Exiled_Rover

What was our style of play when Ohashi was upfront? Watch the ball come back at us time and time again? We had the balance right at the start of the season - start the games with Gueye and then bring Ohashi on as a sub on 70 minutes when the defenders were tired.

I've genuinely no idea why fans don't like Gueye. He was our best player at times last season and completely unplayable for defenders.

Exactly.

He was arguably our player of the season.

Derby came in and took our manager. What hope do we have of stopping a player going there?

I thought they were all pretty good signings, especially considering the outlay. Gueye was unplayable at times, Ohashi scored 10, Toth has taken the gloves off Pears (we hope!). Sadly Kargbo got injured, but he has the pace we've been crying out for. Alas the person that lined those all up left in October and you saw the calibre of player we brought in during January under Gestede et al. We're fucked.

Wahlstedt covered the cost of Toth, Gallagher covered the cost of Gueye and Ohashi. So what, we spent £1.5m on Cantwell and Kargbo after bringing in over £30m?

Well they haven't spent any money for nearly 2 years and literally drove off one of the best managers in the league because they refused to back him - so I'd suggest it's unlikely.

But the lame 'American Badass' version.

It's both. He's hated at Charlton and Coventry. The man is a cancer.

It depends what system Ismael installs next season. If he goes to 3 at the back with 2 wing backs then we need another CB and a CF. If he sticks with a 4-3-3 / 4-2-3-1 then we need two talented wingers.

I see the plastic scousers are out in force in Liverpool today. I really do detest that club.

It's a crying shame that after 15 years this appears to be the only way we'll be able to wrest this club from the cold, dead hands of the Venkys and that fans are begging for it.

Then you have to ship him out as he'll be on a decent wage (for us).

This fills me with dread.

Someone must be leaving then as we're well stocked at CB.

I don't think that's fair. Broughton tried to get Phillips tied down and his agent bent us over a barrel. They gave minutes to him AND Finneran before they were ready to convince them that there was a pathway to playing first team football here.

Last comment on the subject as I'm clearly in the minority - considering yourself as getting 'lucky' that a lad you've had at the club since he was 7/8 signs a scholarship deal absolutely stinks. The system is beyond broken. Phillips and Finneran were stolen for nothing - and those are just the higher profile ones we know about (I know City stole a winger of ours a few years ago). Boro are able to player trade partly because they actually sell their Academy products for good value. What are they doing that we're not? How do they get players to sign on and show some loyalty?

I assume eventually they'll fold the club, having taken us down to the non-leagues. They'll ultimately blame the fans for not backing the side.

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He's been worryingly poor so far (if you're a United fan). I understand that they strong-armed him into taking the job mid-season and I understand that he's wedded to a system, but bloody hell the results have been awful. His inability (or unwillingness) to adapt to the players on the books and get a tune out of them is startling.

If we have these targets of x thousand minutes for Academy graduates (i.e. generally filling the back end of the squad with Academy players to keep costs down) then Duru has to be lined up as the #2 RB, surely? You've always got the fallback option of Carter at RB (I know he's much better at CB, but he can play RB in the Championship) if the Duru experiment fails and you need someone to hold down the fort before strengthening in January (try typing that with a straight face!).

Genuinely amazed he's not been sacked.

Don't get attached to them - any talented ones will be snapped up for peanuts before they turn 17.

Quite the opposite - that's a fantastic group of players (for this level). Wilder should be sacked this evening.