East Rider

Our fabled academy has earnt a considerable sum over the last few years (Murphy's et el)

Had we received news of £900,000 heading our way this time last season, we would have been over moon with our large windfall. Lets hope it is reinvested towards reinforcements.

With the job now done for Pukki, I would not be surprised to see him perform better for us domestically now. Get a decent defence behind him here and watch him go.

Would be nice to have a full strength squad for at least half the season.

I thought it was common knowledge that Kane has a 'City 4 ever' tatt on his upper left arm. A reminder of his outrageous behaviour when he was with us I believe.

a certain ex city player now in their ranks. If he scores will he reveal his NCFC tattoo?

I believe that at least one or two of those mentioned will go at the end of the season, no matter where we are (the only exception would have been had we perhaps made top half we may have refused an offer or two). They haven't become bad players overnight and clubs will have tracked them for a considerable period. What price for them? God only knows

Zimmermann will grasp the opportunity with both hands and I say stand by for an immediate effect on our team! I remain convinced that had we not suffered the extent of injuries we did at the start of this season we would have fared much, much better in certain games and it is a crying shame the PL audiences are viewing our team performance as they currently are. Other posters have acknowledged the fact that a makeshift defence undermines a team, this happens at every level down to school boys and is no co-incidence that we have struggled to shine with our flair players underperforming. Get our defence with dedicated defenders in and not midfielders taking the flak and we should see an improvement. At the moment confidence is shot so it may take some time.

Wonder how far they scouted.

Totally agree. A confidence enhancing point. Lets just hope Ben Godfrey is back soonest

It is a fair question. However, for my part he never hides away from the action and always puts himself as a willing receiver of the ball. I think he is superb, but as has been mentioned he is probably a confidence type player who will improve as the season unfolds. We certainly have not seen his best yet (Man city apart) and it would be great for him to stamp his authority over the pitch on Saturday. Can't wait

We had injuries in this league, in defence before the season started. A fit back line to choose from (bearing in mind how effective Klosse was in the PL last time around) with Amadou, would have helped massively.

Spot on, 100% agreed. A full NCFC squad would have far more points on the board by now. Just look how Zimmermann was playing before he was deliberately taken out of the game! Vrancic would have found his rhythm and Hernandez would have scared teams home and away, and will still do this season. It is a massive shame we have this problem but get behind the team against Villa and who knows.

I was aware Klose was probably out of contention but thought Onel was likely to be back with time to get back into the team. Once we have most of the team back things will turn rapidly for us for the better.

Our position injury wise is almost unprecedented as a club and doesn't appear to be getting any better any time soon. However, I feel if we can amass at least 20 points by Christmas/the new year, we will see premiership football next season. Are any of our team season long injuries? A number of key personnel will be back by the turn of the year if not before If this set of current team members can push on and hold on, we will be fine. Looking forward to Aston Villa and a hard earned 3 points. Support needs to stay strong and loud over this period of strife. 20 points and we will be fine.