Signings

[FCC 76]

With the exception of Brady, have any signings since Alex arrived strengthend the team?

Mbokani not a significant improvement on Jerome or Grabban or Hooper.

Jarvis not demonstrably better than Johnson.

Mulumbu and Dorrans perennial bench warmers.

Wisdom no vast improvement on Whittaker or Martin.

Before we clamour for new faces, maybe we should revert to the old guard who got us up, a team who fought together and were committed to the cause. Team cohesion appears to have been lost as we chop and change.

If we can''t afford significantly better players, save the money.

And don''t we miss the combativeness of Johnson? With the exception of Tettey our midfield is woefully short of strength, aggression, and fight.

[Yellowhammer 86]

All our strikers are very poor ,midfield average and defence terrible,two good goalkeepers but we seem to be satisfied to go with what we have so far ,that is why we are struggling while Bournemouth and Watford are above us and will stay up.

[Michael Bates 9]

We need a player that can get on the ball and make a difference but at the same time put a shift in the centre of the park alongside tettey. No disrespect to O''neil but the fact that he has had plenty of games this season shows our lack of quality in this area. Howson is far from a central midfielder, his defensive duties are woeful. We need him in the hole as opposed to wes or part of a ''front 3 mid'' behind our striker. It was clearly evident that Bournemouth have hungry midfielders that will fight for the cause but at the same time had great technical abilities to pick a pass. Something we fall short on. Chances created for our strikers are very rare from the middle of the park. We are relying solely on crosses into the box onto mbokani''s head.

Which then addresses another problem for me, we don''t have a striker that has pace to get in behind a defence and cause problems/create chances. In two games i''ve seen, Afobe has has 4-5 opportunities where the ball has been played through and he is heading in on goal. We don''t have a striker that tries to do that, Grabban was the closest to it but quite frankly he is nowhere near good enough.

All in all, a CB is required to add competition to Basing/Bennett. Is Klose this?

A CM that can compliment tettey with great vision and passing but not lose the defensive duties. There must be some players of pre quality sitting on the bench at other clubs?

A ST with raw pace that can get behind the defence and be a real threat from through balls. Not sure if Gayle would rip up trees but he certainly gives us the pace option. Plus he''s a striker that could play alongside one of our big men when needed in a 4-4-2?

Naismith for me would be a fantastic signing to compete with Howson/Wes in the hole and also can play as a wide striker if we were to change our shape to a 4-3-2-1.

[AJ 1,218]

Yes they have. In short we have;

Brady AND Jarvis, who have both been very good for us as replacements for Johnson who is by no means a premier league left winger. It''s a yes from me.

Mbokani, a much better option than Grabban, Lafferty. Scored some goals too so it''s a yes from me.

Dorrans improved the squad last year and helped get us promoted. So yes.

Mulumbu haven''t seen enough of yet to judge.

Pinto will be the RB to judge, not wisdom. He was only ever bought in as cover and hasn''t done bad when called upon.

Perhaps we miss Johnsons endeavour at times, but aggression doesn''t win you much in the top league, quality does.

[Clint 221]

What we need most is a leader!

Dare I say it, someone like Grant Holt.

[FCC 76]

I think Michael makes a good point re Howson. He would be better playing off the striker. Whilst Wes has more ability to create chances than Howson, he doesn''t score enough to play off the striker.

[funny old game 1]

Think we underestimate the team spirit that got us promoted, although that squad had its weaknesses (a championship top 6 squad) Clearly quality needed adding in the summer.

We Fannied about instead of biting the bullet & paying the going rate (Brady apart) & now we are grabbing at straws trying to grab yet another bargain in a grossly inflated market.

The first few games were always going to look ok with the euphoria of Wembley carrying over, but it''s a long season & we are now being found out week after week as clubs pick up on players short falls. It''s easy to look at first half of the season & view as same again & we''ll be ok, the trouble with that is clubs are now targeting our weaknesses. This will result in it being much harder to collect the points needed. If we add to that or rivals strengthening & a couple finding a bit of form its imperative we buy quality or we will fall short of the points needed to stay up.

[ZLF 271]

I think Michael makes a good point re Howson. He would be better playing off the striker. Whilst Wes has more ability to create chances than Howson, he doesn''t score enough to play off the striker. - FCC

Without a doubt Howson is better there than deep; and he looks like he should be the number 10, but when he HAS played off the striker he has yet to create or score and generally not played the role well.

I have come to the conclusion that wide right or left is his best position as thats where his best performances have come from.