Sunbury Fox

Great news re Scriven and Currie being back. Hopefully Rehan is too and we'll be looking much stronger again.

Not sure that a Winks/Wilf midfield would give us enough goals and creativity in the centre of the pitch. I guess, though, we'll be sitting deep and Ndidi will be asked to do his old job of protecting the back line, with Winks used as a deep lying playmaker who can ping in a pass behind the oppo's defence for a rapid front 3 to get on to.

Patson is not dissimilar in style to Awonyi at Forest, who Cooper managed to get a good tune out of. In a pure counter attack set up where his job is to exploit the high lines of opposition teams he could be effective. It's when he's asked to do anything technical and play as a link man, as Enzo and Rodgers expected, that the problems start.

And Currie is injured?

Yep, that's for sure. Hopefully we've knocked down the wages by giving him 3 years and spreading the cost.

I think that we would all agree with the bit in bold above, but those kind of CBs are rare and expensive. Van de Ven cost Spurs £35m, for example.

That's one point gained as we were not chasing down the likely target with a damp outfield. Bizarre team selection today. Who is Sam Wood? Why Walker over Currie? Is Stirling counted as an overseas player, who has been brought into replace Handscomb because the latter is injured? How come Rehan has been out for what seems a month with concussion when it's normally a 2 week absence max for that? Sorry, too many questions!

No, I'm thinking we desperately need a starting striker and 2 starting level CMs to be competitive. Let's hope that we have enough funds available to pay wages and fees for those after filling out the squad with back up players.

Bottom line is that we desperately need to improve the first XI and this signing doesn't do that in my view. He'll be a back up squad player, I think. As for beating other PL clubs to his signature, my worry is that this is because no other PL club is stupid enough to give a 32 year old a 3 year contract. Just hope we've given him sensible wages.

You don't think they'd have met his demands if they'd really wanted him to stay?

This is total meh but it's where we are as a club these days, picking up unwanted players from the likes of Fulham. If they really wanted him to stay they would have reached a deal with him. Just hope we've not thrown silly wages at him. The situation feels like when we got promoted under Micky Adams to be honest, as back then we were just out of administration and shopping in the bargain aisle. i just don't know what is our squad building strategy is any more. It's so scattergun. I think we will start next season with a weaker team than we started last season unless the quality of arrivals starts to improve massively.

That's a pretty low bar tbf.

Nah. 6 CBs and 4 keepers seems about right to me.

When is he contacted to? Is this his last year?

Since we got relegated we've lost Maddison, Tielemans, Barnes, Castagne, Evans, KDH, etc. Our currently contacted midfield options are Winks, Soumaré and Hamza, plus a few kids. And our only PL proven striker will soon be 38. I would say we are way off having enough.

The transfer links so far make it look like we're building a Championship team for the 2025/26 season and writing the coming season off. Spending as little as possible and banking the dirty PL cash to try to reset the club financially. I'm not sure we have why choice tbh.

To think we have Wright, Scriven, Handscomb and Rahane to come into the Championship XI for the remaining Champo fixtures is exciting. Will we also be able to keep Goldsworthy on loan for the remaining fixtures too, I wonder?

The realisation of how bad our financial situation is becomes clearer with every passing day. Another depressing link.

The number 6 for Slovenia looks a great CB. Plays for Udinese and is only 25. Could be worth us looking at.

France have barely been better than England despite a similarly star-studded team, but still expect them to sneak home tonight. Mbappé v Faesy should be interesting!

What's the view on whether this has been bad batting or good bowling in helpful conditions?

The batting line up looks thin for this match.

So, we will have Rahane and Neesham playing for us in the remaining Blast games and then the One Day Cup, instead of Handscomb and Mulder?

Agree with all this but the bottom line is that our negotiating position is so weak. Rudkin is certainly inept but Henry Kissinger would struggle to get a good deal in the current circumstances. Other clubs know we need at least £25m by the end of the month and Brighton have exploited that desperation brilliantly from their perspective, to knock down the price significantly whilst getting an unwanted player off their books. If the only £25m+ deal on the table for KDH includes Jakub bloody Moder then, sadly, we probably have no choice but to accept it. I just hope doing this ensures that we do meet PSR rules because I wouldn't put it past our high quality executives to have miscalculated somehow.

Because people would rather get £35m straight up for KDH than only £25m and a crap player who will add nothing to the squad but a body.