiosu. Switch the back 4, Miller "signed as a RB", ready made left backs Pickering/Ribeiro (let's be honest it's Cashin urgh), morishita "like a new signing, back from injury"

Almost like blind hope doesn't work when our track record is so consistent under the clowns

Not played for St Pauli really since October by look of it, so presumably they're happy to offload. Would've thought bundesliga wages are beyond us though.

Oyegoke would fit the bill, cheap, ex-Arsenal academy, previously linked to us. But not sure he counts as "bizarre"

Should hopefully put some pressure on Suhail and co, and will be a story that gets attention, already has

I had assumed so, but it looks like he only played 2 games through autumn, which didn't exactly seem a sign of a team desperate to keep him.

Do we know if Duru's loan looks set to be made permanent? I would still rate him as a back-up to Alebiosu if we can keep them (lol no chance for Alebiosu)

Too good for us if Cov and B'ham were after him, but would be an exciting winger by look of it

My 24/25 home kit by Macron has lasted perfectly, and I still think it was one of the best home kits we've had for ages. The worst supplier we had was the Nike off the peg "design your own kit" kits in 13/14; they were crap quality and the RFS sponsor fell right off.

Real or sarcasm? I can't stand Castore

The missed paperwork was 100% meddling, the Maguire saga proved it. Broughton had everything agreed at a good value then rug was pulled away by someone (Suhail? Venkys?), he saved it by negotiating the loan to buy with a bigger fee but by then it was too late. I'm sure whoever killed the first deal stalled it at end to miss paperwork. Broughton has been competent everywhere else he's worked except us, so hard to believe it was him. Shame he must've signed an NDA to not expose the nonsense JDT has alluded to in that period.

Bailey sounds like a decent signing, though presumably a downgrade on Tronstad. I still have hopes for Garrett as a DM, he looked so good under JDT but injuries have been an issue for his progress. Cleary was always a non-starter once the 5 mil tag was set, even prior to injury, but as others say a ready made excuse. I would hope to bring in two players before deadline, even for us. Striker on a permanent and maybe a wing-back on loan if we can swing a deal like Cashin somewhere.

Thanks for the usual wisdom, I had never realised that was allowed on a professional contract, as opposed to youth/non-league players. But I suppose it makes sense if it's just between u21s.

Kamara would be a great pick up for future. How does trial work for a player under contract at Arsenal? Is he still a youth guy or expiring?

I think we overestimate the desire by the club to stick to the 3-5-2 formation; players like Cleary and Jorgenson offer some flexibility in the summer when we inevitably overhaul the squad again and decided 4-3-3 is the new formation... Short term we clearly need a big CF to compliment the smaller guys like Ohashi, or wider forwards like Jorgenson. Even Gudjohnson is a bit soft for his size, more a poacher than target man. I miss the days of Danny Graham and endless knock-downs for our smaller forwards to play off (Arma, Dack etc).

Wasn't Ribeiro one of Gestede's exciting summer (re-)signings? Perfect for the 4-2-3-1 Ismael wanted to play and solid competition for Pickering one of our high earners? They must have been key players this season according to "the plan", oh wait....

Gonna get smashed based on opening 10 mins

Walker stand looks about as full as usual sadly

Ohashi and Morishita too, and purely on talent Baradji, but he needs to show more effort.

I just don't get why Ismael doesn't even try to change formation when we need a goal, go 4-4-2 for a bit, hoof it up, don't just do the same you've been doing with worse players off the bench.

And rather than sign an actually talented CM or renew Travis, Rudy's exciting option was to give his ancient mate another 1 year deal to barely play.