Do you think Lambert will dip into the market...

[Row D Seat 7 0]

before 11pm tomorrow night?

I hope so. I think we need an experienced GK (30+ years old) to play number 2 to John Ruddy.

I also think we need another centre half, ideally on a permanent contract. Someone with Premiership experience.

[Legend Iwan 30]

Why 11pm tonight?

It does look like we need another CB. Maybe enquire at Forest? They seem to be having problems at the moment, cheeky bid might tempt them. Could always try for Mcgugan at the same time?

[Legend Iwan 30]

Sorry, Row, totally misread your first line.

[Lets be aving you! 0]

GK: No.

 

CB: Very slim chance, but can''t see Lambert being rushed into a last-minute panic buy. Russell Martin to be short-term back-up unless Ward is well & truly crocked.

 

Can''t imagine there''s much of a transfer kitty left now.

[Row D Seat 7 0]

To be fair, Lambert must believe in Rudd to make him number 2 to Ruddy, but I''m not sure. Ruddy and Rudd are both young and I feel they could benefit from a more experienced GK coming in.

[Jim Smith 2,314]

I think we may swoop for a CB. Ayala is out for a while, whitbread is good but you just can''t rely on him being fit and whatever they might say about Ward, if he was still on crutches last week then he must still be a way away from returning.

[smooth 114]

Obviously we have money assigned for january, but I wonder if we need to move some of that forward as a few cracks have appeared.

I personally don''t think we need a centre back because of the numbers, but I would have rather had a genuine starter as many have mentioned. This centre back partnership is paramount, I hope Barnett can cement that next to de laet.

Goalkeeper marcus h and maik taylor I presume are obth still free agents very surprised we haven''t moved for either earlier, and offered a 1 year deal. I am happy for Rudd to start against wba and a young boy to be on the bench but if that was longer than just the one game. I would be worried and felt we passed on two experienced keepers.

I still think Lambert, as all managers, will be seeing if someone comes available that they like. If so he will move.

But I do not think we have stretched the balance book too much with players coming in over the summer and of we had to move finances from jan to now I would be happy with that if it meant a more solid whole season rather than a rough start through to january.

I am sure we have assigned a budget for the next two windows if all goes to plan or if we do drop down. One thing I think we all forget is that our chief scout did all the homework on the players being brought in and I don''t think he has been replaced.

One area where we need a scout with excellent credentials.

[Salopian 1]

No.

As I understand it, we couldn''t obtain another loan, except by sending back de Laet or Naughton. Would we want this?

Well could we buy one? Goalkeepers are perhaps the cheapest position in the team to buy, but what do want, another expensive but experienced keeper, so that Ruddy or he sit unused on the bench, or an inexperienced or bargain keeper who will replace Rudd on the bench for most of the season?

I think that PL will take the risk of Rudd playing against Albion. Apart from this one game, we hope, nothing has changed from what he thought and said.

Another CB.? Buying anyone good will cost plenty. Even a back up will cost good money.

If Ward is not far from fitness, and Whitbread a little longer but with a standard hamstring injury, PL may also try to soldier on with two fit CBs.

If one of the present two is injured, we could play

3-5-2, or something similar, or else use a fullback as a temporary CB.

My feeling is that PL does not have much money left (-certainly nothing like the talked of £40m), and he wants to keep plenty back for January in case we are desperate for a good player or two.

So my answer, for what it is worth, is, "No".

[UEA Canary 0]

I believe we almost certainly will see a new player in before tomorrow night

[Gingerpele 0]

How long is Whitbread out for?

I know Ayala is out for quite a while, but Ward is expected to be back very soon (on BBC article about Ayala injury, said Ward would be back after International break) and i suspect Whitbread won''t be out for too long, meaning if we sign another CB, come Ayala''s return to fitness we would have 6 CBs, you don''t need 6 players for 2 positions. We have 5 to cover injuries and i think we will just about manage that for the next couple of games.

Transfer and wage cost for another back up player in that position seems a bit of a waste i think, although if De Laet or Barnett got injured in the next week, then that would probably cost us points against WBA, so in that respect it wouldn''t be a waste of money.

It really depends if anyone is available on the cheap, who won''t expect to play at all, but will be ready if needed. There can''t be many players who are good and cheap enough to fill that roll.

I thought we might be looking at an attacking utility player, but probably not especially if Martin can build on his decent start.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

Would like to think he will suprise the fans with a big £5m swoop for some quick footed south american wonderkid...

... but in reality, the best we can hope for is a mediocre Centre Back if we''re lucky.

[andyc24_uk 58]

I think it''s dangerous to sit on money and wait for January. If you look at our fixture list, we have a very tough run-in - Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, Spurs, Everton and Villa make up 7 of our last 8 games. If we''re in the bottom three come the start of April, then realistically speaking we''re unlikely to take enough points from that little group of teams to stay up.

We basically have to get points on the board as early as possible so that we have some level of cushion going into that very intense period of games. We can''t afford to let any more points slip away against the weaker sides, and if that means we need to buy a defender now, then so be it.

Lambert will know this of course, and so I reckon he''ll be prepared to spend the money now if needs be to give us the best chance of picking up as many results as possible this side of Christmas - Then he''ll see what''s left in the kitty and try to bring in the type of impact player who might just help us to get a shock result against the top-end teams in the last few weeks. I reckon we''ll see a solid, experienced defender in tomorrow afternoon, and that will probably be it. Fingers crossed the south american wonderkid might just end up being a late xmas present :-P

[Jim Smith 2,314]

I also think it might be dangerous to sit on the money and think that having seen the first few games Lambert may still try and bring another player in (even if its one who becomes available last minute). I am not (and he would not) write off any players based on only a couple of games but based on what we have seen so far he may have some concerns over whether certain players will be able to step up to the plate if called upon.

We actually have not spent that much money and if, for example, you look at the players QPha are now bringing in our signings seem decidedly budget (they are linked with lansbury today as well). That is not to say they will turn out to be worse though but I would love to see us splash out on one last quality player before the window shuts.

[Lets be aving you! 0]

Lambert may want to keep some money back to sign De Laet in January (as he did with Barnett last year).

 

Whether there is also any spare money to buy another player right now is a moot point.

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

[quote user="Salopian"]No. As I understand it, we couldn''t obtain another loan, except by sending back de Laet or Naughton. Would we want this? Well could we buy one? Goalkeepers are perhaps the cheapest position in the team to buy, but what do want, another expensive but experienced keeper, so that Ruddy or he sit unused on the bench, or an inexperienced or bargain keeper who will replace Rudd on the bench for most of the season? I think that PL will take the risk of Rudd playing against Albion. Apart from this one game, we hope, nothing has changed from what he thought and said. Another CB.? Buying anyone good will cost plenty. Even a back up will cost good money. If Ward is not far from fitness, and Whitbread a little longer but with a standard hamstring injury, PL may also try to soldier on with two fit CBs. If one of the present two is injured, we could play 3-5-2, or something similar, or else use a fullback as a temporary CB. My feeling is that PL does not have much money left (-certainly nothing like the talked of £40m), and he wants to keep plenty back for January in case we are desperate for a good player or two. So my answer, for what it is worth, is, "No".[/quote]

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Not disagreeing at all, but two points. If we don''t get in another keeper, then we are saying Rudd is our experienced deputy. So if Ruddy (or indeed Rudd) were then to get injured I can''t see us being allowed an emergency loan, assuming we applied for one. We would be told we''d had the chance to get in another keeper and passed it up. It would probably need both to get injured.

Secondly, Lambert has certainly said he intends to hold some money in reserve for January.

[Mahogany 0]

I hope we get someone in, always a bit disappointing if nothing happens on a transfer deadline. Now that the Championship is a few games in it might be worth looking at players who might not be so happy due to their teams poor star. Leeds, Reading, Forest?

I''d love us to get Sordell off Watford, I know we don''t need another striker, but he''s fantastic, a really great prospect.

[Ncfc1 0]

Seeing as Leeds are doing so poorly maybe worth a cheeky snodgrass bid. As they have had a bad start he might stamp his feet and demand a move.

[Captain Fantastic 0]

Twitter seems to say Bassong.

[Mervmeister 18]

Won''t happen.

Harry doesn''t like to make a loss on players, I mean look at Kranjcar etc, singed for pennies and he wants like 8m for them.

Bassong was signed for 8m. Would be suprised if he went anywhere for less than 6m and looks like he could be part of a deal + cash for Gary Cahill.