With the side we are likely to/likely to be able to select its hard to go in with any confidence. Maybe a typical Thomas Asante winner now he has been linked here and has managed to get back in the Coventry side in the meantime and presumably make that impossible.

They have players out, but he continues to play in the same naive and irresponsible way regardless.

In the one when you mentioned Undav. Why would not signing a striker in January cause our form to dip considering we didnt have one for the first half of the season either. Makes no sense.

Fresh from failing to make the team and sometimes bench of League 1 Bristol Rovers?

Why did our form dip because we didnt sign a striker when we didnt have that striker in the first half of the season? Doesnt explain why results dipped. Im not convinced by him either. But better than Hedges.

Yep, there are no patterns in any of the 3 seasons and it was nothing to do with having a squad lacking sufficient quality and depth not aided by a lack of funds in January. And this season, with squad players like Buckley, Forshaw and Hedges all waiting in the wings and already being needed to play bigger roles, we will be fine.

The concern is that there isnt much scope for a different line up. Id go JRC in midfield, ACD over Hedges, but neither of those convince me.

I dont dislike him as a person. And maybe he will suddenly start performing at a level of a top 6 side. But a player unwanted by the worst team in the league and signed purely because he was cheap doesnt scream "we want to be top 6" to me and his performance yesterday didnt make me think otherwise. Ill judge as we go. Why does it make a difference if I rate him or not? Give him a chance FFS isnt a constructive counter argument.

Youve said this sort of guff about players clearly not capable of playing at a standard to which we require across the last 3 seasons in which our seasons have all tailspinned after christmas and clearly havent learnt the lesson. Blindly expect the likes of Hedges, Dolan, Forshaw and Buckley to be of a sufficient standard.

If Ryan Hedges is the answer, I dont want to know what the question is.

We are, but that team goes from having one of the very best midfields in the league to probably the worst. So no, that team doesnt. And that front 4 has 2 goals, 2 goals, 1 goal, 1 goal to its name.

Id say more than 50% of the fanbase (and Elliott Jackson) justified the signing of Forshaw in terms of budget allocation. Theres no point signing anyone with the mindset of "oh they wont be starting every week" knowing they arent good enough. Weve seen in the last few years that form has fallen off a cliff after christmas due to not having a good enough squad. Yet no one learns. Our midfield has been excellent all season, but as soon as one of them got injured we see the strength of the team become a big weakness.

That team is dreadful. Best bet is a nil nil with it. And its not even necessarily a go at your selection. The options in the wide areas, central midfield and up front are not good enough.

So yes, you think that is good enough for a top 6 chasing side, clearly.

So you are happy with potentially Travis when back, Buckley after one half decent game in 3 years and Forshaw for the forseeable? You think that is sufficient quality for a supposed top 6 push? We need a midfielder AND those positions you mention. O'Brien wont be coming here and even if he did, not sure he compliments Travis that well as neither naturally sit.

We dont need gossip and links. We need players through the door, thats the issue.

It was a joke post about Luca Toni. We certainly are never signing Milik in a month of Sundays.

Nixon is clearly taking the piss with the O'Brien rumour. We signed a midfielder not fit for purpose purely because he is as cheap as possible. To then a week or two sign someone like O'Brien would show why adopting such an approach wasnt wise, and any meagre resources put into that Forshaw deal are wasted ones. At £40k a week with Forest wanting as much as they can, it would be one that we presumably wait until deadline day even if there was interest to go down the route of whatever we can offer is better than nothing. If indeed O'Brien would entertain the idea considering we have ruined his career really. He had an underwhelming spell at Boro on loan between a couple spells in the MLS and seemingly isnt at the levels he was previously. It wont happen.

People have been quite dismissive of the timing of potential transfers. If we sign anyone on deadline day, we have a game the day after which is our 31st of the season. So especially loans, they will be here for 15 games after that.

I wasnt impressed by him midweek but he was certainly better today. That being said, his good play all came within a chunk of the middle of the game and he wasnt that impressive around that. Either way, lets not fool ourselves into thinking that he is a player who should be a potential regular in a side with play off aspirations based on a solitary performance in a loss at Oxford.

We are probably going to end the transfer window in midfield having lost Baker, having lost Tronstad maybe long term but having gained a past it Plymouth reserve. I cant see us getting one but we badly need one.

It feels like such a big opportunity, the league is particularly poor but there are 2 play off places up for grabs. Especially if Boro lose Latte Lath. We have such an average side with a poor attack but we have a good manager who has the knack of digging out results built on solidity and discipline. We have to have a go in this window and its so frustrating that we inevitably wont. It doesnt bode well that weve signed an aging Plymouth reserve who stunk the place out today. The reasoning was clearly budgetary but even there it should have been a case where at least a more reasonable wage contribution was available to get decent cover in. Not cutting corners and now we will need a player who wont be up to it.

But...he was smiling?

Yeah hes really done well there. Hes a 1 good game 5 bad game type, lacks end product. Still better than our sorry set of wide men though which is why really we need 2 and to get rid of some of our crap.

Cantwell is not a central midfielder. That midfield would be eaten alive. We need Cantwell further forward, not further back.